Image: Rock of the Falling Flowers

Before Tree-ear journeyed to the King's Court, Crane-man suggested that he visit the "Rock of the Falling Flowers" in Puyo. This place, Crane-man said, was of great significance because it honors and applauds the loyalty and courage of the King's women. It was said that during the T'ang Chinese invasion, the King's army were away at war, and, by the time the King found out the T'ang Chinese were present, the army could not have arrived in time.

The King's women and a few guards were present and they protected the King until the end of their death at the cliff. The rock is named the "Rock of the Falling Flowers" because of the assorted colored silk dresses worn by the women who jumped into the air.
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This is a wonderful image to show students before reading a chapter in this book; it acts as a way for teachers to gauge and access what his/her students, even ELLs, may already know. On page 138 of Balancing Reading & Language Learning, Cappellini states "by tapping into their prior knowledge and language base rather than preteaching vocabulary, children can make their own connections which will help them while reading." Therefore, when students are given the opportunity to draw from their own background knowledge, it creates a learning bridge that develops a stronger bases for purposeful and interest in reading--especially with this image, because it contains such a richness of imagery that students can all engage and participate in.

Character Web

Based on the text, "What's after assessment?" by Kathleen Strickland a Comprehension strategy for post-reading can include activities that recall content, encourage reader response, and are extensions of the text.

The activity above is a character web, where students are instructed to give detailed information about each character and show their relationship to one another by using a web design.

An additional activity to recall content and utilize the information in this character web, would be to do a quilt exercise. Students would be instructed to research two of the provided questions based on the reading. Once they were comfortable with the answers they gave for their questions they would continue around the room filling in the rest of the questions by trading with other students.

The process of creating a celedon piece

Stage 1 A terracotta pot is thrown on a wheel. The pot is allowed to dry somewhat, becoming leather hard. Using either a metal or bamboo stylus, the artist cuts out various designs into the surface of the pot, leaving depressions. Sometimes a hand-carved wooden stamp is used.

Stage 2 Colored clays are inlaid into the depressions. Usually white clay is first inlaid, then green (looks black) and finally red, if these colors are used. Between each inlay, the pot is re-centered on the wheel and smoothed with sand. After the pot hardens again, the next details are cut and filled, until the pot is done. Some pots are done with an overlay instead of inlay

Stage 3 Once all the inlays and or overlays are done, the pot is allowed to dry fully which can takes several months depending on the weather. It is then fired. A large percentage of pots are lost in this initial firing (a tiny air bubble will cause the pot to explode in the kiln).

Finished Vase After the first firing, the glaze is added and the pot is re-fired at a higher temperature. This firing, done in a reduced atmosphere environment is what gives celadon its unique color and crackle glaze. In actuality there are many steps in making a celadon vase. To understand the process better, click here.

Example of Celadon Pottery