LESSON OVERVIEW

Lesson Topic: Learning about a Culture of Personal Interest

Unit Topic: Different Cultures
Subject/Grade Level: First- Third
Lesson Duration [can be longer than a single class period]: 2-3 class periods (Spread between 2-3 days)
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS | Factual, Debatable, & Provocative Questions
Essential Question(s) for Unit: Are all cultures the same? Are they Different? How?
Essential Question(s) for Lesson: Why do we need to learn about other cultures around the world?
OBJECTIVES
-SWBAT use
technology, books,
and people to
research about a
culture in a different
country
-SWBAT compare and
contrast his/her own
culture to cultures
found around the
world.
- SWBAT identify and
explain the
importance of having
knowledge of the
aspects in different
cultures

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE DEMANDS

Students will need to understand the
definition of a culture. They will need to
know the aspects of culture: tradition,
lifestyle, language, clothing, etc. Students
will apply this knowledge to find
examples of each to describe the culture
of other countries around the world.

STANDARDS
W.2.7
Participate in
shared research
and writing
projects.

RATIONALE
Students will be engaging in research during this lesson. This is a lifelong skill that
students are going to use throughout their lives in order to be successful citizens. It is
unrealistic for teachers to teach students everything they will ever need to know
before students graduate from school, teachers can start training students in skills
that they will need in order to continue learning after schooling and become effective
citizens. It is important for students to learn about cultures that are different from
their own and learn how to find similarities and differences between them because if
we are educated about the norms in a culture, then we are better able to interact with
people from various cultures respectfully.
ASSESSMENTS

Diagnostic
Assessments

Students will participate in a review

discussion about the aspects of a culture. The
teacher will take notes on how well students
are able define culture and identify the
aspects that contribute to each culture.

Formative
Assessments

Students will be monitored on their

researching skills during their independent
work time. Teachers will take notes on how
well students utilize their resources to gather
information about their culture of interest.
A class discussion around the importance of
learning about different cultures will give us
an idea if students are starting to understand
the importance of learning cultures,
especially different cultures.

Summative
Assessments

The research project will serve as the

summative assessment- this will allow us to
evaluate how well students understand the
elements of a different culture, their research
skills and how well students are able to
explain how different cultures are similar and
different.

DIFFERENTIATION
General Differentiations for grades 1-3
Students
Developmental Assets

This age group will range in a reading and writing

abilities. Some first graders might be just
beginning readers and writers, while third graders
may be very comfortable with their reading and
writing abilities, and many will fall somewhere in
between. Since students are participating in
researching a culture for this lesson, there will be
a range of resources available that students can
choose from. All students should be able to find
developmentally appropriate sources in order to
find the information they need about their culture
of interest. Students will have access to videos,
childrens books, other people, pictures, etc.

Students Prior
Knowledge

Students will know what a culture is and the

different elements that make up every culture.
They will understand how cultures influence the
way we live our lives each day. Students will have
learned this and have been assessed in previous
lessons from the unit. Students will have already
done a learning activity that requires them to
identify each element for our school community.
They have already engaged in classroom
discussions around each element and about why
cultures are important to our lives. The students
prior knowledge will be activated in the very
beginning of the lesson through a whole class
review discussion. An anchor chart with the
definition of culture and all its elements (and
images) will be hanging in our classroom as well.

Possible
Misconceptions

A possible misconception is that all cultures are

extremely different from one another, however
this is not always true. There are cultures around
the world that have similarities even though
cultures are different from one another. Students
will be asked to find similarities and differences
between their culture of research and a partners
culture of research.

Individual Learning
Needs

Possible individual learning needs that might be

present in a classroom could be reading and
writing difficulties, or language barriers. For these
needs we will be using many images, and videos in
the lesson to take the stress of reading off of
students. We will also make sure to label images
used, so students can practice matching the
vocabulary to the image.

LESSON CONTENT OUTLINE

Lesson Opening

The purpose of the lesson is to learn about different

cultures around the world. When we become more

knowledgeable about various cultures, it helps us to

understand how to treat people of that culture
respectfully. It also allows us to interpret how everyone
in the world is connected by similarities within cultures
and how to use the differences to work together.
The hook of the lesson will be a short video clip that
gives an introduction to different cultures around the
world.
After the video we will talk about how different
countries around the world all have their own cultures
that shape the way they live. We will ask students to
recall the different elements of a culture and revisit our
anchor chart for review. (10 minutes)
Learning
Activities

[Instructional strategies/learning tasks/sequence of

activities. What will the teacher do? What will students
do? How will you support diverse learners? How will you
use summative and/or formative assessments? How will
you push toward higher order thinking?]
The teacher will explain that each student will be
picking a country that interests them and will do a
research project to outline the elements of that specific
culture. The teacher during the first class period will
demonstrate how to use the internet, childrens books in
the classroom, and other people (pen pal) to research
about the culture if we were interested in learning about
Mexico. The teacher will use a graphic organizer to
draw pictures and write sentences about each element
of the Mexican Culture. Students will pick a country
they would like to research and will have time to pick
out a pen pal from the country, which they will email
from the country.
During the second-class period students will have the
opportunity to conduct their research and then create
their graphic organizers. Students will have access to
the classroom library, and the computer labs to conduct
their research. Students may write in sentences or draw
pictures that represent the culture of their country.
During the third class, students will pair up with

another student who researched a different culture.

They together will present their findings and then will
work together to create a venn-diagram that shows the
similarities and differences between the two cultures.
The two students will then pair up with another group
and present their findings. The group of four will have a
discussion about why they think it is important to learn
about other cultures and why looking at similarities and
differences is important.
Lesson Closing

The class will come together and participate in a whole

class discussion around how cultures are similar and
how they are different. Students will brainstorm ideas
about how these similarities and differences help our
world function either efficiently or not very well.
Students will share ideas around why it is important to
learn about other cultures around the world.

ASSIGNMENTS
[What individual assignments will students complete? How will you evaluate and
assess this work? This does not have to be homework!]
Students will create a graphic organizer from their cultural research to show an
example of each element of culture from that country. Students will be evaluated on
how well they are able to find examples that accurately describe each element of that
culture.
Students will create a venn-diagram that will compare and contrast two different
cultures. Students will be evaluated on how well they are able pick out things that are
similar between both cultures and things that are different between the two cultures.
MATERIALS/RESOURCES/TECHNOLOGY
[What materials/resources/technology are needed to support instructional
procedures? Include links, images, etc.]
http://kidworldcitizen.org/2011/11/11/pen-pal-programs/

https://youtu.be/hTxKv5n5M2Y
Books from classroom library.
http://www.timeforkids.com/around-the-world
https://kids.usa.gov/history/index.shtml
https://askatechteacher.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/20-great-research-websites-for-ki
ds/
http://www.ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkHLL_GxG68
Graphic organizers
Venn diagram

SELF-ASSESSMENT
Data and evidence that will support how successful the lesson include the graphic
organizer, Venn diagram and notes from discussions of related topics. If students are
able to provide appropriate examples of the elements of culture, find accurate
similarities/differences, and answer all essential questions we can conclude that the
lesson was successful.