Ancient Egypt

Internet Lesson Plan Grade level: K-3 Teacher Activities

Goal: To use Internet resources to explore interesting topics related to ancient Egypt. Objectives: At the end of the unit, the participant will be able to: Locate Egypt on a world map. Define ancient Egyptian vocabulary, such as Nile River, hieroglyphics, Rosetta Stone, cartouche, floods, farming, archaeologist, pharaohs, gods and goddesses, temple, amulet, scribes, mummy and pyramid. Describe what ancient Egyptians ate and wore. Compare and contrast ancient Egypt and current day Egypt. List the animals found in ancient Egypt. Discuss the important roles the Nile River played in ancient Egypt. Discuss flooding and how it affected farming in ancient Egypt. Write his/her name in hieroglyphics. Make his/her own cartouche. State the importance of the Rosetta Stone. Identify who was mummified in ancient Egypt. Describe the mummification process. State why pyramids were built and what their purposes were. Identify and describe the three different kinds of pyramids. Name a pyramid in Egypt. Duration: Two to three weeks, with to 1 hour online time each day.

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Instructional Strategy: Students should work in pairs or small groups and use the Internet stations to locate information pertinent to the topics. They can also print out pages necessary to complete off-line activities. These activities provide an opportunity for older students with Internet experience to serve as mentors or tutors for the younger student groups, giving assistance with advanced vocabulary on Internet sites. Students can keep research information on ancient Egypt in folders and should be encouraged to do additional reading and research both online and off-line. These activities are designed to be interdisciplinary in order for students to discover connections between all subject areas. Prerequisite: An introduction to the Internet, specifically the World Wide Web, on obtaining information using specific addresses as well as how to use a web browser. Students should also be familiar with the concept of "hypertext" so that they can do research at several levels. If students do not have an extended period of time to complete their research, bookmarks can and should be used. Other Projects: Projects that can be coordinated with this Internet activity are:

Activity #1: Life in Ancient Egypt

Find Egypt on a world map. Alphabetize vocabulary words on ancient Egypt. Be sure to capitalize proper nouns. The ancient Egyptians were the first to have cats as pets. Pretend you are an ancient Egyptian. Write a story about your pet cat. Be sure to give it a name. Illustrate with markers. The ancient Egyptians used their forearm as a unit of measurement. Measure various objects using your forearm. How could this be a problem? Pretend you live in ancient Egypt. Write about your life. Illustrate it. Using items around your house, dress up like an ancient Egyptian. Religion was an important part of life for ancient Egyptians. Find out more about their gods and goddesses at "ThinkQuest: Ancient Egypt: Ancient Egyptian Gods" at http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4368/gods.html. Who were the pharaohs? And what made them so special? Find out at "Mr. Dowling's Virtual Classroom: Ancient Egypt: The Pharaoh" at http://www.mrdowling.com/604-pharaoh.html. Take turns with your friends pretending to be a pharaoh.
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 Teacher: Create a vocabulary bulletin board on ancient Egypt. Include words like Nile River, hieroglyphics, Rosetta Stone, cartouche, floods, farming, archaeologist, pharaohs, gods and godesses, temple, amulet, scribes, mummy and pyramid. Arrange the words in the shape of a pyramid. Teacher: Discuss the use of the Egyptian calendar. Compare it to our calendar. Teacher: Discuss the life of the young pharaoh, Tutankhamen. Teacher: As a class, create a mural of an ancient Egyptian community. Include: hieroglyphics, the Sphinx, the Nile River, houses, people, pharaoh, farming along the Nile, building of pyramids, hunting, papyrus, craftsmen, gods and goddesses, animals and mummies. Teacher: Discuss what ancient Egyptians ate (mainly bread, beer and onions). They grew vegetables and fruits. They ate fish from the Nile, but meat was a special treat. Teacher: Discuss and demonstrate bartering, as the ancient Egyptians did using jugs of beer, loaves of bread, and sacks of grain. Teacher: Spray paint bricks gold. Compare their weight to our currency. Teacher: Egyptians used a shadow stick to measure time by the hour. As a class, make a shadow stick. Compare the time of your classroom clock with that of the shadow stick. Teacher: Discuss the types of animals in ancient Egypt (cats, fish, crocodiles, cobras, hippopotami).

Activity #2: The Nile River

Find the Nile River on a world map. Where does it begin? Into what body of water does it flow? The Nile is the longest river in the world. Make a scale, using the measurement of your choice. Draw its length on a piece of butcher paper. Go to "SeaWorld: Secrets of the Nile" at http://www.seaworld.org/Egypt/irrigation.html. Read the facts about the Nile River and print out the map of Egypt. Follow the directions to complete the activity at this site. See an ancient Egyptian boat that traveled the Nile River by going to "Carnegie Museum of Natural History: Life in Ancient Egypt: The Carnegie Boat" at http://www.clpgh.org/cmnh/tours/egypt/carnegieboat.html. Create a picture of you in a boat floating down the Nile in ancient Egypt using watercolors. Teacher: Discuss the important roles the Nile River had in ancient Egypt. Discuss its flooding and the silt on its banks for ten miles on each side. Teacher: Discuss how the weather and climate of ancient Egypt affected people's daily lives and work. Teacher: Discuss flooding and how it affected the farming in ancient Egypt.

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 Teacher: Combine soil and water in a clear jar. Put its top on and shake it. Observe and discuss the silting process. Teacher: Discuss how farming civilized the ancient Egyptians.

Activity #3: Hieroglyphics and art

Write a sentence using hieroglyphs. Make a small scale Egyptian city using modeling clay. Make a chart showing the Egyptian symbols for numbers. Draw a self-portrait only using your profile, as ancient Egyptians did in their art. View pictures of the Rosetta Stone by visiting "The Rosetta Stone" at http://www.cimmerii.demon.co.uk/therosettastone/. Make your own mask of a pharaoh, follow the directions at "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Build a Pharaoh" at http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/rose3d.html. Teacher: Discuss papyrus reed and how the ancient Egyptians used it to make paper. Make paper as a class. Teacher: Discuss and show how ancient Egyptians used symmetry, patterns, points and lines in their art. Teacher: Talk about and illustrate how the ancient Egyptians showed movement of body parts by segmenting limbs. Let students draw their own pictures using this method. Teacher: Discuss the history of the three crowns of ancient Egypt: the red crown, the white crown and the double crown. Make and decorate them using poster board, scissors, markers and a stapler. Teacher: Teach about the role of craftsmen in ancient Egypt.

Activity #4: Mummies

Make a chart of the mummification process. Create paper mache mummies using crushed newspaper. Use newspaper, masking tape, paper mache paste and trinkets to wrap in the mummies. Create a sarcophagus using a shoebox. Visit a museum to see mummies and the items found in their tombs and pyramids. Wrap a small doll or animal with gauze like a mummy.

Activity #5: Pyramids

Make a pyramid using blocks or sugar cubes. How do you think the ancient Egyptians built those giant pyramids without any machinery? Write about your ideas. Pretend you are a newspaper reporter at an excavation sight of a pyramid. Write your story. Form your own Sphinx out of modeling clay. Teacher: Teach and display geometric solids.
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 Teacher: Discuss the riddle of the Sphinx. Have students create their own riddles. Software Connections: Writing and More: Observing People, Places, and Things Students can study and write about ancient Egypt and the people and animals that lived there. They can also study and write about archaeologists. Writing and More: Telling About a Character's Actions Students can choose to write about what the pharaoh did. They can also write about what archaeologists do. Writing and More: Reporting an Event Students can act as reporters witnessing an excavation of a pyramid. Writing and More: Describing an Event Students can describe the mummification process. Stories and More II: The Trek Students can identify animals in the book that were also in ancient Egypt. Stories and More II: Roxaboxen Students can study about Egypt's desert. They can also compare the desert in Roxaboxen to the desert in ancient Egypt. Stories and More II: The House on Maple Street Students can describe how artifacts in ancient Egypt got there. Students can also describe how life in Egypt has changed over time. Stories and More II: Galimoto Students can learn about other African countries, including the village of Malawi. Stories and More II: Nine O'Clock Lullaby Students can compare what they and people in current day Egypt are doing at the same time of day. Stories and More II: Houses and Homes Students can describe the homes of ancient Egyptians. Stories and More II: World Water Watch Students can research about the threats to the Nile River. Materials Needed by teacher: Internet activities:
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pencil, paper crayons, markers, colored pencils construction paper plain white paper glue scissors potting soil, bean seeds, cups, water modeling clay
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 poster board 4" x 6" unruled index cards Other activities pencil, paper crayons, markers, colored pencils construction paper scissors world map items to dress like ancient Egyptians butcher paper gold spray paint, bricks sticks watercolors potting soil, water, clear jar with lid modeling clay poster board, scissors, markers, stapler newspaper, masking tape, paper mache paste, trinkets shoebox small doll or animal, gauze blocks, sugar cubes

Teacher Notes: The culture of ancient Egypt provides students with a vast amount of interesting topics to study. Only a few have been chosen for this unit. Other areas a teacher might want to include in a more in-depth study of ancient Egypt include: archaeology, inventions, government, cities, daily life, geography and math.

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Ancient Egypt
Student Activities
Activity #1: Life in Ancient Egypt Just what do you already know about ancient Egypt? Check out some vocabulary words about ancient Egypt at "SeaWorld: Egypt Fun Guide: Vocabulary" at http://www.seaworld.org/Egypt/vocabulary.html. 1. Make your own "Ancient Egypt Dictionary." Put one word on each page and illustrate it. 2. Learn more about daily life in ancient Egypt at "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Daily Life" at http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/roseff.html#food. What did they eat? What did ancient Egyptians wear? 3. See several photographs from structures from ancient Egypt at "St. Petersburg Times.com: Egypt Old" at http://www.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptG.1EgyptOld.html. Click on "Next" to view all the images. Now see pictures of what Egypt looks like today at "St. Petersburg Times.com: Egypt Today" at http://www.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptG.2EgyptToday.html. Click on "Next" to view all the images. How are the pictures of Egypt the same? What is different between the old and current pictures? 4. Take a tour of various sights in Egypt. Go to "Color Tour of Egypt" at http://www.memst.edu/egypt/egypt.html. Visit at least five sights. Write about your favorite sight. Sketch it with colored pencils. 5. Learn about the animals that lived in ancient Egypt. Go to "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Meet Sahara the Scarab" at http://www.clemusart.com/educatn/animals/index.htm. Read about and view the different animals. Choose five. Using 4" x 6" index cards, make a book entitled "My Little Book of Ancient Egyptian Animals."
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6. Bonus activity: Print out and complete a word search using ancient Egyptian words at "ThinkQuest: Ancient Egypt: Word Search" at http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4368/wordsearch.html. Activity #2: The Nile River Most of Egypt is a dry desert. But the area surrounding the Nile River is fertile and rich. 1. What is so special about the Nile? Find out at "Mr. Dowling's Virtual Classroom: Ancient Egypt: The Nile River" at http://www.mrdowling.com/604-nile.html. 2. The desert and mountains are seldom out of view from the Nile. To see a current day picture of the Nile, go to "Color Tour of Egypt: Luxor: View of Nile" at http://www.memst.edu/egypt/img0001.htm. Notice the sugar cane fields, date palm trees, farmer and donkey in the photograph. 3. Find the answers to the following questions at "Carnegie Museum of Natural History: Life in Ancient Egypt: The Natural World" at http://www.clpgh.org/cmnh/tours/egypt/natural.html. What is the most important geographical feature in Egypt? What was the main method of travel in ancient Egypt? Why was the Nile important to what the ancient Egyptians ate? What is the flood plain?

4. Read about how the Nile helped with irrigation and farming at "SeaWorld: Egypt Fun Guide: A Nation of Irrigation" at http://www.seaworld.org/Egypt/irrigation.html Plant a seed in rich soil. Put it in a warm, sunny place. Keep it watered. What happens? How is this like the plants in ancient Egypt? Plant a seed in sand. Put it in a hot, dry place. What happens? This is like it was to farm in the desert. How does this compare to the seed you planted in the rich soil? 5. Bonus activity: Read more about the Nile River at "Journey to Ancient Egypt: Journey Down the Nile River" at http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Meadow/1934/Nile.htm. Click on all the links. Activity #3: Hieroglyphics and Art What is one of the first things you learned when you started to read? Letters, right? Well, ancient Egyptians used pictures as letters, called hieroglyphs.

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Not everyone in ancient Egypt learned to read and write. In fact, only a few were taught how to use hieroglyphs. They were called scribes. They had to learn more than 700 signs for letters and words! 1. Learn about the Rosetta Stone and why it is so important in what we know about hieroglyphics. Go to "ThinkQuest: Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphics" at http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4368/hieroglyphs.html. Why is it important? Scroll down to "Hieroglyphics." Read about what they were. Using the chart, write your name using hieroglyphics. 2. A cartouche is your Egyptian nameplate. Go to "SeaWorld: Egypt Fun Guide: Make Your Own Cartouche" at http://www.seaworld.org/Egypt/cartouche.html. Now that you have written your name in hieroglyphics, draw it on the oval cartouche. Print out this page. Follow the directions to make a cartouche out of modeling clay. 3. Find out more about the Rosetta Stone and hieroglyphics at "Mr. Dowling's Virtual Classroom: Ancient Egypt: The Rosetta Stone" at http://www.mrdowling.com/604-rosettastone.html. Who was Jean Champollion? Why was he important? 4. The art produced by ancient Egyptians tells a lot about their lives and beliefs. Go to "Michael C. Carlos Museum: Ancient Egyptian Art" at http://www.emory.edu/CARLOS/egypt.gal.html#B. Scroll down to look at all of the pieces shown at this site. Double click on five of them to get a closer view. Describe what you saw. 5. Bonus activity: Make a coloring book of art in ancient Egypt. Print out and color all pages at "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Rosetta Stone Coloring Book" at http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/coloring/index.html. Activity #4: Mummies Just exactly what is a mummy? Find that out and more, like why people were mummified and how the mummification process was done by going to "ThinkQuest: Ancient Egypt: Mummies" at http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4368/mummies.html. 1. Find the answers to the following questions at "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Ask the Mummy" at http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/rosefaq.html. Where were the pharaohs buried? What happened to the royal mummies? What is "the mummy's curse?"
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Why do we excavate? Did Americans excavate in Egypt? How can we identify the pharaohs? Who were the artists? Where did the artists obtain their materials? Did the ancient Egyptians worship animals?

2. Read more about mummies at "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Mummies and Mummification" at http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/roseff.html#mummies. 3. Did you know the ancient Egyptians mummified animals also? Unscramble the words to find out what animals they mummified at "SeaWorld: Egypt Fun Guide: Mummimals" at http://www.seaworld.org/Egypt/animals.html. 4. Bonus activity: Complete the "Mummy Maze" at "SeaWorld: Egypt Fun Guide: Mummy Maze" at http://www.seaworld.org/Egypt/mummy.html. Create your own "Mummy Maze."

Activity #5: Pyramids 1. Find the answers to these questions at "ThinkQuest: Ancient Egypt: Pyramids" at http://tqjunior.advanced.org/4368/Pyramids.html. What happened to the early Egyptian graves? What did they build to prevent this? What did the ancient Egyptians begin building after the mastabas? 2. Learn about the pyramids of ancient Egypt at "The Cleveland Museum of Art: Rosetta Stone: Pyramids" at http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/roseff.html#pyramids. 3. Visit these three sites to discover more information on pyramids: "SeaWorld: Egypt Fun Guide: Pyramid Power" at http://seaworld.org/Egypt/pyramid.html "Welcome to Ancient Egypt: The Egyptian Pyramids" at http://www.iinet.net.au/~edubooks/egypt/pyramids.html "Journey to Ancient Egypt: The Great Pyramids of Egypt" at http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Meadow/1934/pyramids.htm 4. Write three facts about pyramids. Go to "Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt: Pyramids and Temples Menu" at http://eyelid.ukonline.co.uk/ancient/pyr-temp.htm. Drag your mouse over the map for pictures and information on different pyramids.
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 Study the three different kinds of pyramids. On a piece of poster board, draw, label and color the three different kinds of pyramids. 5. Visit the pyramids by clicking on the following sites: The Sphinx at "Nova Online Adventure: Pyramids: The Sphinx" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/sphinxstory.html Menkaure's Pyramids at "Nova Online Adventure: Pyramids: Menkaure's Inside Story" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/menkaurestory.html Khafre's Pyramids at "Nova Online Adventure: Pyramids: Khafre's Inside Story" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/khafrestory.html Khufu's Pyramids at "Nova Online Adventure: Pyramids: Khufu's Inside Story" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/khufustory.html 6. Then answer the following questions: Which took the longest to build? Which pyramid is the largest? Which one is your favorite? Which one is the oldest?

7. To see how the Zoser pyramid was organized inside, go to "The Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser" at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/arth/zoser/zoser.html. Click on the white arrows to follow links that show more about each part of the pyramid. 8. Bonus activity: Get a view from the top of Khufu's Pyramid without flying to Egypt or climbing a single step. Go to "Nova Online Adventure: Pyramids: View from the Top" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/khufutoplo.html. Follow the directions.

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