The Ancient Egyptians

In this unit, the children will explore who the Ancient Egyptians were, what they did, and discuss whether Ancient Egypt deserves its reputation as one of the most important early civilisations. The National Curriculum Programmes of Study for History recommends studying Ancient Egypt in a context of three other early civilisations. The children will study the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China, Ancient Sumer and the Indus Valley Civilisation to develop an understanding of where they were located in time and place. The children will study common features that made them successful.

There is s strong focus on sources of evidence within this unit.

Working with the education and touring theatre company, Altru, our year 4 children certainly enjoyed taking part in a variety of physical drama activities, which explored the following aspects of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation:

• The importance of the River Nile to Ancient Egypt and how it's connected to the seasons.
• Life for farmers in Ancient Egypt
• Pharaohs and their pyramids
• Khufu
• Death, mummification and the importance of the afterlife.
• Hieroglyphics – their shapes and importance.
• King Tutankhamen and his mysterious death.
• Egyptian inventions

Our children found drama to be a fantastic way to learn about history. Working creatively, they were able to empathise with the Ancient Egyptian civilisation through acting out the daily lives of the people of the past, thus, bringing this ancient period to life. This provided for a long and lasting memory as they shared their final performance (shown below) with our year 5 children - from whom they received some very impressive feedback!