New: free 4th & 5th grade mini-DBQs! Get them free. Full grade 4 and 5 DBQs are coming soon.

KentuckySocial Studies Corner
★ Inquiry DBQ Series · Grade 6 · Coming soon

Was Egypt the Gift of the Nile?

Did the Nile make Egypt, or did the Egyptians?

Herodotus called Egypt "a gift of the river." Students weigh his account, the Hymn to the Nile, the farming calendar and a tomb painting to decide how much credit goes to the river and how much to the people.

Grade 6Ancient EgyptGeographyGoogle Slides2–3 class periodsComing soon

Get an email when it launches. Join the list and I’ll let you know the day this DBQ is ready.

What's included

  • Student DBQ packet: hook, background reading, Documents A–F with original and modified text, "River or People?" organizer, two formative checks, C.E.R. essay and 4-level rubric
  • Teacher guide: standards, pacing, answer key and a sample response

The documents

  • Document A: Herodotus: Egypt is "a gift of the river"
  • Document B: Herodotus: farming after the flood
  • Document C: Hymn to the Nile: what the river gives
  • Document D: Hymn to the Nile: when the river fails
  • Document E: The three seasons of the Egyptian year
  • Document F: A tomb painting of farmers at work

Herodotus (Macaulay, 1890) and the Hymn to the Nile (Thatcher, 1907), public domain.

Good to know

Class time
2–3 class periods
Format
Editable Google Slides
Answer key
Included

Standards: KAS Grade 6: 6.H.CE.1, 6.G.HE.1, 6.I.UE.1, 6.I.CC.1