Ancient Egypt and China

Right before Spring Break, we studied Ancient Egypt and Ancient China.  Here are a few of the activities that we did together:

Since we discussed how the Ancient Chinese wrote using Characters and Symbols, the students created their own characters and symbols for words they chose.  I'm so proud of their creative thinking!!

After we learned ALL about Ancient Egypt and China, we played a matching game.  We play this game a LOT in Social Studies.  In teams of 3, the students had to match various statements and questions with answers.  Each student has a job on the team--one has to cut the answer strips, one has to put tape on the answer strips, then one has to walk around and attach the answer strips to the correct poster.  I've also played this where the students write the answers on different colored post-it notes, then stick each post-it where it needs to go.  It seems like with this age, it's a little easier to just give them a sheet with the answers already typed out.  Each team is a different color.  Then, I can take these posters and hang them up in the classroom to use as review.

Cutting and taping the answer strips

Matching the answers to the correct poster

To finish out the unit, we ordered Chinese food from a local Chinese restaurant and the kids got to sample a few items--white rice, crispy noodles, and sugar donuts.  We made placemats with all of our Ancient China information to eat on.  Then, the kids got to try out eating with chop sticks.