HIEROGLYPHIC ALPHABET – Shape, Texture, Balance

 Students will be able to:

• create a raised Egyptian hieroglyph and its corresponding English alphabet letter;
• explain how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs;
• explain the importance of the Rosetta Stone; 
• demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity.

Have students create a clay Egyptian Cartouche using the lesson plan available on this website.
 

1. Download images of Egyptian art from the Internet, for example,
   Egyptian Harvest
   Cartouche
   Egyptian Wall Painting
   Hieroglyphic Alphabet
2. Gather and make available, books about ancient Egypt and the Rosetta stone, for example, The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, by Elizabeth Payne; Tales of Ancient Egypt, by Roger Lancelyn Green, and Michael Rosen; Ancient Egypt: Tales of Gods and Pharaohs, by Marcia Williams; National Geographic Kids Everything Ancient Egypt: Dig Into a Treasure Trove of Facts, Photos, and Fun, by Crispin Boyer; and Hieroglyphs, by Joyce Milton, and Charles Micucci.
3. Preview the information available at the following website,
   Egyptian Art
4. Have students research hieroglyphics and find 3 things about them that they find interesting.
5. Create a sample.
    

1. Have students share and discuss the interesting facts they learned about hieroglyphs, for example,
   - Egyptian writing system developed over 5000 years ago
   - uses pictures of objects, people and animals
   - was used for important or religious documents
   - was used by the priests
   - word means sacred carving
   - can be written from top to bottom or bottom to top
   - can be read from right to left or left to right
   - look for which way the animal or human is facing, and read in that direction, for example, if it is facing left, read from left to right 
2. Ask students to read the hieroglyphics on one of the paintings. When they have difficulty explain how the discovery of the Rosetta stone helped to make reading hieroglyphics possible.
   - it was a large rock that had writing on it in 2 languages – Egyptian and Greek, and using 3 different scripts
   - the stone was carved in 196 BCE
   - it was found in 1799
3. Ask students to think about why there would be 2 different languages on the stone. What does it remind them of in their own experience?
4. Explain how it was possible to figure out Egyptian script and hieroglyphics because of the Rosetta stone.
   - How is the fact that it unlocked the puzzle of the ancient Egyptian language important?
5. View and discuss the use of hieroglyphics in the images of Egyptian art.
6. Discuss the raised surfaces on some of the art. 
7. Explain that this is called raised relief.
8. Introduce the challenge.

1. Place students into small groups
2. Ask them to: 
   - Share their work and discuss the things that are especially effective and why.
   - Talk about how they would read the hieroglyph based on the way it is drawn.
   - Talk about what they found difficult and what they found easy to do.
3. Share ideas with the whole class. 
4. Ask students to tell how they felt about doing this project.

1. Observe students as they work  – thoughtful focus, discriminating, seeking more information, elaborating, experimenting.
2. Observe students as they discuss the drawings – active listening, insightful contributions, supporting ideas with evidence found in the artwork and from personal experience.
3. Use a checklist to track progress. (Downloads – Hieroglyph_tracking.pdf)
4. Have students use the self-assessment form to evaluate their work. (Downloads – Hieroglyph_self-assessment.pdf)