Grade 1 - Early world Civilizations

Early World Civilizations: Supplemental Guide PP2 | Pausing Point 2 221

Mini-Farming on the Nile

Materials: Fast-growing seeds; two small containers; soil; sand;

water

Plant fast-growing seeds in two containers of a mixture of sand

and soil. Label one container “Near the Nile” and the other

container “Far from the Nile.” Water only the container labeled

“Near the Nile,” and have students observe both containers. Make

sure that students understand that plants fl ourished near the Nile

because of the water that came from the Nile and that plants

farther from the Nile were harder to grow because of the lack of

water in the desert.

You Were There: Living with the Ancient Egyptians

Have students pretend that they lived with the ancient Egyptians.

Choose an event from Lessons 5–10, and have students describe

what they see and hear. For example, you may wish to have

students pretend they are traveling down the Nile River with

Ahweru, seeing the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx for the fi rst time.

Ancient Egyptian Tales of Gods

You may wish to share other stories about ancient Egyptian

gods—such as Isis, Osiris, and Horus—to reinforce the polytheistic

beliefs of the culture. You should be able to fi nd these stories in

the library or on the Internet.

Ancient Egyptian Ruins

To learn more about ancient Egyptian ruins, use an Internet

search to fi nd pictures and descriptions of ancient Egyptian

archaeological sites.

Making Papyrus Paper

Materials: glue; brown paper bags; markers; trays

Tell students that they will make papyrus-like paper similar

to the way the ancient Egyptians made paper: by fl attening

and smashing papyrus plants and then layering the pieces by

overlapping them to create a sheet of paper.