Ancient Egypt for Elementary
Friday, January 25, 2008
We are using The Story of the World, vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer for history. I bought the book, but not the companion activity book. Here's what we are doing (and plan to do) instead.
(Hey, I need to put our lesson plan somewhere where I'll be able to find it in 2 years when we do this all over again. I've got several more 2nd grade students to go!)

We'll be putting a timeline on the wall and mapping the various lessons. I really like this book because it interweaves the different cultures. We're studying ancient Egypt, then the Mesopotamians, then the Hebrew people and Abraham, and then it ties it back to Egypt with the story of Jospeh.

Ch. 2 - Egyptians lived on the Nile river

The Nile Delta; Upper and Lower Egypt
  • We made a model of the Nile river in a box lid out of sand clay, including the mountainous region so the kids could see that Upper Egypt is actually south of the delta, and at the bottom of the map.
  • We looked up the Nile delta on Google Earth

King Narmur unites Upper and Lower Egypt
  • We made Pharoah Bear! We made the white crown, red crown, then put them together. We're using a teddy bear and dressing him like a pharoah instead of making real costumes for the kids to wear.
How to Make Egyptian Head Attire

Egyptian Myths; Osiris and Set
  • Used the story for narration
  • Drew an illustration of the story

Ch. 3 - The First Writing
Cuneiform
  • Modeling clay fun, of course! Used a popsicle stick to make marks. Children wrote their name by pressing the stick into the clay, then wrote their name on paper. Discussed how long it took to write even a single word in the clay.
  • Looked up examples of cuneiform online. Found this alphabet. Talked about why cuneiform used straight lines instead of curved ones.
  • Followed a brief rabbit trail into tally marks and Roman numerals.
Heiroglyphics
A nice chart of heiroglyphics
Printable templates of heiroglyphics
  • Using these charts and this clay, we will make cartouches of our names. (Note: I buy a big tub of cornstarch at Sam's Club. It comes in a square jar and I can't wait to use it up so I can repurpose that jar!)
  • Put chart of heiroglyphics on wall.
  • After clay dries, we will set them aside for our papyrus lesson

Papyrus
  • Saw and touched an actual papyrus plant (A good friend is growing them here in SC)
  • We may attempt to make our own papyrus; if not with actual reeds, with paper pulp.
  • We will write our names with ink on paper, then compare with our cartouche - which is better? Better for portability, easier to stroe in a library? Which is more likely to last several thousand years? Which is heavier? Waterproof?

Ch. 4 - The Old Kingdom of Egypt
Mummies
  • Mummify Pharoah bear with 2" gauze, or more likely, toilet paper.
  • Tomb diorama (maybe)
  • I told husband dear about an activity that actually mummifies chicken livers, hearts, etc. and put them into jars... he vetoed that pretty quickly!
Pyramids
Sphinx
  • Discuss animal characteristics of the Sphinx.
  • Color Sphinx picture
  • Find Sphinx on Google Earth
  • Draw our own sphinx creatures, with head of people and bodies of animals.
  • Tell riddles
  • Maybe we'll make one. This one, or perhaps make another batch of sand clay and form it.

Other links:
Great Ancient Egypt coloring pages

Making Egyptian Materials

Very nice bookmarks to print

Comprehensive and includes challenges and games - a beautiful and informative site from the British Museum

More coloring pages

More activities than we could possibly do in a month

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posted by Milehimama @ Mama Says at 1/25/2008 09:17:00 AM | Permalink | |