Ancient Egypt Lesson Plan 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Subject/Topic: Ancient Egypt/History and Geography Grade/Class: 3rd grade Time/Period: Lesson Date: Day 1 Standards of Learning: History 3.1: A. The student will explain how the contributions of Ancient Egypt have influenced the present world in terms of architecture, government (direct and representative democracy), and sports. Geography 3.4: A. The student will be able to locate Egypt and Ancient Egypt. Content Outline: History: A. Architecture B. Government C. Sports D. Clothing/Appearance E. Food Geography: A. Students will be able to locate Egypt, Ancient Egypt, and Africa on a map. Rationale: The main purpose of this unit is to help 3rd grade students learn about Ancient Egyptian history and its influence on the modern world. Furthermore, students will use their knowledge of Ancient Egyptian location to enhance their understanding of Ancient Egypt. Objectives: A. History: After lecture, PowerPoint, and class discussion, students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the general characteristics of Ancient Egypt on a KWL chart with 90% accuracy. B. Geography: Given guided instruction, students will be able to locate Egypt and Modern Day Egypt on a map with 100% accuracy. Lesson Opening: It is early in the morning and the school day is just about to start. The door that leads to the classroom is decorated with a sign that says Goodbye America! The teacher is wearing a scarf around her neck and a hat that resembles that of a flight attendant. As students enter the classroom, the teacher hands each of them a ticket. Good morning and welcome! Here is your ticket. Please take a seat at your desks, and write your name on your ticket. You may decorate the front of your ticket while we wait for the rest of the group to arrive. Once all of the students have arrived and have begun coloring their ticket, the teacher addresses the class. Today is a very exciting day because we are going to take a trip! We are going somewhere very far away, so everyone needs

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to grab their tickets and find a seat on the magic carpet. Once everyone is sitting quietly on the magic carpet with their tickets on the ground in front of them, we can begin our trip! Students are seated quietly on the carpet with tickets in front of them. Teacher turns on the Smart Board which reveals a PowerPoint with various pictures. Before we take off, I want to show everyone some pictures. Teacher shows students the first picture: a pyramid. What comes to your mind when you look at this picture? There are no right or wrong answers. Teacher takes a few answers from the students. Does anyone know what this is a picture of? Teacher then shows students a second picture: Cleopatra. What do you notice about this picture? Teacher takes responses from students. Does anyone know who this might be? Teacher takes a few answers from the students. Teacher also shows students a picture of a pharaoh. Does anyone have any idea what this is a picture of? Teacher takes a few answers from the students. Does anyone know why I am showing you these pictures? Teacher pauses to let students think and answer the question. Today, we will be traveling to Ancient Egypt. I showed you these pictures because they all relate to Ancient Egypt. We will be learning a lot about Ancient Egypt in the coming week, but today we will just do an overview about the history and location of Ancient Egypt. Please buckle up, and we will begin our trip to Egypt! Teacher uses the Smart Board to make sound effects, and the students really believe that they are on a magic carpet. The teacher grabs a basket full of passports, and begins to pass them out to the students. 10. Connection: We have arrived in Ancient Egypt! Please grab your passports and take a seat. The teacher is now wearing a golden headdress that resembles Cleopatra. Now before we explore Ancient Egypt, we need to talk about a few things. What do you know about Ancient Egypt? Let the students respond, and record the answers in the KWL Chart on the Smart Board. These were all excellent answers! I want you all to turn the page in your passports. What do you see there? KWL Chart. Thats right! You should remember these from our study of Rome and Greece. Lets take 3 minutes to fill in what we already know. While the students work, the teacher will walk around the room and monitor. Wait a few minutes for students to brainstorm. Does anyone have anything new from what is on the board? Take answers and add to KWL Chart on the board. 2 minutes. Who remembers what the W stands for? Clarify W. Now I want you to think back to when we studied Rome and Greece. What did you want to learn then? What do you want to learn about Ancient Egypt? Fill in the W on your chart. 2 minutes. Ask for student answers and add to the white board. Okay, we will come back to this at the end of class. Go to the next page of your packet. 11. Instructional Strategies/Processes: Slide 1: Today we are going to start learning about where Egypt and Ancient Egypt are located on a map, and a little bit about Ancient Egypts history. Please pay attention while I go over some important information, and fill in your note sheet as we go through the PowerPoint.

Slide 2: Egypt is located in the northern part of Africa. To the north of Egypt is the Mediterranean Sea, and to the East of Egypt is the Red Sea. Slide 3: Ancient Egypt was separated into Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt. King Menes founded the first capital of Egypt, which is where the Upper and Lower lands metthe first capital was called Memphis. Slide 4: Now were going to learn about some of the fascinating history of Ancient Egypt. Slide 5: Egyptian homes were made from bricks and they had dirt floors. Wealthy families had extremely large homes and usually had gardens and small ponds in their backyards. Slide 6: It was only during the time of the Old Kingdom that the Ancient Egyptians built pyramids to hold the royal tombs of their kings. Pyramids were huge structures. Pyramids had storage rooms, courtyards, secret passageways, and all kinds of fancy traps designed to catch robbers who tried to break into the pyramid to rob it. Pyramids were full of treasures. The average person created grave goods to take with them to their afterlife. Imagine the treasures a pharaoh might feel were necessary to bring along! The Ancient Egyptians built pyramids because they believed that if the Pharaohs body could be mummified after death, then the Pharaoh would live forever. Thats why the Pharaoh would be buried with food, furniture, and other items needed for everyday life. There were about 80 total pyramids built for the kings of Egypt. How did they build the pyramids? A path of wooden rollers was made so that sledges carrying huge stone blocks could move more easily. Ramps were built for the sledges to carry the blocks up the sides of the pyramids. As each layer of the pyramid was completed, the ramp was made higher and longer. Once the blocks were hauled up the ramp, ropes and levers were used to move the blocks into position. Limestone was put over the stones once they were in place. The pharaoh provided homes for everyone who worked on the pyramid construction. People were paid for their work in goods and food and homes

Slide 7: The Pharaoh chose one or two prime ministers, to help him. The Pharaohs most important role was to serve as a lawmaker and warrior. The Pharaoh had thousands of government workers to help himthese people made sure that laws were carried out. They kept records of crops, and also trained troops and carried on wars. Soldiers, policemen, and custom officers kept track of who came in and out of the country. They used trained dogs to capture thieves, runaway slaves, or people trying to leave the country without paying taxes. The king sent tax collectors three times a year, and he was accompanied by a scribe. The scribe kept records, wrote down the names of the peasants, and measured the fields. On the second visit, the scribes and collectors returned to inspect the new crops. From this, they calculated the taxes owed. The tax collector made a third visit during the harvest to collect the kings share. The taxes were paid in sacks of grain. The Pharaoh was usually succeeded by his oldest son. The son

was trained throughout his life to take over the role of Pharaoh after his fathers death. Sometimes rivalries and secret plots caused a change in this succession. Egypt had thirty royal dynasties ruling for more than three thousand years due to this. Slide 8: Many of today's sports were practiced by the Ancient Egyptians, who set the rules and regulations for them. Inscriptions on monuments indicate that they practiced wrestling, weightlifting, long jump, swimming, rowing, shooting, fishing and athletics, as well as various kinds of ball games. Ancient Egyptian kings, princes and statesmen loved attending sports competitions, which they encouraged and provided with the necessary equipment. Drawings on pharaonic monuments tell us that several thousand years ago, the Egyptians had laid down basic rules for games, chosen a neutral referee, a uniform for players, and a means of announcing the winners by awarding them different collars. Both winner and loser were met with ovation, the first for his superiority and the latter for his sporting spirit. Slide 9: The Egyptians wore very simple clothing made of linen, which was made from the flax that grew in the fields and woven into cloth. The rich wore finely woven linen while the workers wore a more durable material. Male peasants wore loincloths which hung from their waists to their knees. It was quite common that the peasants wore no clothing at all. Men in the upper class wore skirts or kilts. The women wore simple, tight-fitting dresses, which came up to their chests and were held up on the shoulder by straps. Children wore no clothing until they were in their teens. Egyptians wore sandals made from leather or reed. Rich ladies wore shawls, flower head pieces, and beaded collars. They decorated their clothing by wearing elaborate costume jewelry. Slide 10: Egyptians had two large meals each day: one at dawn and another at dusk. Egyptians went to the market to purchase food. They ate lots of cereal, vegetables, and fruits. Some of the most common foods were barley, wheat, lentils, cucumbers, beans, leeks, onions, dates, figs, and grapes. Other fruits included apples, melons, pomegranates, and the occasional coconut. Beef was the Egyptians favorite meat, but they also ate lamb, gazelle, wild goat, ox, pork, fish, duck, and goose. Food was cooked in clay ovens. Bread was an everyday food of both the commoner and the wealthy. The finest loaves were ground with sand. This is why the teeth of royalty showed serious abrasion. The wealthy Egyptians sweetened their bread with honey and stuffed it with fruit. A common meal for a peasant might be boiled or roasted beef, assorted vegetables, fruit, and a slice of bread, or beer. The wealthy ate on bronze, silver, or gold plates, while the commoners ate on clay dishes. People ate with the tips of their fingers, and everyone was given a small bowl of water to clean their hands after the meal. *Does anyone have any questions?

12. Products/Assessment: The students will be producing a note sheet based on the PowerPoint and Lecture, a colored and labeled map of Ancient Egypt (homework), and a filled in KWL Chart. 13. Alright, students, now its time for us to fill in the L on our KWL Chart! Does someone want to volunteer and tell us one thing they learned about Ancient Egypt? Pause and wait for response. Great job! Write response on board. Does anyone else want to share something they learned today? Take a couple responses and write them on the board. Wonderful job, class! Go ahead and write these responses on the L section of your KWL Chart, and take a few minutes to write one or two of your own. Give students 3 minutes to fill in their chart. Now, put your chart back in your folder. Before we are finished, we are going to watch a short video on Ancient Egypt that talks about some of the things we learned today. The video will also talk about some things you might know about, but we will learn them later on this week! You dont need to take notes, just pay attention to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgVlXOyU10I 14. Homework: Please remember to take home your blank map and follow the instructions for labeling and coloring for homework. Please bring this back tomorrow all completed! 15. Materials/Equipment: Projector for the slideshows, PowerPoints, and video. Decorations for the beginning of the lesson when the entrance is set up to look like an airport.