Elementary+Education

=Resources for Elementary Educators= Please also see the Curriculum Resources page on the main menu of the wiki. Many resources listed are applicable to elementary school teachers.

Some of the resources listed below can be found on the other content pages of the wiki, and it would be great if teachers would share new resources and links with one another on this page.

General Resources
[|Asia for Educators] - Elementary level resources [|Asia Society] - Elementary lesson plans [|Life on the Rivers of Asia] - National Geographic lesson plan (grades K-2)

China
[|National Geographic Kids: China in the Spotlight] - multimedia resources to help students learn about China.

[|Chinese Calligraphy and Ink Painting] - Kennedy Center, ArtsEdge, grades 3-4. Students learn basic calligraphy strokes and about the art and culture of Chinese calligraphy and Chinese ink painting.



• //Moonbeams, Dumplings and Dragon Boats//, Nina Simonds and Leslie Swartz This book contains brief stories, a number of craft/project ideas, and recipes for students to do to connect to Chinese culture.
 * Recommended books for Elementary Education**

• //Lon Po Po//, Ed Young This is a fairy tale similar to Little Red Riding Hood that could be explored for similarities and differences among cultures.

• //All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale from Tibet//, Barbara Berger This beautifully illustrated fairy tale is similar to Aesop’s Turtle and Hare – or even the Little Engine that Could. It would be interesting to study animal life in the Himalayas prior to/in conjunction with this story, since many animals appear in the illustrations.

Japan
[|National Geographic Kids: Japan in the Spotlight] - multimedia resources to help students learn about Japan.

[|Ocean Haiku], [|You Too Can Haiku] - The Kennedy Center ArtsEdge, grades 3 - 4

Japan Society lesson plan - [|Obento, Japanese lunch box]

Japan Society - [|lesson plan about energy savings] and [|lesson plan about families] connected to film, //My Neighbor Totoro// (anime movie)

Teach your students a few words in Japanese! - [|This link] has links to hear a native speaker say common phrases and greetings. It erases any intimidation factor!

• //Japanese Celebrations: Cherry Blossoms, Lanterns and Stars!//, Betty Reynolds This book contains a wealth of knowledge about Japanese cultural celebrations. Students would enjoy looking at it, and it would serve as a helpful, concise background reading for teachers.
 * Recommended books for Elementary Education**

• //Old Japan: The Hands-on Approach to History//, Andrew Haslam and Claire Doran This book contains a number of craft/project ideas for students to do to connect to culture and history.

• //Count your Way through Japan//, Jim Haskins This book helps students to learn about Japanese culture as they also learn to count from 1-10 in Japanese.

Korea
[|National Geographic Kids: South Korea] - multimedia resources to help students learn about South Korea.

[|Korean Folk Tales]

Korea Society - podcasts of Korean folktales - TALES OF KOREA, PART I. The seven tales in this selection are appropriate for younger students (grades 1-5), and include: Grain of Millet, Green Frog, The Two Brothers, A Trick or Two, Princess Pyongkang and Ondal, Abandoning the Old Ones, and The Serpent’s Revenge. This selection gives a glimpse of Korea and Korean values through the art of storytelling. For example,"Grain of Millet" demonstrates delightfully how cleverness with a little luck can turn into fortune. Other popular Korean themes presented include: filial piety, geomancy, diligence, kindness rewarded vs. greed punished, and revenge vs. gratitude. All of these stories are fun to listen to and are fun to learn from. For example, students gain insight into another culture through Korean animal sounds (Korean dogs bark "mong, mong," not "bow wow"), and learn a few vocabulary words from a talking turtle. Part, 1B, includes: Princess Pyongkang and Ondal, Abandoning the Old Ones, The Serpent’s Revenge.