Grade 6 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 9, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A Message of Ancient Days

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 9, Lesson 2: The Age of Confucius (pp. 270-274)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Values During a turbulent time, Chinese thinkers and scholars sought ways to make Chinese society work better.

Review Confucius' ideas, discussing his idea that sincerity, loyalty, and mutual respect should be the cornerstone of all relationships. Ask students to tell in their own words the role of the family and of obedience in Confucius' thinking. Point out his thoughts on how a ruler should command his people.

You may wish to make a chart to review the other scholarly movements that opposed Confucius-the Moists, the Legalists, and the Daoists. Contrast their ideas with Confucius'.

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

Ask each student to take on the role of someone traveling in a big city in China at the end of the Zhou dynasty, and to write a letter home describing the perfect ruler according to Confucianism, Moism, Legalism, and Daoism.
Using the example of the combined characters shown in the margin on page 271, have each student create and draw characters representing Confucius' five basic relationships. Encourage students to use the symbol for man shown, and indicate the relationships by varying the size of the characters, the amount of space between them, and the way they seem to relate to one another.

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