Second grade is becoming all about ancient Egypt!
In book groups we started reading non-fiction reference books about Egypt, both present day and ancient times.
We are using Explorer’s Notebooks to record the interesting and important facts and questions we uncover.
This week we started a new read aloud book, The Boy of the Pyramids. The setting of this historical fiction novel is 5000 years ago in Egypt. It is quite a contrast to the much more recent historical fiction and biographies we have read recently.
To help 2nd graders have an understanding of just how long ago 5000 years was we looked at a timeline where each little square represents 1 year. It stretched across the room! We talked about time and used our new multiplication skills to describe a decade, century and millennium.
We also used iPads to take a look at satellite maps of Egypt, noticing the green areas near the Nile River and how much of the country is desert. We even found the pyramids!
Every student is also researching an artifact, using a photo of an object. They are discovering that as they learn about the object it can also lead to more questions and that sharing the information we find can help others, a great example of collaborative learning.
Next week, Egypt will be the subject of a homework assignment: we will be sending home a book, Tut's Mummy, to read and discuss. You will be able to share in the excitement of our learning.
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