Grade 6 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 9, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A Message of Ancient Days

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 9, Lesson 1: China's Early History (pp. 262-269)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Culture China's early civilizations made advances in technology, money, written language, and the arts.

Use the map on page 263 to teach about China's geography. Discuss the ways in which mountains and deserts create separate regions and make communication difficult. Point out the rivers and talk about where the early Neolithic cultures started.

Help students understand the accomplishments of the Shang and Zhou dynasties by making a chart with the headings of government, religion, and technology. Ask students to help you fill in each category for the two dynasties.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Organize the students into small groups and assign each group one of the following: government, religion, and communication. Ask each group to make a report of the changes introduced by the Zhou in the group's assigned area. Have groups share their reports.
Have students draw a picture to represent each of the ancient cultures talked about in this lesson: the Yangshao, the Lungshan, the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou. Have volunteer students show their drawings and -- before the student explains the drawing -- ask the class to guess which culture is represented and why.

Social Studies Center | Houghton Mifflin Social Studies | Grade 6 Home
Education Place | Site Index

You may download, print, and make copies of Lesson at a Glance pages for use in your classroom, provided that you include the copyright notice shown below on all such copies.