Mummies!

Sue, Yeongji, and Donghwan tackle Wonsup
"Stand very still...remember, you're dead now..."
"Now I'll just put a bit over your mouth..."
"Hmmmphmmmmm..."

Recently in AC (that's afterclass) we've been doing a unit on Egypt. I used to really dread AC, especially when the kids I was working with were really little and I had a hard time communicating with them (the kids were fun, but more often than not I felt like a human jungle gym). Since Kirsty left, I've taken over her class, which is made up of several really advanced students (4th grade). We've studied Bulgaria, playwriting, the rainforest, superheroes, African mask-making--the sky is the limit with these kids! They're interested in everything and they are quite intelligent, which makes teaching them a lot of fun.
I was thinking back to my elementary school days at Hawthorne, and the unit we did on Egypt. I remembered making pyramids out of Domino sugar cubes, complete with mummies inside, and how fun that was. So up 'til now, we've studied hieroglyphics (and we made our own cartouches!), Egyptian painting, and the history of mummification (we've yet to do the sugar cube pyramids). But I thought the kids might enjoy mummifying each other. Typically, the mummification process in Egypt took 70 days...in my class...it took about 7 minutes...
Wonsup was first (and the wiggliest). The kids were all very excited that I'd brought my camera (I accidentally forgot it Monday when I mummified Sue and Donghwan). Next they wrapped up Yeongji, who resisted being a mummy at first but then began to enjoy it. And lastly, I got a turn! The kids were very involved in making sure I was covered head-to-toe in toilet paper! They piled it on my head and kept telling me "Teacher! You make a beautiful bride!" After each "mummy" was finished, the kids had a blast tearing out of the paper like the Incredible Hulk. After everyone came back to life, we had a fun "snowball" fight in the classroom.