Wilton, here’s your chance to take an adventure just like archeologists and explorers would, without even leaving town. You can, simply by visiting the recreation of the Tomb of King Tutankhamon created by some amazing sixth graders at Middlebrook Middle School.
This is the 15th year that students in teacher Will Mathews’ 6-Green Social Studies class get to take part in the impressive hands-on learning experience. They transform Mathews’ classroom into a replica tomb, complete with artifacts and a mummy of King Tut, the boy king of ancient Egypt.
Before winter break, each student selects an artifact to create for the exhibit. Doing so requires them to research about the object and then build it to look as representative and realistic as possible.
They also log time helping to build the tomb itself. Several parents and kids came into school one Saturday to help put up the walls and get everything set up, putting together the large styrofoam blocks painted to look like sandstone rocks. They create three ‘rooms’–an exterior space set up to be the excavation site in the Valley of the Kings, an antechamber and the burial chamber with a sarcophagus. The burial chamber is almost exactly the same size as the real tomb.
While the blocks are still the original ones used 15 years ago, the paintings are created each year by the students, who paint the hieroglyphics and wall paintings to make an incredibly life-like ancient tomb.
“I was actually turning kids away on a Saturday,” Mathews says, marveling at the fact that his students have so much fun with the project they’re willing to come in on a weekend.
Visitors from the community are invited in to see the students’ handiwork and learn from the kids who have become expert Egyptologists.
King Tutankhamun’s Tomb Experience is open to the public next week–Tuesday, Feb. 10; Wednesday, Feb. 11; and Thursday, Feb. 12 (see hours at the end of this article). During the hours the exhibit is open, students will be on hand to act as docents and tour guides for when the public visits or when other Middlebrook students come to see the Tomb. They’ve had to learn quite a lot of information, and over several weeks they write a script and commit everything to memory so that they can explain about the artifacts that are displayed as well as answer questions about the time period and what they’ve learned.
“I really try to push them beyond the memorization to really carry on a conversation with whoever comes to visit,” Mathews says. He marvels at how the kids are so engaged and loves how they are such active learners as a result.
“It’s energizing, exhilarating,” he says. “On Saturday, I had been here for seven hours, and when everything was done and set, I just got overwhelmed by how good an experience it is, how fun it is and the learning that goes on.”
Two of the 6th grade students were eager to share their experience when GOOD Morning Wilton got a sneak peek at the Tomb. Emma Caldwell and Rory Hess both raved about what it’s been like to undertake the project, and consider themselves lucky to be in Mathews’ class.
“I was so excited, I heard about it from my babysitter’s brother who was in 6-Green and I know he had fun doing it,” Emma said.
Rory agreed, adding about Mathews, “He’s a great teacher. He really understands how kids like this stuff. We definitely will remember this.”
They say they’ve enjoyed spending several weeks learning about ancient Egyptian history and culture, as well as about the archeologist Howard Carter who discovered King Tut’s tomb. It’s clear that they’ve really been able to soak up so much information because of the way they’ve been immersed in the learning. Rather than simply read a text or sit through a teacher’s rote lecture, they’ve been engaged in a different, much deeper way.
“I’m a very hands-on learner so I love this–getting to tour people around rather than taking a test, and we get to build the artifacts, which was even better,” Rory said.
In fact he was so eager, he got an early start on building his project, a golden cobra statue. He got some help from his dad, who’s a carpenter. “The Cobra is meant to protect King Tut in the afterlife. It was hard to shape and I didn’t want the clay to break so I used mesh; we put a pipe in the middle and covered it in clay.”
Mathews encourages the parents to get involved with their kids, in part because the kids get to share their enthusiasm for learning at home. “They might need to use power tools and somebody needs to help get the materials, but also because I really do want it to be a collaboration.”
The kids each get to express their individual creativity, in the materials they choose and how they conceive and build their project. Mathews says that even though it’s the 15th year for the project, each year is fresh and just as unique, thanks to the new perspectives each class brings.
“The thing that amazes me is how they find ways to use the same materials but in different ways, or every year someone brings in something that I never would have though of before. That for me is one of the best parts.”
It’s clear the students get so much out of the experience.
“I think this project has been really fun,” Emma says. “It was cool learning about the afterlife and ancient Egypt and how he discovered the tomb.” She made a boomerang, and learned that it was made out of ivory and gold, and it was used to hunt fowl for sport.”
In addition, the other teachers integrate the unit topic into their curriculum. “In each class they will use the theme of ancient Egypt in some sort of lesson. In science they did a mummification lab, where they took slices of orange and added different things to see how it was preserved or not preserved over time. Each teacher puts his or her own spin on it,” Mathews says.
Mathews understands why year after year Wilton kids hope they get assigned to 6-Green just for this unit, knowing how famous the project is.
“There’s something for every type of learner, it’s really a lot of fun. It’s really the high point of my year, for sure,” he says.
Mathews encourages anyone who wants to visit to stop by and see the Middlebrook King Tutankhamon Tomb Exhibit. It’s open Monday, Feb. 9-Wednesday, Feb. 11. Each day it’s open from 7:45-8:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.. It’s also open on Monday and Tuesday from 4-6 p.m.. Middlebrook School is located at 131 School Rd..
UPDATE: Although students have no school on Thursday, Feb. 12, the school is open for a teacher professional development day. The tomb will be open on Thursday as an open house while teachers are engaged in their workshops and meetings. Teacher Will Mathews will be in and out of the classroom, but everyone is welcome to visit during the day on Thursday.