Studying Japan ::Week 1::

This week we started our study of Japan. Of all the countries we've studied so far, Japan has had some amazing websites available to use in our studies. We’re planning on making this a three week study and wrapping it all up with a unit on volcanoes. Here’s how our first week was outlined:

Monday

• Review geography song
• Locate & map Japan with watercolors {link below}
• Use atlas to learn more about Japan
• Hello Japan video

Tuesday

• Read Children Just Like Me & use notebooking page
• Color Japan’s flag {printable below}
• Facts about Japan using National Geographic for Kids website

Wednesday

• Kids Web Japan
• Talk about the Mon {family crest}

Thursday

• Review Asia geography song
• Woodcuts/paintings {link below}

Laurianna's independent reading for the week was Dragon of the Red Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne and the kids also enjoyed listening to the audiobook when Laurianna had finished reading it on her own. We've also been reading stories from Japanese Children's Favorite Stories and The Boy of the Three Year Nap.

Great Links

Kids Web Japan - great videos, virtual games, pictures - too much to list, but a GREAT resource!! This week we watched the "Hello Japan" video, learned about tea ceremonies (and had our own), looked at some of the typical Japanese food

Visit Japan - this link is specifically to a quick video about Japan

National Geographic Kids: Japan - country facts, postcard, video clip and information on Japan

Japanese Woodcuts to Color - Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop has a great project for using watercolors to recreate some famous Japanese woodcuts

Hokusai's Great Wave - picture and information on woodcut painting

Next week we'll be continuing our study of Japan by studying Japanese screens, origami, Japanese counting, puppet theatre and some other fun things too.