Ancient Mesopotamia G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart

In this activity students will break down what they have learned about Ancient Mesopotamia in a G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart. There are many different acronyms that can be helpful when analyzing ancient civilizations and this one is widely used. However, teachers may use whatever they prefer and can simply change the titles in the template.

G: Geography

1. Where was Ancient Mesopotamia located?
2. What physical features did it have?
3. What was the climate like?
4. What natural resources were present?
5. How does the location or environment affect the development of Ancient Greek civilization? (How does where they live affect how they live?)

R: Religion

1. What type of religion did Ancient Mesopotamians practice?
2. Who were the religious leaders?
3. Who were their god(s)/goddess(es)?
4. How did people worship?
5. Were there any unique burial practices or beliefs about the afterlife?

A: Achievements

What were some key inventions or contributions of Ancient Mesopotamia in the areas of:

1. Art
2. Architecture
3. Writing
4. Irrigation
5. Inventions
6. Mathematics
7. Astronomy

P: Politics

1. What type of government did Ancient Mesopotamia have?
2. Who were the leaders?
3. How were decisions made?
4. What role did people play in the government?
5. What was the structure of the government?

E: Economics

1. What were Ancient Mesopotamia’s natural resources? What did they make and grow?
2. With whom did Ancient Mesopotamia trade? What were their imports and exports?
3. What jobs were available?
4. What type of currency exists?

S: Society

1. What were the social classes of Ancient Mesopotamia?
2. What were the roles of men, women and children?
3. What groups have rights and what rights do they have?
4. What groups don’t have rights?
5. What were people’s daily lives like?

Using a G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart to organize information about Ancient Civilizations is a useful tool to enhance students' analysis of the characteristics and contributions of a society. Going further and including visuals helps students to better retain the details of each category.

When learning about Ancient Civilizations, students may need teachers to provide a variety of resources. The use of diverse resources such as primary sources, videos, songs, readings from textbooks, encyclopedias and literature can be helpful for students to gain an accurate and complete picture of the time period. Students can use graphic organizers to write notes about the different categories as they learn.

Students will then create a G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart using the template in Storyboard That and creating illustrations and descriptions to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Please note: Further activities utilize spider maps to expand on each category. By focusing on just one category, students are encouraged to include more information. Students can come together after they’ve created their storyboards to share what they’ve learned. The full G.R.A.P.E.S. Chart can be used as a pre or post assessment as well.

Due Date:

Objective: Create a chart that describes the different aspects of Ancient Mesopotamia: Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economy and Social Structure.

Student Instructions:

1. Click "Start Assignment".
2. Write a 1-3 sentence description of each cell.
3. Create an illustration that represents each category using appropriate scenes, characters, and items. To find images that relate to Ancient Mesopotamia, type “Mesopotamia” into the search bar.
4. Save and exit when you're done.