Grade 1 - Early world Civilizations

Early World Civilizations: Supplemental Guide 3 | The Religion of Babylon 55

Note: Introducing the Read-Aloud and Extensions may have

activity options which exceed the time allocated for that part of

the lesson. To remain within the time periods allocated for each

portion of the lesson, you will need to make conscious choices

about which activities to include based on the needs of your

students.

Exercise Materials Details

Introducing the Read-Aloud (10 minutes)

Where Are We? Map of Mesopotamia and Ancient
Egypt; world map or globe

You may wish to have students locate

Mesopotamia on their own map.

What Have We Already
Learned?

Image Cards 1–4 Divide students into four groups. Each

group will be in charge of sharing

information about their image card to the

rest of the class.

Image 2A-6: The family thinking

about writing

Use this image to review the fictional

characters in the previous two read-

alouds.

Essential Background
Information or Terms

You may wish to replace the term

polytheistic with the phrase “belief in

many, many gods.”

chart paper with:

I wonder why... written on it

You may wish to begin this section with

students’ questions about the world.

Their questions may lead to interesting

group research topics. (See additional

activity in Extensions.)

Vocabular y Preview: Babylon,
Te m p l e/ Zi g g u ra t

Image 3A-3 and/or additional

images of ancient Babylon;

Map of Mesopotamia and Ancient

Egypt; red crayon

Show students additional pictures of

ancient Babylon.

Have students find the location of

Babylon on their map and circle it red.

Image 3A-4 and additional images

of ziggurats

Show students additional pictures of

ziggurats.

Presenting the Read-Aloud (15 minutes)

The Religion of Babylon Images of the gods and goddess
referred to in this read-aloud:
Marduk—the god of Babylon
Shamash (Utu)—sun god
Anu (An)—sky god
Ea (Enki)—god of fresh water
Ninsar—goddess of plants

Students may be interested in seeing

and hearing about the stories and

descriptions of the Mesopotamian gods

referred to in this read-aloud. (See Notes

to Teacher for web resources to obtain

this information.)