Description

What our Great Wall of China lesson plan includes

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Great Wall of China is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will gain a knowledge of the history and significance of this incredible landmark and why it attracts millions of visitors every year. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade.

Classroom Procedure

Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the orange box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.

Teacher Notes

The paragraph on this page gives you a little more information on the lesson overall and describes what you may want to focus your teaching on. It explains that you can teach this lesson in a whole-class setting or as an independent, small-group activity. The blank lines are available for you to write out any thoughts or ideas you have as you prepare.

GREAT WALL OF CHINA LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

The Great Wall of China lesson plan includes three pages of content. Have you ever looked at a bridge, tall building, or some other large structure and thought, “How did they build that?” We live in a time when we take engineering, architecture, and construction for granted. We have computers and modern machinery that do most of the work for us. Before we had modern tools, construction was done entirely by hand.

Seven Wonders of the World

Perhaps you have heard the phrase “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.” The Seven Wonders are structures designed, engineered, and built entirely by human labor. The few tools construction workers had were not mechanized; they required manual labor. Each and every component of construction was pretty much done by hand. What makes these structures so amazing—and true “wonders”—is that they were built thousands of years ago. One even still exists today! The Great Pyramids of Giza were built around 2500 BCE, which makes them over 4,500 years old. And, amazingly, historians still are not entirely sure how such a fantastic feat could have been accomplished without mechanical help.

You may be wondering who created the original list and how they decided what belonged on it. Around 440 BCE, the ancient Greeks began compiling a list of what they believed were the world’s most remarkable structures. Greek travelers were familiar mainly with the Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions, not the entire globe. As a result, their list reflected only the parts of the world they knew. The original lists no longer exist, but we know of them because of the works of Greek writers like Antipater and the historian Herodotus.

New 7 Wonders: The Great Wall

Fast forward to 2007. The New 7 Wonders Foundation, based in Switzerland, conducted a worldwide poll to create a new list—the New 7 Wonders of the World. Millions of people from all over the world were able to vote to make the latest list of wonders. Before the New 7 Wonders Foundation conducted the poll, the list was a hodgepodge of opinions from academics, travel guides, and historians.

One structure that is always on the list is the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall is considered an engineering and construction marvel. The wall was a massive undertaking. It took nearly 2,000 years to complete. Millions of workers were involved in its construction. Records written by Chinese historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of workers died in building the wall. Many of them are buried within the walls!

The wall’s purpose was to protect China from northern invasions. Nomadic tribes (barbarians) frequently raided Chinese territory, and the wall served as a deterrent. The military used the wall to post guards at lookout posts and to serve as barracks for its troops. As a means of border control, it helped monitor and protect the important trade routes entering and leaving China. It was vital in safeguarding the famed Silk Road trade.

Massive building projects are a source of cultural pride. The Great Wall is no exception! It represents, to the world and to the Chinese people, a technological feat that no other country could match. The Great Wall is a source of pride and an enduring sense of togetherness. It is a symbol of the long history and civilization of the Chinese. The Great Wall is a demonstration of national pride, and its legacy to the world is one of sacrifice and accomplishment.

History of the Wall

In the 3rd century BCE, Emperor Qin Shi Huang conceived the idea of a wall that extended along China’s entire border. Around 220 BCE, the emperor ordered that several fortifications be linked into a single unified wall. Before the Great Wall, numerous smaller fortified walls had been built over the centuries as defensive outposts. Gaps existed in the fortifications, however, and Emperor Qin Shi Huang wanted to close them. The project was placed in the charge of the Chinese General Meng Tian. Historians recognize him as an extraordinarily talented military leader and innovator.

By any standard in history, creating a unified wall was an ambitious project. The proposed length of the construction was to be 10,000 li (a measurement which, at the time, was roughly equivalent to over 3,000 miles). The builders had to overcome several obstacles to achieve success. Length aside, the terrain was not always flat and level. It could be quite hilly, creating an engineering challenge. Moving the enormous amounts of material necessary to build the wall was not an easy task either. Securing a labor source was yet another challenge. General Meng Tian conscripted a massive labor force of soldiers, convicts, and commoners as workers.

Although the wall began under Emperor Qin Shi Huang, several centuries and dynasties passed before they finally completed the wall. Up to the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 CE), the wall went through several stages. Sometimes, there was new construction, other times repairs. Occasionally, the country’s ruling powers neglected the wall as they turned their attention to other matters of state. The Great Wall as we know it today was completed during the Ming Dynasty, which deserves much of the credit for finishing the project Emperor Qin Shi Huang started centuries earlier.

The Great Wall Today

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the wall became a representation of and the most common image of China to the rest of the world. It is a symbol to many in the international community of China’s desire to preserve its cultural heritage, repel foreign influences, and maintain control over its people. To the Chinese people, the wall represents a technological and engineering feat unmatched and unrivaled by any country in the world. It is a source of national pride and an enduring symbol of the Chinese people’s resilience and work ethic. It is no wonder the Great Wall of China is hailed as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World!

11 Fun Facts about the Great Wall of China

• The Great Wall of China is the longest man-made project in the world.
• According to China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration in 2012, the wall extends for a total of more than 20,000 kilometers (nearly 13,000 miles).
• The length of the Great Wall is about half the distance around the earth’s equator.
• It took nearly 2,000 years to construct the wall.
• The Great Wall is not a single structure. It consists of a series of towers, barracks, and fortresses.
• Different materials were used at various points in the wall. Most of the sections were built with bricks and cut stone blocks, and lime mortar was used to hold the bricks together. Other sections were made of tamped earth, uncut stones, and local wood.
• One ingredient used to make the mortar between the bricks is sticky rice flour!
• The average height of the walls is 7.8 meters (25.6 feet), and the tallest point is 14 meters (46 feet) high.
• The top of the Great Wall is about 4–5 meters (13–16 feet) wide on average. It is wide enough for five horses or ten soldiers to walk side by side.
• The width is comparable to a modern two-lane highway, and the average height is about the same as a two-story building.
• Walking the entire Great Wall would take more than 17 months if you walked 20 kilometers (12 miles) every single day!

GREAT WALL OF CHINA LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS

The Great Wall of China lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.

GREAT WALL VS. US HIGHWAY ACTIVITY WORKSHEET

The Great Wall of China and the US Interstate Highway System are both monumental infrastructure projects. They represent very different eras but have similar purposes. For the activity, students will research the Interstate Highway system in the United States. Then they will fill out the chart to compare and contrast it with the Great Wall of China.

GREAT WALL OF CHINA REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET

The practice worksheet lists 10 questions based on the content. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.

Worksheet Answer Keys

This lesson plan includes an answer key for the practice worksheet. Correct responses are in red to make it easier to compare with students’ answers. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.