The sixth grade history class has been studying Ancient Egypt. Last week the students focused on the use of hieroglyphs as a means of communication, record keeping and as a form of preserving and passing down history. The students learned basic information about the alphabet, the most commonly used Egyptian words and how to read hieroglyphic messages. To become more familiar with the language, they also learned how to write their own names using hieroglyphs. Finally, the week’s entire set of activities culminated in an exciting project in which the students used hieroglyphs to create messages of their own. They presented their work to the class and, working in pairs, decoded each other’s hieroglyphic messages and checked their work for accuracy. The students have mastered the hieroglyphic alphabet. So, look for a sixth grader if you are really curious to see how your name is written in hieroglyphs!