The Islamic Golden Age: Scholars of Baghdad and Beyond

SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · World History
SP-WORLDH-005 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
The Islamic Golden Age: Scholars of Baghdad
and Beyond
Social Studies · World History · Grades 9-10 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). No other prep.
Technology
None.
Student
independence
High. Students read and work on their own; the sorting task works well with a partner.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet
Goal for today: Students will identify major scholars and achievements of the Islamic Golden Age and sort them into
fields such as mathematics, medicine and optics.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Write on the board: Caliph = the political and religious leader of a Muslim empire. Abbasid = the dynasty that
ruled from Baghdad.
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk. Every answer is in the reading.
☐ Dates for people are approximate; accept answers that say “about.”
Say this to start
Good morning! Today in world history you will read about the Islamic Golden Age, a period when scholars in cities like
Baghdad made important advances in math, medicine, and science. You will match scholars to what they did and then
sort achievements into groups. All the answers are in the reading, so read carefully.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance the way the school requires. Hand out the
worksheet and read the board definitions aloud.
Settle in and take out a pencil.
5–15
Tell students to read the passage silently and underline
each person’s name.
Read and underline names.
15–23
Tell students to complete the matching section (questions
1–5).
Match each person to what they did.
23–33
Tell students to complete the sorting chart by writing a
field in each row. The word bank lists the four fields.
Sort the six achievements into fields.
33–43
Tell students to answer questions 6–9 (multiple choice and
true/false).
Answer questions 6–9.
43–50
Tell students to write answers to questions 10 and 11, then
collect all worksheets and stack them for the teacher.
Write answers and hand in the worksheet.

SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · World History
SP-WORLDH-005 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
If things go wrong
• If students say they cannot pronounce the names, tell them it is fine; no pronunciation is graded.
• If students ask whether the Golden Age “invented” everything, say the passage describes scholars who
preserved and built on earlier work from several cultures.
• If students say a sorting item could fit two fields, tell them to choose the best fit and be ready to explain.
• If students finish early, direct them to the early finisher list.
Early finishers
• Write a short diary entry from the point of view of a scholar arriving in Baghdad. Include two details from the
reading.
• Make up a simple word problem that uses the idea of “balancing” both sides of an equation, then solve it.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students complete the matching and sorting sections with a partner and skip question 11.
• Challenge: Ask students to explain in a paragraph why translating books from many languages helped
science advance.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: