Summer SAVY Session 5, Day 5, Beyond the Pyramids
This morning we used Zoom to talk to an Egyptologist from the University of Michigan. Students prepared questions based on this week’s instruction. We learn that all artifacts in museums outside of Egypt were acquired before the 1970s. Laws passed requiring Egyptologists to leave artifacts in Egypt and go there to study them. The students asked great questions during this conversation.
We read about mummies in the National Geographic Kids magazine. Students made observations about what the ancient Egyptians left with mummies in tombs. They made inferences about how they felt these items would help the person in their afterlife. We did a virtual field trip to the “afterlife gallery” at the Egyptian museum to see primary source artifacts. I led a discussion on how artifacts are preserved and displayed. We read an article about the negative impact of many tourists visiting historic sites in ancient Egypt. Students thought like an archaeologist to create a plan for how to protect the site and allow people to learn about it.
Our afternoon pyramid study began with a virtual field trip to the digitized pyramids at Giza. The Giza Project at Harvard has a wide range of digital resources if your child would like to continue their study of the pyramids: http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/giza3d/ We observed the
design and discussed theories about how they were built. Students completed their final pyramid challenge of the week using STEM building sets. As a fun final activity, students bubble solution to experiment with their own pyramid bubble frame (which they brought home today).
Thank you for giving your child the chance to explore ancient Egypt this week! It was exciting to complete an in-depth study of this ancient civilization with the young Egyptologists. If they wish to continue their research, there are so many great print and digital resources available through the public library and websites for children like National Geographic Kids.
Enjoy the remainder of summer break. I hope to see your child at SAVY in the future!