Name: Donna Kay Schon
Date: December 1, 2003
Content Area: Language Arts
Grade Level: 6th-8th Grade
Objectives with Illinios Learning Standards:
1. Students will be able to establish purposes for reading; survey materials; ask
questions; make predictions; connect, clarify and extend ideas. (1.B.2a)
2. Students will be able to use written material to interpret and evaluate
information.
(1.C.4c)
Strategies/Techniques:
Using technology and language arts, students create an Ancient Egyptian
magazine focusing on the civilization traits. Individuals research, write articles and work
cooperatively to assemble a product as a culminating lesson for a unit on Ancient Egypt.
Materials:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Egyptian History reference books
Computer with word processing program, printer and web access
Printing Paper
Binding machine and binding combs
Copies of Egyptian Civilization Study Guide
Copies of Egyptian Civilization Individual Grading Rubric
Copies of Egyptin Magazine student instruction handout
Copies of Egyptian Heiroglyphics
Procedures:
Anticipatory Set
Ask the students to share what information they might already know about Egypt and
it's mummies. Discuss this information and correct any misconceptions about Egypt.
Development
1. Begin class with a springboard activity to gain student attention. Distribute an article
from TIME, LIFE, or NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC to the students . Have students read
the article and make predictions about the civilization that the article describes. Ask:
What can we learn about a civilization as a whole from a magazine article?
2. Then ask: How much do you know about ancient Egypt? Give Interesting Facts Quiz
about Egypt.
3. Review the characteristics of a civilization.
4. Divide students into groups of 4-5 students each.
5. Hand out student instruction sheet titled “Egyptian Magazine: Applying the Traits of
Civilization to Ancient Egypt” and the “Egyptian Civilization Study Guide”.
6. Explain and distribute the “Egyptian Civilization Magazine Project Individual Grading
Rubric”.
7. Direct students to resource materials and website references.
8. Instruct students to use their copy of Heiroglyphic letters to write the title of their
article in Heiroglyphics.
9. Instruct students to select a leader for their cooperative team and choose their
individual article topics.
10. Allow students to work cooperatively researching articles (approximately 2 days) and
writing articles (approximately 1-2 days). Class may need to visit computer lab if
classroom does not have enough computers. Students create their article pages on Site
Maker.(located on the Beacon page at www.beaconLC.org)
Closure
Review editing process with students. Have students peer edit their group members'
articles using the Individual Grading Rubric. Demonstrate the binding method. Help
students construct magazines. Each group presents magazine product to class.
Classmates ask questions during presentation. Teacher assesses magazine products
(individual articles) based on scoring rubric. Discuss the articles everyone choose and
why? Discuss the sources they used to collect the information and any problems they
might have ran into during this assignment.
Modifications/Adaptations
The teacher could work with students individually if they are experiencing great
difficulty. The teacher could have the class each use their magazine article for a Egyptian
newspaper. Instead of a magazine turn their papers into a newspaper.
Extensions
-Create a test based on the Egyptian Study Guide information
-Have students write a reaction journal to their experience
-Have students write an ancient Egyptian fairy tale
-Have students create an ancient Egyptian civilization alphabet book (ESOL)
-Have students write an ancient Egyptian soap opera based on their civilization
-Have students watch THE MUMMY (recent movie) and document all the inaccuracies
in the film based on their knowledge of ancient Egyptian civilization
-Hold a classroom debate on the ethics of taking things from a tomb for museums
-Students write a Job Wanted Ad for pyramid workers
-Design a pyramid that would be safe from tomb robbers in modern time
-Have students write a creative story about what happened to the end of the Sphinx’s
nose
-Have students create a list of what they would want left in their tomb
Technology
Use of internet to obtain information on Egypt and its people. Used to gather material
and information for writing a article about Egypt, mummies,or any other Egyptian history
subject.
Assessment of Student Learning:
-Use completed magazines to assess the student’s ability to:
-understand the characteristics of Egyptian civilization
-identify the theme of civilization traits
-locate, gather, analyze and evaluate written information
-synthesize information from multiple sources
-write text that demonstrates comprehension
-selects and uses a variety of electronic media to create informative articles
-performs advanced word processing tasks
-chooses appropriate sources for information