Han+Dynasty+(Rendell)

The Han dynasty was the first of China's golden ages. Rising up like the phoenix after the chaos following the Qin dynasty, peasant Liu Bang became the first emperor of the Han. He founded a government based on Confucist ideals. A period of peace and stability lasted for about four hundred years. China expanded its territory to the modern day Koreas to the north all the way to present day Vietnam in the south. During this time, a multitude of advances were made in areas including agriculture, warfare, astronomy, the arts, metal working, and the sciences.

My sixth-graders chose an area of interest to research, prepare a presentation which included a visual element of some kind, and then taught the class about their topic. Students had the option to work independently, with a partner, or in a small group depending on their preference as well as the topic selected. (I designated some topics as one-person, two-person, or three-person.) Students began by locating any relevant information in the chapter of their textbook. Using a Google Document, they referenced their source, paraphrased information in bullet point style, and began to make a list of key words relevant to their topic. They then moved to Encyclopedia Britannica and added to their notes. Students were allowed to look at Wikipedia to help identify other key words but could not use this cite as a scholarly source. The research process then moved to the library where students scoured print sources to find information. I asked our library staff to pull all of our ancient China books and put them on top of the nonfiction shelves. Students needed to look at titles to identify potential books that might include their topic. Using the index, they looked for key words related to their topic and then scanned to see if the information would be beneficial. If so, students added the title and ISBN to their Google Doc before adding their paraphrased notes. I also worked with some students to research a general topic (for example, salt instead of salt mining during the Han dynasty) to find resources which had not been pulled from the shelves.

Our teacher-librarian then co-taught a class focused on evaluating online site the CRAAP test. Once students got over their giggles, they began working on this essential skill (which is a tough one for sixth graders). Our technology and information resource teacher created a website which looks credible but is completely fictional. It was very entertaining to watch the students evaluate this page.

=**Books**=  Beshore, G. (1988). //Science in ancient China//. New York: F. Watts. Bramwell, N. D. (2004). //Ancient China//. Berkeley Heights, NJ: MyReportLinks.com Books. Challen, P. C. (2005). //Life in ancient China//. New York: Crabtree Pub. Cotterell, A., Hills, A., & Brightling, G. (1994). //Ancient China//. New York: Knopf. Dramer, K. (2012). //The Chinese//. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. Goff, D., McBride, A., Johnson, K., Dalley, T., & Boase, W. (1986). //Early China//. New York, NY: Gloucester Press. Hardy, G., & Kinney, A. B. (2005). //The establishment of the Han empire and imperial China//. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Hughes-Stanton, P., Sington, A., Snook, C., Saunders, M., & McCaig, R. (1986). //See inside an ancient Chinese town//. London: Kingfisher. Immell, M. (2003). //The Han dynasty//. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books. Kleeman, T. F., & Barrett, T. (2005). //The ancient Chinese world//. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Landau, E. (2005). //Exploring ancient China with Elaine Landau//. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Elementary. Nicholson, R., & Watts, C. (1994). //Ancient China//. New York, NY: Chelsea Juniors. Platt, R. (1994). //Smithsonian visual timeline of inventions//. London: Dorling Kindersley. Schomp, V. (2004). //The ancient Chinese//. New York: Franklin Watts. Shemie, B. (1996). //Houses of China//. Toronto, Ont.: Tundra Books. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Sherman, J. (2004). //Your travel guide to ancient China//. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Shuter, J. (2006). //Ancient China//. Chicago: Heinemann Library. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Sivin, N. (1995). //Science in ancient China: Researches and reflections//. Aldershot, Great Britain: Variorum. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Strapp, J. (2009). //Science and technology//. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Focus. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Temple, R. K., & Needham, J. (1986). //The genius of China: 3,000 years of science, discovery, and invention//. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Williams, S., & Fong, A. (1996). //Made in China: Ideas and inventions from ancient China//. Berkeley, CA: Pacific View Press. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;">Woods, M., & Woods, M. B. (2000). //Ancient medicine: From sorcery to surgery//. Minneapolis: Runestone Press. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times; font-size: 16px;"> =**Websites**=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #006621; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">www. **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #006621; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">ancientchina **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #006621; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.co.uk <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #006621; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Excellent site from England

China Travel Guide Information about the Han dynasty

This website has an overview of the Han dynasty as well as information about all other Chinese dynasties.
 * Totally History**

BrainPOP A great education video about the Silk Road (requires an account)

Flocabulary Rap about ancient China (including information about the Han dynasty) as well as related links

National Geographic Magazine Overview of the Han dynasty with related links.

Ducksters A kid-friendly website which has a section about ancient China as well as specific inventions from that time period.

China Online Museum A good resource for images of Chinese ceramics. Also contains general information about this topic.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Overview of the Han dynasty