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TM Storytime Myths and Legends: The Secret Sphinx 1 Teaching Resources The Secret Sphinx is a myth from Egypt about a future IN BRIEF pharaoh who finds the statue of the Great Sphinx buried in the desert. 1 LITERACY LESSON IDEAS The Secret Sphinx is a good story to introduce ancient Egypt as a topic – it touches on the pyramids of Giza, Egyptian gods and pharaohs too. Find out more about the Sphinx on our Sphinx Fact Sheet and learn about seven of the most famous pharaohs in our Great Egyptian Pharaohs Sheet. See our Secret Sphinx Word Wise Sheet to find the meanings of unfamiliar words, and complete the comprehension and literacy exercises here too. Arrange key moments in the myth in the correct order using our Story Sequencing Sheet. Write the story in your own words using our Simple Storyboards Sheet. How would you tell this story on a carved tablet like the Dream Stele? Have a go at our Secret Sphinx: Writing Sheet. Act out The Secret Sphinx story using our printable Sphinx and Pharaoh Character Masks. Also read another fantastic Egyptian myth, Ra’s Secret Name, in Storytime Issue 22, which you can purchase from our back issue shop: http://www.storytimemagazine.com/shop 2 MATHS LESSON IDEA Use the pyramids of Giza, which are next to the Great Sphinx, as a starting point to talk about 3D shapes. Build your own paper pyramids using our Pyramid Maker Sheet. Continued on page 2... © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime Myths and Legends: The Secret Sphinx 2 Teaching Resources 3 HISTORY LESSON IDEAS Bring the work of archaeologists to life by doing your own classroom dig. Fill buckets or trays with sand and bury Ancient Egyptian ‘artefacts’ or ‘monuments’ in the sand. Use a plastic lion toy to represent a sphinx or wooden building blocks to look like pyramids. See Tutankhamun’s golden mask up close and get fun facts about other famous pharaohs from DK Find Out: https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/history/ancient-egypt/tutankhamun/ For the perfect combination of fun and learning, watch the Crafty Cleopatra Special of Horrible Histories on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/ b060pwn6/horrible-histories-series-6-7-crafty-cleopatra-special It’s believed that the pharaoh Khafra was kind to the Egyptians who built the Great Sphinx. We think this because archaeologists have dug up the lunches of workers in the sands around the Sphinx. They ate fine foods and lived in comfortable quarters nearby. However, they only had stone hammers and copper chisels, which got blunt very quickly and they worked in the hot desert. Using our Storytime Diary Sheet, write an entry by one of the workers who carved the Great Sphinx. Describe a day in his or her life. 4 GEOGRAPHY LESSON IDEAS Find the Great Sphinx of Giza on a map of Egypt. What language do people speak in Egypt? What is Egypt’s national currency? What is the capital city of Egypt? Which continent is Egypt in? Find a picture of Egypt’s flag. Find Memphis on the map, which is now in ruins. Continued on page 3... © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime Myths and Legends: The Secret Sphinx 3 Teaching Resources 5 ART LESSON IDEAS Sculpt your own sphinx from modelling clay. Print off our Ancient Egyptian Headdress Sheet and colour it in. Cut it out and attach it to a 2 inch-wide strip of card, long enough to wrap around your head. Wear it just like the Great Sphinx. You could use with our masks to act out the story or as a starting point for exploring fashion in Ancient Egypt. Complete the picture on our Sphinx Art Sheet by adding a nose and a beard. Colour it in. Experts think the Great Sphinx was once painted red, blue and yellow, so why not use these colours? Draw your favourite Egyptian pharaoh or god on our Storytime Picture Frame. Refer to the illustrations in Storytime Issue 45 for guidance. © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime The Secret Sphinx: Word Wise Sheet 1 Teaching Resources These words appear in The Secret Sphinx in WORD WATCH Storytime Issue 45. Here’s what they mean. Seethe – burn, be wild, fume Gleamed – shone Overthrow – use force to remove Jutting – sticking, poking from power Mirage – optical illusion caused by Scheming – crafty the heat Venture – travel Sacred – holy Honour – pay respect to Omen – sign Scorching – hot, burning Intensely – strongly Oasis – watering hole Shrouded – covered Chariot – a horse-drawn cart with Stonemason – person who cuts, two wheels carves and works with stone Galloped – rode very quickly Encounter – meeting Awed – amazed, overwhelmed Archaeologists – people who study Immense – huge, gigantic history and dig up ancient sites to see Construction – structure what they can find Write a sentence to describe how Prince Thutmose HOT SPOT felt when the sun was beating down on him. Describe how his servant felt in the shady oasis. SHADY SPOT Make your words contrast with your ‘hot’ sentence. © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime The Secret Sphinx: Word Wise Sheet 2 Teaching Resources QUICK COMPREHENSION CHECKER 1. Why were Prince Thutmose’s brothers jealous of him? 2. Why did Prince Thutmose avoid his brothers? 3. Why did Prince Thutmose let his servants stay at the oasis? 4. What did Prince Thutmose spot when he started to pray to the gods? 5. What did the Sphinx ask of Prince Thutmose and why? WRITE THUTMOSE’S PROMISE In your own words, write Prince Thutmose’s promise IT! to the Great Sphinx. © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime Myths and Legends: The Secret Sphinx Teaching Resources STORY NAME SEQUENCING CLASS Number these sentences from 1 to 12 to put them in the right order. The Prince prayed to the sphinx and it came to life. When Thutmose became pharaoh, his first order was to clear the sand from around the sphinx. The Prince let his servants rest in a shady oasis while he went to visit the pyramids. Harmachis said that Prince Thutmose would become the pharaoh on one condition. Harmachis asked Prince Thutmose to free him from the sand so that people could pray to him. The Prince asked a stonemason to carve a special tablet telling the story of how the Great Sphinx of Giza spoke to him. Prince Thutmose’s brothers were plotting against him, as he was next in line to the throne. Prince Thutmose spotted the top of a sphinx’s head in the sand. The sphinx spoke to the Prince as Harmachis – the god of the rising sun. To avoid his brothers, Prince Thutmose rode into the desert. Prince Thutmose promised to help Harmachis, and collapsed in the heat. The Prince’s servants found him asleep in the shade of the sphinx. © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime The Secret Sphinx: Storyboard sheet Teaching Resources NAME CLASS Use the pictures to write The Secret Sphinx in your words. 1 2 ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 3 4 ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime Myths and Legends: The Secret Sphinx Teaching Resources NAME CLASS WRITING Imagine you are Pharaoh Thutmose IV carving your story on the Dream Stele tablet. What SHEET would you tell people? Write it here. © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime Myths and Legends: SphinX Fact Sheet Teaching Resources The Great Sphinx is one of Egypt’s most famous landmarks. It is located in Giza, where there also three great pyramids. Experts think the Sphinx was built over 4,500 years ago, around 2,500 BC. They believe it was built for the pharaoh Khafra. The Sphinx is 73 metres long and 20 metres high. It is one of the largest sculptures in the world – and the largest statue from ancient times. It has the body and tail of a lion and the head of a human, wearing a royal headdress. It was carved from a single piece of rock, and experts think it took one hundred workers around three years to complete it. When it was first built, it may have been painted red with blue and yellow details, as flecks of paint have been found on it. Over thousands of years, the statue has been worn away by wind and sand, which is why its nose is missing. You can see parts of its headdress and beard in the British Museum in London. The sphinx isn’t Also in Egypt, there is a place called Sphinx just a statue, it was a Alley. It’s a long avenue between two temples mythological creature and it is lined with statues of sphinxes. famous in ancient Egypt, Greece and Asia. In some cultures, it had The sphinx is so wings too. huge, its nose WOW! would have been over 1.5 metres tall, which is taller than most children! © storytimemagazine.com 2018 TM Storytime myths and legends: Great Egyptian Pharaohs Teaching Resources NAME FACT FAMOUS FOR… RULED He wasn’t heir to the Making peace with one of Around throne and may have Egypt’s biggest enemies 1400 - 1 THUTMOSE IV overthrown his brothers and creating the Dream 1390 BC to become pharaoh. Stele in our story. Though he built the Ordering the building largest pyramid, the of the Great Pyramid of only statue of him is the Giza – the oldest and 2589 - 2 KHUFU smallest Egyptian royal biggest of the three main 2566 BC sculpture ever found. pyramids. It was built as It’s only 7.5cm high! a tomb for him. He got Egyptian workers He was Khufu’s son, but Around to build the Great Sphinx, called himself ‘Son of 2560 - 3 KHAFRA as well as the second Ra’.