Back to the Time of Ancient Egypt: Second Grade Writes Historical Ficttion

Second graders are writing historical fiction stories set in Ancient Egypt. After immersing themselves in this time period and creating a wealth of background information through listening to stories, studying the geography, reading Mummies in the Morning and the accompanying research guide in book groups and integrating art, music and science they are able to apply this knowledge to their fiction stories.
The first step in this process was to brainstorm problems that could happen to children and adults in Ancient Egypt. The selection of the problem helped our authors to choose the characters that would be in their stories. Some of the problems intriguing to our authors involve, a child worried about going to scribe school for the first time, a child or parent getting sick and needing to go to the doctor, a child who is now old enough to follow in the footsteps of a parent who is a dancer and musician and is worried that they won't be good enough when they perform at their first festival and a farmer and his son who have sold all of their crops at the marketplace when a messenger from the Pharaoh arrives to say that he needs to have fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to the palace by the end of the day for that evening's festival.
After careful planning that included researching aspects from Ancient Egypt that would be in their stories, such as the use of magic, the placement of amulets and the administration of healing plants such as juniper berries by the doctor, the students thought about how to begin their stories. The following are beginning sentences from a few of the second grade students.
Asha: Long ago in Ancient Egypt a girl named Nashy was getting ready for a party.
Samantha: Long, long ago there lived three people: a daughter, a dad and a mom. They lived in Egypt near the pyramids in the quiet, cool air close to the villa.
Parker: It was a bright new day in Aswan Egypt and it woke up Ash in a good way.
Andrew: Long ago in Ancient Egypt not far from the Great Sphinx lived a family on a farm that had a dog and a cat.
Kendall: One day there lived a little boy named Mosi in a mud brick house near the Nile River.
Joseph: The early morning sulight slanted through the windows of the House of the Dead in the kingdom of Ancient Egypt.
Students are eagerly finishing their stories and all second grade students will be sharing their stories with families on Egypt night, Thursday April 8th.