For students: We hope this guide will help sharpen your reading skills and deepen your understanding of this issue’s articles.

For teachers: We encourage reproduction and adaptation of these ideas, freely and without further permission from Saudi Aramco World, by teachers at any level, whether working in a classroom or through home study.

— THE EDITORS

Class Activities

In this issue, Saudi Aramco World includes a calendar. But unlike most calendars, this one shows two distinct but related ways of measuring time: The Gregorian calendar for 2011, and the hijri calendar for 1432–1433. The Classroom Guide takes this once-a-year opportunity to organize lessons around the theme Measuring Time. It aims to engage students in an exploration of these two calendars, and of calendars in general.

Theme: Measuring Time

Do you ever think about your calendar? Not just what you might mark on it—due dates, doctor appointments, birthdays, social events—but about the calendar itself? In the activities that follow, you'll step into the world of calendars, the world in which we decide how we measure time.

Why do people use calendars?

Let's start the exploration of calendars with your experience and the experiences of those around you. Take a calendar inventory. Jot down notes to answer these questions: Do you have your own copy of a calendar? If so, what kinds of things do you keep track of on it? Is it a paper calendar or an electronic calendar? (If you have more than one, what are the differences among them?) Do you keep it with you all the time? If you have a calendar, write a few sentences about what you use it for, what it would be like if you lost it, and whether or not you really need it. If you don't have a calendar, write a few sentences about that. Can you imagine a situation in your life when a calendar might be useful? What would that be, and how would a calendar help?

Next, expand your inquiry and look at how other people use (or don't use) calendars. With a small group of your classmates, use the questions you answered about your calendar use as the basis for a calendar survey. The goal of your survey is to find out the calendar habits of people you know. For starters, you'll want to discover who does and who doesn't use a calendar. That means your survey should include a place to gather data about the people filling it out. At the very least you'll probably want to know their age and occupation. Then you'll want to discover what they use the calendar for—work, school, social events, holidays and so on. How often do they consult their calendar? What would happen if they lost it? You think of more questions. Bring your survey to a class discussion in which groups share their survey questions. Have the teacher write the questions on the board. Out of the class's efforts, make one survey form that everyone can use.

Then distribute the survey to the people in your household and have them fill it out. Also notice if there's a household calendar (maybe posted on the refrigerator?) that has different household members' commitments marked on it. If your household has such a calendar, fill out a survey form about it. Make some notes about how it differs from the calendars that individuals keep.

Bring your findings back to the class, and tally them. As a class, look for patterns. For example, do you notice any correlation between people's ages and their using or not using a calendar? Any correlation between people's occupations and their using or not using a calendar? Is there a particular group for whom calendars are very important, people who would despair without their calendars? Use the survey data to generate class answers to this question: Why do people use calendars?

What do you need to know to understand calendars?

Vocabulary

Step back for a moment from your survey data and look at a bigger picture—at what's behind a calendar. Read "Patterns of Moon, Patterns of Sun." As you read, highlight or circle calendar-related or time-related words that you don't know. When you're done reading, pair up with another student to define the words. Are there any that you can figure out from the context? If so, write what you think the definition is, then check a dictionary to see if you're right. As you write definitions for the words, go back to the article and reread the sentences, using your definitions instead of the vocabulary words. Once you've done that, you're ready to move on to the next part of the activity.

The Physical Reality

"Patterns of Moon, Patterns of Sun" talks about lunar calendars and solar calendars. To help you understand what each type of calendar measures, try this activity: Clear a large space in the classroom. Assign one person the role of the sun, another the role of the moon, and a third the role of Earth. Then assign each of four students to play the first day of each season: spring, summer, autumn, winter. Make signs for all these people that identify their roles. Signs should be big enough for people anywhere in the room to be able to read. The "characters" can hold their signs or wear them. Have the sun stand in the center of the room, with the four seasons at right angles from each other around the sun, as far away from the sun as space permits.

Begin the movement of the system, one part at a time. For starters, have the earth stand still, and have the moon walk slowly around it to simulate the moon revolving around the earth. When the moon has circled the earth once, stop. What period of time have you just symbolically enacted? From what you've read (and your prior knowledge), what does what you've just done have to do with a lunar calendar?

Now, to keep it simple, have the moon take a break so you can focus on the solar calendar. Have the earth walk slowly around the sun. Stop briefly at each of the four dates that mark the start of the seasons. Then keep going until the earth has made a full circle around the sun. What, then, is a solar year?

Now put the pieces together. As the earth circles the sun, have the moon circle the earth. Each time the moon make a complete circle around the earth, have the moon call out: "The moon has circled the earth." According to the article, how many times should the moon circle the earth in the time it takes the earth to circle the sun? In other words, how many lunar months are in a solar year?

Why do different societies measure time in different ways?

Now that you've got a sense of the basic physical reality behind calendars, return to "Patterns of Moon, Patterns of Sun." The article reports that certain societies use lunar calendars, while others use solar, and some use a combination of the two. Why is the hijri calendar lunar? Why do you think the Gregorian calendar is a combination of the two (lunisolar)? Can you think of any benefits that one type of calendar would have over the other? If so, why do you think different societies choose one type of calendar over another?

Another aspect of measuring time that different groups do in different ways involves the epoch—or starting point—of the calendar system. Find and highlight the parts of the article that explain different starting points. Based on what you've read, what generalization can you make? Complete the following prompt to answer the question. "Societies choose the starting point for their calendars based on _____."

Why keep track of more than one system of measuring time? What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing so?

When you look at the 2011/1432–1433 calendar in Saudi Aramco World, you can see two different calendar systems—Gregorian and hijri—presented together. Look at the calendar's primary organization. Which calendar system is given primacy? How can you tell? Why do you think that is the case, rather than the other way around?

Certainly this calendar is a bit more complicated than calendars with one system only. Why, then, bother keeping track of two systems of measuring time on one calendar? Write a short statement explaining some of the benefits of this.

Think about other things that are measured using more than one system. For example, look at a box of cereal. What is the primary unit for measuring weight? What other unit of measuring weight is also used? During one day, look for other places where two different units of measure are used side by side. Bring in examples to share with your classmates. In each case, why do you think two systems are used? How do your hypothesized reasons compare to the reasons that the hijri calendar differs from the Gregorian calendar?

How would you measure time if you created your own personal calendar?

Now have some fun putting together what you've learned. Make your own calendar, based on your own way of measuring time. To start at the beginning, when would your calendar's epoch begin? Why would you choose that for a starting point? Then, when would a year start? Why? Would you break up the year? Why or why not? If so, how? What name would you give to your calendar system? Who else would find your system useful? Explain your thinking in a paragraph.

Then make your own calendar, using the Saudi Aramco World calendar as your model. Download or make a 2011 calendar (or a hijri one) and graft onto it your calendar, just the way the Saudi Aramco World grafted the Gregorian and hijri systems. Make your calendar something you could hang on the wall, with pictures, perhaps even a theme, just like the one you see here. Introduce your calendar with a short article, similar to "Patterns of Moon, Patterns of Sun," in which you explain the historical origins of your calendar, why it measures time the way it does, how it compares to the Gregorian and hijri calendars (as well as any others you wish to include), and what you believe to be the benefits of using your calendar. You can also write a short essay, similar to "Drinkers of the Wind," in which you explain the visual imagery you've chosen for your calendar.

 

JA10 Standards Alignment
McRel Standards

An Ottoman Garden Grows in St. Louis
World History
Standard 28. Understands how large territorial empires dominated much of Eurasia between the 16th and 18th centuries

Geography
Standard 7. Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface
Standard 8. Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on Earth's surface
Standard 10. Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics

Fire in the Nubian Sky
Science
Standard 3. Understands the composition and structure of the universe and the Earth's place in it
Standard 13. Understands the scientific enterprise

Geography
Standard 7. Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface
Standard 8. Understands the characteristics of ecosystems on Earth's surface

"Drinkers of the Wind"
Geography
Standard 10. Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics

Science
Standard 4. Understands the principles of heredity and related concepts
Standard 7. Understands biological evolution and the diversity of life

World History
Standard 27. Understands how European society experienced political, economic, and cultural transformations in an age of global intercommunication between 1450 and 1750

Patterns of Moon, Patterns of Sun
Science
Standard 3. Understands the composition and structure of the universe and the Earth's place in it

Geography
Standard 7. Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface
Standard 10. Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics

Historical Understanding
Standard 1. Understands and knows how to analyze chronological relationships and patterns
Standard 2. Understands the historical perspective

Russia's Window Turns 100
Geography
Standard 10. Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics

World History
Standard 27. Understands how European society experienced political, economic, and cultural transformations in an age of global intercommunication between 1450 and 1750
Standard 42. Understands major global trends from 1900 to the end of World War II
Standard 45. Understands major global trends since World War II

Julie Weiss is an education consultant based in Eliot, Maine. She holds a Ph.D. in American studies. Her company, Unlimited Horizons, develops social studies, media literacy, and English as a Second Language curricula,and produces textbook materials.