Lisa Hook

History 411

Professor Pollard

2/3/04

Weekly Journal Writing #3

    For this week's journal, I am choosing the thematic topic of food production in early India and China.   After looking over the sample student activities in Bring History Alive! , I have selected a few that I feel are relevant to the topic of food production.   I have narrowed the activities down to ones specific to grades five or six.   Our other textbook, Traditions and Encounters (TE) provides me background knowledge to give me the foundation I need to teach the activities that I will talk about.

    The first activity is on page 72, the second bulleted point.   It says to locate the Tigris-Euphrates, Indus, and the Nile on a map and compare their geographic features and how they are relevant in affecting agriculture and food supplies.   It also asks why civilizations develop near rivers that flooded?   Based on the readings in TE, I learned that while the Nile River is somewhat predictable, the Indus is not and often floods its banks.   By the rivers flooding, it provides water for crops without complicated irrigation systems, to communities farther away from the rivers.   Civilizations often develop near rivers because for one the soil is usually very fertile, which makes for healthy crops.   There is a map (4.1) in TE that shows the major civilizations of 2000 B.C.E, all surrounding a major river.

    The second activity is on page 75, under “B” the second bulleted point.   The activity says to compare technologies used in ancient agricultural societies with those used today in industrialized and agricultural settings.   What are the advantages and disadvantages of the newer technologies?   By living near rivers, it allowed for trade among other civilizations.   By being able to trade various goods such as, gold, silver, copper, lead, gems and semiprecious gems, it gave them the resources to make metal tools.   By having these new tools, it allowed farmers to more effectively cultivate the land.