Mesopotamia - Israel - Temple, Culture, Kings

Leo Siberski conducts Danse Bacchanale from "Samson et Delila"

The Ancient World of the Bible by Malcolm Day, Solomon's Temple and the Queen of Sheba
Journeys with Elijah by Barbara Diamond Goldin and Jerry Pinkney

Discussion:
The time of the prophets

Activity:
Act out a story about Elijah
Name the major prophets in order

Arthropods - Myriapods - Diplopoda and Chilopoda

Wolf Spider attacks a millipede
First Life with David Attenborough - Giant Millipede (start at 1:00)
Centipede vs. Snake

Centipedes, Millipedes, Scorpions & Spiders by Daniel Gilpin

Vocabulary Added:
myriapod: many-foot
diplopoda: double-foot
chilopoda: lip-foot

Activity:
Go outside and find a centipede and a millipede
Draw and label centipede, millipede
Add myriapods, chilopod, diplopod to Animal Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Israel - War

The Ancient World of the Bible by Malcolm Day, Fall of Jericho - David and Goliath
David and Goliath by Leonard Everett Fisher

Activity:
Make a sling and see if you can hit anything with it
Map study: location of cities in Canaan/Israel

Arthropods - Chelicerates - Xiphosura

The Horseshoe Crab Eye

The Horseshoe Crab by Nancy Day
Centipedes, Millipedes, Scorpions & Spiders by Daniel Gilpin

Vocabulary Added:
xiphosura: sword-tail

Activity:
Draw and label parts of a horseshoe crab
Add xiphosura to the Animal Kingdom tree

Arthropods - Chelicerates - Arachnids

Giant Tarantula
Emperor Scorpion
Golden Orb Web Spider
Trap door spider JUMPS Attenborough!
Ticks Can Kill Moose?

Hairy Tarantulas by Joelle Riley
Centipedes, Millipedes, Scorpions & Spiders by Daniel Gilpin
Spiders by Nic Bishop

Vocabulary Added:
chelicerate: claw-horn

arachnid: spider

Activity:
Draw and label spider, scorpion, and tick
Go hunt for spiders outside.  Stay away from ticks.
Add arachnids to the Animal Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Israel - Religious Beliefs

Prince of Egypt - The Plagues
Moses Parts the Sea - the Ten Commandments

The Ancient World of the Bible by Malcolm Day, Slaves in Egypt - The 10 Commandments
Exodus by Miriam Chaikin and Charles Mikolaycak

Vocabulary Added:
exodus: mass departure
commandment: a rule you must follow
plague: something bad that affects a large number of people or animals

Discussion:
Events of slavery, exodus, and life in Sinai - correlation to modern Jewish beliefs and celebrations

Activity:
Narration - the story of the Hebrew Bible from Adam and Eve through the 10 Commandments (only major figures and events)

Arthropods - Crustacea - Branchiopoda

Fairy Shrimp, Clam Shrimp, Triops, Water Flea, Seed Shrimp

Vocabulary Added:
branchiopod: gill-foot

Activity:
Draw and label parts of a clam shrimp.  Explain why it's not a mollusk.
Add branchiopod to the Animal Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Israel - Nomadic Life

A Day in the Life of a Desert Nomad Family
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

The Ancient World of the Bible by Malcolm Day, "The Promise to Abraham"
The Coat of Many Colors by Jenny Koralek and Pauline Baynes

Vocabulary Added:
nomad: person who moves from one place to another

Activity:
Put up a tent outside.  Pretend to live in it.  Talk about stuff you would need, how you would travel

Arthropods - Crustacea - Malacostraca

Lobster migration - From the Trials of Life
Animal Attack!  Blue Crab vs. Clam
Antarctic Krill

About Crustaceans: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill and John Sill
Pinching Crayfish by Janet Piehl
Crabs by Lola M. Schaefer

Vocabulary Added:
crustacea: hard-shelled
malacostraca: soft-shell

Activity:
Crab dissection
Draw and label a crab, lobster
Add crustacea and malacostraca to the Animal Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Israel - Geography

The Ancient World of the Bible by Malcolm Day
Noah's Ark by Heinz Janisch and Lisbeth Zwerger

Discussion:
Compare Noah's Ark to the story of Utnapishtim in Gilgamesh

Activity:
Map study of Israel; Israel in relation to other Mesopotamian cultures

Mesopotamia - Review

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Gerladine McCaughrean, Chapter 11 and 12, "Home" and "The Twelfth Tablet"

Activity:
Peoples and cultures review
Chapter 11 and 12 Narration

Gilgamesh recap

Arthropods - Insecta - Neoptera - Hemipterodea

(book lice, bugs, and plant bugs)
Bark lice, Psocoptera
Pictures of Psocoptera (book lice)
Amazing Cicada life cycle - Sir David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth - BBC wildlife

Vocabulary Added:
hemipterodean: half-winged

Activity:
Draw a book louse, aphid, and cicada
Go to creek; find cicada and waterboatman
Add hemipterodea to Animal Kingdom tree

Arthropods - Insecta - Neoptera - Holometabola - Coleoptera

(beetles)
Jewels of the Insect World - Amazing Tropical Beetles
African Dung Beetles
Click Beetles
BeetleFight2
Fireflies near the Hudson River (NYC)

Fireflies in the Night by Judy Hawes
Ladybugs by Cheryl Coughlan
Beetles by Cheryl Coughlan

Vocabulary Added:
coleoptera: hidden-wing

Activity:
Draw and label parts of a beetle
Go outside and catch some beetles
Add coleoptera to Animal Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Review

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Gerladine McCaughrean, Chapter 10, "The Plant of Life"

Activity:
Map Review (major cities, bodies of water, areas, habitations)
Chapter 10 Narration

Arthropods - Insecta - Neoptera - Holometabola - Hymenoptera

(ants, bees, and wasps)
The Ichneumon Wasp
NATURE | Silence of the Bees | Inside the Hive | PBS
Ants create a lifeboat in the Amazon jungle - BBC Wildlife
Could you pass the bullet ant test?

World of Animals vol 27.  "Wasps, Ants, Bees..."
Wasps at Home by Bianca Lavies
Busy Ants by Kristin L. Nelson
The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre and Patricia J. Wynne

Vocabulary Added:
hymenoptera: membrane-winged

Activity:
Draw and label parts of an ant, bee, wasp
Go outside and locate ants, bees, and wasps.  Be careful.

Mesopotamia - Sumer - Food and Medicine

Story Time:

Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 9: "The Bread of Sorrow"

Activity:
Listening to medical prescriptions from Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Narration of chapter 7

Arthropods - Insecta - Neoptera - Holometabola - Lepidoptera

(butterflies and moths)
Monarch butterfly - amazing migration
Butterfly eggs and caterpillar survival - Life in the Undergrowth - BBC Attenborough
The Clear Wing Hummingbird Moth

From Egg to Butterfly by Shannon Zemlicka
A Butterfly is Patient by Diana Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long

Vocabulary Added:
lepidoptera: scale-wing

Activity:
Draw and label parts of a butterfly, moth
Go outside and catch butterflies
Add lepidoptera to the Animal Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Sumer - The Flood

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 8: "Faraway"

Activity:
Picture study of Gilgamesh clay tablets in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Discussion: where do sources come from?  Comparison to Noah
Narration of chapter 8

Mesopotamia - Assyria - War

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 7: "Give Up"

Activity:
Map Study: Assyria
Picture study of Assyrian art in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Discussion: size of population, kinds of wars made, territory changing hands
Narration of chapter 7

Arthropods - Insecta - Neoptera - Holometabola - Diptera

(flies, mosquitos)
Invasive Fire Ants lose heads to flies
The Mosquito

Flying Mosquitos by Janet Piehl
Flies by Larry Dane Brimmer

Vocabulary Added:
holometabola: whole-change
diptera: two-winged

Activity:
Draw and label a fly, mosquito
Go on "sight-seeing" field trip.  Look for flies, mosquitos, larvae
Add dipterans to the Animals Kingdom tree

Mesopotamia - Babylon - The Hanging Gardens

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 6: "Afraid of Nothing"

Activity:
Picture study of Babylonian map, ruins/reconstructions in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Narration of chapter 6

Mesopotamia - Babylon - Law and Justice

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 5: "Death"

Activity:
Map Study: Babylon
Picture study of Hammurabi's Code Stela in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Read some of the code; discuss numerous death penalty offenses
Narration of chapter 5

Arthropods - Insecta - Neoptera - Orthopterodea

Cockroaches
Praying Mantis Attacks Snake!
Termite World - Life in the Undergrowth - BBC Attenborough
Plagues of Locusts - Wild Africa - BBC

Cricket by Heather L. Miller
Leaping Grasshoppers by Christine Zuchora-Walske

(Cockroaches, Mantids, Termites, Stoneflies, Grasshoppers, Earwigs, Stick and Leaf Insects)

Vocabulary Added:
neoptera: new-wing
orthopterodea: straight-winged-like

Activity:
Catch some grasshoppers, earwigs, and possibly a mantis.  Avoid cockroaches and termites.
Draw and label a praying mantis and other orthopterans
Add orthoptera to Animal Kingdom tree (praying mantis)

Mesopotamia - Sumer - Gods and Goddesses

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 4: "Marry Me"

Activity:
Discussion: Sumeria religious beliefs and cult
Picture study of Gate of Ishtar in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Narration of chapter 5

Arthropods - Insecta - Apterygotes and Palaeopterans

Handfeeding a Dragonfly
Mayfly swarming - Wild Wonders of Europe

Dragonflies by Cheryl Coughlan

Vocabulary Added:
apterygote: no-wings
palaeoptera: primitive-wing

Activity:
Walk to creek; look for dragonfly
Draw and label a dragonfly, mayfly, or damselfly
Add paleopterans to the Animal Kingdom tree

Arthropods - Insecta - Overview

Invertebrates Insects | Biology 
10 Extremely Dangerous Insects

Field Guide to Insects and Spiders - National Audubon Society
First Field Guide to Insects - National Audubon Society
Bug Faces by Darlyne A. Murawski
Biggest Bugs by George Beccaloni

Vocabulary Added:
insecta: cut in sections

Activity:
Add insect branch to Animal Kingdom tree
Go hunt for insects outside

Mesopotamia - Sumer - Writing

Story Time:

Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 3: "Do or Die"

Activity:
Picture study of cuneiform in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Narration of chapter 3

Mesopotamia - Sumer - Cities

Story Time:

Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 2: "Tamed by a Kiss"

Activity:
Picture study of Uruk in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Narration of chapter 2

Arthropods - Trilobitomorpha

Dinosaurs: a visual encyclopedia by DK Publishing

Vocabulary Added:
trilobitomorpha: three-lobed

Activity:
Draw and label parts of a trilobite
Add trilobites to the Animal Kingdom tree

Arthropods - Tardigrada

Insects and Arthropods

Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies

Vocabulary Added:
arthropod: joint-foottardigrade: slow-step

Activity:
Draw and label parts of a tardigrade
Add arthropoda to Animal Kingdom tree; add tardigrades

Mesopotamia - Geography

Story Time:
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean and David Parkins, chapter 1: "Heaven Sent"

Activity:
Color and label map of the Fertile Crescent, identify major rivers, bodies of water, regions, cities
Picture study of Gilgamesh in Ancients in their Own Words: Mesopotamia
Narration of chapter 1