Ancient Egypt

We had a fun lesson on the history of ancient Egypt yesterday!  We re-capped some info from Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley.  We caught up on our timelines too.  Thank you Olivia, for sharing with us about Hammurabi!
The kids all colored a map of the Nile River Delta System and we talked about how its shape was like a long stemmed flower.  We spoke again about important this river was to the civilization that sprang up around it; in communication, a protective barrier, and agriculture.
We learned a brief synopsis of how King Menes (a Nubian) conquered and united the Nile River region under his rule and began the 1st dynasty of Egypt.  This also began the huge building projects  in Egypt.  We looked at 3-D images of the outside and inside of Khufu's Pyramid (the Great Pyramid).  We watched a short video about the engineering, labor, and mathematical feats that the Egyptians achieved to build such precise and sound structures.  We even got to read some deciphered taunts from Kind Kamose aimed at the Hyksos invaders.  Who knew you could talk trash in hieroglyphs?!  Here's the link if you'd like to see it.
If your students has an Egyptian assigned to them, be ready to talk about him/her next time on Nov. 18th.
I also challenged the kids that if they build a model of a pyramid, the Sphinx, a canopic jar, or another example of Egyptian engineering/art to bring it next time to show off.  I also encouraged them to build it as a replica of an actual structure or object that they can tell us about as opposed to a generic pyramid.  But anything they are motivated to build and show is fine with me!
Here are some cool games I found about Egyptian subjects.  The boys were especially excited about pulling brains out of a nose with a hook.  Thank heavens its virtual.  ;)

Egyptian Tomb Adventure

An Embalming Game 














Build a Pyramid Challenge

Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley

We had a fun time yesterday!  The kids discussed the differences that agriculture and living in cities would have on people's way of life as apposed to a nomadic one.  They came up with many important differences!

We looked at a map of the world c.2500 BC and the major river valley civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley and China.  The kids glued or wrote the names of some important crops that were domesticated in those regions.  We also got to find out what millet and emmer are!   Here is a link to the interactive map I used for that:

Time Maps

The kids and I then honed in on Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley.  We learned about Sargon, who created the first empire in Sumer and Akkad.  We also talked about Hammurabi and his code of law - which had good rules, but very harsh punishments that may seem unfair to us today.  

I also let the kids listen to the B52's song, Mesopotamia.  A hit for sure! ;)

Mesopotamia by the B52s

Everyone usually thinks the Romans came up with aquaducts, sewage systems, and bath houses, but we learned that the Indus River Valley Civilization had this technology over a thousand years before Rome existed!  Mohenjo-Dara was a huge complex city.  Houses there had their own private wells, bathrooms, and sewage drainage that kept the city clean.  It is also interesting that archaeologists have found very few weapons in its ruins, which suggest that they lived in a peaceful place and time.  We ended the lesson by playing the ancient game of Chaupar or Pagade (which in English is Parcheesi).  If your child would like to find out more about these amazing people who's history was forgotten for thousands of years, check out the BBC Indus website from the previous post.  

Thank you Michael for a great Manners lesson about how to properly introduce yourself and greet people!

Thank you Evan for finding out about Otzi the Iceman for us!

Thank you Lyla for telling us about Sargon the Akkadian!

Some of us have a field trip on October 14th, so our next History lesson will be on October 28th and we'll learn about early Egypt and China.  So be ready to tell about your person if they're Egyptian!