Dancing+to+Freedom+Reinforcing+Activity

Lesson Plan Author: __Diane Brantley, Ph.D__. Title of NCSS Notable Trade Book: ** || Dancing to Freedom: The True Story of Mao’s Last Dancer (2007). Author: Li Cunxin Illustrator: Anne Spudvilas || || // Dancing to Freedom // is the true story of Li Cunxin’s journey from a small village in Northern China to the great stages of countries across the globe. Li lived during the time when Chairman Mao was the leader of China. At age 11, as Li sat in his classroom, four strangers from the government visited looking for children who had the potential to become exceptional ballet dancers. The few children selected would join Chairman Mao’s elite dance school in Beijing. Weeks later, Li was selected to join the troupe and from that day forward his life would be forever changed. || NCSS Standards: ** || I. Culture: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity. III. People, Places, and Environments: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places and environments. V. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups and institutions. IX: Global Connections: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of global connections and interdependence. || || 1.  12 copies of the book, //Dancing to Freedom: The True Story of Mao’s Last Dancer//; 2. Copy of “Magic Squares” handout for all students; 3. A dictionary and thesaurus for each group; 4. Learning Logs for each student; 5. Maps of China for each group; 6. Video clip from the Beijing Dance Academy 7. Artifacts, photos, books, music representing China. || || # The students will become aware of other cultures and will learn to value cultural diversity; // Exploration/ Introduction: // // Development: // // Expansion: //
 * NCSS Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan **
 * Book Summary: **
 * Materials: **
 * Objectives: **
 * 1) The students will develop a book map that sequentially organizes the main events in the story along with the setting, characters and resolution leading to the creation of a solid narrative story retelling.
 * 2) The students will be able to distinguish between the Democratic and Communist forms of government.
 * 3) The students will be able to locate China on a globe and will develop an understanding of the Mandarin language, cultural practices and living situations that exist within the Chinese culture. ||
 * Procedures: **
 * Procedures: **

|| 1.  The students will be provided with artifacts, photos and maps from China as a means of activating their background knowledge on the customs, language, geography and cultures of China. These items will be placed at learning tables around the classroom and time will be provided for small groups of students to participate in a carousel walk around the classroom to familiarize themselves with these items. The students will draw and describe some of the items they come in contact with during the carousel walk in their learning logs. If they are unsure of what something is, they can write down questions that will be asked during the debriefing session afterwards. 2. The students will create groups of two to three students and will partner read the story, stopping every two pages to recap what has taken place so far in the story. At the end of the story, the students will develop a series of four questions that will be given to other groups to respond to in writing. The groups will use the QAR strategy to develop their questions so that they ask questions at each of the following levels: a. Right There Questions b. Think and Search Questions c. Author and Me Questions d. On Your Own Questions (website for more info: [] ) Individually the students will create a “book map” that highlights the main points of the story. The book map will consist of drawings and words, phrases or sentences that sequentially depict what happened in the story. The map will include the story setting, characters and main ideas presented. || || # The book maps will then be used to write a story summary that will be scored using the attached narrative story retelling rubric. (See attachment B). || || || ||  1.  Link to the YouTube Video Movie Clip: [] 2. Link to Li Cunxin’s Website: [] 3. Link to Wikipedia Information About the Book: [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao's_Last_Dancer] 4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Link to Wikipedia Information About the Beijing Dance Academy: [] 5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Mandarin Chinese/English Online Dictionary: [] || The attached document contains the lesson plans as well as materials.
 * Assessment: **
 * Suggested **
 * Extension **
 * Activities: **
 * 1) The students will select specific vocabulary words from the story and will use an online Mandarin Chinese Characters Translation Dictionary to create a Mandarin/English Dictionary. They will use the following website to learn the symbol for the English word: []
 * Additional **
 * References & Web Links **