Great Wall Of China

Thursday (29/03/2012)

a) Brainstorm: Walls.
l I arranged blocks into a rectangle representing walls. I asked each kid to touch the wall in the classroom. Some touched under the table, nearby the chairs, some touched the wooden wall while some touched the one under the window.
Teacher: Why do we need walls?
Hiro: To protect from bad people.
Ying Qiao: Protect from wild animals.
Rei: To divide the house into rooms.
Alisa: To keep the house clean. (Such as kitchen, toilet and bedroom).
Teacher: Protect us from dangers such as thunderstorms.
l Kids said they have got bricked walls. There are also wooden walls and walls with tiles. Fences surround our homes as a border between two homes. Some are metal while some are wooden fences. Some have got CCTV, some with thorns while some with electricity guarded.

b) Great Wall Of China.
l Astronauts claimed that they could see a long stretched line (similar o snake) from the space using tools such as binoculars. To date, it’s said the length is about 6000km while the width of 5 horses and height of 6m. However, if were to add all the walls built since 2000years ago; the total might add up to 12,000 km. Some sources said, it is almost 2 times the size of Earth diameter. (We’ll be talking about erosion tomorrow).
l As I arranged the blocks, I made a gap between some blocks. They would be the gate or huge gigantic door. (Yi Han: I’ve got gates at home).
Teacher: Why did the Chinese build such as long wall.
Wei Lok: To protect them from bad people.
l I briefly explained that China has got lots of goods such as rice, water, silk, money, homes and many more. Many travelers or Nomads tend to steal from Chinese. Thus, the Chinese Emperor built walls to protect themselves.

c) Measuring Activity.
l Taking a big block, I showed the kids about “length, height and width”. I introduced the easier way…..”____ long, _____ high and ____ wide”.
l We decided to measure the school.
l Height (Tzen Yu and Xiang Wei suggested we measured from Phonics room to the ground).
l Length (From garden fence to the main gate).
l Width (From Recycled bin to the sand pit fence).