This week, Division 7 is exploring how stories have been told since the beginning of time, all around the world.

Today we read the book I Am a Story by Dan Yaccarino. It shows the history of stories from oral storytelling and cave paintings to libraries and e-books. We will be spending some time this week researching the different ways stories have been told throughout history and making our own timeline of story.

On Friday, we will be starting an art project connected to a very important point on the timeline of story: Egyptian hieroglyphs. These picture symbols were one of the earliest forms of writing. We will be learning how to write our names in hieroglyphs and making our very own papyrus (paper used in ancient times). Originally, papyrus was made from the pith of the papyrus plant but we will be making ours from paper bags and paste. I am asking for donations of brown paper bags that we can use for our art project. The bags can be used, but should be clean. Any size of paper bag will work, as we will be cutting them into strips. It is fine if the bags have writing on the outside. If you are anything like me, you may have some Starbucks take-away bags laying around…

Thank you for supporting Division 7’s foray into ancient Egyptian paper-making! If you would like to learn how to write your own name in hieroglyphs, click here!