Become a Sumerian Brick Builder (STEM Activity)

Description

IF COMING UP WITH an interesting way to teach your 6-8 graders about ancient history is difficult for you, look no further. This Become a Sumerian Brick Builder is a hands on STEM activity for your students that is enticing, challenging and fun.

TELLING MY 6TH GRADERS that the Sumerians were the first brick builders in the world, didn’t mean much to them until they went home and had to make their own brick out of mud just like these ancient people. By bringing this lesson to life, they could relate to the difficulties that brick builders had and understand what a phenomenal feat this was to accomplish. They loved bringing their bricks into school and building a Ziggurat together. What do you think their favorite part was? If you said destroying their creation, you would have been right.

INSTEAD OF JUST LECTURING, reading a text, writing definitions or answering questions which is BORING and will turn them off, they’ll have a good grasp of what they’re studying because they’ll be active rather than passive learners. This activity includes a written assignment that students are required to complete on their own. So if you also teach ELA, this can be used as an Ancient History as well as a Language Arts grade.

WE ALL KNOW that many kids forget what they’ve been taught soon after they’ve had their test. I’m positive this will leave a lasting impression and will be something they’ll remember even after they’ve left your classroom.

⎈COMMON CORE STANDARDS⎈
WHST.6-8.1, WHST.6-8.1a, WHST.6-8.1b, WHST.6-8.1c, WHST.6-8.1d, WHST.6-8.1e, WHST.6-8.2, WHST.6-8.2a, WHST.6-8.2b, WHST.6-8.2c, WHST.6-8.2d, WHST.6-8.2f, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.5, WHST.6-8.6, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.10

⎈ WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY about project based learning:⎈
⎈ PBL is an effective and enjoyable way to learn and gain better learning competencies required to be successful in school and life.
⎈ Many kids find education boring and meaningless, with PBL, they’re engaged and active rather than passive learners.
⎈ Common Core and other educational standards emphasize real world applications of knowledge and skills that help promote problem solving.
⎈ PBL helps students better understand the content and retain it longer than the traditional approach.
⎈ Collaborating with others helps build character.

⎈ I REMEMBER sitting in history class, as a student, and being bored out of my mind. The teacher just lectured and all I could do was look at the clock and wish that I was someplace else, ANYPLACE else!  Needless to say I learned very little that year. I only began liking ancient history after I became a 6th grade teacher, years later, and vowed that I would make it come alive for my children. I didn’t want them to go through what I did.  That negative experience gave me the impetus to use PBL learning in most of my teaching and I’m so glad I did.

⎈THIS RESOURCE can be used for⎈
⎈ Gifted students
⎈ Middle school
⎈ World History classes/ELA classes

☼ Lighting the path to knowledge with enticing and exciting activities that they’ll remember long after they’ve left your classroom ☼

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