On a recent Friday, 6th grade students at Marion County Middle School were each given a small lump of clay along with tools to help mold it. But the students weren’t in art class. Instead, they were in Social Studies Teacher Kelly Allen’s class during a unit on ancient Egypt.
On the board at the front of the room was the “I Can” statement for the day which read, “ I can analyze how new knowledge increases productivity” and as she made her rounds in the room handing out clay, Allen explained to her students, “You’re going to appreciate why writing changes.”
Students had been tasked with writing their names in the clay using Egyptian hieroglyphics. Each student had a sheet of paper on which was printed a chart with hieroglyphs and the corresponding letter of the modern English alphabet. One image at a time, students meticulously created hieroglyphs of birds, lions, body parts, and a host of other small pictures to spell out their names one letter at a time.
“They found the Rosetta Stone and it had everything in Greek too so they were able to translate the hieroglyphs to Greek and then into English,” 6th grader Kaylee explained as she created her name in the clay. “This is harder than I expected, but it’s really fun.”
As she made her way across the classroom, Allen told her students that later in the unit they would discuss why writing has evolved and compare the hieroglyphs to modern day emojis.
According to the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies, the focus of 6th grade is the emergence and development of civilizations including Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, and Ancient China. Among other things, students learn about innovations and how they allowed societies to develop.
Allen said for the past several years she’s included the hands-on hieroglyphics project in her Egypt unit. After students finish creating their name, the clay nameplates stay at school to dry before students eventually get to take it home.
“We’re always doing hands-on activities,” Kaylee added. “It’s never boring in here -- we’re always doing something.”
Seated beside her, classmate Bailey created her hieroglyphic nameplate and explained that they’d also learned about pyramids and the Egyptian gods.
“I think it’s cool,” she said. And as for Mrs. Allen: “She’s awesome.”
