Post #8 Cross Curricular Project

I had a little difficulty coming up with a theme for my project. Then I decided to regress and become a 12 year old again, which wasn't that hard. : ) I sat down and thought about what I was interested in when I was in middle school. It was that simple, Ancient Egypt! I was fascinated with the mysterious culture and the exotic look to the people, so I have decided to go with it. I have done research and have started my lesson plans. The content areas I will cover will be:
1. ELA
2. Science
3.Math
4. History

ELA will include the introduction of various form of written communication, including ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. The students will learn to translate hieroglyphics into English by using the translation station learning sheet. The students will also create a cartouche of their name using the hieroglyphic alphabet and display them in the class. They will then read The Red Pyramid by: Rick Riordan. Once they have read the book they will do a project which will have them identify setting, characters, summary, plot, etc.

Science will have the students learning about the science that Egyptians used in their daily lives, while practicing modern scientific methods. One activity will be for the students to learn about the mummification process. To expand on the topic the students will mummify an apple. They will use the scientific method to conduct the experiment, i.e. weighing the apple before and after, documenting observations before and after, and making predictions and conclusions.

Math will have the students investigating the ancient pyramids. They will be given a pyramid fold-able to learn about area, surface area, and volume. They will also practice using alternate methods of measurement, similar to the ancient Egyptians, by using a string with knots tied in it to measure things around the classroom and compare it to the modern meter stick.

History will have the students writing and creating an Egyptian history book. They will research the information using links found on a webquest online. compile the information, create the illustrations or use graphics found online to expand on the information, and put it all together to create the book.

I still have a lot of thing to create for this unit, but I feel that I have a good starting point. I found this activity to be much easier than the traditional method of creating specific daily lesson plans. After deciding on a theme the lesson seemed to come about with ease and are more fun to create. The theme seems to drive the creatve process to create a more engaging unit for the students! I am enjoying it.