Exploring the World Through the Holidays!
Every December, I strive to take students on a journey around the world to learn about as many different holidays as possible and different ways that different cultures around the world celebrate! I was fortunate enough to get a Donors Choose project funded to help with this unit teaching Holidays Around the World. This allowed my crew to get some great texts to help us learn more about each holiday and culture. I tried to select a variety of texts where students would see narratives as well as informational texts with photographs of celebrations.
Our completed Kinaras!
We are in the thick of the unit right now and have had a chance to discuss our own holiday traditions, learn about Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, as well as how Christmas is celebrated in South Africa and in Mexico. We have created our own Kinara to take home and explain how Kwanzaa is celebrated.
Hard at work on our Kinaras!
Learning about South Africa brings the knowledge of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and that because of where South Africa is located, they are experiencing summertime during Christmas. This ties in perfectly with our current English Language Arts Module on weather. We read a really great book called, Christmas from both worlds!: What kind of Christmas will it be for little Armani in South Africa without snow, presents, Christmas lights, and Santa? By Dineo Dowd about a girl, Amari, who loves snow and American Christmas celebrations who also has family in South Africa. One Christmas Amari and her family travel to visit with their family there and while the difference (and lack of snow) is hard for Amari at first, she has so much fun experiencing a BBQ for Christmas and a beach day!
Most recently, we also learned about Christmas in the Philippines and this provided a math connection for us. One of their decorations is called a Parol Lantern, which is the shape of a star. This star can be made of five triangles and a pentagon, so students had the chance to use their geometry skills in making this craft! Check out our Parol Star Lanterns which students were so excited to take home.
Our completed Parol Star Lanterns - do you see the triangles and pentagon?
The unit isn’t over yet, and as we get closer to the break, we will make sure to make a few more crafts and learn about a couple other places in the world and how they celebrate. I also have plans and books for learning about Ramadan and Eid when we get closer to the date of those celebrations. It is so important to expand students’ worlds and cultivate their empathy and understanding of how different cultures celebrate. I’m excited that I’ve been able to continue this tradition in my crew this year with enriching reading, math, science and social studies connections.