SUBJECT: Histoyr

GRADE: Second

TECHNOLOGY: Internet

BY: Lori Gregoire

The Development of Written Communication/ Hieroglyphics

SOL: History 2.1 - The student will study the contributions of ancient Egypt and China which have had an impact on world history, with emphasis on written language, laws, calendars, and architectural monuments such as the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China

Purpose:

Since ancient Egyptians contributed to the development of writing, we will be discussing the importance of written communication in our daily lives and throughout history. The students will imagine a world without writing (and therefore, reading) in order to appreciate the significance and value of written communication.

Objectives:

· The students will gain an appreciation for written communication by considering what their lives would be like without writing.

· The students will be able to recognize different kinds of writing, including pictographs and phonemic letters.

· The students will be able to describe ancient Egyptian writing practices, including hieroglyphics, scribes, papyrus, and clay tablets.

· The students will be able to create and decipher hieroglyphics codes with some guidance, using pencil and paper and then a hieroglyphics web site.

Procedure:

Introduction:

I will bring in a clay tablet containing a message written in hieroglyphics (that I have made before class), saying that this is a message for the students from the ancient Egyptians. I will ask some students to try to read the message to the rest of the class. Since they will be unable to do so, I will ask the class which things I need to know before I can decode the message.

Content Focus:

· Before we try to decode the hieroglyphics message, we will discuss things we need to know about ancient Egyptian writing in order to decipher it -- whether the symbols represent words, letters, sounds, or pictures.

· The Egyptians contributed to the development of writing. What are some reasons that you think the Egyptians wanted and/or needed to develop a written language? Show students pictures of and define: papyrus and scribes.

· Discuss how the hieroglyphics are similar to and different from our alphabet and to the Native American pictographs that we studied in the fall. The pictographs were drawings of actual events. Some hieroglyphics look like pictures, but they really represent sounds, like the letters in our alphabet. But the have symbols for sounds, like “th”, that we don’t have symbols for.

· Ask students how they think we can find out information about ancient civilizations and peoples without studying their writing. Tell students how historians deciphered hieroglyphics and reconstructed the hieroglyphics alphabet.

· Discuss ways that we use writing in our daily lives: to remember things (grocery lists), to communicate (letters, messages), to advertise things (events and products), to record and share history and events ( newspapers, books), to express our feelings (journals)

· Try to imagine what the world would be like without written language as we know it. Give a brief message(in English) to one student at each table (there are 5 tables, 4 per table). Tell these people that they need to share their messages with the other students at their table, without talking or writing. They can draw pictures or act out the message. As a class, we will discuss the difficulty in communicating these messages without writing and whether they could be communicated accurately.

· Ask students whether they think they know enough about writing to decipher the message from the tablet yet. On a large piece of paper (with burnt and curled edges, to look more like papyrus), show them the code (matching hieroglyphics and letters). Explain how to decode the message, doing a few symbols as a class. Ask the students to decipher the rest of the message individually.

· Then show the students how I would use the code to write my name in hieroglyphics. Have the children to try to write their own names in hieroglyphics.

· Then show students how to use the web site to write names in hieroglyphics and compare the web site’s version of their names in hieroglyphics to their own. Were they close? What are some reasons they might be different?

Closure: Review some of the things that we discussed, including why writing is important in communicating and recording history, and aspects of the ancient Egyptian writings. Have students write a few words or phrases to describe hieroglyphics, scribes, and papyrus in their journals, as well as ways the Egyptians used writing, or ways we use writing today.

Evaluation:

Formative: participation and contributions to class discussions, identifying examples of pictographs, hieroglyphics, and phonemic language, deciphering beginning of hieroglyphics message as a class

Summative: deciphering the rest of the hieroglyphics message individually; writing their own names in hieroglyphics, defining scribes, papyrus, and hieroglyphics in journals, writing in journals about why writing is important to us today

Materials:

Clay tablet with brief hieroglyphics message, prepared before class

Large piece of paper with same message and deciphering code on it, large enough for the entire class to see

Paper and pencils

Examples of writing in our current lives: magazines, newspapers, advertisements, letters, e-mail, grocery lists, history books, rules for games, maps, etc…

Pictures of hieroglyphics, scribes, and papyrus

Examples of pictographs

Computer with Internet access

Background Information:

The Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 by Napoleon’s Army. It contains an ancient hieroglyphics text and its Greek translation. By studying the translation, researchers could determine the hieroglyphics alphabet. This could be applied to other artifacts, including caskets, amulets, pottery, and artwork to decipher more of the hieroglyphics alphabet and to learn more about the ancient Egyptian culture.

Papyrus was made out of the plant Cyperus papyrus, which grew in the marshes and pools along the Nile. The long stems were cut into pieces, the rinds were peeled off, and the pith was cut into thin slices and laid side to side. A second layer was laid on top of the first, but in the other direction, so that the paper had vertical lines on one side and horizontal on the other. The natural starches and juices held the paper together when it was pressed and beaten.

Schoolboys practiced copying Egyptian literature and wrote lists of names and places and performed mathematical exercises to practice their writing skills. When men became very skilled in writing, they could be hired as scribes to record pharaohs’ messages and literature. Scribes were well-respected and often enjoyed certain privileges, such as relief from taxation.

Definitions of key terms for the students:

Hieroglyphics -- ancient Egyptian writing

Scribes – special writers to record history and pharaohs’ messages

Papyrus -- ancient paper made out of reeds

Bibliography:

James, T.G.H. An Introduction to Ancient Egypt. New York: Harper and Row, 1979.