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Macmillan Children’s Readers

Worksheets and Teacher’s Notes

Contents
Ancient Egypt Worksheet 1

Ancient Egypt Worksheet 2

Ancient Egypt Worksheet 3

Ancient Egypt Worksheet 4

Answer Key

Teacher’s Notes

Alex Raynham
 Name:
Class:

Ancient Egypt Worksheet 1

1 Complete the crossword. 1 2
p a p y r u s
Across 3

1 The ancient Egyptians

4
used … to make paper
and boats.
4 The Nile is the …
5
river in Africa.
7 The job of an … was to 6 7

to make a body
8
into a mummy.
8 The Egyptians built
… to their gods.

Down
2 The pharaohs lived in beautiful …
3 … knew how to read and write.
5 The ancient Egyptians used … plants to make cloth.
6 There was a … in the Nile Valley every summer.

2 Correct the sentences.

1 Most of Egypt is green, but the Nile Valley is a desert.
Most of Egypt is a desert, but the Nile Valley is green.
2 The ancient Egyptians used mud bricks to make boats.

3 Rameses the Great was pharaoh for 20 years.

4 A sphinx has got a lion’s head and a pharaoh’s body.

5 The bed inside Tutankhamun’s tomb was made of stone.

6 Howard Carter made horror films about mummies.

7 The ancient Egyptians wrote a story about a pharaoh, a girl and a hat.

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  © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014

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Ancient Egypt Worksheet 2

1 Complete the words.
2 br k
1 ph a r a oh

3 st u
7 b l s

6 s v 4 st n

5 h r g phs

2 Read and match. Write the letters in the boxes.

1 At the temple in Luxor, Rameses the Great …  f
2 The biggest pyramid in Egypt is … 
3 The stones for the pyramids came on … 
4 To make a mummy, embalmers used … 
5 Many tombs in the Valley of the Kings … 
6 An archeologist called Howard Carter … 
7 The ancient Egyptians loved … 
8 A Frenchman took 23 years to … 
9 Egypt became part of the Roman … 
10 The ancient Egyptians used … 

a boats along the river Nile. f built two huge obelisks.

b translate the hieroglyphs. g Empire after 30 BC.
c were full of amazing treasures. h found the tomb of Tutankhamun.
d scissors, keys and calendars. i the Great Pyramid of Khufu, at Giza.
e music, dancing and nice clothes. j salts to dry the body.
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© Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014

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Ancient Egypt Worksheet 3

1 Put the sentences in order.
a It rains, and the people of Egypt are very happy. 
b Nefertari reads the curse in the Book of Thoth. 
c Setne tries to shoot an arrow, but he misses.  1
d Setne rides back across the river. 
e The children find a tomb. 
f Setne has a dream, then he rides a horse very well. 

2 Make questions to ask Prince Setne.

a go / did / Why / Nile / the / and / you / across / Nefertari ?
Why did you and Nefertari go across the Nile?
b find / Where / the / Thoth / Book / of / did / you ?

c competition / you / riding / Did / win / a ?

d were / your / Why / worried / parents ?

e you / take / Where / did / book / the ?

3 Match the questions from Activity 2 with Setne’s answers.

1 I took it back to the tomb.  e
2 No, I won an archery competition. 
3 We found the book inside a tomb. 
4 We went across the Nile to practise archery. 
5 They were worried because the people were hungry. 
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  © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014

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Ancient Egypt Worksheet 4

1 Complete the sentences.

Hatshepsut  writing  Rameses  pyramid  temple
city  obelisks  Rosetta  Narmer  Khufu

1 King Narmer built the first capital city

at Memphis.
2 Queen built a huge .
3 At Luxor, the Great built
two huge .
4 The biggest at Giza was for the
pharaoh .
5 The Stone helped people understand
Egyptian .

2 Play a game.
Write a sentence about a person in the book.
Read your sentence to your friend.
This pharaoh built a capital city.
Can your friend guess who it is?
Is it Narmer?
Yes, it is!
3 Write a postcard.
Imagine you are visiting one of the places in the book.
Write a postcard to your friend about your visit.
Tell your friend where you are and what you have seen. Do you like the place?
You can find out more information on the Internet.
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 Answer Key
Worksheet 1 1
p a 2p y r u s
1 Complete the crossword. 3
s a
c 4
l o n g e s t
r a
i c 5
f
b 6
f 7
e m b a l m e r
8
t e m p l e s a
s o x
o
d
2 Correct the sentences.
1 Most of Egypt is a desert, but the Nile Valley is green.
2 The ancient Egyptians used mud bricks to make houses.
3 Rameses the Great was pharaoh for more than 60 years.
4 A sphinx has got a lion’s body and a pharaoh’s head.
5 The bed inside Tutankhamun’s tomb was made of gold.
6 Howard Carter was an archeologist. / found Tutankhamun’s tomb.
7 The ancient Egyptians wrote a story about a pharaoh, a girl and a pair of shoes.

Worksheet 2
1 Complete the words.
1 pharaoh,  2 bricks,  3 statue,  4 stone,  5 hieroglyphs,  6 slave,  7 obelisk
2 Read and match. Write the letters in the boxes.
1f, 2i, 3a, 4j, 5c, 6h, 7e, 8b, 9g, 10d

Worksheet 3
1 Put the sentences in order.
a6, b3, c1, d5, e2, f4
2 Make questions to ask Prince Setne.
a Why did you and Nefertari go across the Nile?
b Where did you find the Book of Thoth?
c Did you win a riding competition?
d Why were your parents worried?
e Where did you take the book?
3 Match the questions from Activity 2 with Setne’s answers.
1e, 2c, 3b, 4a, 5d

Worksheet 4
1 Complete the sentences.
1 King Narmer built the first capital city at Memphis.
2 Queen Hatshepsut built a huge temple.
3 At Luxor, Rameses the Great built two huge obelisks.
4 The biggest pyramid at Giza was for the pharaoh Khufu.
5 The Rosetta Stone helped people understand Egyptian writing.
2 Play a game.
Children’s own answers.
3 Write a postcard.
Children’s own answers.

  © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014

 Teacher’s Notes  (1 of 2)
Ancient Egypt
Subject links
History, Geography, Art, Science, Design and Technology

The factual section

Contents page
In L1 ask the children to look at the pictures on the cover and the contents page, and ask them what
they know about ancient Egypt. What subjects do they think will be in the Reader? Discuss the
purpose of the contents page and ask them to say on which page they can find out about different
topics.
As you read with the children, stop and ask them questions. Encourage them to make comparisons
with historical people, places and events in their countries or cities. Ask: What do we use to make
buildings/boats/clothes now? Who was the most famous king or queen of your country? What
historical buildings/statues are there in this city? What places do tourists visit in this city/country?
Using the photographs
Ask the children who or what they can see in each photo. What are the people doing?
Choose a photo and teach or revise phrases for describing photos, e.g. at the top/bottom; on the
left/right; In my photo, there is/are …; My photo shows/has got a …
Ask the children to work in pairs and to describe photos to each other. Can they find the photo in
the book from the description?
Using the Amazing Facts
Ask the children about the information in the fact boxes, e.g. Was a sphinx a real animal? How many
pyramids did archeologists find in 2011?
Project work
Ask groups of children to find out more about a topic in the book, e.g. the Nile, important pharaohs
or Egyptian artefacts, and to present their topic to the class using a poster or by giving a
presentation.
Ask the children to make posters about the pharaohs. Ask them to choose one of the pharaohs and
to complete a fact file. For example:
Name:
Born:
Died:
Was pharaoh for … years.
Is famous because …
Ask the children to write a paragraph about their chosen pharaoh, using their notes, and to find a
picture on the Internet or to draw a picture.
Explore links with other curriculum areas. Cross-curricular activities include:
• designing an ancient Egyptian costume
• building a model of a pyramid or temple
• making a poster about the river Nile or ancient Egyptian artefacts
• using mud and plants to learn how to make mud bricks (which need to be baked outside in the
sun)
• learning how to use plants and recycled paper to make a homemade paper scroll.

© Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014

 Teacher’s Notes  (2 of 2)
The story section
Title page
Look at the picture and ask questions such as Where are the children? Who do you think they are?
What is he/she wearing? Ask the children to predict (in L1) what they think is going to happen in the
story.
Remind the children that the ancient Egyptians liked to write stories (see page 12). Explain that The
Book of Thoth is based on a real ancient Egyptian story: in ancient Egyptian legends the Book of
Thoth was a special book which contained all the knowledge in the world; anyone who read the
book would know everything and be able to do anything. Also explain that Egyptian books were
written on papyrus, so they were actually scrolls.
Ask the children to think about what the characters are feeling and thinking at different points in
the story. Encourage them to think of questions to ask the characters, e.g. (to Setne) Why do you
want to keep the book? Why is your sister angry with you? Ask them to say what the characters’
answers would be.
Ask the children as they read to speculate and discuss the story. For example:
• Why do you think Setne took the book from the tomb?
• Why did the river Nile become dry?
• How do you think Setne felt when he returned the Book of Thoth?
• Why does the pharaoh call Setne ‘a great pharaoh’ at the end of the story?
Tell the children that ancient Egyptian stories always had morals. Brainstorm in L1 what the moral
of this story might be. (The main moral is that people are not great only because of their personal
achievements. People become great when they think of others rather than themselves.)
Put the children in groups and ask them to act out or mime part of the story.
Ask the children to draw a picture of one of the characters, based on the story illustrations. Display
the pictures on the classroom walls.

Using the activities and worksheets

These focus on vocabulary and reading comprehension tasks. The children should refer back to the
Reader as they work on them.

Using the Bilingual Dictionary

Draw a pyramid on a big piece of paper or on the board. As the children learn new words, write
them on cards and stick them on the pyramid. Point out the dictionary at the back of the book and
encourage the children to look up unknown words. When the children write the words in their
language, make sure that they find the word in the Reader first. This will ensure that they translate
the word according to how it is used in the Reader.

  © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014