Exploring The Living Prairie Museum

This afternoon we went on our field trip to The Living Prairie Museum.  While we were there, we learned lots of interesting things about Soils!

After walking from the school we had a chance to sit down and learn about what soil is made up of, why soil is important, and what we can do to keep our soil safe.  It was an interesting presentation and we all learned a lot!

Next, we learned how the size of soil particles affects the speed at which water passes through the soil.  Three volunteers came up to help us as we poured water into each container of soil and counted how long it took for the water to begin flowing from the bottom.  With sand it was only 2 seconds, top soil 3, and we counted all the way to 30 seconds for the clay pot, but no water came out!

After the presentation, we had about 10 minutes to explore the area inside.  There was a lot of neat things to see, including an area which showed us the prairie at night.

Next, we divided into two groups.  Each group had a chance to work on four different soil experiments.

We sifted soil to see the different materials it is made of.

We learned to tell if soil contained clay by the ribbon test.

We learned all about the two different types of composting.

We used a magnifying glass to see what different things were found in a soil sample.

Before we returned to school, we had a chance to tour the prairie reserve, filled with natural prairie grasses and plants.  We saw many native plants to the area and the largest ant hill we have ever seen!

It was a fun-filled afternoon and we all had a very good time!

All Work and No Play?

Today we learned about two aspects of daily life in Ancient Egypt...work and play.

We learned that most Egyptians were farmers, but there were other jobs as well.  These included priests, scribes, government officials, and people who worked skilled jobs on building projects.  It takes a lot of people to build a pyramid!  Building pyramids required people to design the structure, to carve stone, to paint the walls, to sculpt statues, and to make all the furniture, jewellery, and tools that were put inside.  We found it very interesting that Egyptians did not use money at all.  Instead, they were paid in food, clothing, and shelter.  

We also learned that even though Egyptians worked very hard (and for longer periods of time than we do), they also enjoyed a variety of recreational activities.  One of the more popular activities was playing board games such as Senet or Seega.

We then all got a chance to make and play our own Seega games.  It's a game that is a cross between checkers and tic-tac-toe, and it is a lot of fun!  One of the interesting things about it is even though it was played approximately 5000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, it is still played by Egyptian children today!

Please remember that our field trip to The Living Prairie Museum is Monday afternoon.  We will be walking regardless of the weather, so please dress appropriately.  Part of our activity will be outside, so students are encouraged to bring a water bottle, sunscreen, hat, and an umbrella if it is raining.

Along The Nile River

Over the last two days, we have been learning how The Nile River was very important to life in Ancient Egypt.  They didn't have roads, so it served as a way for them to move goods through the country.  The Ancient Egyptians also used the river as a food source, both for the fish they took out of it, and with its seasonal flooding, the river created an area of fertile soil to grow food.  This area was called The Black Land.

To help us with our understanding we created a map of Ancient Egypt.  Using a variety of materials such as construction paper, plasticine, glitter, tissue paper, and the non-stick stuff you use with your plates, students constructed a representation of the country.  

First we sketched out what we wanted to include (The Nile and our two other bodies of water), then we went over our sketch in a dark coloured marker.  Next we needed to add the sand.  Mrs. Deyoe was unable to get sand/sandpaper so we had to be a little creative.  We used a sandy coloured non-stick material that is used to prevent dishes from moving in kitchen drawers.  Hey, it worked!  After we glued on our sand, we cut out our Red Sea and Mediteranean Sea from blue construction paper and glued them onto our map.  Now it was time for us to make the Nile!  Using tissue paper, we twisted until it was tight.  We then glued it along the river.  We used gold glitter glue to represent the fertile areas along the river where the Ancient Egyptians could grow their food.  One of the last things we did was add plasticine pyramids.

It took us a few periods to complete our maps, but they turned out great!

Here are some pictures of us working on the maps.

Showing off our finished maps!  (A few of us needed extra time and finished while we were cleaning up, unfortunately we haven't had a chance to take their picture yet.)

Some of the finished products!

Yesterday I received a very lovely, thoughtful gift from Shylo.  It certainly brightened my Tuesday!

Thank you very much to Shylo and her family!