Preparing for the Ancient Egyptian Museum
Students Become Experts
Jake is absorbed in learning about ancient Egyptians’ inventions. Cormack is pouring over photographs of cuneiform, the system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia. Sophie is envisioning the models she will make of ancient Egyptian homes.
The sixth graders are in the school library, researching, writing, and planning for the Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian Museum which is scheduled to open at the end of January. The annual project is a favorite with students. Each sixth grader writes a research paper and creates an artifact representing a facet of what they learned. The impressive collection of handmade objects is displayed in the library for the whole school to visit.
Research Feeds Interest
A curiosity-driven project
Sixth grade teacher Annette Milne describes the Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian Museum as a curiosity-driven project. Students pick topics that catch their interest from class-assigned readings and begin researching them using library books and online resources. The more a student learns, the more absorbed they become.
teaching research
from makeup to tomb robbers
“As you start writing the body of your research paper, you will see the gaps—areas you still need to learn more about,” teacher Kathy O’Neil tells her class.
Social studies teachers and Librarian Jenn Useted are available to answer students’ research and writing questions regarding topics ranging from ancient Egyptian weapons and makeup to pyramids and tomb robbers.
Jake is excited to share his discovery of a nilometer, a structure for measuring the Nile River's clarity and water level during the annual flood season, with his teacher. O'Neil celebrates his in-depth research. “Every year I learn something new,” she tells him.
