Maggie s. Activity Pack! The Nomad s Home. Daybreak on the Steppe. The Land of Nomads

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Jayson Wood
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Maggie s Activity Pack! Name Date The Nomad s Home Daybreak on the Steppe The hot sun rises on the grasslands of Central Asia. It lights up the bright orange door of a herder s home.

1 Maggie s Activity Pack! Name Date The Nomad s Home Daybreak on the Steppe The hot sun rises on the grasslands of Central Asia. It lights up the bright orange door of a herder s home. This home is called a ger. The herder has hundreds of sheep near this round home. These animals wake up and eat the short grass. Horses and camels are near the ger, too. Soon they will be loaded with the ger. The herder s family and animals will move. This has happened for thousands of years in Mongolia. This is the Central Asian Steppe. It is a land of dry grass and rolling hills. The steppe has been home to nomadic people for thousands of years. Mongolia is a country between Russia and China. It is in the heart of the Asian Steppe. It can be a harsh land. The summers are hot and dry. The winters are very cold and windy. But, the people have survive on their land. The Land of Nomads Mongolia has mountains, deserts, and the great grass plain called the steppe. The steppe has few trees. It is an ocean of grass. This grass feeds wild and domestic animals. There is no private land outside of the cities. You will not see any fences. That is because animals must roam freely. This is the way of life on the steppe.

2 The grassy steppe is shared by many animals. Wildlife, such as Mongolian gazelle and red deer, roam on the steppe. Nomads keep animals like cattle, yak, sheep, goats, horses, and camels. There is little rain. The grass can only feed the herds for part of the year. When the herd has eaten all the grass in an area, it is time for the herder to move. For thousands of years, nomads have moved with their herds. They move across the steppe to new pastures. The animals provide meat, milk, wool, skins, and everything else needed for the nomad. The life of the nomad is very different from a farmer. Farmers own land. They grow crops. The crops feed people and animals. Farmers need to work the same land year after year. Because of the weather and lack of water, farming can not be done on the steppe. Instead, nomads graze their herds until the grass is eaten. Then they must move to new pastures. This nomadic way of life has been around for thousands of years. It is still alive today. Today more than 30% of Mongolian families are nomadic herders. Many parts of the nomad s life have changed. Now some people use trucks and electricity. But, there is one thing that has not changed. That is the nomad s house, the ger. The Ger (or Yurt): A Nomad s Special Home Many people know the word, yurt. Yurt is a Russian name for a nomad s house. The Mongolians call their house, a ger. Ger or yurt it s the perfect house for nomadic people. In fact, the ger hasn t changed much since That s when Genghis Khan ruled this area! The reason a ger is such a good home is because the people can just move it across the steppe. They just put it on the back of animals like camels and horses. It is also useful because it can withstand the weather on the steppe. It is comfortable in hot and cold temperatures. It keeps out the strong winds of the steppe.

A ger may look like just a round tent. But it is carefully put together with wood, felt, and canvas. What if you were to put together a ger? What would you need? What would you do?

3 A ger may look like just a round tent. But it is carefully put together with wood, felt, and canvas. What if you were to put together a ger? What would you need? What would you do? The first thing you need is a khana! Don t worry this is just the Mongolian word for frame. The frame looks like the lattice you find in a garden. It has a criss-cross pattern of wooden strips. These are joined at each cross by a tie. This criss-cross pattern lets the frame collapse. It also lets it expand. A piece of frame that is 12 feet wide folds to less than 2 feet. This makes for easy packing! This is important when you need to move your home many times each year. You know a ger is round. How do these wood frames form a circle? Usually 3, 4, or 5, frames are tied together to form this shape. Don t forget the door! You must put in a door frame before the circle is closed. Now that you have the frame, what do you cover your ger with? Remember those sheep? You have lots of wool. Your ger will be covered with felt. This is made from that wool. Today most gers also have an outer canvas cover, too. Every ger needs a roof. Think of an umbrella with two poles instead of one. This is what a ger s roof looks like. There is a center ring called a tuune. This ring is like a wheel. The spokes of the wheel are smaller poles. They come out from the tuune. A large piece of felt is put over the small poles. But wait, what about smoke from the fire? There is a hole in the roof for the smoke to rise out of the ger.

4 Most people paint the wooden poles and tuune with bright colors. These poles are bright orange and yellow. The patterns are colorful designs. Today you might see a truck or car parked outside a ger. You may even see solar panels and small buildings by a ger. Many things have changed in nomadic lives, but the ger has changed very little. Inside the Ger: Customs and Traditions Enter a ger and you are walking back in time. The ger is carefully placed in its new area. The door faces towards the sun, usually south. The men s side of the ger is to the left (west). The women s side is on the right (east). The back or north side is the most sacred area in the ger. This is where the altar is placed. Religious, family, and other important items are placed on the altar. It is impolite to sit in the ger with your back to the altar. Most people have two small cabinets that are painted orange with beautiful designs. The fire or stove is in the center of the ger. Mongolians burn either wood or dung from to heat the cold nights. The fire is sacred. Trash is never burned in the fire. Mongolians believe the ger is more than a home. It is a symbol of the universe. Sometimes western people build their own ger to be closer to nature. Mongolians have done this for centuries. Now the sun sets on the steppe. The sheep and goats have settled for the cold night. The horses and camels are tied. The Mongolian family has taken their places in their ger. The rhythm of life rests until the sun rises again.

5 Learning New Words You read many words that tell about Mongolia, the steppe, and gers. Look at each word below. Find it in the article. Reread the sentences around it. You can use the context to help you write a good meaning for each word. 1. ger - 2. steppe 3. nomads -

6 4. yurt - 5. khana - 6. tuune - Thinking About It You read about a way of life that is likely different from your own life. Think about the nomadic people of Mongolia. Answer each question. 1. Why are gers good places for Mongolian people to live? 2. How is the life of a farmer different from that of a nomad?

7 3. If you were setting up a ger, how would you do it? Using Your Social Studies Reading Skills Look at each paragraph in the article. Find the topic sentence (the sentence that contains the main idea). Underline each topic sentence.

8 Dear Colleague, My class has enjoyed studying about both Russia and Mongolia this year. In fact, we set up a ger right in our classroom. We used lattice work, lumber, and an old sail. The children made their own ger decorations and even researched and posted the rules of the ger. It was great fun and, of course, the class loved being without desks and sitting crosslegged inside this huge circular structure. Recently my husband returned from Mongolia with a real ger in tow! That s a picture of him standing in front of a ger in Mongolia. I guess next year s class will get to enjoy the real thing! I thought it would be fun to write about gers and show children the important social studies concept that there are many types of homes and ways of life around the world. The questions in Thinking About It will help your children to think carefully about these ideas. We all know the importance of integrating reading skills into the content areas. The Learning New Words and Using Your Social Studies Reading Skills activities will give your students needed practice with content reading skills. I have purposefully written this article for children to find topic sentences in each paragraph. There may be lots of discussion about this and the other activities. I encourage you to have partners or small groups compare answers and discuss reasons for writing specific definitions or why a certain sentence was underlined. Hmmm.do you have students you need to give summer work to? Give them a Maggie s Activity Packet! Kathy I have not included a specific answer sheet as some of these answers may vary. Goals: Students read an article about gers, the home of the nomads of Mongolia. They demonstrate their literal and critical comprehension skills by answering comprehension questions. Reading in the content area skills are also developed as students are to underline the topic sentence in each paragraph of the article. This activity is available on two levels, primary and intermediate. The activity correlates with the National Social Studies Standards: Culture and People, Places and Environment.

Maggie s. Activity Pack! The Nomad s Home. Daybreak on the Steppe. The Land of Nomads

Maggie s. Activity Pack! The Nomad s Home. Daybreak on the Steppe. The Land of Nomads Maggie s Activity Pack! Name Date The Nomad s Home Daybreak on the Steppe The hot sun rises on the vast, dry grasslands of Central Asia. It lights up the bright orange-colored door of a Mongolian herder