Friday, August 26, 2011

Ancient Egypt

Eternally fascinating, Egypt’s pyramids, hieroglyphics and mummies have captured imaginations for centuries. Egypt’s mythical characters and striking artifacts have made appearances in museums and popular media throughout the world. In our Egypt unit students delve into the engrossing details of Egyptian culture. Riding over a framework of core learning, your child will complete an Egypt Festival project. Your child will also explore the mummification process as reconstructive archaeologists—social scientists/historians who reenact the practices of a people to more deeply understand that culture. To make a long story very short, the process of mummification involved a salt called natron that dried out a body so that it would not decay. Our humble mummification project does not involve any of the gorier aspects of mummification that the Egyptians needed to deal with, but will allow the students to see, first-hand, the principles of mummification using common materials. Students will come to understand how this process ties into all aspects of Egyptian life, from the hieroglyphic messages students will write for their mummies’ sarcophagi to the myths that point to the cultural roots of mummification. Through participation in the compelling activities of this unit, the students will become knowledgeable Egyptologists.

Research Sites for Ancient Egypt

Excellent General Sites The British Museum The ORIGINAL Tomb Raiders, and the finest Egyptological collection outside of Egypt. Mysteries of Egypt A good general site from civilization.canada, eh? Ancient Egypt Site Created by an Egyptologist, this site has gathered great resources from many places and put them here. Tour Egypt! Once you get past the fact that they're trying to sell you, everyone you know or ever met a tour of Egypt, you'll find that this site has good, accurate information. And if you get sick of researching, you can buy stuff! BBC—Ancient Egyptians Everything Egypt from soup to nuts. (beginning to end) Information on pyramids and monuments, pharaohs, mummification, religion, daily life and hieroglyphs fill this site with well-illustrated information. They even have GAMES! Egypt: Secrets of an Ancient World Explore Egypt National Geographic style. News stories, interactive features and other information grace this site. Like an Egyptian themed amusement park. And don't forget Ms. Jaffe's links page. There are many overlaps, but some updates. Excellent Sites about specific topics. Pharaohs PBS on Pharaohs. Pyramids PBS on Pyramids. Obelisks Part of the Secrets of Lost Empires series from PBS. .




BBC World News

  • Search for US tornado survivors
    • The search for victims of the gigantic tornado that struck an Oklahoma City suburb continues into a second day, with 24 people confirmed dead.
  • Key pair barred from Iran election
    • Two prominent figures in Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, are barred from standing in next month's presidential election.
  • Suicide inside Notre-Dame de Paris
    • A far-right historian shoots himself dead inside the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in the French capital, police say, causing its evacuation.
  • Apple's Tim Cook defends tax claim
    • Apple boss Tim Cook defends its tax strategy at a Senate hearing, after the tech giant is accused of being among America's largest tax avoiders.
  • Syria and Israel in exchange of fire
    • Israeli and Syrian forces trade fire across the ceasefire line in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.
  • Afghan women 'jailed over morals'
    • The number of women in Afghanistan jailed for "moral crimes" has risen by 50% in the past 18 months, says Human Rights Watch.