Year 5 Bachelor of Education

Grades 1/2 Unit Plan: Cultural Traditions Around the World

December 2015
Jasmine Hodgins, Martina Mazzei, Nard Lee
STAGE 1: a) Big Ideas, Rationale & Essential Questions
Big Ideas (from
Rationale /
Essential Questions
Draft Curricula)
Relevance
Open-ended and
Identify a Big Idea WHY is this unit of
thought-provoking
from at least 3
importance to your
questions that link the
different curricular students learning?
curricular areas and
areas.
engage students.
ELA:Everyone has
a unique story.
Art: People create
art to express who
they are as
individuals and
community.
SST: Healthy
communities
recognize
and respect the
diversity of
individuals and
care for the local
environment.
Math: Analyzing
data and chance
help us to
compare and
interpret:
Concrete graphs
show one-to-one
correspondence.
STAGE 1: b) What
unit
CORE
Competencies
Choose from at
least one of the

As the winter season

is approaching,
students are starting
to think about the
winter celebrations
they will take part in.
The lessons in this
unit are intended to
deliver new
information and
ideas about the
traditions and
celebrations of other
countries around the
world. We hope to
have a focus on the
unique stories of our
students, and the
stories of others
around the world.

How do our celebrations

impact our lives and our
culture? (Food)
In what ways do other
cultures around the world
celebrate holidays?
What can we learn about
our cultural values from
using graphs?
How do celebrations and
traditions influence the
art of a culture?

students will be learning goals for the

Curricular
Competencies
Students will be able
to:

Content
Students will know and
understand:
(state in your own words)

three CORE
competencies.
Create an I
statement that
links to a facet of
your chosen
competency.

At least one from

each curricular area.

Positive
Personal and
Cultural
Identity: I
understand that
my identity is
made up of many
interconnected
aspects (such as
life experiences,
family history,
heritage, peer
groups).

ELA: Exchange
ideas and
perspectives to build
shared
understanding
Art: Reflect on
creative processes
and make
connections to other
experiences.
SST: Explore
different
perspectives on
people, places,
issues, and events in
their lives.
Math: Connect
mathematical
concepts to each
other and make
mathematical
connections to the
real world

Students will know and

understand that cultures
around the world
celebrate holidays
differently. They will
learn the various ways
other cultures and
communities celebrate
winter holidays. The
students will also be able
to make connections to
how their own family
celebrates winter
holidays compared to
people around the world.

STAGE 2: Assessment Evidence - Acceptable, authentic

evidence demonstrating achievement of learning goals

What evidence will I gather, reflect on and record?

How will I guide the self-assessment, goal setting and reflection?

Rich Culminating Task:

(summative)
Description of authentic
activities or products that
allow students to
demonstrate the desired
understandings that
culminate in rich evidence

Other Evidence:
(formative)
Through what other evidence will
students demonstrate achievement of
the desired results as they move
towards the culminating task (s)?
( draft products, observations,
conversationswrite/say/do)

of learning.
( ie poster, showcase,
presentation, video, skit,
essay, project)
Task 1: Where would you
like to travel? Map pinning
Task 2: Cultural Food
Sharing and Celebration

How will students reflect upon and self

assess their learning?

class discussion

Students will have ongoing passport that will

assess their learning
throughout the unit. The
passport will include 5
different countries from 5
continents. Students will
learn how each country
celebrates their winter
holiday and what they
traditionally eat around
the holidays.
STAGE 3: Learning Plan
What learning experiences will you design to allow students to
engage with the content and develop their skills in the
competencies? What sequence will best develop the learning?
Describe appropriate learning that helps ALL learners
acquire knowledge and skills
make meaning
transfer learning
Learning Intention
Activity
I can share one place where my
General World Geography
family is from.
Introduction using laptop and
projector to show continents.
Where are you from? map
pinning.
I can list 3 things I know about
L.A: Europe- famous sites- hook.
Italy.
Italian and English vocabulary.
Introduce Italian greetings.
European celebrations. Start
passports- fill in Italy page.
I can describe how our class
graph works.

Math: Graphing sites students

would most want to visit in
Europe. Students vote on which
site they would want to visit out

of:
The Colosseum
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Stonehenge
London Bridge
Eiffel Tower (Check with Lynn if
this is okay to include)
I can list 3 things I know about
Brazil.

South American celebrations,

mini art project. Study Brazil. Fill
in Brazil page in passport.

I can describe and play cultural

games from South America.

P.E Lesson:
Chile: Corre, Corre la Guaracawarm up game, similar to duck
duck goose. Pre-teach language
in class.
Brazil: Luta de Galo- split
students into partners, students
are opponents. Each student has
ribbon or handkerchief hanging
out of the back of their pants.
The goal is to try to get your
partner's ribbon. Students can
only use one hand and stand on
one foot.

I can describe how Australians

celebrate winter holidays.

Discussion on how many

Australians celebrate winter
holidays. Read, Christmas in
Australia
Fill in Austrailia page for
passport.
Discussion on how many
Mexicans celebrate winter
holidays. Students will break a
piata as a class and then fill in
their Mexican page for their
passport.

I can describe how Mexicans

celebrate winter holidays.

I can write about my favourite

winter activity.

Students will share their

favourite winter activities as a
calss and we will act out a few of
them. (Building a snowman,
playing hockey, sledding, ect.)
Students will then complete a

I can participate and perform the

Mexican cultural dance we are
learning.
I can graph my favorite holiday
treat and describe how the graph
works.

I can describe various ways how

Koreans celebrate winter holidays.

I can construct a repeating

pattern through craft art.

writing activity where they will

explain which winter activity is
their favorite and they will draw
a picture as well.
PE Lesson:
Students will learn the dance La
Raspa which is a traditional
Mexican dance.
Math Lesson:
Students will vote on their
favourite holiday treat and a
tally chart will be made based on
the information the students
provide. Students will then fill in
their own graph with the
information from the tally chart.
Students will explore what
Koreans do, wear, and eat in the
celebration of New Year.
Explain the meaning of Dragon
in China and the association of
winter holiday. Students will
make a repeating pattern by
building a paper-chain dragon
using different colors.

I can demonstrate how to play

Korean Hopscotch.
I can describe how my family
celebrates the winter holiday.

I can pin point where I would like

to go in the world.

I can identify and explore a

variety of foods around the world
and appreciate each culture.

Briefly review through all the

different celebrations around the
world and ask students to draw
and write how they celebrate the
winter holiday at home.
Students will where they would
like to go on the map of Bulletin
Board.
Students are encouraged to
bring a dish of their choice from
their culture. Students will have

the opportunity to taste foods

from different culture.
RICH CULMINATING TASK
Students will include their own Christmas traditions on the last page
of the passport. After exploring different cultural celebrations around
the world, students will be asked to pin a place where they would like
to go on the map of Bulletin Board.