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Scribe School on Clay Tablets

5th grade nonfiction passage about mesopotamian scribe school: 180 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction mesopotamian scribe school 180 words

Scribe School on Clay Tablets

Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in the land called Mesopotamia, people wrote on clay. A student shaped wet clay into a smooth tablet small enough to hold in one hand. Then the student pressed the end of a cut reed into the clay to make wedge-shaped marks. This kind of writing is called cuneiform, a word that means shaped like a wedge.

Children who wanted to become scribes went to a school known as a tablet house. Scribes were trained writers who kept records for temples, palaces, and merchants. At school, a teacher wrote lines on a tablet. The students copied them onto their own tablets again and again until every sign was right. They also practiced counting and learned long lists of words.

If a tablet was no longer needed, the clay could be wet and used again. Clay dries hard, though, so many tablets were saved. Some have lasted for thousands of years. Diggers have found practice tablets with mistakes in them, which shows that even long ago, students had to try, fail, and try again.

Questions

  1. What did people in Mesopotamia write on? in the text

  2. What tool did students press into the clay? in the text

  3. What does the word cuneiform mean? in the text

  4. What was the job of a scribe? in the text

  5. How did students get better at writing at a tablet house? think about it

  6. What does a practice tablet with mistakes tell us? think about it

Words to know

tablet
a flat piece of clay used for writing
reed
a tall, thin plant that grows near water
cuneiform
an ancient kind of writing made of wedge-shaped marks
scribes
trained people who wrote and kept records
merchants
people who buy and sell goods
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 162 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.7

Long ago, people in Mesopotamia wrote on clay. This land lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A student shaped wet clay into a small, smooth tablet. Then the student pressed the end of a cut reed into the clay. The reed made marks shaped like wedges. This writing is called cuneiform. The word means shaped like a wedge.

Some children went to a school called a tablet house to become scribes. A scribe was a trained writer. Scribes kept records for temples, palaces, and merchants. At school, the teacher wrote lines on a tablet. The students copied them again and again until every sign was right. They also practiced counting and learned long lists of words.

If a tablet was not needed, the clay could be wet and used again. But clay dries hard, so many tablets were saved. Some have lasted for thousands of years. Diggers have found practice tablets with mistakes. Long ago, students had to try again too.

▲ This passage · 180 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.5

Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in the land called Mesopotamia, people wrote on clay. A student shaped wet clay into a smooth tablet small enough to hold in one hand. Then the student pressed the end of a cut reed into the clay to make wedge-shaped marks. This kind of writing is called cuneiform, a word that means shaped like a wedge.

Children who wanted to become scribes went to a school known as a tablet house. Scribes were trained writers who kept records for temples, palaces, and merchants. At school, a teacher wrote lines on a tablet. The students copied them onto their own tablets again and again until every sign was right. They also practiced counting and learned long lists of words.

If a tablet was no longer needed, the clay could be wet and used again. Clay dries hard, though, so many tablets were saved. Some have lasted for thousands of years. Diggers have found practice tablets with mistakes in them, which shows that even long ago, students had to try, fail, and try again.

■ Harder · 185 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.5

In the ancient land of Mesopotamia, which lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, people recorded their words on clay. A student would shape wet clay into a smooth tablet small enough to hold in one hand, and then press the end of a cut reed into its surface to produce wedge-shaped marks. This style of writing is known as cuneiform, a word that means shaped like a wedge.

Children who hoped to become scribes attended a school called a tablet house. Scribes were trained writers who maintained records for temples, palaces, and merchants. In class, a teacher inscribed lines on a tablet, and the students copied them onto their own tablets repeatedly until every sign was correct. They also practiced counting and memorized long lists of words.

When a tablet was no longer needed, the clay could be moistened and used again. However, clay dries hard, and so many tablets were kept, and some have survived for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found practice tablets that contain mistakes, which shows that even in ancient times, students had to try, fail, and try again.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put tablet, reed, cuneiform, scribes and merchants on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Scribe School on Clay Tablets"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 180 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.5. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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