Archaeology in Grades 1-3

 First, second and third grade continued their study of Ologies by studying archaeology.  We looked at some of the most famous artifacts: mummies and discovered the ancient Egyptians were not the only civilization to practice mummification.  Ancient South American mummies have been discovered and studied as well. We learned that mummification is actually a scientific process and thought we could recreate the mummification process in our classroom: by mummifying hot dogs!  In the lab we rolled our dogs in preservative (baking soda) and put it into an airtight ziplock baggie after we measured the length, circumference, and weight on a triple beam balance scale.  For three weeks we checked those same measurements and noticed our hot dog mummies were shrinking and determined that liquid and gases were being released from the hotdog.  We concluded this must be the first steps in the actual process.