1. Evidence for Standard 5: Literate Environment
This text set addresses content discussed in a second grade, social studies unit about the ancient cultures of Egypt and China. Students will be able to learn about these ancient cultures through these carefully selected texts.
In a typical classroom, varying reading performance levels are common. This text set allows students to read material about ancient cultures at their instructional reading level, ensuring all students are accomplishing the same objectives.

2. Ancient Cultures of Egypt and China Text Set
By Kara Klokis

3. Theme, Rationale, and Concepts
Grade Level: 2
Subject: Social Studies
Theme: Ancient Cultures of Egypt and China
Rationale: These texts explain the importance of customs and dependence on artifacts and inventions in each culture, while also inviting students to make connections and gain an understanding of what life was truly like in these ancient civilizations
Guiding Concepts:
The ancient cultures of Egypt and China upheld many beliefs, customs, and traditions
The ancient cultures of Egypt and China created artifacts and inventions out of the resources they had available to them

4. Stranger on the Silk Road: A Story of Ancient China
Gunderson, J. (2009). Stranger on the Silk Road: A story of ancient China. Mankato, MN: Picture Window Books.
Reading Level: Average
Genre: Historic Fiction
This story follows Song Sun, a young girl from China who likes to talk more than she likes to listen. This habit gets her into trouble one day when she meets a stranger and accidently tells him the Chinese silk making secret, leading to shame and disappointment from her father.
This text explains the degree in which the Chinese culture depended on silk to maintain their livelihood. The text provides an introduction of what the time period was like, a glossary, and internet resources where students can learn more about the Chinese culture. Students are encouraged to activate their prior knowledge and make connections to the text by sharing their experiences.

5. The Egypt Game
Synder, Z. (2009). The Egypt game. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Reading Level: High
Genre: Fiction
This story follows two young girls, Melanie and April, who love anything and everything that has to do with ancient Egypt. The girls find an abandoned junk yard where they create and play “The Egypt Game” which consists of acting like ancient Egyptians, holding ceremonies, writing hieroglyphics, and other ancient activities. However, after participating in a ceremony, strange things begin to happen leaving the girls to believe that the game has gone too far.
While this story is fiction, it demonstrates some of the customs ancient Egyptians followed as told by the experts, Melanie and April. This text also invites students to make predictions throughout the story and would be a great read for students reading at an above average level. It could easily be implemented into a guided reading lesson to not only address and reinforce content, but also to practice reading comprehension strategies.

6. Life in Ancient China (Peoples of the Ancient World)
Challen, P. (2004). Life in ancient China. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company.
Reading Level: High
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
This text explains life in ancient China. It provides details about ancient Chinese history, rulers, culture, and inventions. It is easy to follow due to the headings and subheadings provided in each section, and also allows for a deeper understanding of ancient China.
As the title alludes, students will learn about life in ancient China throughout this text. Not only will students learn about the life of ancient Chinese peoples, but also gain insight on how Chinese customs and inventions were essential to daily life. *As a nonfiction text, this book could also be used to introduce and assist students when identifying nonfiction text features.

7. Life in Ancient Egypt (Peoples of the Ancient World)
Challen, P. (2005). Life in ancient Egypt. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company.
Reading Level: High
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
This text explains how the ancient Egyptians built pyramids, developed a writing system, made their own medicine, and utilized the Nile River to enhance their agriculture. This text demonstrates what life was like in ancient Egypt and explains customs such as the mummy- making and burial process as well as the afterlife beliefs.
This text not only explains customs that ancient Egyptians followed, but also the significance and beliefs behind each custom. With this informative text, students can grasp what the ancient Egyptian world was truly like and how Egyptians maintained their culture.

8. Magic Treehouse #14: Day of the Dragon King
Osborne, M. (1998). Magic treehouse #14: Day of the dragon king. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Reading Level: Low
Genre: Fiction
In this story the beloved characters, Jack and Annie, travel back to ancient China. While they are there, Jack and Annie discover that the Dragon King (an emperor) has ordered his soldiers to seize and burn all of the books throughout China, fearing they are a threat to his power. Jack and Annie take it into their own hands to stop the Dragon King and save the books from this horrible fate.
While this story has many fictional features, the characters do describe several authentic Chinese customs as well as artifacts and inventions. This book is an easy read (ideal for below grade level readers) and could serve as an introduction to a unit on ancient China. Due to the story’s format, this book invites readers/students to predict and question throughout the story, allowing them to practice their comprehension skills.

9. Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Ancient Egypt
Cole, J. (2001). Ms. Frizzle’s adventures: Ancient Egypt. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
Reading Level: Average
Genre: Fiction
During summer break, Ms. Frizzle takes a vacation to Egypt. While there, she and her fellow flight passengers, travel back in time to experience life in ancient Egypt.
With Ms. Frizzle as their guide, readers experience and learn about a wide range of topics concerning ancient Egypt. For example, daily life, clothing, food, the social pyramid, and the importance of artifacts, inventions, and rituals. All of this information is embedded into the theme for this text set.

10. DK Eyewitness Books: Ancient China
Cotterell, A. (2005). Ancient China. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc.
Reading Level: High
Genre: Nonfiction
This text describes the history of China from 221 B.C to A.D Subjects such as rulers, geography, social structure, teachings of Confucius, government, and inventions are thoroughly discussed in this book.
This nonfiction text is ideal for above grade level readers, but excerpts from this text could certainly be presented and discussed in a whole group setting. This text relates to the theme of this text set by enlightening students about the ancient Chinese culture and not only describing, but also explaining the origin of the customs and traditions that are still practiced today.

11. National Geographic Kids Everything Ancient Egypt
Boyer, C. (2012). Everything ancient Egypt. Washington, DC: National Geographic.
Reading Level: High
Genre: Nonfiction
This text provides students with information about ancient Egypt including, the pyramids, Pharaohs, the afterlife, mummies, and some other fun facts about ancient Egyptian culture. There is also a section including interactive learning activities – a resource every teacher should have in their toolkit.
This text goes into great detail about ancient Egyptian’s reliance on the pyramids as well as their afterlife beliefs and processes. By reading this book, students develop an understanding of the burial process and see how their beliefs and inventions contributed to their customs and culture.

12. Ancient China Class Play
Russell, S. (2009). Ancient China class play. m/byupartnership/media/pdf/Ancient%20Chi na%20Assembly.pdf.
Reading Level: All levels
Genre: Play/skit
In this play the twelve zodiac animals become characters to help students understand what was important in ancient China. The zodiac animals visit with a farmer, an inventor, Confucius, the first emperor, the Terracotta Army, and a silk worker, seeking their valuable insight.
This play allows students to see the social structure within ancient China and exposes them to customs and inventions valued during the time period.

13. Poem - Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
We are the Ancient Egyptians You really have to admire us. We built the mighty pyramids, And we invented papyrus. About three thousand years ago We were the world's top nation. We'll tell you a bit about ourselves For your appreciation.
Hieroglyphics This is Egyptian writing, It's called a hieroglyphic. We write with pretty pictures, Isn't that terrific?
The Pyramids We made the giant pyramids Triangle shaped, not square. If you go to Egypt now You can still find them there.
Gods Egyptians worshipped many gods, Like Ra, god of the sun. Horus and Monthu, Anubis, Seth, Shu, And the king of the gods, Amun.
Pharaohs Our kings were known as "Pharaohs", There were many through the years. We'll tell you about the most famous ones Starting in the next verse.
(2014). Ancient Egypt for kids. kids.com/ancient-egypt-for- kids.html#.
Reading Level: All levels
Genre: Poem
This poem describes ancient Egyptian writing, inventions, architecture, beliefs, and rulers. This poem is fun, but provides a lot of information as well.
With the help of this poem, students can easily understand and remember the inventions and customs the ancient Egyptians created and followed.
Hatshepsut There was a lady pharaoh. Which, at the time, seemed weird. To make herself seem manly, She stuck on a fake beard. Tutankhamun One of the most famous Was Pharaoh Tutankhamun. He could have been a great king but He died too young, too soon.
Cleopatra When Cleopatra was the queen She picked a fight with Rome. It brought on the end of her reign And it does the same to this poem

14. Nonlinguistic Pieces
Silk
Papyrus
Rice
Amulets

15. Silk
Silk cloth originated in ancient China and was extremely valuable to the Chinese. Wearing silk reflected social class, as only members of the royal family and nobles were allowed to dress themselves in it. Not only was silk popular in the Chinese culture, but also grew in popularity across other countries. China traded silk with these countries and it became a prized export. The ancient Chinese greatly depended on silk to maintain their livelihood; no matter the social class, everyone benefited from this invention.

16. Papyrus “A Gift of the Nile”
Papyrus is a thin paper-like material made from the papyrus plant. It originated in ancient Egypt and Egyptians heavily relied on it to aid in the construction of almost everything they needed. Not only was papyrus used as a writing material, but also to build boats, rope, baskets, and clothing, making it a valuable resource and invention in Egypt.

17. Rice
China was built on agriculture, and much of its land was appropriate for growing rice. Originally rice was just a part of the ancient Chinese’s diet, but later influenced the Chinese economy and culture. Rice became a prepared food used for different purposes, and acted as a key ingredient in many traditional dishes cooked for Chinese festivities. Rice, whether growing or eating it, was depended on as a part of everyday life in ancient China.

18. Amulets
Amulets played an important role in ancient Egyptian beliefs and customs, as they believed these stones possessed a form of protection. They were often carried, worn as a necklace, bracelet, arm band, or ring throughout life and buried with the dead to accompany them in the afterlife. Some believed the more amulets a person was buried with, the more protection he or she would have in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians ensured the dead would be buried with objects such as amulets to provide that protection.

19. Bibliography for Pictures
Historical/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=stranger+on+the+silk+road
Snyder/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=the+egypt+game
World/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=life+in+ancient+china+peoples
World/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=life+in+ancient+egypt+peoples
paper/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=day+of+the+dragon+king
Egypt/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=ms+frizzles+egypt
China/dp/ /ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-5&keywords=dk+eyewitness+china
Egypt/dp/ X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1&keywords=Everything+ancient+egypt
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