The Silk Road

We're studying Marco Polo this week, and in the process we are learning about the Silk Road. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has an excellent website with all kinds of images (some of mummies, fyi) for kids to see. Quite interesting!

Michael Burgan's Marco Polo is a great read for grammar level students, and an 1845 copy of The Travels of Marco Polo is free on Google books for upper level readers who want to explore more of his travels.

These Shishi lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese imperial palaces from the time of the Han Dynasty, and they would have been a familiar sight for Marco Polo in his travels. They always come in pairs, male and female, and are carved from stone or molded from bronze. The male has his paw on the world, and the female has a cub on her back. We are going to carve simplified versions from soap this week.

We will also be making their fried dough twists and some "silk" flags with block printing for an art project.