Ancient Egypt
2nd Grade Hieroglyphics Lesson Plan
Purpose:
The focus of today’s lesson is to discuss the written language of Ancient Egypt, hieroglyphics.
This lesson is important for the students to understand the differences between a language based
on pictures and our English language that uses letters.
SOL History 2.1: The student will explain how the contributions of ancient China and
Egypt have influenced the present world in terms of architecture, inventions, the calendar,
and written language.
Geography 2.4 The student will develop map skills by a) locating the United States, China, and Egypt on world maps
English 2.3 The student will use oral communication skills.​ a) Use oral language for different purposes: to
inform, to persuade, to entertain, to clarify, and to respond​. b) Share stories or information orally with an
audience. c) Participate as a contributor and leader in a group.​ d) Retell information shared by others. e) Follow
three- and four-step directions.
Objectives:
After completing the Hidden Egyptian message worksheet, the students will be able to identify
certain Egyptian hieroglyphics by recognize their meaning with a 100% accuracy.
Given the Hieroglyphics Questionnaire, the students will be able to answer at least three review
questions with a 90% accuracy.
Procedure:
​Introduction​ (10-15 minutes)
● The teacher will call the students to the carpet by table.
- The teacher will introduce the lesson by showing the students a Google Earth
demonstration.
- The demonstration will start with Winterpock Elementary School, and then move
out, to Virginia, then United States, then North America, and then Egypt, focusing
on pyramids especially. (V)
● The students will remain on the carpet as the teacher begins a KWL chart. The students
will be completing a class wide KWL chart throughout the lesson. The first section,
“Know,” will be completed first.
- Students will be asked, “What do you already know about the contributions of
Ancient Egypt?” The teacher will write the answers on the following KWL chart,
which will be enlarged and placed on the board.
- Next is the “Want” section, which the teacher will ask, “What do you want to
know more about Ancient Egypt?” The teacher will leave the KWL chart on the
board for the summary activity.
- The teacher will ask the students: What would life be like without clocks or
calendars? They will share their thoughts with other students. (Turn and Talk)
(A,V, K)
​ evelopment​ (25-30 minutes)
D
● Show a picture of hieroglyphics on the screen and ask students if they know what the
hieroglyphics are. (V)
● Pass out the “Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphs” handout.
● Read the handout to the class and discuss. (V, A)
- Do you think writing in hieroglyphics was hard? Why?
- Could most people during that time read and write as if we can today?
- Why was the Rosetta stone so important?
● Have students glue the page into their notebooks.
● The students will work on a hidden Egyptian message. Work with the people in their
groups. (A,V, K)
● After solving the hidden message, the students can write their name using hieroglyphics.
They may decorate their paper once they finish writing their names.
​ ummary​ (5-7 minutes)
S
● The teacher will call the students to sit on the carpet in a circle and the class will revisit
the KWL chart, filling in the “What did you learn?”
● When students complete their hieroglyphic name, they will receive the “Ancient Egypt:
Written Language Review” handout.
- Students are to complete the three questions on the handout independently.
​ or strugglers​: Allow students to use illustrations to answer the questions or to review what they
F
have learned so far.
For advanced student​s: Instruct students to write a story about Ancient Egypt or ask them to
create a secret message using hieroglyphics.
Materials
- ​Google Earth Program
- Poster board for anchor chart
- Interactive notebook
- “Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphs” interactive notebook page (http://royalbaloo.com/?s=egypt+unit)
- Glue
- Hieroglyphics Questionnaire
- “Ancient Egypt: Written Language Review” handout
- Hidden Egyptian message worksheet
Evaluation Part A:​ The students’ knowledge will be assessed using the Hieroglyphics
Questionnaire to make sure students understand the key points of the lesson.
Evaluation Part B:
Did the students meet the objectives?
- During the ‘L’ part of the KWL chart, the students were able to come up with answers
about what they learned during the lesson. Some of the students even referred back to
what they knew already about Ancient Egypt tied it into the hieroglyphics topic. In
addition, the students were able to figure out the hidden message on the worksheet
because they understood that the symbols represented the letters, which is a form of
communication during that time. The students understood that each symbol has a different
meaning to one another, because of the unique characteristics that each symbol has.
- After completing the Hieroglyphics Questionnaire, some of the students were having
difficulty answering the second questions because either they didn’t quite understand the
question or they just didn’t read the handout more thoroughly since we read it in class
altogether. Based on the rubric, a big portion of the class was not able to get a good grade
on this questionnaire, since majority of the students didn’t follow directions of writing
complete sentences and paying attention to details especially after I specifically said to
use complete sentences. Moreover, if they needed help in spelling a word, they can find it
on the handout. Since I put a 90% accuracy, I think that the students still did a great job of
answering the questions and understanding the concept of hieroglyphics.
Did the lesson accommodate the needs of all your learners?
- I think that through the interactive Google Earth and the handouts, the students who learn
best through visual representation were able to grasp the idea that Ancient Egypt is really
far from us and that its historic contributions have made a big influence in our society
today especially in terms of language.
- Through the Turn and Talk strategy, the students who are auditory and kinesthetic
learners were able share their ideas and were able to talk and listen to other's responses in
order to have a strong background of the topic before contributing an insight to the class. I
think this is a great way to ‘break the ice’ and have the students be comfortable talking to
one another especially since it was my first lesson in their class. The students were also
able to use their communication skills by informing and responding to someone during
their discussion.
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson?
- I think that I was able to portray the lesson in an engaging way since the students started
off with a lot of energy because of the strong introduction of the Google Earth especially
when they saw their school on the map. My cooperating teacher even pointed out that it
was a good use of technology since the students were excited to see the actual pictures of
the places that the students lived in by starting small to something bigger. The students
were able to see a tour starting from their school, to their neighborhood, their county, their
state, their country, and the continent and how far it is located from Egypt. The
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technology use really grabbed the students’ attention and it really made them think about
how unique ancient Egypt was back then after seeing the pyramids.
I also think that by using the KWL chart really helped guide the students after having a
strong introduction to the lesson because it is always helpful to refer back what they have
already learned before in order to not repeat the same concept and be focused on a new
topic.
By using the ​Ancient Egypt: Written Language Review handout, the students were able to
follow three step directions of cutting the handout first, then gluing it to their interactive
notebook, then finally reading it as a whole group before answering questions.
During Turn and Talk, the students were able to retell information that were shared by
their classmates in front of the class in order to clarify and information of what their
thoughts are about not being able to have a clock or a calendar. The students were really
thinking deeply about their answers because when I was walking around and listening to
some of the answers, I was surprised that they mentioned about not being able to celebrate
birthdays and not growing up at all. They had the chance to think about their inferences
before sharing their thoughts to others as a large group.
I could have had clearer directions because some of the students were confused and they
went ahead and cut the handout. I think that if I wrote the directions steps, the students
will be able to follow directions consistently.
How would you change the lesson if you could teach it again?
- I think that I would have better explanations and directions especially by emphasizing on
the specific instructions on how to answer the questions, so the students will not be as
confused and will not have many questions.
- I also could have had less wait time because some students finished early, however, since
I had differentiation on my lesson plan, I was able to modify some of the activities and the
advanced students were able to adapt quickly to the additional work I had instructed him
to do so. The students who were taking their time in finishing the worksheet just needed
additional help in answering some of the questions. I think if I had consistent instructions,
the students would have been able to adapt quicker.
- Reflecting on my cooperating teacher’s suggestions, I would be more prepared when I am
teaching a lesson since I was not able to make copies for everyone. In my last practicum, I
was allowed to make copies, but I completely understand that paper and ink are limited.
- If I could teach this lesson again, I would start the lesson by introducing the learning
target/objective by doing the “I can” statement, so that the students understand what the
purpose of the lesson. It is important for students to realize that each lesson is part of a
unit plan that benefits them in the end since they are going to be tested in these topics in
the SOLs.
- If I were the cooperating teacher, I would follow-up by letting the Practicum student to be
more confident in his/her lesson because the students would always have questions and
that the lesson might not always go as planned, but as long as the students had a great
time while learning, he/she should be satisfied. I would also follow-up by telling the
Practicum teacher to have materials ready and to have concise and clear instructions for
better classroom management, so that students will be more productive during the lesson.
​Rubric for Ancient Egypt: Written Language Review
Student:
Question
Answers
Exemplary (3)
Accomplished (2)
Beginning (1)
1
The symbols used that
the Egyptians write are
called ​hieroglyphics.
Spelled correctly;
Used complete
sentence/s and
grammar
Spelled correctly
Got the concept
right; misspelled
the word
2
The people who were
taught to read and write
are the ​scribes.
Spelled correctly;
Used complete
sentence/s and
grammar
Spelled correctly
Got the concept
right; misspelled
the word
3
The Rosetta stone is a
large piece of rock with
3 different languages. It
is important because we
know Greek and we can
translate the message
and figure out what the
hieroglyphs mean.
Spelled correctly;
Used complete
sentence/s and
grammar
Only answered the
what part, but not
the why part of the
question
Incomplete
sentence; only
answered one part
of the question