Historian in Residence
Ms. Christy
Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.

Japan and The Outside World
This unit is designed for primary grades. It is designed to follow the unit on The Shogun and The Tea Master. During the course of this unit, students from K-2 are exposed to what happened in 17th-century Japan, when Ieyasu shut out the rest of the world after meeting and befriending William Adams. In the end, students ponder the idea of what it means when we refuse to let others "play."

Activity

Review/Assessment

Day 1
Review

Students review what they remember about Japanese culture from "The Shogun and The Tea Master" using a GLAD-style poster.

 Start timeline of the story they know, leaving space for the next story.
Day 2
Japan and The World		 Listening to the story of how the Portuguese (and then William Adams) finally came to Japan.

Draw the journeys on a map of the world.
Day 3
Dancing the Journey 		Dancing the story of William Adams' journey.

Drawing for learning: students draw one dramatic moment from William Adams' journey to Japan.
Day 4
The Geography of Japan		 Students learn about the geography of Japan through Inqiury, adding different elements of Japanese geography one piece at a time.

Students put important cities on the map of Japan.
Day 5
Japanese & outsiders		 Looking at a GLAD drawing, students see what the Japanese thought of the foreigners, like William Adams.

Compare/Contrast a Samurai with an Englishman from the same period.
Day 6
Daily life outside Japan
 Students learn about life in England during the early 1600's. Compare/Contrast a Japanese house with an English house from the same period.
Day 7
Friendship		 Through Inquiry, students think about why Ieyasu and Adams became friends.
 Students discuss the friendship between the two men and similarities on the playground.
Day 8
You Can't Say You Can't Play

Students learn about how the Japanese closed their country to the outside world.

Drawing for Learning: Students draw a picture of how other students might include outsiders in their playground play.
a
Historian in Residence © 2011 Mary Anne Christy