AbleMedia LLC

MEDFORD, MA - January 31, 2001 - How do you teach a fourth grader the difference between a rug rat and a ziggurat? "Send them to CTCWeb where they can find a thorough overview of ancient Mesopotamian culture designed to meet their needs," said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb Editor-in-Chief, when she announced that Ann Marie Dlott and her colleagues from Shrewsbury Public Schools in Massachusetts are this week's AbleMedia Bronze Chalice winners for Ancient Mesopotamia published on the Classics Technology Center on the Web (CTCWeb, http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb).

Through text, images, and links to CTCWeb and other resources, Ancient Mesopotamia introduced fourth-grade scholars to ancient Mesopotamian clothing, religion, and ziggurats, ancient monumental buildings. It also provides information on ancient Mesopotamian government, economics, and the important role that geographical location played in the success of the civilization. "Because of the difficult nature of the subject material, our goal was to create appropriate online resources for children at the fourth grade level," Dlott said. For educators, Dlott and her colleagues provide a thorough bibliography, a list of links to other Mesopotamian Websites, and several suggested classroom activities.

According to Dlott, the Massachusetts State Frameworks require that fourth grade students study ancient civilizations. "In response to this mandate, the Shrewsbury Public Schools sponsored a curriculum project in the summer of 1998 to develop an informational Website on Mesopotamia. Participants included classroom teachers and specialists," Dlott said. Shrewsbury teachers who participated in this project were Claire Donovan, Marcia Smith, Ann Marie Dlott, Rita Bolton, Neal Riley, Rita Innamorati, Laura Sweeney, and Terri Caffelle. "Over the past several years, our students have benefited from this effort and we are pleased that the site will now be more readily available to all students through CTCWeb," Dlott said.

Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/), the CTCWeb Showcase (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/), and CTCWeb Netshots™ (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots.html). Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.

AbleOne serves millions of educators, students, and other users in over 100 countries and the number of users is tripling annually. AbleOne’s CTCWeb is a repository of practical tools, for classicists and other educators, to enhance the use of computer technology in Classics education. At CTCWeb, students, educators and others find the free dissemination and open exchange of practical educational materials, systems, and applications by individuals and organizations involved in the Classics community. AbleMedia sponsors CTCWeb as part its AbleOne Education Network.

The AbleOne Education Network (AbleOne) is an online educational resource for millions of educators and students at the K-12 and post secondary levels around the globe. For seven years, AbleOne’s has used the Internet to provide quality teaching and learning materials to its rapidly growing corps of dedicated users: educators, students, and other curious minds worldwide. For more about AbleOne go to http://ablemedia.com/ableone.

The Internet’s #1 search engine loves AbleOne. AbleOne’s educational materials routinely appear among the top five results for Google keyword searches within the educational disciplines covered by AbleOne’s Centers.

AbleMedia LLC is a global management and technology consulting firm. For over a quarter of a century, we have served the best, the brightest and the biggest in business, technology, and education. AbleMedia can be found on the Web at http://ablemedia.com.