Sixth-grade students in Stephanie Snyder’s English language arts class at Burns Middle School will participate in a “cookie excavation” activity today (Tuesday, March 8). The “digs” will take place from 10 to 10:43 a.m. and from 12:50 to 1:36 p.m. at BMS, located at 4610 Goetz Drive.
The students recently read “Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland” by Sally M. Walker. The book describes an investigation conducted by the Smithsonian Institute in 2005, excavating skeletons and other artifacts in Jamestown, Va., and areas of Maryland.
Students learned how scientists were able to determine the approximate ages, ethnicities and causes of death for the 400-year-old remains of colonial settlers. “It was a pretty interesting read about the excavation of bodies and bones, and the kids loved it,” Snyder said. “However, I don’t think they really understand the difficulty of what archaeologists have to do to be successful.”
To bring that lesson to life, Snyder is providing her students with a variety of chocolate chip cookies. Students will be challenged to excavate the chips from the cookies with a minimum of damage and disruption, and document the results of their searches.
“We’ll see how they do on this!” Snyder said. “It could be interesting!”
