Lesson Plan for The Great Wall – 6th Grade
Darrell Vandergriff
Tennessee Standard – 6.35
List the policies and achievements of the emperor Shi Huang and explain how
these contributed to the unification of northern China under the Qin Dynasty and
the construction of the Great Wall of China.
Essential Question/Goals: What should each student be able to answer and do at
the end of the lesson?
1. Who built the Great Wall of China
2. How was the Great Wall of China built
3. Why was the Great Wall of China built
Objectives:
Explain the contributions of the Qin, Han, and Ming dynasties to the creation of
the Great Wall.
Summarize the different roles the Qin, Han, and Ming played in the Great Walls
construction.
Understand the different roles played by different dynasties in the construction of
The Great Wall
Two lessons – 45 minutes each
My approach to teaching about the Great Wall will be more than just lecture and
showing a picture in the textbook. I like the lesson plan of starting with the facts.
Make sure the students know the what, when, where, who, how of the Great
Wall.
Secondly, I would use a project for the students to build a model of the wall. I
love project teaching and this would be a very interesting, active project for the
students.
Next, I would have the students try to figure how to join all their models into one
larger wall. I think the model and the information will help the students remember
more about the wall than just a straight lecture.
My last part of the lessons will include showing pictures from my visit to the Great
Wall, and stores that involve the Great Wall. My approach is going to be giving
the information, but make it a hands- on learning approach. This will bring the
concept and the reality of the Great Wall to a place of understanding for my
students in 6th grade.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
I.
J.
K.
L.
Part One : 45 minutes
5 minutes -Show pictures of the Great Wall, the towers, and the
landscape around the wall
30 minutes – Discuss when, where, who, why, and where the Great Wall
was built
a. Use Building the Great Wall by Pat Burleson and Kurt Jacobs as a
major resource
b. Teacher will ask class to write down how many bricks they think is
in the Great Wall of China after writing the "essential questions" on
the board. -the answer is about 3,873,000,000c. (closest answer gets 3 extra points on next test)
Before Hook, teacher will pass out K-W-L charts and have students fill out
what they already know and what they want to know about the Great Wall
of China.
The teacher will ask the class formative questions to gauge their
knowledge on subject. The teacher will then write Qin, Han, Ming, and
Tang on the board and tell how each helped add to the walls construction.
(During the Tang Dynasty of the Golden age of China no walls were built.)
The teacher will divide the students into four groups and assign one of the
dynasties. They have 10 minutes to create a method to present to the rest
of the class the contribution to the Great Wall from the dynasty they are
assigned.
The teacher will reference the Walls of Jericho, Berlin, and the metaphoric
iron curtain (USSR) and how they relate to the Great Wall of China and
how/why people created them. The teacher will then have the students
finish up their K-W-L charts.
Assignment Explanation
a. Each student is to build a section of the Great Wall and bring in
next class period
H. Lesson Two: 45 Minutes
Students bring in their section of the Great Wall of 6th Grade next class
period. They are allowed to build their section from any material they
choose. It is to be approx.. one foot long and 5-6 inches high.
Review material about the Great Wall from the previous lesson
Have the students attempt to attach their section of The Wall together to
form one Great 6th Grade Wall
a. Explain how the actual Great Wall was formed from different
sections.
Assessment –
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
How long did it take to build the Great Wall of China?
How many "walls" is it made of?
What was the purpose of The Great Wall?
What are the names of the three dynasties that built the Great Wall
Define the following:
i. Archaeology
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Dynasty
Hordes
Nomads
Terra cotta
Sources:
 http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/construction/material.htm
 http://asterius.com/?f
 http://www.chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html
 http://execpc.com/-dboals/chin-ja.html#CHINA/JAPAN
 Carpenter, Frances. Tales of a Chinese Grandmoth- er. Tokyo: Charles Tuttle and Co.,

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1973.
Cheng, Dalin. The Great Wall of China. China Books and Periodicals, 1984.
Cotterell, Arthur. The First Emperor of China. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston,
1981.
Lou, Zewen and others. The Great Wall. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 1981.
Nancarrow, Peter. Early China and the Wall. Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press,
1978.
Sanders, Tao Tao Liu. Dragons, Gods and Spirits from Chinese Mythology. New York:
Schocken Books, 1980.
Waldron, Arthur. The Great Wall of China: From History to
Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Education About Asia, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 1998
o Building the Great Wall by Pat Burleson and Kurt Jacobs
McNeese,Tim, The Great Wall of China. Lucent Books, 1997
Hall, Eleanor J. Ancient Chinese Dynasties. Lucent Books, 2000