Blue Forum in Mesopotamia
Right now in my class, Blue Forum, we are doing a simulation called Empires. In the simulation we learn about the Fertile Crescent empires and how they did the five components of civilization (Centralized Government, Organized Religion, Job Specialization and Social Classes, [Arts, Architecture, and Public Works], and Writing). With these five components of civilization we do a task each week with a different question, but every week the level of your empire changes so the expectation of quality rises as well. To win your clan has to have the most civilization points. You can earn civilization points by doing different things such as doing a task, completing a challenge, and doing extra credit.
Question: Why was writing invented in ancient civilizations?
For this task I originally wanted to make little rectangle shaped cookies but when I found out they weren’t going to be big enough to write on I decided to make a stone tablet cake which kinda got slanted. So my task turned out to be a cake with some fun facts and a title.
What I learned from this task is that writing was invented to help with things civilizations needed to keep track of. For instance, they needed to keep track of of crops so they used writing or cuneiform (ancient writing) to write it down. They used writing to helps with taxes as well as to communicate too. Also when they wrote on clay tablets the clay dried giving them permanent records. The purpose of this task was tolerant about the importance of writing.
Question: Who was usually chosen to lead ancient governments?
This project is a song I wrote about Mesopotamia and who ruled it.
I learned that kings were chosen to rule Mesopotamia. Then when a king died the leadership was passed to his son or if the king had no sons the leadership was passed to a member of his clan. I also learned that there was a group that could outvote the king. The purpose of this task was to write an informative song about Mesopotamian leadership.
Question: How did priests and worshippers seek to gain the favor of the gods and ensure divine help?
This task was a newspaper I created called The Mess. The newspaper tells you about events happening in Mesopotamia.
I learned from this task that the Mesopotamians had many religious duties. Some of those are building temples, offering ceremonies, and making sacrifices. The purpose of this task was to inform about Mesopotamian religion. With this task I wanted to have a newspaper with an ad page as well so you also learn about inventions from back then to.
Question: What kinds of public works were used to ensure the defense of the city?
For this project I collaborated with four others from my class to create a script and film a movie.
I learned from this project that the Babylonians had three city walls. I also learned that clans in Mesopotamia had priests to help with battle. The purpose of this task was to create some thing about the defense of clans in Mesopotamia while having a little fun doing it. We wanted to create an informative, funny, descriptive short about Mesopotamia.
About Me
I am named Rebecca (for confidential reasons I will not be stating my last name) or R for short. I am in sixth grade. I have three fish, (and countless deceased ones that are in the toilet bowl graveyard), I love playing soccer (anything from AYSO to futsal), and like the arts (dramatic pause where you wonder what the arts are). The arts are anything from singing and dancing to art and photography. I play the piano and the guitar. I have two siblings a younger brother named Joshua, and a younger sister named Kassandra. And reading I love reading, rounding off the reading allstars is Fablehaven, Percy Jackson (or any Rick Riordan book), and Harry Potter. I am adventurous except for when I go in haunted houses, I hate haunted houses but other than that I’ll do anything thats adventurous but reasonable. For example, I’ll walk across a river on a shaky log but I will not go in a haunted house. I also love bike riding and taking long walks in a park (dreamy expression on my face). Any way that is me! I hope you can follow or like my blog! 🙂