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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 14

Ancient Egypt

The Nile, pharaohs, pyramids and hieroglyphs

What your child practices

Children learn how the Nile shaped life in Egypt, who held power, how writing and building worked, and what we know from archaeology.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.7 · ancient Egypt: the Nile, the pharaohs, social classes and trade

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Nile was Egypt’s lifeline. It flows north to the Mediterranean, and its yearly flood left rich black silt.
  2. Pharaohs ruled a united Egypt; the Great Pyramid at Giza was built for Pharaoh Khufu.
  3. Scribes kept records, collected taxes and wrote in hieroglyphs.

Example: What did the Nile’s yearly flood leave behind? When the water went down, the fields were covered in mud. This rich black soil is called silt. Answer: rich black soil called silt

Ancient Egypt in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 7 of 14 in 7th grade Social Studies, after Mesopotamia & Egypt and before Ancient Israel & Kush.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Pyramids were built as…

    • harbors
    • markets
    • schools
    • tombs for pharaohs

  2. Question 2

    Which was a danger to Egyptian farmers if the Nile flood was too low?

    • famine
    • too many roads
    • too many trees
    • too much snow

  3. Question 3

    Which group made up most Egyptians?

    • scribes
    • farmers
    • priests
    • nobles

  4. Question 4

    Mummification was done to…

    • make food last
    • make a statue
    • make perfume
    • preserve the body for the afterlife

  5. Question 5

    Who kept records, collected taxes and wrote letters?

    • farmers
    • scribes
    • sailors
    • slaves

  6. Question 6

    After each flood, farmers needed to re-measure fields. This led to progress in…

    • music
    • poetry
    • geometry
    • painting only

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