Japan Unit Study

See Also: Asian Resources

 

Resource Type Title/Author Comments Check Out Again? Rating
Book/Library Jojofu; Waite, Michael P. Brave dog protects her master, though her master often doesn't understand X 5
Book/Library A Carp for Kimiko; Kroll, Virginia Tradition of Boy's (Children's) Day & the carp hung for male sons viewed through a daughter's eyes X 5
Book/Library Tree of Cranes; Say, Allen Japanese boy is introduced to Christmas by his mother who was raised in the USA, also touches on disobedience X 5
Book/Library How My Parents Learned to Eat; Friedman, Ina Wonderful story of US soldier and Japanese girl who fall in love but don't know how to eat in their beloved's tradition X 5
Book/Library Let's Learn Japanese Picture Dictionary; Passport Books Nice reference; minimal pronunciation assistance X 4
Book/Library Grass Sandals, The Travels of Basho; Spivak, Dawnine Story of travels of Basho, a haiku poet, through Japan; contains some Japanese characters and translated haikus X 5
Book/Library Hiroshi's Wonderful Kite (Our World of People Series); Heller, George Boy uses kite made to celebrate the Japanese New Year to help catch a thief who robs him X 4
Book/Library A to Zen; Wells, Ruth Book reads from back to front; covers Japanese culture from "A to Zen" but doesn't give much help pronouncing Japanese words X 3
Book/Library Look What Came From Japan; Harvey, Miles Food, fashion, inventions, animals, sports, arts, etc. X 3
Book/Library Japan: The Land; Kalman, Bobbie Very detailed; good for children interested in sitting and listening X 4
Book/Library Count Your Way through Japan; Haskins, Jim Combines counting in Japanese & an introduction to Japanese culture.  X 5
Book/Library The Way We Do It In Japan; Iijima, Geneva Cobb Young boy's family moves to Japan and he experiences new Japanese culture X 5
Book/Library The Drums of Noto Hanto; James, J. Alison Legend of how a village successfully kept samurai from invading it; wonderful repetition of drum sounds X 4
Television Program "Iron Chef"; Food Network Fascinating cooking battles; wonderful insight into Japanese culture and food   5
Activity/Craft Make a Volcano: use one of the clays from 100+ Goo Recipes (I like the Dryer Lint Clay) to build a mountain around a soup can, then Build a Volcano  ***still in process, comments so far:

1. Use two batches of the Dryer Lint Clay

2. When tearing apart the dryer lint, either go outside or do it near a stove vent that vents outside -- there's LOTS of dust. 

  ***
Activity Origami Fold paper! There are several nice projects in Microsoft Publisher.   5
World Atlas/Globe Rand McNally Children's Atlas Find Japan in/on atlas/globe; notice different islands   4
Placemats World Placemats from Wal*Mart Meal fun and great family discussions   5
Field Trip Japanese Restaurant Show child how to eat w/ chopsticks & offer them the chance   5

 

 

Ratings: 5= Excellent, 4= Good, 3=Average, 2=Fair, 1=Poor