The+Land+of+the+Rising+Sun


 * The Land of the Rising Sun **

Key Vocabulary gDoc

We started our unit off by answering the question of why Japan is called the Land of the Rising Sun. Our answers were very different. Some said because of the flag, and others said that because Japan gets the first sunrise of a new day. Others said it must have made the people living here feel very special because the sun was always so beautiful over the Pacific ocean.

Next, we designed our own map of Japan and then compared it to the real one.



Japan is made up of 4 main islands, and a lot of little islands. The mainland is called Honshu (本州). Japan is organized into 8 main regions, or chihou (地方) and 47 prefectures, or ken (県).



= ZOOM OUT!! =

Next we zoomed out of our look at Japan and looked at Maps. We examined a map and made a list of the main parts on it. Here is what we came up with:
 * Arctic Circle **
 * Antarctic Circle **
 * Equador **
 * Capital City **
 * Compass **
 * Key (legend) **
 * Borders **
 * Lines of Latitude and Longitude **
 * Degrees of Latitude and Longitude **
 * Distance Key **
 * Names **
 * Tropic of Cancer **
 * Tropic of Capricorn **
 * Sea Level **



Then, we made our own imaginary (and incredibly silly) maps using everything we found in the real maps.


 * Note: Child humor alert (some of these maps are only funny if you are 10-12 years old!!) **




 * Landforms of Japan **

Next, we investigated the major landforms of Japan. We got a list of landforms, and we had to go online and research what the landform was, write a definition for it, and then drop a pin on a joint google Map:

[]

We then made posters persuading people to visit a famous landform in Japan.



This was our final project of the unit. We prepared a presentation of a region using only photos. We also learned how to give proper credit to the artist who took the picture and to only use images that are Creative Commons licensed.
 * 10 Pictures **