Teachers Pack Discover the world of ISBN: 9781782263579 RRP: 4.99
Dear Teachers, My name is Geronimo Stilton and I am the editor of The Rodent s Gazette but I also write stories based on my adventures around the world. My book The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid is a great way to introduce your students to the history of Ancient Egypt and improve their reading and writing skills. Using this guide, you ll help your students develop more accurate reading and writing skills and be able to discuss stories exploring narrative structure. I hope you and your pupils enjoy my adventure in Egypt and the activities found throughout the pack. Yours,
1 Activity 1: Hello everyone! Learning Objective: To understand similarities and differences in the classroom and around the world. Activity: How many ways can you say Hello!? Play the song Hello! (https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=tvlckp3bwh8) and get the children to dance around the classroom. When the song stops ask the children to say hello to their nearest classmate in as many ways possible they know. Encourage the pupils to say hello in as many ways possible including colloquial speech and in any other languages. Restart the music and the pupils should start dancing again; when it stops, get them to introduce themselves to a different classmate. Write down the new ways of saying Hello! you have just learnt Hiya Ahlan This how they say Hello! in Egpyt
22 2 Activity 2: Ancient Egypt Objective: Introduction to Ancient Egypt. Activity: Introduce Ancient Egypt to the class by run through the information on the following page. Ask them what they know already. Talk about key Egyptian facts. Key words will include: - River NIle - Pyramids - Pharoahs Use the BBC Bitesize resources and explore the world of Ancient of Egypt. Play the video A Ancient: A visit to Ancient Egyptian, 5000 years ago. While watching the video the pupils should be able to complete the questions on page 3 of their packs. After the video has finished, run through their answers and discuss what was explained in the video. Resources: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/ zsgs4j6)
Ancient Egypt Egypt is a modern day country located in Africa it has existed for over 5000 years. The world s longest river, The Nile, runs through the country, stretching from the mountains in central Africa, travelling for thousands of miles until it reaches the deserts of Egypt. Once a year the Nile in Egypt overflows, flooding the land beside the river and making the soil turn black. It is rich and full of minerals that help plants to grow. People settled on the banks of the River Nile and built towns and cities. They began to build a civilisation. Ancient Egyptians were ruled by Pharaohs who were revered as Gods and built massive monuments called pyramids. 3
4 What were the rulers of Ancient Egypt called? Pharoahs Can you name an Ancient Egyptian ruler? Tutankhamun, Akhenaten, Rameses II Do you know what the writing system the Ancient Egyptians used was called? Hieroglyphics What were the pyramids built for? Tombs for Pharoahs and their consorts Can you find Egypt on the map? Where is the River Nile?
5 Activity 3: Hieroglyphys Objective: Introduction to different forms of communication and writing systems. Following the introduction to Ancient Egypt, discuss hieroglyphys and their role in Ancient Egypt and as a form of communication. The pupils will learn basic information about the writing system, how to read hieroglyphic messages and practice using hieroglyphs to create their own messages. Task: Explain that hieroglphics made up a writing system consisting of over 700 pictures used in Ancient Egypt. It wasn t written in any particular direction and it was up to the reader to decide which way to read the messages. Ask the pupils how this is different from the alphabet we use. Can they see any similarities between how we communicate today (think about emojis and modern text messaging techniques). Explain that the alphabet on page 4 of their packs is not a direct alpahbet but used to create the writing system for today s task. The pupils will use the alphabet to decipher and create their own hieroglyphic messages.
Ancient Egyptian hierioglyphys The Ancient Egyptians had a unique writing system called hierioglyphys. This writing system was made up of over 700 pictures which represented sounds and words and could be written in any direction. The name hieroglyphys orginates from the Greek words Heiros meaning Holy and glyphe meaning writing. Learning to write in hieroglyphys was very complicated and took years of training; those who trained in writing hieroglyphys were called scribes. Hieroglyphs were found in ancient tombs and temples to the gods but was also written on paper called papyrus made from the tall reed plants found along the Nile. Alphabet 5
6 Can you write your name in hieroglyphys? Can you help Geronimo decipher these hieroglyphic messages?
7 Activity 4: Writing your own news article Objective: Use descriptive language to create their very own news article. Task: Geronimo needs help with the latest edition of The Rodent s Gazette! Askthe pupils to write an article describing Geronimo s most recent trip to Egypt. Remind the children of what they have learnt in the previous activties and make use of the key words. They should describe Geronimo s journey, what he say and what he learnt. Use this as your The Rodent s Gazette template. Use the keywordsto help you write your news article Pharoah Keywords Egypt Desert River Nile Camel Sahara Pyramid