a trip to egypt

On Monday, division 1 visited the pyramids of Egypt and the Giza plaza on the iPads. We placed ourselves at the base of a pyramid or the Sphinx and took a 360 degree look at our surroundings. Using several different 360 degree panoramic photos from www.360cities.net, the students were able to imagine what being amidst the pyramids might be like, either today or hundreds of years ago.

Some of the images showed camels carrying people in traditional attire while others showed parking lots of tourist buses as part of the scene. Using the touchscreen, students could zoom in to examine parts of the landscape in more detail, including the blocks used to create the pyramids. The photographs also helped to provide a sense of scale and give the students a perspective on how enormous the pyramids are.

The students were asked to write a descriptive paragraph focusing on using powerful words, sensory details and point of view.

For the following student, the panorama photos inspired his sense of wonder.

Although not the descriptive writing I had expected, my heart sang a little when I read this. A spirit of inquiry is what I hope to inspire when students visit the Blair library!
~Ms Novakowski