Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

In the BrainPOP ELL movie Ancient Egypt (L3U5L3), Ben and Moby try to imagine what life was like at the time of pyramids, pharaohs, and mummies as they explore an ancient Egypt museum exhibit. In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades 3-8, students answer essential and specific questions about the movie, and use the content vocabulary in oral and written activities.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Answer essential questions about the movie.
  2. Look for specific information in the movie.
  3. Apply academic content vocabulary words to their categories.
  4. Complete analogies using academic content vocabulary.

Vocabulary:

Content vocabulary: ancient, pyramid, pharaoh, mummy, artifact, archaeology, civilization

Preparation:

For Activity 1, Brainstorm It, make copies of the Brainstorming Web Graphic Organizer.

For Activity 3, Research It, create a handout and make copies of the following questions and research prompts, which call for specific information from the movie.
  1. Research a famous building that is approximately the same height as the Pyramid of Giza.
  2. What is another word for "located?" Copy the two sentences from the movie with the word "located." What do you notice about the form of the verb in both sentences? Why do you think this form is used?
  3. Review the timeline of Ancient Egypt in the movie. Look up, or figure out, the approximate dates of the Ancient Egyptian civilization. Why do you think these dates are approximate rather than exact dates?
  4. Discuss three things you would have seen if you had lived in Ancient Egypt.

Lesson Procedure:

  1. Brainstorm It. Before watching the movie Ancient Egypt (L3U5L3), activate students' prior knowledge about the topic of ancient Egypt. Distribute or project the Brainstorming Web Graphic Organizer or create a web on the board.
  2. Think About It. Create a handout or write the following essential questions on the board. Tell students to think about the questions as they watch the movie Ancient Egypt (L3U5L3):
    1. How does studying archaeology help us learn about the past? b. Why is it important for archaeologists to find artifacts? c. How did archaeologists and scientists learn about the lives of the pharaohs?
  3. Research It! Distribute the list of questions and research prompts (see Preparation). Repeated viewings will be necessary for students to observe, research, analyze, evaluate, or explain their answers. As with text-dependent questions for close-reading, these may be considered movie-dependent questions for close-viewing. Using close viewing questions with the movie will help students transition to the deeper and more specific questions they will encounter in close reading of texts.
  4. Play It. Play a Pyramid Vocabulary Game, using the following six categories in the pyramid: Continents, Rivers, Furniture, Jewelry, Things You Can Wrap, Things Made of Stone. Project the Pyramid Graphic Organizer, or draw one on the board.
  5. Analogies. Do a Word Analogy activity with the new vocabulary from this lesson, Ancient Egypt (L3U5L3). Partners complete the sentences, discussing the relationships among the words. Possible word analogy relationships are synonyms, antonyms, examples, derivation of words, definitions, descriptions, uses, places, cause-effect, part to whole, degree of intensity, object to function, object to characteristic. After you have gone over the five sentences and the different relationships, the partners collaborate on three additional sentences, using any words they wish. They may use words from this lesson, or look at the Word Lists for a list of all the words they have learned. They must be prepared to describe the relationships among the words.
    1. ________________ is to furniture as ________________ is to animals.
    2. Archaeology is to archaeologist as biology is to ____________________.
    3. River is to Nile as mountain is to _____________________.
    4. Statue is to stone as _________________ is to _________________________.
    5. Ancient is to modern as ___________________ is to _____________________.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

Family Artifacts. Discuss the kinds of things that are artifacts in the movie Ancient Egypt (L3U5L3), and how they depict everyday life of the time. Have students bring in any items that could represent their families’ cultures, and could be artifacts in a museum of the future, such asa tool, favorite toy,  kitchen item, souvenir from a vacation. The items can be anything that their families use or love. Create a display in the classroom, and discuss how their culture and civilization might be viewed by children in the future.

RELATED

BrainPOP  Movies
Mummies
Egyptian Pharaohs

BrainPOP JR  Movies
Ancient Egypt