Artifact Interpretation

I have really enjoyed teaching World History.  I've enjoyed it for two reasons.  One reason is the students.  I am teaching about 30 of my former students.  It is fun seeing them and already knowing them.  I also like getting to know my new students.  However, with over 100 kids I'm not sure I'll know their names by interims.  The second reason I am really enjoying World History (keep in mind I'm a Civics kind of gal- so much so, I have an entire blog about that subject- click here to see that blog.).  I like learning new things and planning new lessons.

Today was one of those new lessons.  We learned about archaeology yesterday and today my kids were archaeologists.  I thought about having them dig in shoeboxes filled with sand but my more practical side got the better of me.  So I borrowed artifacts (foreign coins) from friends.

We watched a short video that showed archaeologists in the field and it discussed what the archaeologists do with their findings. We picked it up from there.  The students were to analyze and interpret their artifact.  They were to write down things that they observed, descriptions, some did rubbings of the coins and wrote down questions they were unable to answer.  Then they were to get another "artifact" and do the same thing.  Their goal was to analyze three artifacts and write their findings.

I found the original idea from this website.

Here are some pictures from today's lesson.

One of my archaeologists analyzing their artifact.

The artifacts.

Happy Teaching!
C