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Sungnyemun Gate

The Sungnyemun gate is designated as the first national treasure of South Korea. Students will explore its history and collaborate to create a replica using recycled materials.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Heavy Paper
  • Recycled Cardboard
  • Recycled Cardboard Box

Steps

  • Step 1

    Sungnyemun is the official name of one of the Eight Gates in the Fortress Wall of Seoul, South Korea. "Sungnyemun" means "honoring propriety gate" in Korean. It is also commonly referred to as Namdaemun ("South Great Door"). Have students learn about its history, which dates back to the 14th century and is designated as the first "National Treasure of South Korea." What is it made of? What was it originally used for? What was the Battle of Namdaemun?

  • Step 2

    Have students work in small groups and collaboratively create a replica of Sungnyemun. They can use a recycled box as the gate's base. The wooden structure that sits atop the base can be made out of corrugated cardboard. Other embellishments can be created using Model Magic and paper cut-outs.

  • Step 3

    Have each group present their model structure and describe some of the facts they learned about the gate and about Seoul, South Korea.

Standards

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

VA: Identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and places.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

SS: Explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns.

SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.

SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.

SS: Demonstrate an ability to use correctly vocabulary associated with time such as past, present, future, and long ago; read and construct simple timelines; identify examples of change; and recognize examples of cause and effect relationships.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

Adaptations

Possible classroom resources include: Korean Children's Favorite Stories by Kim So-un; The Green Frogs: A Korean Folktale by Yumi Heo; All About Korea: Stories, Songs, Crafts and More by Ann Martin Bowler; K is for Korea by Hyechong Cheung

Invite a community member who has lived in Korea to visit with the class and share his experiences in the country, with its people, and language. Prior to the meeting, students compose questions for the guest. After the meeting, students post learning to a class blog.

Students collaborate in small groups to sketch a map of North and South Korea. Identify the capitals cities of each country, draw and label all significant landforms. Identify major manufacturing in the countries and include information about the climate in each Korean country.

Encourage students to investigate similarities and differences between North and South Korea. Consider their landforms, governments, economy, and culture. How do the flags of each country reflect its people?

What language is spoken in North Korea? South Korea? Use resources such as the Internet to learn significant sight words in Korean. On 5" x 8" note cards, students write an English term, the same work in Korean, and create an illustration to assist classmates with remembering the word. Use Crayola Colored Pencils for these illustrations. Post these terms on a classroom bulletin board.