“Mesopotamia Times” Project You are a reporter living in Mesopotamia at the time of the Sumerian city-states. You will work in groups of four to create a newspaper for the city-state of Uruk. The front page headline article should be on some aspect of the story of Gilgamesh. You must create three other articles on your choice of the following subjects: business (trade), religion, government (kings), culture, farming, or new technology. Feel free to add other articles, or create a comic, advertisement and/or crossword puzzle to add to your newspaper. See back of this page for additional guidelines. Format: You must use a Microsoft Office newsletter template. You may choose one of the family and/or Christmas newsletters. Each article must contain at least one picture. Schedule: Thursday – computer lab workday Friday – computer lab workday Newspaper will be due on Saturday, September 29 Grading: Answer the five W’s 20 points (5 pts. per article) Writing and Grammar 20 points (5 pts. per article) Accurate historical facts 20 points (1 pt. for each fact up to 5 per article) Quality of pictures/captions 4 points (1 pt. for each picture up to 4 in total) Headlines 4 points (1 pt. for each article) Use of quotes 4 points (1 pt. for each article) Picture captions 2 points (½ pt. for each picture up to 2 in total) Creative (added items) 6 points Total 80 points

Other things to note:

1. make sure to create an interesting name for your paper

2. make sure each article has an attention grabbing headline

3. make sure each photo has a caption which goes well with the photo

4. make sure each article answers the questions: who, what, when, where and why

5. make sure each article has a quote from an “eye witness”

6. use as many facts about Sumer as you can – at least 5 for each article

7. write from the point of view of a Sumerian reporter; similar to what you might have read in a real newspaper (if you lived there and they had them then – which of course they didn’t); this is not a research report.

8. Cite your sources – you can put them on a separate page and submit them with your paper.

9. use any part of the Gilgamesh story you choose – it could be the part in the textbook about the “civilizing” of Enkidu, or about when Enkidu meets Gilgamesh for the first time, the adventures of Gilgamesh and Enkidu fighting Humbaba or the Heavenly Bull, Enkidu’s reaction when he learns he will die, Gilgamesh’s reaction to Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh’s meeting Utnapishtin, etc.

10. Some websites you can use to get more details on Gilgamesh story http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasia/literature/gilgamesh.htm http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/189673/Epic-of-Gilgamesh http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/gilgamesh.html