The project aims to immerse kindergarten students in exploring cultural traditions through interactive and collaborative activities. By creating a 'Celebration Quilt' and participating in a 'Cultural Parade,' students will gain firsthand experience in understanding and appreciating the diversity of family celebrations and historical changes. Through the essential question, "How do different families celebrate special occasions, and what can we learn from their traditions?" students will foster critical thinking, creativity, and effective communication, encouraging them to reflect on their learning and engage with peers and community partners meaningfully.
Learning goals
Students will investigate how different families celebrate special occasions, gaining insights into cultural diversity and historical changes. Through art projects and collaborative activities, they will enhance critical thinking and communication skills, while understanding the importance of sequencing events in historical contexts. Engaging with community partners and participating in exhibitions will further enrich their learning experience.
Standards
[Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.3 - Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
Competencies
Productive Collaborator - Engages with others to achieve a common goal through building positive relationships, actively listening, showing empathy, and making individual contributions to a larger group.
Critical Thinker - Thinks deeply and makes informed decisions to create solutions or new understanding supported by relevant and reliable evidence.
Empowered Learner - Demonstrates mastery and application of academic competencies. Develops the skills and dispositions to persist through difficulties and plan for a future of self-improvement.
Creative Contributer - Interprets experiences, imagines and plays with new possibilities with curiosity, and creates approaches that are novel, useful, and valued by the world around them.
Effective Communicator - Engages diverse audiences respectfully by exchanging ideas and information responsibly, listening actively, speaking and writing clearly, and using print and digital media appropriately.
Products
Students will create a 'Celebration Quilt,' with each student designing a fabric square that showcases symbols and images of their family or cultural traditions. Additionally, students will develop concept maps and visual presentations that illustrate the evolution of celebrations, emphasizing the sequence of events. These projects will culminate in a reflection gallery, where students display their quilt squares, concept maps, and visual presentations, allowing them to share and reflect on the diversity of family experiences and historical changes.
Launch
To kick off the learning experience, organize a vibrant 'Cultural Parade' where kindergarten students create simple costumes or props representing different historical periods or cultural celebrations. This parade will allow students to actively engage with and discuss the diversity of traditions, sparking curiosity and excitement for the unit ahead. Through this immersive experience, students will begin to explore how different families celebrate special occasions and what can be learned from their traditions, setting the stage for deeper learning and collaboration.
Exhibition
Students will partner with older reading buddies to share their 'Celebration Quilt' and visual presentations. Each student will explain the symbols and images on their quilt square, narrating the stories behind their family or cultural traditions, and discuss how these traditions have evolved over time. The reading buddies will engage with the kindergarteners, asking questions and exchanging ideas, fostering a deeper understanding of cultural diversity and historical changes in celebrations.
