A few summers ago I had the opportunity to visit China. It was a wonderful experience, which enriched my thematic unit on China. Since there was so much material to cover we spent two weeks studying China. Activities:
1.Spelling Assignment....words related to China
2. Geography...famous rivers and mountains in China
3. Panda Study.we read about Pandas and saw the movie "The Amazing Panda Adventure"
4.Craft activity.designed Chinese New Year horoscopes
5.Language Activity.... students were read many Chinese folktales and did various writing activities. They especially enjoyed "Lon Po Po" by Ed Young ( A Red-Riding Hood story from China) Various creative writing follow-up actives were found in "Multicultural Legends and Tales" by Vowery Dodd Carlile
6.Wrote poems and stories about China
7.Listened to an informative tape on China which had songs and stories. This tape was part of a "Culture Kit on China" by Linda Scher and Mary Oates Johnson
8.Listened to Chinese music and learned about the instruments
9.Wrote Chinese characters with calligraphy set from China
10.Were taught about the Chinese New Year with books and objects that I brought back from London's Chinatown
11.Made Lucky Money Envelopes with secret messages for their classmates to guess
12. Math activities that involved Chinese New Years dates
13. Were given the URL of web sites on China and the Chinese New Year
14. Saw the video "BigBird in China"
15.Worked with tanagram puzzles
16 .Saw photos that I took in China and heard about my experience teaching a class of children in China
17 .Saw the creative writing stories and illustrations that my students in China created
18.Saw photos of Chinese Buddest temples and burned incense during our luncheon in class
19.Learned how to eat with chopsticks at our luncheon
