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History, Civics & Social Studies · Grade 6

River Civilizations and Institutions

Learners locate the first river-valley civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and China and explain how floods, silt and irrigation made cities possible. They identify the institutions that held these societies together, read short excerpts of Hammurabi's laws as a primary source, and write a comparison of two civilizations backed by evidence.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 95 minutes
  • River civilizations check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: fill in the blanks, choose an answer, highlight a text, pick map regions, match pairs and type a number
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What learners will discover

  • Locate the Tigris–Euphrates, Nile, Indus and Yellow River valleys and explain how river environments supported early cities.
  • Identify institutions of early civilizations (government, religion, writing, law, specialized work and social classes) with examples from each river valley.
  • Source and closely read excerpts from Hammurabi's laws to make supported inferences about Babylonian society, including the limits of the source.
  • Compare two river civilizations and write a claim about a similarity or difference supported by evidence.

Lessons

  1. Rivers make cities possible 6 steps4 practiceabout 22 min
  2. Institutions that hold a civilization together 6 steps3 practiceabout 25 min
  3. Reading Hammurabi's laws 7 steps4 practiceabout 25 min
  4. Comparing river civilizations 4 steps3 practiceabout 23 min
  5. River civilizations check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

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Guide for grown-ups