Lesson Plan Creating Culture Treasure Boxes: The Inside Goals/Objectives: SWBAT identify at least three elements of their

ir family culture SWBAT collect and create artifacts and representations of those important elements of their culture SWBAT write a two sentence description of at least three elements of their family culture Standards: PDE State Standards History o 8.2.1.C Identify holiday and cultural celebrations in a community and why they are celebrated o 8.4.1.A Explain why cultures celebrate o 8.4.1.C Identify holidays and ceremonies of selected world cultures NCSS Standards o Thematic standards Culture and Cultural Diversity; People, Places and Environments SDP Scope and Sequence 3rd Quarter Social Studies Competencies o Students will understand the important of beliefs and traditions in families; describe how holidays and celebrations preserve family culture; understand the diverse backgrounds of Americans; discuss how people share their customs and traditions Materials and Preparations: ** Many of the tasks in this lesson will require knowledge and/or assignments completed earlier in the unit. ** Covered shoe box for each student Markers, crayons, colored pencils, construction paper, various other art supplies Scissors, glue, tape Templates/sentence starters for two sentence descriptions (see attached) Interview papers from beginning of the unit Collection of artifacts students have brought in throughout the unit Sample Culture Treasure Box Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues: Classroom Arrangement o A whole group discussion will take place on the carpet This arrangement was selected for the beginning of the lesson to that the students can see sample work, receive all directions and ask any questions they have about the task as a whole before being sent off to do individual work A whole group discussion also gives me the opportunity to emphasize/ reemphasize key points and to check that students are clear on directions (by calling on students who I know typically ask What do I do? a minute after being released) so that they can be most productive during their short time

Students will return to their tables to begin independent work on the inside of their Culture Treasure Box Working in small groups of six at tables will allow students to share the necessary materials and use each other as resources if they are struggling and/or have questions Small group arrangements during work time will also make it easier for me to differentiate instruction/work more closely with students who need extra support The art materials and templates/sentence starters will be set out at each table before the lesson begins The students collections of artifacts (if applicable) will be available on the carpet after whole group discussion for them to pick up as needed Interview papers will be in students purple folders in their desks and can be accessed as needed Management Issues o Students may get easily distracted and/or lose focus during whole group discussion times Wait for all students eyes and ears before continuing Move students away from distractions and/or closer to the teacher o Students being disrespectful during whole group discussion times (i.e. talking out of turn, talking when others are talking) Remind students of expectations for discussion before beginning lesson Ask students who are sharing to wait for everyones attention before beginning and/or continuing to talk Require students to return to their desk if they are not able to behave appropriately o Students may have trouble sharing materials during independent work time Remind students of expectations for sharing materials and working together during whole group discussion Have enough materials out that every student can be working with something at all times Encourage students to ask their peers if they can use materials when they are finished o Students losing focus and/or not doing their work during independent work time Proximity circulate throughout room and redirect students as needed Move students to other work areas (i.e. small table in the hall, carpet) Remind students that this is all the time they get to work on the inside of their Culture Treasure Boxes

Plan: ** This lesson will be one part of the first grades special rotation on Friday in which each class rotates among the three first grade teachers to engage in an activity. All of the lessons on this particular Friday will relate to completing the students Culture Treasure Boxes. In the other two rooms, students will decorate the outside of their boxes and ______ (making a person and labeling it with adjectives that describe personality, qualities, etc.) ** The Hook (10 minutes)

o Introduction to the assignment We have been talking and learning about culture and the unique family cultures in our classroom a lot this past week. You have collected information about your own family culture by interviewing your families and we have also learned about some of the cultures that are represented in our classroom through the fairy tales and other books weve been reading. Today, you will have a chance to work on your Culture Treasure Box, which is a way for you to share what makes you you with others. Your Culture Treasure Box will represent both you as an individual and your family culture. Brief discussion about some of the important elements of culture we have been discussing o Directions for independent work time During our time together, you will be working on the inside of your culture box. We will be filling our boxes with any artifacts from our family culture that weve brought in we will be making our own representations of important elements of our culture. After that, you will be writing about at least three of your important cultural elements so that youre ready to share with the class next week at our multicultural celebration. Show sample Culture Treasure Box, and show and explain each component independently Artifacts that were brought it will be on the carpet and should be picked up and put in boxes first Everyone must create at least one of their own representations (using the art materials available) Everyone must write at least three, two-sentence description of important cultural elements you can choose to write your own description or you can use the templates and sentence starters provided o Reminder that this is all of the designated class time they will get to work on the art-related parts of the Culture Treasure Box there will be some time next week during writing workshop to finish the two sentence descriptions, but not much o Time for questions/comments The Body (35 minutes) o Independent work time! Throughout this time, I will be walking around and observing students as work as well as helping those students who are struggling with the task (see Anticipating Student Responses) I will engage students in conversation about what cultural elements they have chosen by posing some of the following questions: It looks that ____ (picture, artifact, representation, etc.) is showing some kind of celebration. What are you celebrating and what are some of the things you do as part of that celebration? I dont think Im familiar with that ____. Can you tell me a little bit about it?

 Wow, Im not sure I know what that word means, can you tell me? Assessment: Formal o Completion of at least one self-created representation of an important cultural element Is the representation clear (i.e. can an outsider determine what it is)? Does the representation reflect some aspect of the students culture? Did the student take their time and do a complete and thorough job? o Incorporation of at least two other representations and/or artifacts of important cultural elements Do the artifacts and/or representations reflect some aspect of the students culture? o Completion of at least three two-sentence descriptions of important cultural elements Does the description identify what the element is? Does the description give some additional detail about the element or further explanation of what it is? Is the description clear? Do students use what they know about punctuation and spelling to write a quality piece of writing based on first grade standards and expectations? Informal o Participation in classroom discussion about elements of culture Do students remember the elements of culture we have been discussing and identifying in the literature we are reading? o Conversations during independent work time about elements that are going into the Culture Treasure Box Is the student able to articulate what each element is and how it is an important element of his/her family culture? Anticipating Student Responses: If students are unable to recall the elements of culture we have discussed on their own, we will refer back to the Cultural Elements chart we have been using to keep track of the cultural details we have learned from various Cinderella stories If students struggle to come up with elements from their family culture to include in their box: o I will first remind them to look back at their interview paper on which they recorded information about their culture that they learned from conversations with family members o If students continue to struggle, I will guide them in thinking about holidays and other celebrations they participate in, special foods their family eats, special clothes their family wears, etc. If students have a difficult time thinking about how to create a representation of their cultural element, we will first look back at the sample box and I will discuss the process I went through when creating my representation

o If a student continues to struggle, we will discuss what images come to mind when the child thinks about that cultural element and possibly look up images online that may help guide him/her Accommodations: For students who find the material too challenging o See Anticipating Student Responses above o For ELL student Student will dictate two-sentence description to me, helping me to spell words that I know he knows, and then copy the description on his own o If a family has not been supportive and/or helpful in providing a student with information and/or providing artifacts to use, I will work with that student more intensively, using many of the guiding questions above to help him/her think about his/her family culture. Furthermore, that student will only be required to have at least two representations and two-sentence descriptions. For student who need greater challenge and/or finish early o Students who finish early will be encouraged to write about all of the elements they included in their box o Students who need a greater challenge will be encouraged to write a poem about one of the items in their box