Third Grade Egyptologists!

Our third grade St. Dominic students are wrapping up an exciting cross-curricular study that has had them digging into the mysteries of ancient Egypt. Tying together reading (comprehension and vocabulary), social studies, and a little bit of science, this unit has encouraged students to make connections between different areas of knowledge.

Their teacher, Mrs. Paige Henson, explained, “I love doing big cross-curricular studies like this because it is important to show how learning is interconnected. I notice that when I teach lessons that incorporate math, reading/writing, and social studies the boys are much more engaged and gain a deeper understanding of the subject.”

Our third graders started the unit by reading the novel The Mystery of the Ancient Pyramid, stretching both their vocabulary skills and reading skills. They continued learning through various hands-on projects such as building their own tombs for the afterlife, making sarcophagi, and creating cartouches. They even experimented with mummifying hot dogs! They covered the hot dogs with either baking soda, salt, or a mixture of both and observed them over a 4-week period to see which ingredient(s) mummified best. The answer was salt!

Student Camden Scott told us his favorite part of the unit was the LINKtivity learning opportunities. The LINKtivity app is a tool that utilizes barcodes to take the boys to curated material, which gives them a safe tool for research and learning vs unguided google searches. Camden’s favorite fact: “They buried things like mummified cats and geese with them in their tombs!”

“The boys seemed to be naturally curious about the pyramids, mummification and tombs, and they really enjoy solving mysteries! So, to harness that curiosity I brought in videos and set up the LINKtivities for them to explore. They were able to learn about the geography of Egypt, use of hieroglyphs, ancient life, pharaohs, and pyramid building through these resources,” explained Mrs. Henson.

The field trip to the Egyptian Gallery of the Art Museum of the University of Memphis was the culminating activity of the unit, making everything they learned in class “real”. Third grader Luke Daush loved the field trip and shared, “My favorite part was getting to see a real mummy and learning about things the Egyptians made from the museum staff.”

Mrs. Hanson was very proud of the boys and their participation on the field trip. “They asked very good questions! It was great to see them totally engaged because they had prior knowledge of the subject. Several of the boys said it was their favorite field trip ever,” she said.

Cross-curricular study as a teaching approach naturally enhances critical thinking skills and gives students multiple outlets for creativity and engagement. But the bottom line is, if you spend time in the classroom, you can feel the enthusiasm. It is easy to see that these students are having fun AND learning-and that is how you build lifelong learners!