Sand Storms, Pharaohs, and a Pyramid

Week 2

When Mrs. Sloan, the teacher of my 6th grade class, told me they were learning about the culture of Ancient Egypt for social studies, I was excited to come up with a lesson that reinforced the ideas they may have learned.  I went to my mentor Jana Shumway, for help and inspiration for a lesson on Ancient Egypt.  She shared with me a lesson that went through the creative steps the Egyptians went through before they reached the structure of their famous pyramids. I appreciated her designs, that helped influence my
own lesson plan ideas.


We danced through various exercises to reach the ultimate pyramid formation. From swirling sand storms around still bodies, to Egyptian shapes along pyramid walls, the class enjoyed dancing out the ideas they had been learning in class. The final task was to create a pyramid shape within small groups.  It was a great challenge for them to work as a team to build sturdy, safe, and unique pyramid shapes with their bodies.

The final section of the lesson was a dance, narrated with information about ancient Egypt.  I took the movement from the exercises we practiced and assigned them to key words in the script.  As I read a series of facts about the progression of pyramids in ancient Egypt, the dancers performed movements that demonstrated my words.  This activity solidified what they had been learning and practicing, also bringing a class unity.  The students were excited to recognize that they had just performed a complete dance together as a class.