Hammurabi's Code

While teaching Ancient Mesopotamia/Sumer, I want to focus on Hammurabi's code for the following reasons:

1. It highlights the political structure that Sumer developed 

2. The code of laws shows the challenges surrounding developing a civilization

3. The laws themselves reveal how the people felt about religion, their responsibilities, etc. (You can see people's values shine through in their laws)

4. Students can connect with living under laws and are at the age where they are starting to be affected by laws (Why should there be a law about the driving age?  About drinking? What if you were caught stealing from GAP?  What should be the consequence of your crime?)

I came across this great lesson plan while researching on the internet.  I will need to pear it down because I am fitting Ancient Sumer/Hammurabi's code into one day, but I really like the opening attention grabber (what are the positives and negatives of living in a large community? make a list of each on the board) and the stations.  I think the activity leads to a lot of interaction, discussion and possibly debate. 

Yay!