Bell Work: Please log on to your computer and begin
silently working on the vocabulary worksheet at your
desk. You may use your computer to look terms up if
necessary. If you finish both sides, you may review
using the resources on the class wiki while you wait
for everyone else. You have about 15 minutes.
Daily Agenda:

 Bell Work: Vocabulary
Review
 WOD  voracious
 Activator: Crash Course –
Egypt
 Lecture: Early
Civilizations
 Review: Dust Bin Game
 Guided Reading: Early
Africa and South Asia
Essential Question:
Were all civilizations
essentially the same? What
accounts for any differences?
Homework: Read Early
Africa and South Asia
packet and complete guided
reading worksheet.
Voracious – an insatiable
appetite

 The term voracious is often used when someone has an incredible
urge to partake in a favorite activity. To do something voraciously
often translates to becoming an expert on the given activity. Some
people may see your intensity as an addiction and bizarre but to you
it is commonplace.
 Click the voracious
Reader Award to
see a clip of
a robot who reads
voraciously.
(Read-Aloud)
Tuesday, January 21st Block 1
Activator:

Which has the biggest impact on
your life today: religion, geography,
or government?
Early Civilizations
1. Where did the earliest
civilizations form and why?

 River Valleys




Nile
Tigris / Euphrates
Indus
Huang He / Yangtze
 Rivers provided irrigation, drinking water, and
transportation
 Why not other rivers?
2. What different forms of rule did the
earliest civilizations use to keep order?

 Egypt  Divine rule; pharaoh = god; bureaucracy
 Mesopotamia  Lugals = “Big Men;” strong armies
(Assyrians); use of priests
 China  Mandate of Heaven (Divine Right); Confucian
beliefs (Social Roles)
 India  Samsara and caste system (social institutions)
3. What factors helped determine the
social structures of various early
civilizations?

 Free vs. Slave (Mesopotamia especially)
 Land ownership (China)
 Occupation
 India
 Mesopotamia
 Egypt
 Gender
4. Explain the interconnection between
geography and religion in two early
civilizations.

 Egypt  Gods controlled environment beneficial
flooding = nice gods; unified religion due to
geographic isolation
 Mesopotamia  Violent floods = Angry, vengeful
gods; introduction of new religions (Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, etc.) due to geographic “openness”
 China  Mandate of Heaven illustrated by natural
disasters
5. Was there gender equality in early
societies? If not, what prevented it?

 All Neolithic societies  women no longer play as
much of a role in food acquisition
 China  Confucianism held women in lower status
than any male; men must “protect” women
 India  Aryan beliefs made women the equivalent
to lowest caste; sati
 Egypt  Limited protections and rights for women,
but not equivalent of men (few female leaders)
 Mesopotamia  No female “Lugals” = no legal
equality for women
Critical Thinking:

What factors are most influential in
determining your lifestyle?
Activating Prior
Knowledge:

 Which effects your lifestyle most:
geography (climate, resources, etc.),
religion, or government?
 As you read the passage provided,
look for examples of how the lives
of early peoples were influenced by
each factor.
 You will be recording details from
the reading on the worksheet
provided. You may paraphrase or
partially quote these, but need to
identify where specifically you
found the examples.
Key Vocabulary:
Paragraph
Word
Meaning
2
Domestication
Taking control of for human purposes…
3
Dikes
Walls built to control the flow of water
4
Bickering
Arguing/ Fighting
5
Cordial
Friendly or open
5
Mercenaries
Soldiers for hire…
7
Stratification
Division (as in layers)
8
Bureaucracy
Collective government workers (non-elected)
14
incremental
In small amounts
14
Intermittent
Periodic or sporadic
16
Deities
Gods/ goddesses
29
Pyre
Ceremonial fire
33
Ascetic
Practicing strict self-denial
34
Samara
Cycle of Death and Rebirth
34
Karma
Sum of a person's actions, viewed as deciding
their fate in future existences.

Read Early Africa and South Asia packet and
complete guided reading worksheet (Socratic
Seminar tomorrow).