In 6th grade social studies, students begin the year with a selfie.

They are asked to create a “selfie” drawing that represents themselves at this point in time. How are you dressed today? What might you be doing in each season throughout the year? How do you know when the new year begins?

Throughout the year, each new study of an ancient group of peoples includes a similar selfie. Imagine yourself as a prehistoric person, or an ancient Mesopotamian. How would you be dressed? What are the seasons in that part of the world? What might you be doing in each season? How do the people know when the new year begins? These questions are designed to help the students not only visualize life in those times, but to conceptualize the calendar, how the daily lives of people in all times and places are similar and different from our own, and how the geography of a place influences the way people live.

The class recently launched their study of ancient Egypt, and students were asked to present themselves in the traditional Egyptian way - head in profile, eye from the front, shoulders from the front, hips and legs in profile. Their drawings reflect Egypt’s three seasons - Akhet (inundation, flood), Proyet (emergence, the growing season), and Shomu (summer, harvest) - and what they might be wearing in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians mark the new year when the star Sirius rises just at dawn, so many drawings include the constellation Orion.