Lesson Planning Tool
Teacher: Rachel Bowman and Beatrice Korka
Grade: 2nd
School: Blayton Elementary
School
Date of Lesson: November 12, 2012__
Time Needed (Approximate): 45-50 mins
Lesson Subject/Topic: Ancient Egypt Inquiry Lesson
Student Learning Goal(s): Students will use inquiry to learn about
Ancient Egyptian life and compare it to present day lives.
Standards:
2.1 The student will explain how the contributions of ancient China
and Egypt have influenced the present world in terms of
architecture, inventions, the calendar, and written language.
NCSS
1. Culture: Social Studies Programs should include experiences that
provide for the the study of culture and cultural diversity.
2. Time, continuity, and change: Social Studies Programs should
include experiences that provide for the study of ways human
beings view themselves in and over time.
3. People, places, and environments: Social Studies Programs
should include experiences that provide for the study of people,
places, and environments.
9. Global connections: Social Studies Programs should include
experiences that provide for the study of global connections and
independence.
Essential Questions: How can our knowledge of Ancient Egypt
help inform us today?
Assessment(s):
Informal: Participation in groups
Formal: Completion of KWL Chart and completion of the Venn
Diagram
Resources:
http://www.touregypt.net/museum/tutl26.htm
Materials:
Problem based learning story,
Venn Diagram for each
student, poster paper to record
student questions,
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/kingtut_5.htm
4 artifact pictures,
chart/ poster paper,
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/archive/xpeditions/lessons/ marker
06/gk2/kingtut.html?ar_a=1
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/equip.htm
Notes: See below for all supplemental materials.
Lesson
Component
Teacher
Student
Engage &
Hook
Teacher will read aloud the Problem Based
Learning story to the students. (See below for
story) Teacher will ask initial questions:
What do you think is going to happen?
What do you think they are going to find?
Allow students to talk with their table group
about their predictions. Then ask for a few
people to share what they discussed in their
groups about what they think is going to
happen.
Students will discuss their
predictions with their table group.
Explain &
Model
Teacher will then read the second part of the
story to the students. After reading ask the
following questions: What are your hunches
about the objects in the tomb? What do
you want to know/ What questions do you
think we need to answer before we decide
why these objects are in the tomb? Tell
students that they will be using their KWL
chart they started the day before and will be
working in their table groups to fill out their
charts. Circulate, to be sure students are on
task and working together. Be sure students
are forming questions. After giving students
time to generate questions, show them
pictures of four of the objects found in the
tomb. (See below for pictures). The teacher
will tell the students: “We just read a story
about a person called an archaeologist. An
archaeologist is a person who looks at old
objects from people who lived long ago to
learn about those people and the places they
lived. These objects are called artifacts. We
will be looking at pictures of artifacts from
King Tut’s tomb to try to learn more about
him, where he lived, and the people he ruled.
We are going to be archaeologists!”. Allow
After teacher asks the initial
questions, students will work in
their table groups to come up with
hunches and questions. They will
will be writing them on a KWL
chart. K=what they know,
W=what they want to know,
L=what the learned. In this part of
the lesson they will only be filling
out the first two columns in the
chart. The K column already has
information about Ancient
Egyptian life filled in the previous
day.
students to observe pictures and then go back
to edit or add information to their KWL
charts.
Explore &
Apply
Have students share some of their questions
that they came up with in their KWL charts.
Be sure to call on a student from each group.
The teacher will use student questions to
generate discussion about the objects. If these
questions are not brought into the discussion,
the teacher will be sure to ask and address
them.
1. What do these artifacts tell you about King
Tut?
2. Can you tell what types of things are
important to him?
3. What might these objects tell us about the
life of a king/ pharaoh in Ancient Egypt?
4. What might these objects tell us about life
in Ancient Egypt in general?
After discussing objects that represent
Ancient Egyptians, ask students to think
about what objects would represent them
today. What objects would give an
archaeologist in the future an idea of your
likes, dislikes, or daily life? Remind students
that artifacts can reveal information about the
one specific person but also about life in
general for where and how this person and
others around them lived. They made
educated guesses about King Tut but also
Egypt in general based on the artifacts they
saw. Give students some time to consult with
their group about this; each group should
come up with three objects.. Have several
students share their thoughts and how they
are different, and if any are the same. Discuss
what these objects represent about our culture
and why.
Students will share what they
discussed in their groups and the
questions that they came up with.
Evaluate &
Close
Have students share what they think they
have learned about life in Ancient Egypt
through the exploration of these artifacts.
Record in the ‘What we learned’ section of
the chart. Give out the Venn diagram and
have students fill them out with the
information from the charts and discussion.
Discuss what this tells us about the
Students will participate and
contribute to the discussion about
what they learned. They will
complete the Venn diagram and
add it to their unit packet.
similarities and differences between our
culture and that of Ancient Egypt.
Problem Based Learning Story:
Problem in the Egypt
(Part 1) It’s a hot, dry evening in Giza, Egypt. The stiff breeze is blowing the dry sand
against the pyramid walls. The year is 1922.
“Plenty of searching to do today,” you say to no one in particular. You have been
searching Egypt for 31 years. The search does not seem to be any closer to over. So far,
your search has only turned up a mummified cat! You are tired, but you continue to
excavate in the Valley of the Kings.
This is your last season working in the Valley of the Kings before your boss pulls the
plug. Beginning to dig beneath the workmans’ huts at the base of the tomb, you hear noise
as your shove hits something. It sounds like you have hit something hard. It can’t be
anymore huts. You have found and documented them all.
“What’s that?” you call out excitedly. Gently removing the dirt and sand, you
uncover what your shovel has found. You shout again, “What have we found!” You have
found something for sure.
Slowly, a step that has been cut into the rock is revealed in the light.
“Where does it go?” you ask, making your voice as strong as possible.
Cautiously, you and your men continue to dig into the desert sands. When
you finish, you ask yourself, “How am I going to get through the blocked door?”
(Part 2) You have found twelve steps leading down to an entrance.
You say to your men: “I’ve searched the door for a name, but the only seal I can
read is an impression of the royal necropolis or city of the dead. We need to remove the
rubble from the bottom of the entrance.”
You gasp at what the men reveal. There were several seals on the bottom of the
door with King Tutankhamen’s name on them.
Once you have worked your way into the tomb, you find massive amounts of jewelry,
perfumes, musical instruments, games, chariots, boats, a bed, religious objects, pottery,
precious metals, meats, and fruits. What could we have discovered here?!
Pictures of Artifacts:
Ivory and stone bracelets:
Gold gilded wooden chariot:
Senet game board:
Alabaster Perfume Vase:
Name: _____________________
Our Life
Egyptian Life
Both