SECOND GRADE . . . A mummy mask!

Second graders dressed down yesterday for art class! Our lesson in ancient Egyptian art brought us back in time to 3000 B.C., and the highly stylized and symbolic images of the Egyptian culture. Many of our students knew many interesting facts about King Tut, one of the more famous of the Egyptian pharaohs.

We learned about their writing system, Hieroglyphics, a pictographic script that was often painted or engraved into the walls of the pyramids. The Rosetta Stone, discovered in the late 18th century in France, gave us a clue that these repetitive symbols were actually characters of a written language. Once translated, we discovered so much more about the ancient Egyptians, learning about their daily lives and their belief in an afterlife. For fun, we wrote our names in Hierolgyphic symbols.

Our masks began as a plastic face mold. We all added cardboard pieces to represent the Egyptian stylized head and then students had a choice to add a collar, hair pieces and a beard, creating a mask for an Egyptian pharaoh or queen. We applied plaster strips to the masks, a wet and messy material, but perfect as a molding medium that can be painted or decorated once it dries.

Here are some of our students getting messy and creative with their mummy masks!