Our Unit on China

We just finished an educational unit on China. We learned so much! We learned to find China on the map. We can identify the Chinese flag. We learned about some animals in China. We also learned about Chinese inventions and culture. We are posting some of our activities. Here is a photostory that we completed.

We also made an over-sized "travel brochure". Each person researched a part of Chinese culture. From the research we made this brochure that looked at places, people, inventions and animals.

We also learned about the Lantern festival and made lanterns in art class.

We also learned about Chinese calligraphy. In art class we practiced writing with Chinese calligraphy.

We learned about the importance of dragons, the color red, the emphasis on good luck. Check out our dragons. (We got the idea from Scholastic.)

We had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about her visit to the Great Wall of China. She gave us postcards to create. We put the postcards around our own great wall that we made in art class.

We read a lot of stories from China. We read 'Grandfather Tang's Story'. The story is about tangrams. We had fun with our own tangrams.

Some of our class mates brought in some Chinese items that they had at home.

The unit on China was so much fun! It was a great way to integrate ELA, math, writing, social studies and art!


Here is a picture of our guest sharing her visit to the Great Wall of China!

What is the most interesting fact that you know about China?

Learning About Maps and Models

We are learning about maps and models as we get ready to read a story about maps. We were going to share information with our classmates about what we learned. Then one of our students said, "Let's put it on our blog!" (I am thrilled that they want to use the blog to share their knowledge and to see what others think!) So here is what we learned:

A map is like a model except it is flat and easier to lift. -A.M.
Maps are made from paper that you can draw. M.T.
You could make a map on paper and it is flat. C.G.
Some maps show the world. K.G.
A long time ago America was not on the map. L.S.
People thought the world was flat. I.M.
Models can be made into maps. E.M.
There are four oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, an Arctic Oceans. C.G.
A model is a small version of something that is real. A.R. &T.B.
There are 7 continents: Asia, Antarctica, Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Africa. (all of us)
Christopher Columbus sailed across the ocean because he thought he could get to Asia that way. C.T.
Columbus landed in the Americas. E.M.

We wonder what do you know about maps?
How do you use maps?