IN THE CLASSROOM:

June Elsten’s sixth grade class joined others at Eastbluff Elementary School Friday as they wrapped up five weeks studying ancient Egypt with a re-enactment of an Egyptian bazaar.

More than 50 students explained to parents and younger kids what life was like during the time of the pyramids.

To the delight of parents, they showed off Egyptian attire.

Fifteen or so boys were covered in markings or wrapped in cloth. The girls had the majority by more than two to one.

“Ladies, we outnumber them. Should we consider them slaves?” joked Elsten, the tribe elder.

“Yes!” echoed through the library-turned-marketplace.

Life was tough in ancient Egypt, as the sixth-grade boys at Eastbluff Elementary School no doubt learned.

“This is kind of an Eastbluff tradition we’ve been looking forward to,” said Greg Jue, whose son, Trevor, learned about the ancient civilization this fall.

Trevor and other students created a variety of Egyptian-themed projects.

There were Rosetta stones, sugar-cube pyramids and essays on Egypt written in hieroglyphics created by students.

The kids even made death masks in their own likenesses. The masks represented the Egyptian’s elaborate belief system about an afterlife.

“Today they come together and are proud of what they’ve done. They will remember this all their lives. Not only dressing up but they had all these projects on display and people were looking at them. So there is a sense of pride,” Elsten said. “It’s a way of showcasing your knowledge and strengths on how you process information. It’s kind of a fun time.”

Dressing up seemed a bonus for a subject most students enjoyed in itself.

“My favorite part of the history is that most of it is true, but a lot of it’s unbelievable,” Trevor said. “A lot of the wars that Egyptians fought seemed like they were out of the movies.”

“I didn’t know that Egyptians were really talented on building structures,” said 11-year-old Kirby Morrow. Standing next to his sugar-cube pyramid, Kirby explained the enormous manpower and engineering that went into building the pyramids.

Friday’s showcase impressed Tracy Bodovitz, whose sixth-grader daughter, Paige, participated.

“Egypt is almost like a foreign language for the kids here with all the difficult spellings,” Bodovitz said. “The three-dimensional projects, the writing projects, it definitely enhances their learning.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.