Egypt Did you know...

Engage

The students will view a flipchart through the lens of spotlight. They will look for and write down what they discover through the lens. For example, the animals, people, land, etc of Egypt. Students will want to look closely for hints that will help them determine the place we will begin studying. Once everyone has written their prediction down, students should share with their table partners what they saw through the lens and what place they think we will be studying. 

After discussing, students will then predict the weather/temperature of this place. Again, students write down their predictions. The second page of the flipchart has a line plot for students to mark their temperature prediction. All students plot their temperatures on the page. Students again discuss why they choose the temperature they did. Then, click on the link that goes to www.weather.com. There, type in Cairo, Egypt to see what the current temperature is in Egypt for that day. Students self-assess. What was in the flipchart that gave an idea of how the weather would be? How far were they off or how close was the guess to the actual temperature? Were they surprised? What could we do to find out the climate of Egypt?

Explore

Students explore the location of Egypt compared to where we live by using the site Google Earth. Students begin looking at other sites that provide maps of Egypt (and Cairo).

Students also use the sites below to look into Egypt further. The students should be reminded to use their graphic organizers and/or rubrics to make sure they are finding what they need for their powerpoint. 

 http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/terrible-treasures-game

http://www.guardians.net/egypt/hieroglyphs/hiero-translator.htm

http://interactive-learning.com.au/

 http://egypt.mrdonn.org/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pharaohs/mummy.html

As the students find information, they add it to their graphic organizers. The graphic organizer will hit on the following: location with the Nile River and the Sahara Desert included, rulers, contributions, and 2 areas of interest. (One for each student in the pair.)

Explain

Students then have the opportunity to share with other groups what they discovered using their graphic organizer. Students help each other with navigating through the sites to show them where to access the information.

The following may be posted up on the board to remind and guide discussions when students are sharing with others:

Locate Egypt on a world map.
Locate the Sahara Desert and the Nile River.

Describe the rulers of ancient Egypt.

Identify some contributions of ancient Egypt that we have or use today.

If needed, the students continue on their search for more information to add to their powerpoint.

Elaborate

At this time students start their powerpoints. The title page states, "Did you know.." The rest of the powerpoint will answer that question pertaining to whta is on the graphic organizer. With facts generated on the graphic organizer, students add their creativity to each slide. Pairs are to respect each others time with the mouse. Giving a certain time frame for each partner to maneuver through the sites may help in eliminating "hogging" the mouse!

Evaluate

Students should be self-assessing throughout this project. Making reference to the graphic organizer and the rubric, the students should be able to stay on task and find the information required for the presentation.

The rubric will assess the presentation, but it will also reflect participation when researching. The teacher will need to keep anecdotal notes when the students are researching BEFORE the students even begin on the powerpoint!

Extend

Students should have the time to create an ecard with a cartouche and they can type their name in hieroglyphics.

 http://www.eyelid.co.uk/hiero1.htm

This site below would have to be visited at home for the students to print a poster, bookmark, door hanger, notepaper, and a 3D pyramid model. The students can enter their own text within the bookmark and door hanger. The limit is 5 free printouts.

http://shop.discoveringegypt.com/printsampler.html

Studying deserts may be interesting for some students. There are many misconceptions about deserts that students could explore. (Ex: Are desert temperatures always hot? Will you find sand in deserts?)

Another classroom activity could be to allow students to create scarab beetles. Teacher would have to have already sprayed painted lima beans in advance for this activity. S use pain markers to decorate their beetles, then students create a math problem with their beetles and write it on an index card. The card and beetles are kept in a baggie for students to trade and solve. (The word problem should pertain to what they have learned about Egypt.)

Also, students could create a cartouche using a teacher-made template. The students would have to look up their name via a site they used in this lesson or from a handout provided by the teacher to write their name on the cartouche.

Finally, students could use a template to create a paper pyramid and the teacher could further the lesson on 3D shapes.