Resources

About Iraq – Information Grid

This Information Grid can be a stand-alone activity, or form the basis of of the children's own research about Iraq.

There is a grid sheet and 20 cards with statements about 5 different categories. You will need to enlarge the grid sheets. The categories are:

People
Religion
Land
History
Cities

The children should work in at least 5 groups. Print one set of cards and 1 grid for each group.

Give out the cards. The children should share the responsibility for reading each card to the group, and place them on the correct section of the grid. They must all agree on where they are placed, and be prepared to justify their decision. Some cards may be justifiably placed in more than one category.

They should discuss if there was anything that surprised them in the information cards, and share this in a whole class discussion.

Allocate one category to each group. Using the information given, plus research from other books or the web, can each group come up with a piece of writing about their category? They could include some pictures and diagrams, e.g. timelines, if appropriate.

The resulting work could be combined to create a resource book for the library.

Download Cards and Grid in a pdf format

+ Iraq Cards

Arabic is the official language of Iraq.	In more recent times, many more people have moved to cities to find work.
About 95% of the people in Iraq are Muslims.	Plains make up the rest of Iraq. Two large rivers run through the plains. They are called the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.
Souks are markets where people go shopping. In the cities there are different souks for different goods and services. For example, there are carpet souks, silver souks and even doctor and dentist souks.	Women and older girls from traditional families, both in rural areas and cities, wear headscarves and long, dark cloaks called 'abayas' over their clothing.
Five per cent of people in Iraq are Christians.	A traditional item of clothing for men is a 'thobe', an ankle-length robe with long sleeves.
Northern Iraq's landforms include mountains. A group of people called the Kurds live in the foothills of the mountains.	The Syrian Desert covers the south west of Iraq. The desert has many dry valleys. Rivers flow in the valleys when rain falls.
There are two major groups of Muslims in Iraq. These are the followers of Shiah Islam and Sunni Islam.	The country of Iraq was created in 1921, but people have lived in this ancient land for tens of thousands of years.
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. Many buildings have been destroyed since the war.	The area now known as Iraq was once called Mesopotamia, which means 'land between the rivers' in Greek.
Iraqi farmers grow food and raise animals. The area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has rich farmland. Wheat, barley and rice are important crops.	The Sumerians settled in southern Mesopotamia around 3500 BC, in a region that became known as Sumer. They developed the first form of writing, called cuneiform.
Most of Iraq's people live in large cities, in apartment buildings or in houses made of cement, brick or stone. Roofs are usually flat.	The land where the Tigris and Euphrates meet is covered in marshes that are home to a semi-nomadic people called the Ma'dan.
Studying religion is a very important part of the school day. The children begin to learn about Islam when they are very young.	More than 4 million Kurds live in Iraq, mostly in the Kurdish Autonomous Region in the North and North-east of the country.

+ About Iraq

History	People	Land	Cities	Religion