Music in Mesopotamia

I thought that it would be interesting to talk about some of the musical instruments that existed in Ancient Mesopotamia with my sixth grade class. We discussed the lyre and the reed pipe. I had videos that I showed them of people playing those instruments so that they could hear the sound that they make. We talked about each one and the sound that it produced. A few of them said things that surprised them and they commented on the sounds of the instruments. They enjoyed being able to hear the instruments being played and not just seeing a picture. 

Then I played a song from Iraq that was more modern and we discussed the similar sounds and different sounds that they heard. It was neat for them to think about how ancient cultures can impact modern day music and even customs. We discussed how in Mesopotamia they had music at special events such as, weddings, funerals and such. Then we agreed that today we have music in similar instances. 

The last thing I did with them was to have them write a paragraph anwering at least one of the following questions: 

• What music have you listened to in the past 24 hours? Did you choose to listen to it? If so, why?
• What similarities did you notice between the purposes of music in Mesopotamia and today?
• What similarities do you notice in the instruments?
• What songs are connected to the U.S. like Iraq with Mesopotamia?
• What can we learn about history and cultures by analyzing music instruments and sounds in that time period?

They turned their answers into their teacher, but it was still a neat experience because they were able to connect music to themselves and how important it can be in all cultures. Overall, I really enjoyed this lesson because they had fun and made some really wonderful connections.

Teaching about Mesopotamia

I went and taught again in my second grade classroom. I knew that they were studying about Mesopotamia and I wanted to connect to the lessons that the students had already been learning. 

The first lesson I taught about Mesopotamia was about Cuneiform and the Sumerians. I started by showing the class a PowerPoint that I made about Sumerians and their form of writing which was called Cuneiform. I went over the writing and the Epic of Gilgamesh which was written in Cuneiform. I was surprised at how much the students remembered about the Sumerians and their way of living. 

We discussed how Cunieform was not written how we would write a sentence in our language. I had them think of nouns and then I would say a noun and they would have to think of a way to represent it as if they were going to write in in Cunieform. I pointed out how each person had a different way to represent the word and we discussed how difficult it would be to come up with a way to write down language. I had the students work in groups and they had to try and communicate something by only using the nouns. I gave each groups five minutes to try and come up with an idea. They had some creative ways to try and communicate, while the other groups would guess what they wanted to say. 

After all the groups showed us their presentation of words, we discussed Cuneiform and how it was for them to try and create and interpret the communication. They commented on how multiple students would say a word, but they would represent it differently. They also commented on how people from neighboring communities would have variations of ways to write the symbols in cunieform. Overall the lesson went well and the students were able to make lots of connections to the lesson. I also like having a way for them to get up and move and be creative together.  

First Two Lessons

I went in and took a deep breath as I walked into the classroom. I plunged in and waved at a few six grade students that looked at me. They had already met me and I was excited about starting to learn about their curiculum through music and movement. 

First Lesson: 

The first lesson that I taught, I started off with a get to know you game which we sung. The kids we a little shocked that I was singing to get to know them but they caught on and started singing names to help me learn. We learned the difference between the beat and the rhythm in music and how to explain them. I had them find different ways to keep the beat and then we tapped the rhythm with our fingers. 

At the end of the lesson I gave the students a card that said how they should move, either the beat or rhythm and a movement. They had creative ways of tip-toeing or hopping to show their dance. They were a little shy in getting up in front of their peers, but they were able to analyze the difference between the rhythm and the beat and tell it to others.  

Second Lesson: 

The second time I went, I wanted to make sure that the students were connecting the lesson to a topic that they were studying in Social Studies. I used a lesson from the BYU McKay School and it was on Egyptian Landmarks. Here is the link:Lesson Plan

This lesson went really well. I had a PowerPoint with the different Egyptian Landmarks on it and I introduced them to the students. Then we went out and created the movements for each section. I just used the Step Pyramid, The Pyramid of Giza, and The Valley of the Kings. At first when I asked them to show me how to represent the steps of the step pyramid they all tried kneeling on top of one another, but after a while they came up with creative ways to show the steps. 
As we went on the students were excited to come up with ways to show the flat sided pyramids and the obstacle course for the Valley of the Kings. I had them show off their ideas to their peers and they were much more comfortable doing so. I think that this lesson was really fun and they were engaged in learning and told me all the things that they already knew about Egypt, to make strong connections to this lesson.

I am very excited to keep working with this class, they seemed happy to be able to learn in a creative way. Mrs. Pulley, the class teacher, told me that she wanted to use a few ideas to connect to their vocab words. I will keep blogging about my lessons and experiences with this six grade class.