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This lesson is complete with programs, activities, and games that cover the development of the Great Pyramids, emphasizing the lengths and sacrifices that the people of the time had to do to finish them.

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Building the Great Pyramid | ymiclassroom.com

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Uncover the science behind the greatest wonder of the ancient world with this study guide based on the ground-breking BBC documentary series Building the Great Pyramid. Students travel more than four millennia into the past to learn how the engineers of ancient Egypt used simple tools and simple machines to create a monument that still mystifies archeologists today.

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The Sphinx is found overlooking the Nile River right besides the Giza pyramids. It is one of the oldest and largest statues, carved by hand from bedrock under the hot sun. In this book, written by Ruth Owen, students can read about the half-lion/half-human creature who has lived in the dessert for thousands of years.

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Life within Egypt's Golden Empire Lesson Plan

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Life within Egypt's Golden Empire Lesson Plan

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This lesson teaches students about the daily lives of ancient Egyptians from every social class.

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Egypt's Golden Empire . For Educators . Lesson 6 | PBS

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For Educators National Standards - Lesson 1: Hieroglyphs and Communication - Lesson 2: Tombs and the Afterlife - Lesson 3: The Queens of Ancient Egypt - Lesson 4: Egypt's Greatest Leaders - Lesson 5: Architectural Marvels - Lesson 6: A Day in the Life of an Egyptian - Lesson 7: Touring Ancient Egypt - Lesson 8: The Science and Technology of Ancient Egypt

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Within the lesson, students learn of now of the 7 Great Wonders of the World.

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The Lesson Plan

1. Introduce students to The Great Pyramid by reading:

The Great Pyramid: The story of the farmers, the god-king and the most astounding structure ever built (Wonders of the World Book) by Elizabeth Mann and Laura Lo Turco

This story introduces the students to the story of Khufu, the pharaoh of ancient Egypt whom The Great Pyramid was built for. The story follows a farm boy who leaves his village to help construct The Great Pyramid. Students will learn about the architecture as they read through the book with the beautifully detailed pictures. Ask the kids some basic questions such as:

If you could build a temple/pyramid what valuables would you put in there?

Why do you think the pyramid was built for this pharaoh?

What were some of the difficulties for the workers who built the pyramids?

2. Show students where Egypt is located on the map. Explain that Egypt is located on one of the seven continents, Africa. A free outline of Egypt can be found here. With this outline you can all students to fill in the map of Egypt and draw what they think to be the main cities, sites, rivers, etc. This activity helps students learn about mapping and geography.

3. Have students complete vocabulary worksheet below, where the children will learn new words related to Egypt.

4. Once the students have completed the vocabulary sheet, they will know more about Hieroglyphics. Have the children develop their own set of hieroglyphics. Some ideas include:

Using stamps

Using markers, crayons, paints to develop their own pictures

Cutting out pictures from magazines

5. Extra Homework assignment: Have students log onto PBS Great Pyramid site to look at the blueprints and the inside of The Great Pyramid. Have students develop their own pyramid and blueprints of the interior.

After this lesson students will not only know more about the history of pyramids and the story behind this great wonder, but will also understand many terms and definitions related to Egypt geography and culture.

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The Great Pyramid of Giza: Lesson Plan on One of the Seven Wonders

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1. Introduce students to The Great Pyramid by reading: The Great Pyramid: The story of the farmers, the god-king and the most astounding structure ever built (Wonders of the World Book) by Elizabeth Mann and Laura Lo Turco This story introduces the students to the story of Khufu, the pharaoh of ancient Egypt whom The Great Pyramid was built for.

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In this interactive lesson, students can explore the Old Kingdom's timeline and the major cultural developments that took place in the era.

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Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom

The Egyptians divided their own history into 31 dynasties, and modern historians have further grouped these dynasties into three main periods: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom, the first of these periods, was the strongest in terms of the centralization of the government. The pharaoh held a tight control over his subjects, even going so far as to insist that the provincial rulers, known as nomarchs, were buried near the capital city of Memphis in the northern part of the country regardless of which province they were from and ruled over.

Egypt's history didn't begin with the Old Kingdom; modern historians recognize the Predynastic Period (for the time prior to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under a single pharaoh) and the Early Dynastic Period (for Dynasties 0-2). However, the government reached an apex in the Third Dynasty that made it noticeably more advanced than the previous periods. Part of this apex included the introduction of the pyramid as the burial place for the pharaoh.

Timeline

The Third Dynasty

The Old Kingdom began with the rule of King Djoser, who immediately marked a sharp change from his predecessors by ordering the building of a major monument for his burial place: the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. He also reorganized the state, creating the regional districts called nomes. Later Dynasty Three pharaohs continued building pyramids, although pyramid building increased significantly during the Fourth Dynasty.

Fourth Dynasty

From the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, during the reign of Snefru, pyramids became a major focal point for each king. Snefru built at least three major pyramids, including the Bent Pyramid, the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, and a pyramid at Meidum. His son Khufu moved the royal necropolis to Giza and built the Great Pyramid, which still stands today as the largest of all pyramids. Khufu's successors, Khafre and Menkaure, also built their pyramids at Giza. With relative peace and prosperity through Egypt, the kings of the Fourth Dynasty also participated in foreign trade. Objects from Old Kingdom Egypt have been found throughout Syro-Palestine, and Snefru's pyramid includes wooden beams sourced from somewhere outside of Egypt.

Fifth Dynasty

During the Fifth Dynasty, pharaohs built not only pyramids (moving their necropolis to Abusir) but also sun temples dedicated to Ra. These pyramids were of lower quality than those of the Third and Fourth Dynasty, possibly reflecting the diversion of resources toward the sun temples and possibly suggesting that the pharaoh was no longer able to command the same control that he had been able to previously. The Fifth Dynasty also saw the first major governmental reforms when King Djedkare passed a series of edicts designed to strengthen royal control over Egypt by reorganizing the regional bureaucracy. Unfortunately, his decrees had the opposite effect, and the central government weakened.

Dynasties 6-8: the fall of the Old Kingdom

Several reasons have been cited for the fall of the Old Kingdom, including climate changes, governmental reforms from the Fifth Dynasty (intended to strengthen the pharaoh's control) contributing to a weakening of the government, and the long reign of Pepi II.

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old kingdom of ancient egypt: timeline & facts - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: Timeline & Facts - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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The Egyptians divided their own history into 31 dynasties, and modern historians have further grouped these dynasties into three main periods: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom, the first of these periods, was the strongest in terms of the centralization of the government.

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In this book, students are informed of the famous Egyptian ruler that was uncovered in 1922. Packed with pictures and facts, students uncover the story behind the pharaoh's life, myths, and supposed curse.

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DK Eyewitness Ancient Egypt by George Hart

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DK Eyewitness Ancient Egypt by George Hart

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In this book, students phased back in time to learn about the Ancient Egypt. Topics within the text include Pharaohs, architecture, food of the time, means communication, eyewitness accounts of the empire.

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Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian Society 

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Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian Society 

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This primary source accounts for women's status during this great era and what their everyday lives look like.

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The Ancient Egyptian pyramid Texts translated by R.O. Faulkner

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The Ancient Egyptian pyramid Texts translated by R.O. Faulkner

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This source contains an assemblage of ancient Egyptian religious texts taken from inscriptions on the walls of the pyramids at Saqqara.

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Within this site, students learn about the Old Kingdom (2686-2160 BC) and can view annual records, tomb texts, temple administration, expeditions abroad, and scientific techniques of the time.

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Tomb texts

Practically everything that we know about Egyptian kings derives from their monuments. The Pyramid Texts, which were spells concerning the king's afterlife, began to be inscribed inside Egyptian pyramids from the reign of King Unas, about 2350 BC. The temples for the king's posthumous cult were decorated with reliefs and contained many statues, all of which give us information about the role of the king in Egyptian society. Scenes that show real events are rare. We must not forget that the purpose of these reliefs was to show an ideal state of affairs, which the king wished to last forever, not the contemporary reality.

Documents written on papyri were found in some pyramid temples, especially at Abusir. They concern such matters as lists of priests on duty, records of offerings brought to the temple, accounts, inventories of temple equipment and passes authorizing access to the temple. Several settlements of priests, and of craftsmen and artists, involved in the running of pyramid temples, have been located, in particular at Giza.

Representations carved on the walls of tombs include scenes of everyday life on the owner's estates and so show how even ordinary people lived and worked. We must be rather careful when interpreting these scenes and must not take them entirely at face value. They were included in order to play a role in the tomb owner's afterlife, not as an accurate record.

Sometimes, especially in the later part of the Old Kingdom, the tombs contained biographical texts. Many are just self-praising but others are real records of the tomb owner's achievements. This is how one of them, an official called Weni, described a mission assigned to him by King Merenre of the Sixth Dynasty:

(The travertine, or alabaster, Hatnub quarries are in Middle Egypt, some 186 miles [300km], south of Saqqara, where King Merenre's pyramid was built. The barge was over 98ft [31.5m] long and over 49ft [15.75m] wide).

Find out more
Books
When the Pyramids Were Built. Egyptian Art of the Old Kingdom by D Arnold (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999)

The Pyramids of Egypt by IES Edwards (Harmondsworth, 1993)

Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids [Exhibition catalogue] (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999)

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts by R Faulkner (Warminster, 1986)

'The Old Kingdom' by J Malek, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt edited by I Shaw (Oxford University Press, 2000)

In the Shadow of the Pyramids by J Malek (London, 1986)

Links

The British Museum COMPASS Tour: Egypt in the Old Kingdom: An online display featuring a selection of objects chosen by the curators at the Museum to reflect the extraordinary range of The British Museum's collection.

Fathom: The World of the Pyramids: Fathom offers online learning experiences, developed with leading scholars and experts, including in-depth courses and free seminars, shorter features, interviews and articles.

The Egypt Exploration Society: The Society was founded in 1882 to fund and mount archaeological expeditions to Egypt, and to publish the results. This work continues today at sites such as Amarna, Memphis and Qasr Ibrim in Egyptian Nubia, and is published in full in a series of monographs, the annual Journal of Egyptian Archaeology and bi-annual magazine, Egyptian Archaeology. Membership of the Society is open to all those interested in ancient Egypt, indeed without its members' subscriptions the Society could not continue to operate.

Places to visit

Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH: The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is a museum of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1683, it is one of the oldest public museums in the world.

The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG: The museum has the largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Egyptian material outside Cairo.

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London, Malet Place, London, WC1E 6BT: The museum has an inspiring collection of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology.

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Practically everything that we know about Egyptian kings derives from their monuments. The Pyramid Texts, which were spells concerning the king's afterlife, began to be inscribed inside Egyptian pyramids from the reign of King Unas, about 2350 BC.

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In this interactive website, students can find information covering the Temples and Pyramids of Egypt through commuter generated structures giving the students a sense of what they may have looked like in that time.

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Pyramids Temples of Egypt reconstructions of pyramids and temples

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Pyramids Temples of Egypt computer-generated reconstructions of what the pyramids and temples might have looked like when they were first built.

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Ancient Egypt: The Real Life of an Egyptian

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Ancient Egypt: The Real Life of an Egyptian

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Ancient Egypt: The Real Life of an Egyptian 1 of 2

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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by Henry Barker

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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by Henry Barker

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In this informative book, the author give accounts of famous gods and goddesses including Horus, Re, and Anubis.

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Students are taken through an interactive story, exploring the beliefs of Egyptian gods and goddesses. They can then explore individual ones and end by playing a game to access their knowledge.

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In this interactive app, students have the opportunity to explore pyramids and temples of Egypt through a computer-generated virtual reality. This activity allows students to see what these structures looked like when were first built. The app also offers, interactive ground plan maps, photos, paintings and drawings.

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This clay tablet was one of 400 Armana letters found at the of Akhetaten. They were were addressed to the Pharaoh, sent from the Aziru of Amurru. The language written on the stone is in cuneiform Akkadian which was the language of diplomacy of time.

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Ancient Egypt History And Mysteries - Full National Geographic Documentary

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Ancient Egypt History And Mysteries - Full National Geographic Documentary ✳️ Skyrocket your metabolism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7xD_g1T4pE Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the Nile River.

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In this app, kids are sent on a virtual field trip to visit the Great Temple at Abu Simbel. Through interactive activities, they are able to explore the culture and daily life in Ancient Egypt. Students will also learn about the discovery of hieroglyphics in this interactive reading app for the iPad.

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A timeline highlighting major events from the beginning of ancient Egypt to the decline. By Sebastian Greenawalt

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Make a Mummy: The Science of Mummification 

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Make a Mummy: The Science of Mummification 

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In this lesson plan, students learn about the science and history of mummification by making an apple mummy.

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Subjects

Grade

Brief Description

Learn about the history and science of mummification by making an apple (or chicken) mummy.

Objectives

Students

learn about the history of mummification.

follow instructions to create an apple mummy.

explain in their own words what the experiment taught them about the process of mummification.

Keywords

mummy, mummification, ancient, Egypt, apple, chicken

Materials Needed

apples (one for every four students)

plastic cups

baking soda

salt

a bowl for mixing the baking soda and salt

measuring cups

a scale capable of precise measurement (for weighing apple slices before and after)

Lesson Plan

When students hear of mummies, they might immediately think of ancient Egypt. But the fact is that many cultures mummified their dead. Mummies have been uncovered in China, Mexico, and many other places around the world. In many of those cultures, mummification was thought prepare the dead for a happy afterlife.

The process of mummifying a body is a time-consuming one. All water must be removed from the body. In ancient Egypt, that was accomplished by covering the body with a salt called natron and wrapping the body in bandages. In later years, the process became more sophisticated; body organs were removed and the body was packed with natron before it was wrapped.

Share with students more information about the histories of mummies and the mummification process. You might use textbooks or library books. The following Internet resource offers an overview of the process.

Mummification
This authoritative resource comes from the British Museum.

In order to help students understand how the mummification process works, students can turn an apple slice into a mummy! Here are the simple steps they should take. Students might work in groups of four to complete this activity.

Cut through the top of an apple to slice it in half, and then in half again. Each student in the group will take one of the quartered apple slices.

Instruct each student to precisely weigh her/his apple slice.

Put the apple slice in a plastic cup.

Have each student thoroughly mix cup of baking soda and cup of salt.

Pour the baking soda/salt mixture over the apple in the cup so that the apple is completely covered.

Store the covered apples away from light and moisture for one (1) week.

Note: You might store one apple slice, uncovered, alongside the students' buried apples. Students will be able to compare what happens to their "mummified" apples to what happens to an apple that isn't treated with the salt mixture.

A week later, have students uncover their apple slices. What do they see? (The mummified apple will be shriveled up and its skin will have turned brown.)

Re-weigh the apple slice. How much does it weigh now? Why? (The apple weighs less because "mummification" dried up the water inside it.)

If you would like to explore more deeply the science of mummification, the following links will provide some ideas for doing that:

Extend the Lesson

Have students research and create for their apple mummies a sarcophagus (coffin) like the one in which a mummy might have been stored.

Have students create a "life history" for their mummies. For example, what was the mummy's family life like, what did s/he do for work, and how did s/he die?

If you are up for a more involved (and more fun) experiment, involve students in Making a Chicken Mummy. (Alternate source.)

Assessment

Have students write a summary of the results of the experiment they performed. What did they learn about the mummification process from doing this experiment?

Lesson Plan Source

EducationWorld.com

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

SCIENCE
GRADES K - 4
NS.K-4.1 Science as Inquiry
NS.K-4.2 Physical Science
NS.K-4.3 Life Science
NS.K-4.6 Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
NS.K-4.7 History and Nature of Science
GRADES 5 - 8
NS.5-8.1 Science as Inquiry
NS.5-8.2 Physical Science
NS.5-8.3 Life Science
NS.5-8.6 Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
NS.5-8.7 History and Nature of Science
GRADES 9 - 12
NS.9-12.1 Science as Inquiry
NS.9-12.2 Physical Science
NS.9-12.3 Life Science
NS.9-12.6 Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
NS.9-12.7 History and Nature of Science

SOCIAL SCIENCES: World History
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-WH.5-12.3 Classical Traditions, Major Religions, and Giant Empires

See more Lesson Plans of the Day in our Lesson Plan of the Day Archive. (There you can search for lessons by subject too.)

For additional history lesson plans, see these Education World resources:

For additional science lesson plans, see these Education World resources:

Education World®
Copyright© 2006 Education World

10/17/2006

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Make a Mummy: The Science of Mummification

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Learn about the history and science of mummification by making an apple (or chicken) mummy. Students learn about the history of mummification. follow instructions to create an apple mummy. explain in their own words what the experiment taught them about the process of mummification.