I am very excited. I am going on a trip to the country of Egypt, which is in the northern part of the continent of Africa. I will be back before too long to share my adventures with everyone! While I am in Egypt, I will be meeting with other principals and visiting schools to see how children learn and teachers teach in a country so far away from the United States! The children in Egypt all speak Arabic when they start school, but begin to learn English as their second language in the first grade. I will also be visiting colleges, museums and some remarkable ancient sites, like the Great Pyramids of Giza and the temple of the mysterious Sphinx! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page to see some interesting photos and read some fascinating facts!



Saturday, December 4, 2010

King Tut

Dear Girls and Boys:  Today I went to the Cairo Museum and saw King Tut's treasures!  Tutankhamun became the king of Egypt when he was only nine years old.  This was over 3,000 years ago!  Archeologists found the gold mask that was made for the young king when they were digging in the Valley of the Kings.  They also found many other things that had been placed in the tomb with him. Jewelry, furniture, games, clothing, statues and perfumes were just a few of those things.
      Here I am in front of the Cairo Museum.  We were not permitted to take photos inside, as everything is very old and needs to be taken care of in special ways!  Tonight we are having dinner at the home of an Egyptian family.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
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7 comments:

  1. maldermanDecember 6, 2010 at 9:40 AM

    Dear Mrs. Napolitano,
    We enjoyed looking at the pictures. We voted and the class' favorite was the mask of King Tut. Mrs. Alderman and Mrs. Silvernail liked the one picture that had you in it! We wanted to know if you saw a mummy at the museum. We were wondering how they can steer the boat with their feet. Mrs. Alderman was wondering what you had to eat with the Egyptian family.

    Have fun! We will be walking to the college soon. It was even snowing a little this morning!!

    Love,
    Room 7

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  2. mhoffmannDecember 6, 2010 at 11:16 AM

    Dear Mrs. Napolitano,
    We were wondering, what are the names of the family you had dinner with? We wonder how the family is different from families in the US and how they are the same?
    What kinds of treasures did King Tut have?
    We learned how to make mummies on the internet. We made a mummy! Half of the class thinks it is cool and half thinks it is gross!
    We miss you!
    Room 4

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  3. Mrs. Donna NapolitanoDecember 6, 2010 at 2:23 PM

    Thanks for all the great questions!
    Room 7: Guess what! I saw lots of mummies at the Egyptian Museum. Actually, there was a mummy ROOM that we got to see. There were about 10 real mummies of ancient kings and queens. They were protected in glass cases that were kept at a cool temperature.
    I don't yet know how the captains steer their boats with their feet, but I am going to take a boat ride before I leave just so I can let you know! When we had dinner with the Egyptian family, there was a whole table of delicious food. There was stuffed peppers and eggplants, grilled chicken, rice, salad, and falafels. Falafels look like meatballs but they are made by frying chickpeas, onion, garlic, spices and flour. It is so popular here in Egypt, that the McDonalds in Egypt has a McFalafel sandwich! We also had babaghanoush, which is grilled eggplant, and tahini, which is a dip made from sesame seeds. I hope you enjoyed the trip to OCCC to see the Health Fair. I can't believe you had a little bit of snow!!!

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  4. Mrs. Donna NapolitanoDecember 6, 2010 at 2:50 PM

    To Room 4: I am so happy that you are reading my blog and asking me questions! The Egyptian family that invited us to dinner were so much like our families. There were parents, their children and their grandchildren. The grandchildren were not at the dinner because they were in bed early because of school the next day. But there were lots of photos in frames in their living room to look at. The only really different thing was some of the foods we ate. Read my note to room 7 to see what we had for dinner.
    You made mummies on the internet??? WOW!! I saw a whole room full of REAL mummies that were over three thousand years old! Some of them still had hair on their heads!
    King Tut had many treasures. You can google King Tut and you can see pictures of them. When his tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, he was amazed by what he saw. There was not only gold and jewelry made of precious stones, but there were statues of gods and goddesses, wooden games, hunting spears, headdresses, furniture and even the royal throne! The gold mask in the picture was on King Tut's mummy inside his royal coffins and sarcophagus!

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  5. Mrs. Weier's classDecember 8, 2010 at 2:38 PM

    Dear Mrs. Napolitano, It was great to see the pictures you took. we are elated to see you in the picture in front of the museum. We would like to tell you about the tools the lady used to make papyrus. We think there is a press, rolling pin, a bowl of water and the plant. We don't know what the round drum is for.
    We were very busy with our trip to OCCC. We walked and it was cold and breezy.

    Talk to you soon. Love,
    Mrs. Weier's class, room 8

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  6. UnknownDecember 8, 2010 at 3:12 PM

    Sheila wonders if you are having a good time.
    Samantha likes the picture of you in front of the museum with the lilly pads. Xavier says Kings Tuts mask is cool!

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  7. The Grammer FamilyDecember 12, 2010 at 11:55 PM

    Lia wrote to you a week ago, but we did something wrong posting. She thought it was cool that King Tut was buried with all of his stuff and that it was weird he was a King at 9 years old. It was cuter when she wrote it. But we were thinking of you! :)

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