What do you know about China?

Have you ever wondered about other places and wanted to travel there but didn’t have the time or money? Children may not have the opportunity to visit another country to learn more about the people and their culture but are very curious and excited to learn. Students took an in house field trip to China when The World in Our Backyard came to Rocky River. The experience provided a very hands on learning adventure into the Asian country of China for pre-k through fifth grade students.

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Students in Mrs. Jones fourth grade class made a poster about what they learned.

  • “The dragon is made from several animals including the snake, fish scales, tiger, eagle, camel, water buffalo and deer ears.”
  • “The money has a hole in the middle and they put it on a string and wear around their neck or if it’s a lot on a belt.”
  • “They use symbols that stand for words and write from right to left not left to right.”
  • “China is the size of the US but with a lot more people.”
  • “They drink tea with every meal and eat rice at breakfast, lunch and dinner. They use chopsticks to eat with and set at a round table.”
  • “The dragon Neo was scared of noise and the color red. The people scared him with noises makers and wore red. “

First grade students in Mrs. Brown and Ms. Murphy/Takac created a group PowerPoint and these are things they learned ….

  • The biggest McDonald’s in the world is in China. They don’t serve rice just hamburgers. They eat the hamburgers in small cut up pieces so they can use their chopsticks. They learned about the 2 hump camels, Bengal tiger (white), panda, birds and water buffalo (used in rice fields). Outside activities are ping pong (table tennis), haircuts (no barber shops), Tai Chi and Chinese Checkers. They learned about the kings and that the first was 7 when he was on the throne and the youngest was 3.

They were able to experience the way people read and write using a pen and how different the writing is with symbols for each word. Students learned how the Chinese invented things like paper, umbrella (paper one to keep sun off of you), chop sticks (that they carried with them), and silk. Some students experienced how they would carry baskets on a bamboo pole to the market with their babies in the basket and how it was different in the city and the country because of space. They learned bamboo is used to make many things. The older students were fascinated with the Great Wall of China model and the story of the Terracotta Soldiers/Army.
Students participated in a lion dance and scared the dragons away with noise makers. They learned some basic Tai Chi movements that are done each day before school starts. Chinese New Year is each year when there is a new moon and is held in January or February. This year is the year of the sheep and will be on the first lunar month with the new moon (February 19, 2015).

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