Written and illustrated by Mrs. Shellenberger’s Second Graders Stony Point School April 2010 We dedicate this book to our friends, our families, the Stony Point community and the country of China. How We Did It! We read D is for Dancing Dragon and decided to use it for our mentor text for making a classbook. A mentor text is a published piece of writing whose idea, structure, or written craft can be used to inspire us to write something original. First, we looked on the computer to find topics in Ancient China, for example, The True Story of Mulan . We made a huge brainstorm list of possible topics. Everybody chose a topic with a different letter of the alphabet, but there were some extra letters, like I, V and U. Then we started researching our topics. We practiced drawing our topics in our sketchbook. We wrote what we already knew about the topic. We asked questions that we wanted to know. We used highlighters for juicy information and the important parts. If it was really interesting to us, we added it to our research. We made a list of sources, like places we could explore more. We wrote down where we actually found information, too. We used…. http://china.mrdonn.org/lessonplans.html . We found some words in our research that we didn’t know and we looked them up in the dictionary. We made a web for writing. We also had what questions we still had after we did our research. We wrote a self-evaluation. We thought about if we had enough research and how we felt about the project. We went to the computer lab and drew on Appleworks Paint. The pictures came out very good. Our final draft was the last thing in our research packet. We still needed to complete the alphabet. We were thinking about what Ms. Shellenberger said about China and remembered about their values. We added Chinese brush painting because we painted orchids with Chinese brushes on “rice paper.” We also loved writing the symbols for numbers. We hope you enjoy our book. Process page written by Ava, Ariyanna, Drew and Julianna AAA is for Chinese Acrobats, who perform a traditional art that has been around for more than 2,000 years. They begin training at 4 years old and perform their first performance at 6 years old. It is hard to believe that the acrobats learn balancing, tumbling, dancing, flexibility and strength in just 2 years! -Drew Barrett BBB is for Bamboo. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world and can be planted anytime of the year. Bamboo was used as writing material during the Han Dynasty. We have bamboo in our classroom at school. – Abigail Drumheller CCC is for Chopsticks, made with bamboo or plastic and used for over 5,000 years. Did you know if your chopsticks are not placed evenly at the table the Chinese believe you are going to miss a boat, plane or train? I like using chopsticks better than forks because they are easier to use. –Ewing Minor DDD is for Chinese Dragon. The dragon symbolizes power and excellence in China. Did you know that dragons have 117 scales? I would really like to go to China and see the Dragon Festival. -Brice Norford EEE is for Ehru. It is a musical instrument also called the “southern fiddle”. It is made from these types of woods; zitan, lao hongmu, wu mu and hong mu. The Erhu was introduced to China more than 1,000 years ago. I would like to learn how to play the Erhu. –Julianna Buyaki FFF is for Fireworks. They were invented by accident by a cook in the Chinese army in the 12 th century. Fireworks are used at the Chinese New Year to keep away evil spirits. When I was little, I always loved it when my dad would set off fireworks for my family and friends on the 4 th of July. – Jonathan Fuller GGG is for Great Wall of China, which is 30 feet wide and 50 feet high and can be seen from the moon. The Chinese worked for over 1,700 years on the wall. The Great Wall was built to protect China from barbarian tribes. I would love to walk the Great Wall of China one day. – Casey Beckett HHHis for is for the Himalayan Mountains. They are the youngest mountain ranges on our planet! These mountains helped protect the early Chinese people from their enemies. If I was ever in China, I would go and climb the Himalayan Mountains. -Jamie Rademacher I is for “I love Chinese brush painting.” The four most essential materials used for Chinese brush painting are so precious they are often referred to as treasures. When you mention "The Four Treasures" Chinese people will immediately know that you are talking about the brush, ink stick, ink stone, and paper. JJJ is for the sweet smelling Jasmine flower. It is used for tea, perfume, syrup, and oil. Jasmine means “gift of god”. I would love to have Jasmine planted in my mom’s garden this summer. -Ella Dalton KKK is for the kites in China. “Zhiyuan” is the name for the kite. The Chinese used kites to spy on their enemies. They also built colorful kites for fun. I have enjoyed flying kites before because in the park on a windy day the air is still up high and you can keep your kite up for a long time. – Henry Sackett LLL is for Chinese Lantern, carried on the eve of the Chinese New Year and hung at the door to scare away evil and bring good luck. Strips of paper are soaked in kerosene and catch fire inside the lantern. Heat from the lantern makes the lantern float upward and it is released for good luck. I would love to go to China one day and see the many lanterns line the streets. –Liam Fay MMM is for Mongolians. Their leader in 1206 was the powerful Genghis Khan. They lived in the Gobi Desert and herded horses, goats, sheep and cattle. I would like to continue researching the Mongolians at home to learn even more about them. – Matthew McCullough NNN is for Chinese New Year. New Year begins with the new moon and ends on the full moon. On Chinese New Year, the Chinese honor ancestors and light fire crackers to scare away evil spirits. They believe sweeping is bad luck because you might sweep out the good luck. We celebrated Chinese New Year in our classroom with a Chinese Lunch and we opened our red envelopes. -Mimi Lelived OOO is for Chinese Opera. Opera is when people are singing and acting at the same time. They used all kinds of beautiful colorful masks. I have seen an opera on T.V before. They were wearing their hair in a bun and their faces were painted white. - Ariyanna Pierson PPP is for Panda. They live in the cool and wet mountains of China. Pandas are endangered animals since there are fewer than 1,000 left in the wild. I would love to pet a panda one day. –Abbey Kuester QQQ is for Qin Terra Cotta Warriors. Qin Shittuang had 700,000 workers building clay warriors for his tomb. In the tomb there are over 8,000 warriors, 130 chariots, 520 horses and weapons. One day I would like to make my own life size Terra Cotta Warrior. -Kees Leliveld RRR is for Rice Paper. This paper is really made from the bark of a mulberry tree. Rice paper can be eaten and written on. China and Japan use rice paper to write on. I got to use rice paper in art when we did our brush painting. – Meagan Pritchett SSS is for Shadow Puppets, invented over 2,000 years ago in the Hans times. Puppets were made of paper and then later they used donkey and oxen hides. I would love to make a shadow puppet and one day see a show. –Mitchel Rios T is for The Abacus. This wooden counting tool was invented by the Chinese in 2,700 B.C. by Gregor Reish. The counting beads were colored blue and green. The abacus can do multiplication and division. I like the abacus better than the calculator because the calculator uses technology and the abacus helps you use your mind and fingers. The abacus is faster than the calculator. –Ella Smith UUU is for number units. The number 8 is a very lucky number. • The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm. • A telephone number with all digits being eights was sold for $270,723 in China. • A man in China sold his license plate reading A88888 for $164,000. • The I Ching , or Book of Changes , has 8 trigrams. VVV is for family values. The Chinese value the importance of the family. It is the structure of social life and the emphasis is on hard work and achievement. In many ways, the family is more important than its individual members. Children must learn not to answer back to their parents or other elders. It is assumed that the family as a whole will thrive and prosper if harmony prevails at home. W is for the Wheelbarrow. It was invented in China. They used it to carry rice from the fields to their homes. The wheelbarrow had long wooden handles. I have used a wheelbarrow before at my cousin’s to haul paper to burn.