Unit #1: China

May 19th 

The class will have work time on their posters. As they are working, they can ask for feedback on their research notes. 

May 15th

The class will discuss what they can learn from their Silk Road maps. During their work session, the teacher will go around and look at their map and give them quick feedback on what they did well and how they could improve. 

We will then read the following passage and discuss what information we can learn about the Silk Road. 

The Silk Road linked China and the West, becoming the largest trade route in the world. By 100 B.C.E. China’s silk became famous in the West and many people wanted it. Traders looked for the easiest routes because there were so many natural barriers (mountains, plateaus, rivers, deserts, etc). Towns all over the route developed and grew from traders stopping and trading. So many towns traded that the Silk Road actually became many roads that connected Asia, Europe and Africa. During the Han dynasty trading on the route grew so much that cultures began influencing each other.

Silk wasn’t the only thing traded, but it was the most valuable good traders wanted, so it became known as the Silk Road. Many kinds of things were traded: grain, cotton, jade, porcelain, dates and raisins, carpets, camels, oils, spices, teas, dyes, salt and pepper, incense and more! There were Arab, Indian, Chinese and European traders. The route was very dangerous. The mountains and deserts were harsh, and there were thieves ready to kill for the valuable goods. Ideas were also passed: religions spread, technology, architectural styles, and art.

The class will discuss what may have been spread via the Silk Road. We will create Success Criteria for the Silk Road.

Students can work on their project or study for their test on Monday.

Success Criteria for Chinese Invention Assignment that they can use to focus their work on. 

I can describe when the technology was invented, who invented it, why / how it was invented, where it was invented, how it worked, and how it was used (K).

I can explain how the technology influenced Ancient China and the world (T).

I can develop a variety of research questions that deepen understanding and connect to the success criteria, research notes that follow the class guidelines, and a bibliography with at least 3 sources MLA style (A). 

May 13th (club day - short day) 

There will be a test on Monday. Test 2. The class will start by looking at two maps to compare the Q'in and the Han Dynasties. The class will start by reviewing what B.O.L.T.S.S are and seeing what parts the map has and what they may be missing. Next the class will do a reading about the Han Dynasty. After completing the reading, students complete a Venn Diagram comparing the Q'in and Han Dynasties. The class will then discuss their answers together. When finished, the class can work on their Inventions Poster. 

May 11th 

The class will create Success Criteria for the Three Ways. The class will then discuss the questions about the Ancient Chinese Beliefs and the Social and Family Structures of Ancient China. Discuss who they are connected.  The students will then be introduced to the second assignment: Inventions of Ancient China. The class will practice how to take notes with a Think Literacy: Some Tips for Taking Notes. When finished, students can have the rest of the period to work on their project. 

May 7th 

Students will then read about Ancient Chinese Beliefs. While reading they will write down how the beliefs may have impacted the Social and Family Structure of Ancient China. Students will then answer the following questions: 

1. Which of the Three Ancient Teachings could be considered a religion today? Explain why you believe so. 

2. Create a chart for the Three Ancient Teachings that includes the following information: creator, date of creation, location, main idea(s), symbol (if any). 

3. Which Ancient Teaching is most attractive to you? Explain using 2 reasons. 

4. Make 2 connections between the ideas of the Ancient Teachings and life in modern Japan. Explain in detail. 

Class will then have the period to work on their 5 paragraph essay.

April 30th 

The class will start by looking at a short reading, Reflections of Daily Life in Ancient China and try to complete the Social Structure in Ancient China organizer. When finished the class will discuss their answers. The class will then look at the following reading to add clarification and detail to the Social and Family Structure of China. 

Social and Family Structure of China

Every society has a social structure. In ancient China people were divided into five main groups. The emperor was at the top. The emperor had 100% control and was wealthy from collecting taxes. Next there were civil servants. They worked for the emperor and could read (not everyone in China could read). They collected taxes, enforced laws, and organized building projects (like the Great Wall). Peasants were poor farmers and craftspeople, but were third in order because they made food and useful goods for everyone. Merchants were fourth and weren’t well respected because they made money by selling things other people worked hard to make. Soldiers and servants were last because their work was to serve other people.

Ancient Chinese Families

Ancient Chinese families had three generations under one roof – grandparents, parents and children. A family’s honour was VERY important, so there were strict rules. Every family member had to respect other family members. Fathers had to work and respect every family member, especially his parents. Mothers had to do housework and care for children. They had to obey their husband and husband’s parents. The grandfather was the ‘boss’ of the house and the grandmother helped out the mother, but the mother had to obey her. Girls had to marry whomever their parents said as well as help out around the home. Children had to obey and respect their parents.

Dragon Lore

China’s first emperor, the Qin emperor, chose the dragon as his empire’s symbol. The ancient Chinese believed that dragons were in every lake, river and sea, as well as the sky and rain clouds. To the ancient Chinese dragons weren’t frightening, but wise, gentle, good and strong. An interesting idea that they thought dragons lost their toes the further they flew from China, but got them back as they flew home.

Ancestor Worship

The Chinese worshipped their ancestors since the Shang dynasty. They believed that dead family members protected them from evil and natural disasters (floods, droughts and earthquakes). They wrote questions on oracle bones. They burned a tortoise shell or ox bone until it cracked giving the answer. The ancient Chinese prepared food and drinks for them during ceremonies. There were many special pots to put food and drink in (to enjoy the afterlife).

Class will then go over how to write the rest of the introduction and the body paragraphs for their 5 paragraph essay. 

Introduction

Hook

Catch the reader's attention. Use a quote, question, short story, interesting fact. 

Background 

Give some information to connect the hook to the thesis. These should include your three SUPPORTS or main ideas for the essay. (The topics that you will talk about in your body paragraphs)

Thesis

One sentence that let's the audience clearly know what you are going to write. Do not use "I" or statements like "In this essay," 

Body Paragraphs

Topic Sentence

Signal word, first reason given as a Claim.

Body

Supporting Evidence (e.g., fact, statistic, compare and contrast, example, anecdote).

Reasoning: Connection of supporting evidence back to reason stated in topic sentence. 

Concluding Sentence

Restatement of topic sentence.

Students will then have a chance to work on their essays. 

April 27th 

The class will start by discussing their questions. They will share some of their questions with the class. The class will discuss what kind of questions they are, would they be effective questions and could they find the answer to the question from the Virtual Wall tour or the reading. Next, the class will discuss the two questions that were asked about the tour. When finished the class will work on a Great Wall of China Mapping Exercise. Students complete and submit the exercise to Google Classroom. When they have submitted this, they can study for tomorrow's test. 

April 23rd 

The class will start by viewing a slide show on the Terracotta Warriors. As they look at the SlideShow they should try and answer the following questions: 

1. What do you think were / are some problems with excavating and restoring the Terracotta Warriors? 

2. How can you tell the Generals, Officers, and Advisors apart? 

3. Why do you think the archers are kneeling? 

4. Explain why chariots would need 2 or 4 horses to pull them.

5. In the last slide, what type of soldier do you think is pictured there, explain. 

Class will then learn how to write a hook.

A hook, also called an attention getter, is used to GRAB the reader's attention and make them want to read more. The hook is usually the first sentence or the first few sentences of an essay.

A hook can be developed a variety of ways:

• Quotation

• Question

• Statistic

• Anecdote

The purpose of the hook is to get the reader interested in your topic and give him / her some context for the essay. This is your opportunity to let your reader know why this topic is important. However, an attention getter shouldn't have too many specifics about your essay - that is what your thesis statement is for.

Students will have the rest of the class to work on their assignment. If they have completed the S and P part of the assignment, they can get feedback on their timeline.. NOTE: There will be a test on Tuesday on the Geography of China, Timelines / Dynasties, the First Emperor of China, the Terracotta Warriors, and the Great Wall.

April 21st 

The class will finish up the video.  Then class will discuss Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China. The teacher will introduce the next assignment, Writing an Opinion Paper on if Shi Huangdi was a good ruler. Students will then use the Organizer; Making Judgement to help them make a decision on the following statement: Shi Huangdi was a good leader. (Yes or No).

How to make a thesis statement for your paper ?

Please watch the two short videos below to help you understand what a thesis statement is and how to write one. 

When finished watching the videos students can work on their project. 

April 16th 

Chinese Writing: A Long History

Historians believe Chinese writing was invented between 1500 B.C.E. (before common era) and 950 B.C.E. during the Shang Dynasty. It began as a form of art, really. The first writing was simple pictures that everyone understood. These are called ‘pictograms’. In ancient times people from all levels of society could write. The picture of a cow meant ‘cow’. The earliest Chinese writing was done on ‘oracle bones’. Oracle bones were bones that priests wrote on to ask questions to the gods. The oracle bones were made from ox or turtle bones. This writing was called Greater Seal Writing or ”da zhuan". From 500-400 B.C.E. writing was done on wood, bamboo and silk using a brush and ink. Over hundreds of years pictures changed. They were simplified, so they were faster and easier to write. Many more were added. In the beginning there were about 1000. In the Q’in Dynasty there were about 3,300 used. By the Ming Dynasty there were over 32,000 characters used. Today, in 2014, there are over 55,000 Chinese characters in a Chinese dictionary (however, there are 76,000 known characters in the language). 

China was still a large country with many different languages (from the same language group). During the Q’in Dynasty the writing system of China was unified so that everyone could at least read the same language. This new type of writing is called "Lesser Seal Writing." By the time of the Han Dynasty, almost any object or idea could be written. However, at this time most of the characters had lost their ‘pictorial quality’ (which means they didn’t look like simple pictures anymore). Chinese calligraphy grew popular as a form of art. During the Tang Dynasty (which lasted from 618-907 CE) a man named Tu Weng established different styles of calligraphy, which greatly influenced Chinese writing as an art form. 

Why is Chinese writing unique? Today there are seven major Chinese dialects. All use the same writing system, but the pronunciation of each is very different (so the Chinese can understand each other’s writing but not their spoken words). Another interesting point about Chinese writing is that there is no proof that it was influenced by any outside culture – it’s 100% a Chinese invention.

Students will create a timeline of Chinese Dynasties focusing on the developments in writing.  Practice skimming and scanning to search for information on the internet.  The assignment can be found in Google Classrooms. 

April 14th 

The class will create Success Criteria about the activity together. The class will then review timeline(s) and their uses as well as the meaning of BCE / CE and dynasties. The teacher will check that the Shang Dynasty is complete. Students will then continue to work on finishing up their Chinese Dynasties timeline.

Students are asked to add a proper bibliography (MLA style) to the written document to show where their information came from. Here are the required elements you need to include when citing a webpage:

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Article Title”. Name of Site. Name of  institution/organization

affiliated with the site (publisher), date of resource creation/last update (if available). Web. URL. Date of access. 

Karmelek, Mary. "Will Skyscrapers Ruin Paris?". Newsweek. Newsweek LTD., 22 July 2015. Web. 

http://europe.newsweek.com/will-skyscrapers-ruin-paris-330683?rm=eu. 27 Feb. 2017.

Two websites to help them create a proper MLA 8 bibliography are CITEFast and Easybib.com. You can also use the citation generator in Microsoft Word or Google. Remember these will not give you all the required elements or format exactly the way expected for Social Studies classes at Columbia. You will need to modify so your bibliography meets the required format. 

The class will then discuss what do you think they would be marked on for the timeline. Think about the four skills Knowledge/Understanding; Thinking; Communication; Application. Pair/Share. We will then compare it to what teachers would mark using the   Chinese Dynasties Timeline SPAS. Students will use the form to give self and peer feedback on their timeline. They can then attach this to their assignment when they submit it for feedback in classroom.  

April 10th

Discuss how Geography may have influenced how China developed. Students can refer to their answers from the previous days questions.  Create Success Criteria for the lesson.  

E.g. C.E.R answer for Question #3 

(claim) “I think that the Chinese would only travel and know about the countries to the East. (evidence) To the west, the mountains would stop them from going there easily. To the north, the desert would stop them from going there as well. (reasoning) Therefore, they could only move to the East and know about the countries there, Korea and Japan. 

The teacher will then discuss how there is one more step to the C.E.R activity that the class started yesterday. They will now need to develop Questions based on their Claim and Support from the previous class. 

- Raise a question to your claim. What may make you doubt the claim? What seems left hanging? What isn’t fully explained? What further ideas or issues does you claim raise?

Before leaving for lunch, students complete the Exit ticket and Reflection Google form.  This should take about 5 minutes. 

Next, the class will discuss how they believe that humans came to occupy the Earth. Then we will discuss what a myth is and why might societies come up with myths. Next the class will read two Chinese myths about the beginning of the earth. Students complete the Creation Myth Comparison activity on Google Classroom. 

Wrap Up

China's Mythical Origin

The first Chinese people thousands of years ago thought they were made by a goddess named "NuWa'. They believed that nobles were made from yellow clay and that commoners where made from mud. The Chinese thought they were in the middle of the world, so they called the land where they lived China, The Middle Kingdom. They believed they were the only civilized country surrounded by barbarians. 

Natural Barriers

The Chinese did not know a lot about the countries surrounding them. They were isolated because of the huge natural barriers surrounding them. The Himalayan Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau, and the Gobi desert (among others) made it difficult to to get into and out of China. As a result, China evolved without a lot of contact or influence from other countries. 

April 8th (short day - club day)

To start with the class will go over BOLTSS together.  After students will be given a quick exercise to see if they understand BOLTSS.

The class will discuss Success Criteria from the previous day. Next the class will look over a slide show to see what is important when creating a map. 

Students will be given a map of China and asked to use FreeWorld Maps to label the following:

Landforms                                                                                                      Bodies of Water

The Gobi Desert                                                                                            The Sea of Japan (this needs to be found on your own)

The Kunlun Mountains (Shan)                                                               The East China Sea

The Himalayas                                                                                               The South China Sea

The Tibet Plateau                                                                                         The Yellow Sea

                                                                                                                              The Yantze River (Chang Jiang)

                                                                                                                              The Yellow River (Huang He)

Use the following colour code. Bodies of water blue; deserts yellow; mountains and plateaus brown, and plains green. The source of information must be included on the bottom of the map OR on the back.