We went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and learned a lot about mummies in ancient Egypt.  The original name for Egypt is Kemit.  Kemit means black land and the Nile River has black soil around it that is good for planting.
    When they buried their dead they decorated the coffins with amulets.  Amulets are good luck charms for the afterlife.
Dwayne

     The beetle is a symbol of rebirth and that is why it is important. It lays its eggs in animal droppings so they will have something to eat when they are born.  It makes new life from waste.  It also pushes the ball of waste around.  That made the Egyptians think that their sun god also pushed the ball of the sun around the sky.  The sun seemed to go away each night but it came back each day.  So the sun was also a symbol of rebirth. Their sun god had the head of a beetle.
Kaseya

    They put vultures' wings on their goddesses because the vulture eats dead  animals and then gives birth to babies. It makes new life from death.  When you die the goddess can help you live a good afterlife in the future.
Alecia     They also buried people with statues of servants to bring food, water, and  clothing for the dead person to use in the afterlife.
Kimberly 
    The pictures often show the dead person being given water.  Water was a sign of life.  If a man was painted blue it represented water and air and it meant he was a god.  You could also tell he was a god because he had a curved beard on his chin.  The goddesses were painted yellow or orange to represent the sun.

Belqis

    We learned about mummification.  First they would break the nose and pull out the brain. They threw it away because they did not think it was  important.  They left the heart in because they thought that was where the soul was.  They also saved the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines.  They  put them in special jars with figures of a jackal, a monkey, a man, and a falcon on top to guard them.  They buried them with the person, but not inside the body where they would rot.  They dried out the body by covering it in salt and then they wrapped it in cloth and amber.
Jahquan     When you died they thought you would go to a place like heaven if you had lived a good life.  Osiris, the god of the underworld, would weigh your heart on a scale. If it weighed more than a feather it meant that you had  not told the truth.
Aaron
     If your heart weighed more than truth you would be eaten by a monster named Ammut. Ammut is part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus. All of those animals used to live in Egypt and people were afraid of them.
Alisa
    We read about the most famous mummy, King Tutankhamon, in class. He was made pharaoh when he was just nine years old and then he died when he was eighteen. You can still see the pyramid where he was buried in Egypt in 3,000 B.C.
Sasha  You can learn more about the pharaohs and pyramids at this internet website.
http://guardians.net/egypt/

    They wanted them to last for millions of years.  I wish I could go to Egypt  and see them.
Christopher

Grade 5
Mr. Greenberg, Teacher
Public School 241
976 President Street
Brooklyn, NY 11225