Building Egypt

My class is building Egypt.  On the surface? You might see paint, cardboard, masking tape, saran wrap river water. Deep down? I see learning.  I not only saw it, I heard it…

What is the relationship between pyramid height and base size?  What resources can a river provide?  How does a hippo fit into the ecosystem in Egypt?  What’s the surface area of this pyramid compared to this one? How do I find the surface area of a pyramid? If this were built to scale, how big would this snake need to be? I made ‘canopic jars’ and I was just reading how they were placed in the tombs.  Do you mind if I put some things inside? Not real things of course.  The land on Google Earth in Egypt is so desert-y looking. They must have needed to live by the Nile.  I want to make a Sphinx. How do we make clay? It says 2:1 ratio. How do I measure that out?

These questions were theirs. Sure, I stoked the fire with my questions, but I also got out of their way.  Learning was everywhere.  Measurement. Three Dimensional Shapes. Surface Area. Volume. Research skills. Summarization. Using Google Earth to explore. Comparing and Contrasting. Creating. Evaluating. Habitats and Food Chains.  Ratios. The list will continue, I’m sure.

We’re not finished yet.

Afterall, Egypt wasn’t built in a day.