#4068. Traditions in your City and Community

Social Studies, level: Elementary
Posted Mon Dec 17 16:36:12 PST 2007 by Paula Smith-Turner (ak2922@wayne.edu).
Wayne State University, Detroit, United States

LESSON TOPIC: Cultural Awareness-Traditions in your City and Community

Content Area: Social Studies/Technology

Grade Level: 4-6

Length of lesson: 1-2 Days

Instructor: Paula Smith-Turner

Objective:
• Students will be able to locate and identify several traditions that exist within their own city and community.

• Students will share and compare their findings within their assigned group

Social Studies Benchmarks
• SOC.IV.1.EE.1-Locate information using people, books, audio/video recordings, photos, maps, graphs, and electronic technology.
• SOC.V.2.EE.2-Gather and analyze information in order to answer the question posed.
Michigan Educational Technology Standards
• MET5a.1-Students use web search engines and built in search functions and various resources to locate information.

Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on their journal entries and PowerPoint presentations.

Procedure:
• For the final lesson in this unit, the teacher will focus on cultural awareness in the city and community.
• Students must go on a scavenger hunt around their city and/or within their community preferably using a Cell Phone w/camera, Digital camera/Camcorder taking photos or video recordings of some common traditions. They should record all findings in their journal if no camera is available.
• Students must interview at least one person that is of a different nationality finding out about their cultural background and traditions. This information should also be written in their journal.
• Each assigned group is responsible for gathering and compiling their information and using Inspiration K-12 to create a story web and short PowerPoint presentation for the class

Accommodations/Adaptations:
For students who are learning challenged/disabled and are unable to do the outside scavenger hunt with assistance they will use the internet and locate at least 2 culturally diverse aspects in their community and list 2 common traditions.
Materials:
Digital Camera/Camcorder (if available)
Cell Phone with a camera
Journal
Computer with Internet access, Inspiration K-12, and PowerPoint
Pencils/Pen
Paper

Concept Vocabulary:
Community
City
Tradition
Culture