Text written by M. Jaime (Teacher at AIT La Garriga)
That is a difficult question! We do not know who invented school, but we know some things about the first schools in history: the ‘edubbas’.
Let’s travel
It is the time of the pharaohs and the pyramids, but we are not in Egypt —we are in Mesopotamia!
Mesopotamia is near Egypt, but far from our country!
Mesopotamia is near Egypt, but far from our country!
This is Sem
Hello! My name is Sem. I am eight years old. I live in Eridu, a city in Mesopotamia. I live in a small house with my parents. I have got two little sisters. I am a pupil at an ‘edubba’.
What do you do at an ‘edubba’?
An ‘edubba’ is a school for scribes. In Mesopotamia many people cannot read or write. Scribes are very important because they can read and write very well, they help people!
Every morning I get up, I have breakfast and I go to school. I read and write a lot because our alphabet is very difficult, look!
The name of this alphabet is ‘cuneiform’.
The name of this alphabet is ‘cuneiform’.
I study numbers too. Mathematics is my favourite subject!
These are numbers! Wow!
These are numbers! Wow!
My friends and I love going to school. What about you?
Your Turn!
1. What do you do at school?
2. What does your school look like?
3. Write secret messages to your friends using a fake cuneiform alphabet!
