Dear Fourth and Fifth-Grade Families,

Last week, our class studied Ancient Mesopotamia. The students drew a detailed map of Mesopotamia, located in the Fertile Crescent, surrounded by the Arabian Desert in the West and the Taurus and Zagros Mountains in the North and East. They drew the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which flow towards the south and join shortly before they empty into the Persian Gulf.

The class learned about the yearly floods of the two rivers, which deposited rich silt along their banks and made the land perfect for farming. The Ancient Mesopotamians invented the plow and the wheel, and they used bricks for their buildings. They developed a rich culture and built large cities with ziggurats, which were pyramid-like, multi-tiered temple buildings to house the local gods, and also used these to observe the stars. At the end of the week, the students had the opportunity to work together to build two ziggurats out of clay.

The students also enjoyed an activity around the Mesopotamian cuneiform writing method. Cuneiform writing, which was done with a reed stylus on clay tablets, is the oldest known form of writing. To round up the block, the students listened to stories from ancient Mesopotamia. One story preserved in cuneiform is the story of King Gilgamesh and his best friend, Enkidu.

Announcements and Reminders:

Please remember to help your child practice their typing skills at least 4x a week!
The first Community Work Day of the Spring Semester is on Saturday, February 3rd, from 10:00 - 12:00. Please come if you are able, and add to your volunteer hours! Children are welcome, and there are typically both indoor and outdoor tasks available.
Please also plan to join us for the All School Meeting following the work day at 12:30. A soup lunch will be served at noon, and the meeting should be around an hour to an hour and a half long. The meeting is a grownups-only event.
Teacher Conferences are just around the corner! This Spring semester, they will be held February 8th and 9th. Please sign up for your child’s conference here.

Upcoming Events:

2/3 First Grade Risers Informational Meeting - 11:15 a.m.
2/3 Community Work Day 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
2/3 All School Meeting 12:30 p.m.
2/8 Half Day - Parent Conferences
2/9 No School - Parent Conferences
2/19-2/23- Mid-Winter Break (No School)
2/26- Teacher Inservice (No School)

Best regards,

Gaby