The Silk Road: Han China and Rome Trade Across Asia

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Social Studies · World History
SP-WORLDH-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
The Silk Road: Han China and Rome Trade
Across Asia
Social Studies · World History · Grades 9-10 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). Write the six city names from the order task on
the board if you like (optional).
Technology
None.
Student
independence
Medium-high. Students work alone, then compare the route-order task with a partner.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet
Goal for today: Students will explain how the Silk Road network moved goods and ideas between East Asia, Central
Asia, South Asia and the Mediterranean by completing vocabulary, route-order and trade-direction tasks.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ No map is required. The route-order task gives a clue for each city.
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk. All answers come from the reading or the clues on the page.
☐ Optional: write “EAST” on the left of the board and “WEST” on the right so students can picture the direction.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today in world history you will read about the Silk Road, a huge trading network that connected China,
Central Asia, India, and the Roman world about two thousand years ago. You will match some vocabulary, put cities in
order from east to west, and decide what traveled which way. Read carefully, because the answers are in the passage.

SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · World History
SP-WORLDH-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance the way the school requires. Hand out the
worksheet.
Settle in and take out a pencil.
5–15
Tell students to read the passage silently. Say, “Underline
every place name and circle every good that traveled.”
Read the passage and mark place names
and goods.
15–22
Tell students to complete the vocabulary match (questions
1–5). Walk the room.
Match each word to its meaning.
22–33
Tell students to do the route-order table (number the cities
1–6 from the farthest east) and the goods table. Partners
may compare quietly.
Number the cities and fill in the goods table
using the passage and clues.
33–44
Tell students to answer questions 6–8 (multiple choice) and
then questions 9–10 in full sentences.
Answer the multiple-choice and
short-answer questions.
44–50
Read the vocabulary and multiple-choice answers aloud
from the key if time allows. Then collect all worksheets and
stack them for the teacher.
Check answers, then hand in the
worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If students say they do not know where the cities are, tell them each clue in the table gives the answer; the
order runs from China in the east toward the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
• If students argue about whether Rome and China ever met, explain that the passage says goods moved
through many middlemen, so the two empires traded without meeting directly.
• If students finish early, direct them to the early finisher list.
• If a student asks you for outside facts, tell them to use only the passage; this task is about reading carefully.
Early finishers
• Imagine you are a merchant who sells silk at an oasis town. Write three sentences explaining why your price
is higher than the price at the start of the route.
• Make up a one-day packing list for a camel caravan crossing a desert and explain why each item matters.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students work with a partner and complete only questions 1–8; they may skip the goods table.
• Challenge: Ask students to write one paragraph explaining how the Silk Road may have helped spread ideas
as well as goods, using Buddhism as the main example.

SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · World History
SP-WORLDH-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 4
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: