Superboy's 4th grade class has been studying Ancient Egypt for the last month.
He's loved it.
He's been hard at work on his second "Treasure Hunt"* of the year. The topic for his treasure hunt was Mummification in Ancient Egypt.
*His teacher calls them Treasure Hunts instead of Research Projects. She tells the children that they have a very special quest...and that they have to find as much treasure (detail) as possible on their quest. She's SUCH A GREAT teacher. All of her students are so excited about what they're learning.
In the photo above, Superboy is working on his salt dough map of Ancient Egypt. Do you see the Nile? And of course the fertile land on the banks of the Nile. To complete this project (which was a home assignment), he had to mix up the salt dough himself, and then form the dough into a relief map of Egypt. Then he waited for the dough to dry. Next, he painted and labeled the map.
Prior to studying Ancient Egypt, the 4th graders studied the early civilizations in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley.
The children definitely start to grasp the concept of how an abundant fresh water source had a huge impact on where the people of ancient times tended to settle and develop societies.
As part of their study of Egypt, we took a class field trip to a nearby museum with an incredible Egyptian exhibit. I got to be one of the chaperones. What a fun trip. We had a docent led tour....she asked lots of questions & it was so obvious to me how much these children have learned about Egypt. They would answer her questions and then build on it by tying in something else they'd learned in their studies. I loved hearing their observations.
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Sidenote: If I could figure out how to make a living by visiting museums all over the world & soaking up all the visual and informational beauty held within the exhibits, I would be One Happy Lady.
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Next week the parents are invited up to the school to hear the students present their final presenations (which are basically oral summaries of their research projects.) The students all dress in Egyptian costumes. And then we have an Ancient Egyptian feast. The teacher passed around a sign up sheet for the feast; each parent brings something. I'm bringing pomegranates.
