Artifact Bags: When good ideas go bad

For class this week we designed artifact bags based on the civilization we created our unit plans on. This was my first experience with an artifact bag. Basically, it is a bag filled with tangible objects from the unit you are presenting. Students then follow an inquiry lesson to learn more about the artifacts, and therefore, learn more about the unit.

I made an artifact bag with aged and damaged pictures from Ancient Greece. I used a picture about Greek religion, Olympics, and a picture of men voting at assembly. I opened the mini-lesson on my artifact bag by telling the students that the bag include "something Godlike, top secret government photos, and ceremonial artwork." I thought using this phrasing would really grab the students' attention. These phrases described the following pictures:

  

Also, if I was using this in the classroom, I would have included a book the students could use as well to relate to the subject. An example would be:

Students would be arranged in groups to inspect each object and make a prediction on what it is based on what they already know about Ancient Greece. The bag I gave them the artifacts in also included three resources where they could go to find more information. The research they did would then either support or refute the predictions they made when they first saw the artifact. The students would collect all of this data and put it into an organizer. I would then have each group present information about one different artifact.

While distressing the pictures for my artifact bag, I learned a very important lesson.... Burning the edges of a picture with a lot of black ink it is a little more dangerous than I expected. Apparently, the black ink is very flammable, meaning a small little flame makes a whole big fire. Luckily, I thought ahead and did the project in the kitchen with a mug of water next to me. I ended up ruining three images I wanted to use for the bag. I did also learn that using tea bags to discolor the pictures is perfectly safe and encouraged.