Maps & Stories Summary 4/8/13

On to China!

The Silk Road took merchants from Europe to China, and on Monday we made the same journey in our Maps & Stories class. We learned about China and made connections with the places we have learned about previously.

The first Chinese myth we listened to was "The Heavenly Archer." Nine fire breathing birds are causing trouble, and Sheng shoots them to bring peace and safety to the earth. He is rewarded with immortality. After listening to the story, students chose to respond to one of two writing prompts. Your child may have chosen to write an alternate solution to the problem of the nine fire breathing birds, or answer the question, "Who can resist the idea of eternal life?" Please have them finish their response this week. We will review them in class next week.

After listening and writing, we broke up into six teams, each responsible for researching and presenting an important feature of Chinese history or culture. The teams were each assigned one of the following: yurts, the abacus, animals of China, Marco Polo, a Chinese myth, or the Silk Road. After spending 30 minutes researching, writing, or building in our teams, we gathered together so that each team could share their work with the class. The students did a wonderful job!

As I told the students in class, the individual presentations can be similar to the presentations they did this week. They may choose to present anything related to our studies. It may be an original folktale, a retelling of a favorite story, a project, or a lesson about geography or culture. The presentations can be 5-10 minutes in length and can be conducted anytime this spring, as long as we plan in advance.

Next week we will review the writing assignments and continue our study of Asia, focusing on India. 

Have a great week!