Jan
28
China!
Filed Under Uncategorized |
The past two days have had the fourth grade students beginning their new Core Knowledge unit: Chinese Dynasties and Chinese Culture. It is a fascinating unit of study! We began by brainstorming what we already (thought) we knew about China, and watching a very cool movie that introduced us to the idea of Chinese culture.
Today, we began our webquest about Ancient China. Students were broken down into small groups, and within the groups each member had to pick from a list of five Chinese dynasties. Some groups are smaller than others, so they had to really think about where they placed their “man-power.” Most groups decided that people who had to research two dynasties would study the shorter dynasties to balance the work load. Others decided to use their knowledge of how quickly certain members can work (and those who have computers at home) to determine who took on the extra material.
After our webquest, we began looking into the geography of China. Its climate is very diverse, much like our own country. There are many similarities and many differences.
Finally, we began our Chinese picture books. Students were given different Chinese calligraphic characters and charged with the task of creating a picture book. Many of them want to make several books….so be on the lookout!
Chinese Picture Book Samples 1-28-2010
Hi Dorothy,
Your website is awesome. Just noticed that these Chinese characters in the pictures are traditional Chinese.
Mainland China has been using simplified Chinese while Taiwan is still using traditional Chinese. Personally, I think that for pratical reason, simplified Chinese should be the one to focus on. However, for advanced level, traditional Chinese could be introduced for understanding how the Chinese character was invented. This could be something you want to bring up in your future interview with Chinese teacher.