Early World Civilizations: Supplemental Guide 2A | Writing in Mesopotamia 47 Show image 2A-6: The family thinking about writing
“Exactly,” said Warad. “Amur, what do you think would happen
if we couldn’t remember the laws?”^8
The older boy said, “If we couldn’t remember the laws, people
wouldn’t follow the same rules. Someone visiting another town
might break that town’s rules without even knowing it.”
Warad said, “And Iddin, what if I gave you one set of rules, and
I gave Amur a different set of rules?”
“That wouldn’t be fair,” said Iddin, “unless I liked my rules better
than his.”
They all laughed. Then Amur said, “I like writing for another
reason, too. After Uncle visited us, I wrote down that story he told
us about being caught in a sandstorm in the desert, and how they
had to lie down and cover their heads when the strong wind blew
the sand so hard all around them. I read it to Iddin last night.”
Iddin smiled. “Maybe you should write a story about us, Amur.”
His brother thought about it. Then he answered, “That is a funny
idea, Iddin. Who would want to read a story about us?”^9 Then the
boys went back outside to play some more.Discussing the Read-Aloud 15 minutes
Comprehension Questions 10 minutes
If students have diffi culty responding to questions, reread pertinent
passages of the read-aloud and/or refer to specifi c images. If
students give one-word answers and/or fail to use read-aloud
or domain vocabulary in their responses, acknowledge correct
responses by expanding the students’ responses using richer
and more complex language. Ask students to answer in complete
sentences by having them restate the question in their responses.- Inferential What was the main topic, or main idea, of today’s
read-aloud? (the importance of writing to civilizations such as
the Mesopotamians)
8 Do you think you could remember
282 laws or rules? Writing down all
282 laws helped people remember
them, which also helped them to
better live by the laws. If people
weren’t sure whether they should
do something, they could look
at the clay tablets with the laws
and see what the laws said. [You
may wish to connect this with any
written class rules you might have.]
9 Are we reading a story that was
written about them now?