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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 9

Mesopotamia & Egypt

The first river valley civilizations

What your child practices

Why civilizations grew along the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile, cuneiform and hieroglyphs, Hammurabi's Code, pharaohs and pyramids.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: History 1 · Mesopotamia and Egypt: rivers, farming, laws and early writing

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Mesopotamia grew between the Tigris and Euphrates; Egypt grew along the Nile.
  2. The Nile's yearly flood left rich black soil. Deserts around Egypt protected it.
  3. Writing mattered: cuneiform, hieroglyphs, and written laws like Hammurabi's that everyone could know.

Example: Why was the Nile's yearly flood helpful? When the water went down, it left something behind. It left rich, black soil for farming. Answer: It left rich soil for farming.

Mesopotamia & Egypt in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 5 of 9 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Where Civilizations Grew and before Ancient India & China.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A scribe was…

    • A soldier
    • A pyramid stone
    • A farmer
    • A person trained to read and write

  2. Question 2

    What is the name of the writing system of Mesopotamia?

    • The alphabet of Rome
    • Sanskrit
    • Hieroglyphs
    • Cuneiform

  3. Question 3

    Mesopotamia means "land between the rivers." Which two rivers?

    • The Tigris and Euphrates
    • The Yellow and Yangtze
    • The Nile and Congo
    • The Indus and Ganges

  4. Question 4

    Egyptians preserved bodies by making…

    • Chinampas
    • Aqueducts
    • Mummies
    • Ziggurats

  5. Question 5

    Why was writing laws down important?

    • It made laws secret
    • People could know the rules and they applied more consistently
    • It let kings ignore them
    • It was only for decoration

  6. Question 6

    The Epic of Gilgamesh is…

    • A Roman road
    • A Chinese wall
    • One of the oldest written stories, from Mesopotamia
    • An Egyptian tomb

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