Geography Travels: China Revisited

My son studied China 4 years ago (3rd grade).  My post on that geography unit is HERE.  My daughter did the China unit last school year (also 3rd grade).  Since her unit differed slightly, I thought I would post an updated version in a new post.

Week 1

• Located China on world map and globe, found capital and largest cities
• Stamped passport (passport from Guest Hollow; we use flag stickers or glue printed flags from the internet; then, we use a date stamper to stamp the date we start our “travels”)
• Listened to the national anthem

• Watched a China video on YouTube

• Began China prayer calendar (from Bold Believers in China, a free download from Kids of Courage)
• Began reading daily Li Lun: Lad of Courage
• Listened to Asia Song from Geography Songs
• Read about China in The Not-for-Parents Travel Book
• Began our notebooking page on China (Country Fact Sheet from Homeschool Creations)
• Read about China in Galloping the Globe
• Read several pages about China in Bold Believers in China
• Read A Visit to China
• Labeled a map of China (Homeschool Creations) and did an online map puzzle
• Read from Geography from A to Z: sea, plains, plateau, grasslands, hills, mountains, rivers, deltas, desert, glaciers, coast, lowlands, lakes
• Discussed Mt. Everest
• Ate Chinese food (we did chicken chow mein from a Chinese take-away)

• Read The Seven Chinese Brothers

Week 2

• Colored a flag of China (Homeschool Creations)
• Discussed government, currency and religion
• Looked at several websites about China (listed below)
• Read Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China
• Learned about the Great Wall of China, the terracotta warriors, the Forbidden City

• Played Mahjong on the computer and attempted to play an actual mahjong game we own (setting up tiles is very time-consuming)

• Read Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Imperial China
• Studied pandas

• Read panda books
• Drew and colored a panda from Draw-Write-Now, Book 7

Week 3

• Learned some Mandarin

• Read Look What Came from China
• Read The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters
• Learned about the native costume (paper dolls)

• Learned some Chinese culture and holidays

• Read Mei Li
• Made Chinese paper lanterns

• Read Tikki Tikki Tembo
• Read from Children Just Like Me and completed a notebooking page (from Homeschool Creations)
• Learned some vocabulary words (from Galloping the Globe)
• Talked about the Beijing Olympics and fireworks
• Read The Empty Pot

Week 4

• Did a focus on missions in China (Hudson Taylor, Gladys Aylward, Robert Morrison, Eric Liddell)
• Discussed the persecuted (underground) church in China (Bold Believers in China)
• Made a China prayer reminder (a coaster craft from Bold Believers--made from an old CD, the printed picture, and contact paper)

• Read the stories Daisy Comes Home and A Story About Ping
• Discussed kites

• Discussed Chinese music & art

• Read Ma Lien and the Magic Brush
• Read Chinese folktale from Around the World in 80 Tales
• Discussed Chinese sports
• Watched Kung Fu Panda
• Explored our Asia box (from our continent boxes)

• Watched selections from a DVD series called Wild China

Online Resources

A China Family Adventure (Chinese New Year for Kids)

Enchanted Learning (Chinese Lantern craft)

Chinese New Year

Chinese Provinces Map Puzzle (online game)

DLTK--China and Chinese New Year (has plenty of information, crafts, and other activities)

Homeschool Creations (lesson plans, panda lapbook, and currency pdf file, map and flag)

Making Friends: China Friends (paper dolls)

National Geographic for Kids

Time for Kids

More YouTube Videos

Giant Panda in China (footage of panda ripping off man’s jacket; also footage of baby pandas)

Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony (fireworks)

Hong Kong Welcomes 2010 (fireworks)

Xin-Xue Feng, 7-year-old Chinese ping-pong prodigy (on The Ellen DeGeneres Show 2009)

Everest 2009—Summit of Mt Everest

Everest Summit Day

Hillary Climbs Everest, 1953

Shaolin Kung Fu

Chinese Acrobats

Books We Used

I'm linking this post to History & Geography at Adventures in Mommydom.

Geography Travels: China

Here’s another geography unit from this past school year.

Week 1

Monday: Put the Chinese flag sticker in our passport and date stamped it, located China on world map and globe, looked up China in the Pocket Atlas and the Family Picture Atlas, read from Bold Believers in China (from Kids of Courage), listened to the Asia Song, began a Chinese prayer calendar (from Bold Believers in China—we chose 3 prayers a day), and watched This is China video clip on YouTube.

Tuesday: Map page (from Mission Friends, which is no longer online), read from Geography from A to Z about plains, desert, mountain ranges, lowlands, steppes (grassland), plateaus (tableland—largest in world), seas, rivers, lakes (view online photos), did the Chinese prayer calendar, discussed Chinese currency (Homeschool Creations), did an online puzzle on Chinese provinces, and read The Empty Pot.

Wednesday: Reviewed the Asia Song, did a notebook page on China (printable from Homeschool Creations), read Look What Came From China, read from Bold Believers, made Chinese paper dolls, and prayed for China using the prayer calendar.

Thursday: Colored a flag page (Homeschool Creations), discussed religion and government, read from Bold Believers, used the prayer calendar, discussed missionary work in China (Gladys Aylward, Hudson Taylor, others), and read The Seven Chinese Brothers.

Friday: Read The Pet Dragon, listened to the Asia Song, learned some Mandarin words, learned the song Jesus Loves Me in Mandarin (Mission Friends), read from Bold Believers, practiced calligraphy and Chinese numbers, watched Youtube video clips on calligraphy and bamboo painting, and prayed for China.

Week 2

Monday: Read Lon Po Po, listened to the Asia Song, read about a Chinese girl in Children Just Like Me and did a notebooking page (printable from Homeschool Creations), discussed persecution of Christians in China, read from Bold Believers, and prayed for China.

Tuesday: Learned about Chinese holidays and calendar (DLTK), Chinese New Year website, Internet link 2 (Peoples of the World, p. 75), China family adventure website, read from Bold Believers, prayed for China, watched New Year dragon dances and fireworks on YouTube, colored the Year of the Tiger picture, played with tangrams and dominoes.

Wednesday: Listened to the Asia Song, read from Bold Believers, learned about pandas, did a Draw-Write-Now page on the panda, watched Youtube clips on pandas, prayed for China, read The Story About Ping and Daisy Come Home.

Thursday: Studied the Great Wall of China and the terracotta army, watched YouTube videos on the Great Wall and terracotta army, read from Bold Believers, learned about Chinese houses & architecture, prayed for China, and watched the DVD Wild China (we did this over a long period of time because it’s a very long documentary on 2 disks, but the kids loved it).

Friday:  Listened to the Asia Song, read from Bold Believers, read from Peoples of the World and looked at Internet link 1, watched YouTube videos, got Chinese take-away and ate with chopsticks, listened to Chinese music (bamboo flute on youtube), played mahjong on computer and looked at a real Mahjong game I have, prayed for China, and read the Chinese tale from Around the World in 80 Tales.

Resources we used for China:

I'm linking this post to "History and Geography" at All Things Beautiful.