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Exploration Stations

Pyramid Math

After giving the students some fascinating statistics about the Pyramids to get the WOW factor going, I encourage them to learn more by playing Pyramid Math. On the overhead projector (yes, this is also technology), I place a game board that I have drawn, cute pictures and all. You can make lots of game board transparencies all with different themes.

You know...Lost in the Sahara Desert...skip a turn
                  Or...Crossed the River Nile...move ahead 3 spaces

Anyway, we play as teams and when a team answers a question correctly they move a marker on the game board. It is so much FUN!

A few great sites to get you started on those questions...

    The largest pyramid was the Great Pyramid of Giza.  It originally stood at 481 feet high, but today is only 450 feet high, how much shorter is the pyramid today? (Hey, how did that happen?)

    It took 2,300,000 blocks of stone to build the Great Pyramid. Each block of stone weighed 2 1/2 tons. How much in pounds, did each block weigh?

Make and Take

Ever send a student to the media center to do research on a topic and they return 30 minutes later empty handed. Ask them to select from a list of topics. When they go to the media center to research they will open the browser window to explore the web and at the same time open a Word document (multi-tasking). With the browser window open they read on their topic, then they minimize the window and open the Word document and summarize what they have just read and type it into the document. Next, ask them to copy and paste a picture from their search into their document. Lastly, copy the URL and paste it at the bottom of the document.

They'll always have something to show for their time in Cyberspace!

Internet Scavenger Hunt

Open a Word document and type a list of questions you want the students to find the answers to...unlike a quest, the question cover a broad selection of subtopics (An example is Egypt and the subtopics might be The Nile, Pyramids, Mummies and Hieroglyphics). Within each question underline a key word in the text that is hyper linked to a site that will help them answer the question. (Remember all you have to do to hyperlink is highlight the word, click on the World on a Paperclip Icon, with the window open, bring up the web page you want to connect to, right click on the URL to copy, minimize the window and VIOLA...the address appears in the hyperlink window. Click on OK and your text is linked).

Here is an example of a Scavenger Hunt...

1. We need to begin on the continent of Africa. What is the name of the river that flows through Egypt?
   Click on Giza on the map. What famous structures do you find on the Giza Plateau?
2. There are many types of pyramids. Name a few.
3. What is the name of the largest pyramid in Egypt?
4. All over the walls of the pyramids were pictures and symbols that were a form of writing called____________.
5. To see your name in Hieroglyphics, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Egyptian Name Translator. Type in your name and the hieroglyphics will appear at the top. Draw your name in hieroglyphics.
6. Now for Egyptian Math. On the calculator, add 100 and 44. Draw the answer.

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Too Many Cinderellas  

Read The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
   

Use an EXCEL spreadsheet to have students compare and contrast the many versions of Cinderella that are available today. Students can work as a cooperative group each reading one version and filling in the information on the template. A JIGSAW type of activity can be done, where one person reads to each group, then as a class we can type in the information (an LCD projector connected to the computer is a wonderful tool for this purpose).

These are some of the books you could use...below the titles are the book cover icons linked directly to Amazon for ordering!

• Cendrillion: A Cajun Cinderella

• Cinderella Penguin or the Little Glass Flipper

• Cinderhazel: The Cinderella of Halloween

• Sootface: An Objibwa Cinderella Story

• Yeh Shen: a Cinderella Story from China

• The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella

• Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella

• The Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella tale from the Jewish Tradition

A copy of the EXCEL spreadsheet is below...remember when you open your spreadsheet, have the group go to SAVE AS and save it under their name...this will preserve your original document.

Resources...Print (all book icons are linked to Amazon)

An Egyptian Pyramid (Inside Story) by Peter Bedrick, 1991

Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki, 1985

I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting, 1997

Who Built the Pyramids? by Jane Chisholm, 1997

How to make a Mummy Talk by James Deem, 1997

Zekmet the Stone Carver by Mary Stolz, 1988

Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie dePaola, 1987

Hieroglyphs from A to Z by Peter Der Manulian, 1996

The Winged Cat: a Tale of Ancient Egypt by Deborah Nourse Lattimore, 1995

The Temple Cat by Andrew Clements, 1996

The Egyptian News by Scott Steedman, 1997

Pharaohs and Pyramids by Tony Allen, 1998

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Resources...WEB

Take a virtual tour of an Egyptian Temple
http://showcase.netins.net/web/ankh/

A little mousetologist takes the students on a trip to Egypt.

http://members.aol.com/egyptmouse/page1.html

An on-line Egyptian safari

http://touregypt.net/wildegypt/

Color Me Egypt, download a coloring book of ancient Egypt

http://interoz.com/egypt/kids

The little Horus website...learn about Egypt's past and present, read a letter from the wife of the current president of Egypt...Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak.

http://www.horus.ics.org.eg/

A kid quiz on ancient Egypt with the well-known young archaeologist, Miss Rosetta Stone!

http://www.clemusart.com/archive/pharaoh/rosetta/rose10.html

Would you like to se what your name looks like in hieroglyphics?

http://www.guardians.net/egypt/hieronom.htm