Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to describe how your own daily life differs from the lives of young people in early societies, whatever their background. The curriculum asks for a few societies, including a First Nation and an Inuit society; the museum offers medieval Islamic records of where small children were raised and where children were taught, and these records do not cover children's work or play, so your class must bring the other societies and those parts of childhood. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- A1.3 describe some of the ways in which their daily life differs from the lives of young people from different backgrounds […] in a few early societies, including at least one First Nation and one Inuit society […]
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
Where did you spend your days when you were small?
The expectations ask you to compare your daily life with that of young people from different backgrounds, such as town or country. Set your own first years and your school next to what each record says about a child's place and teacher.
Go deeper
The Sealed Nectar says the Arabs of the towns sought wet-nurses for their children among the desert people, to keep them from the diseases of the towns, to strengthen their bodies and firm their nerves, and to master the Arabic tongue in their cradle 2. The child remained in the desert for two years until weaning 3. In Cairo, the sabil-kuttab was a two-storey structure: below, a public fountain dispensing water; above, a Qur'an school for children 4.
Think about it
One child spent two years in the desert, and another was taught in a school above a fountain in Cairo. Whose day is closer to your own, and why?
Into the museum
- Sending infants to Bedouin wet-nurses: how the custom worked and how long the child stayed.
- The sabil-kuttab: the building that put water and a school in one place in Cairo.
Try this
Read the records on sending infants to Bedouin wet-nurses and on the sabil-kuttab. Write three sentences that begin "I differ from this child because ...", using only what the records say.
4 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
5 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Sending infants to Bedouin wet-nurses have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Babies sent to the desert. Al-Raheeq al-Makhtum says the Arabs of the towns used to seek wet-nurses for their babies among the desert people, to keep them from the diseases of the towns, strengthen their bodies and firm their nerves, and let them master Arabic in the cradle. In the case the book tells, the child stayed in the desert for two years until weaning. Who looks after babies in your family?
In your own words: what does Sabil-kuttab have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A school above a fountain. Yeomans describes the sabil-kuttab as a two-storey structure: below, a public fountain dispensing water through iron window grilles; above, a Qur'an school for children, known by its open windows and balconies. The combination became a feature of fifteenth-century mosque architecture in Cairo and later appeared as a separate building. How is the place where you learn different from a kuttab?
I can now