China and the Shang Dynasty: Reading
I read the lesson from the Mystery of History text book, and gathered all our ancient China books and had the girls peruse them:
China and the Shang Dynasty: Researching Silk Worms
After I had photocopied a few pages of information about silk worms, Abigail read them and did a simple report on them. I kept it light and easy because this was the first report they’d ever done:
Abigail used some report pages (downloadable at the end of this post) to jot down notes in:
Abs then did a brief presentation based on her report:
China and the Shang Dynasty: Researching Silk
Becca did her report on silk fabric. I copied some information from the web and made it large print for ease of reading. I also highlighted the pertinent information I wanted her to write in her reports:
This made it very simple for her to do independently:
Becs did a presentation based on her report:
I intend to have the girls do a short report once a week, making them progressively more in depth. I think they enjoyed the independent nature of the report, and they loved telling everyone all they had learnt.
China and the Shang Dynasty: Painting Silk
We had some silk material left over from Lillie’s art project. I thought some silk painting would be a lovely hands on project to accompany their learning this week. I had them watch the video below, and I photocopied a sample of the artist’s painting to copy:
Silk painting is tricky. Just a small amount of paint will spread, making it hard to contain in an accurate way. This was fine for the blossoms, but not so good for the branches, which needed a bit more definition. We used some black gutta as the outlines for the branches. This basically contains the spread, but needs to be a continuous line to do this effectively. Becca began one end, and Abs began the other, until they met in the middle:
You can see the gutta close up. It is a malleable and doesn’t effect the fluidity of the material, but also does not spread and easily contains the spread of the actual silk paint:
Once this was dry, the girls painted the branches black (note we taped the silk material to the table):
Next, the girls created the blossoms using a light pink. If we did this again, I would use a much paler pink first:
Here it is beginning to take shape:
Once it was all dry, the girls added a second, darker pink to the insides of each flower:
Right at the end, we added a few very pale blossom leaves throughout the spaces in between the cherry blossom.
China and the Shang Dynasty: Modelling the Scarf
I grabbed a few photos of the girls with the scarf, before sending it off to their precious Granny in Northern Ireland:
Didn’t they do a great job?
Becca:
Abigail:
I made a special pdf for my girls to write their reports onto, as well as a couple of sheets to stick their Chinese silk painting onto to be filed into their history journals. To download click:
Report on Chinese Silk Worms and the Silk they Produce
Further Posts of Interest: Shang Dynasty and their Writing Systems
We covered the Shang Dynasty a few years ago and did activities based on the ancient Chinese writing systems. We made oracle bones:
Did some ancient Chinese calligraphy:
And made a replica of the earliest known postal letter. The ancient Chinese wrote of wood:
Wrapped in rope:
And covered in clay for the earliest ever form of an envelope:
Last but not least we made some Chinese character seals:
For a description of each of these activities, do pop over to see my post on the Shang Dynasty and their Writing Systems
I’d never considered that aspect of painting on silk. That would also explain their softer style of artwork.