Stage 1
Human Society and Its Environment.
Unit: Celebrations
Foundation Statement
Students recount important family and community traditions and practices. They
sequence events in the past and changes in their lives, in their communities and in other
communities.
Students explore the composition of a number of groups, including Aboriginal peoples,
in their community and recognise that groups have specific identifying features,
customs, practices, symbols, religion, language and traditions. They acquire information
about their local community by direct and indirect experience and communicate with
others using various forms of electronic media.
Students make comparisons between natural, heritage and built features of the local
area and examine the human interaction with these features. They investigate the
relationship between people and environments including the relationship between
Aboriginal peoples and the land. Students use the language of location in relative terms
and construct and use pictorial maps and models of familiar areas.
Students identify roles, responsibilities and rules within the family, school and
community and explore their interaction. They describe how people and technologies
link to produce goods and services to satisfy needs and wants.
Overview: This unit provides opportunities for students to explore the customs and practices
associated with celebrations. The unit focuses on what celebrations mean to people, and the
similarities and differences in the ways people celebrate.
Outcomes and Indicators
CUS1.3
Identifies customs, practices, symbols,
languages and traditions of their family
and of other families.
 Designs interview questions to gather
first-hand information about several
different cultural and religious
celebrations.
 Gives information about their own family
background, including the languages
spoken, religions, traditions, practices,
customs, celebrations and stories.
CUS1.4
Describes the cultural, linguistic and religious
practices of their family, their community
and of other communities.
 Nominates people and places in the
community who could help them find
information about aspects of cultures.
 Identifies cultural, spiritual and/or religious
aspects of their family life.
 Recounts cultural, spiritual and/or religious
practices in their community.
 Communicates an understanding of how
families express their cultures through
customs, celebrations, practices, symbols and
traditions.
CCS1.1
Communicates the importance of past and
present people, days and events in their
life, in the lives of family and community
members and in other communities.
 Identifies the origins of significant days
and events celebrated by their family and
their community.
 Explains why a personal, family or
community event is significant.
Resources:
The Board’s website
(http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au) lists
current available resources such as some
selected
background information sheets, websites,
texts and other material to support this unit.
Pictures of celebrations.
Visitors who have had a recent celebration
to talk to the class and show video clips,
photographs or artefacts.
A selection of 4–6 celebrations that show a
wide range of cultural practices. Visitors to
talk to the class about each celebration,
using associated memorabilia and artefacts.
Links to other KLA’s:
English: The structure and grammatical
features of the text types students create and
interpret (see above).
Creative and Practical Arts: Opportunities to
appreciate the music, dance and visual arts
associated with celebrations and customs of
different cultures and to learn different
techniques for producing their own music, dance
and artwork.
Mathematics: Developing a picture graph to
represent the different events and special days
celebrated by students in the class.
Science and Technology: Using the design
process to develop products and events
associated with celebrations,
eg invitations, venue, organisation and program.
Learning Experiences
Week
1-2
Learning Sequence 1: Initiate the Learning
 Decorate the room for a party to celebrate the beginning of the term. This
should be organised after a recess or lunch break. Include balloons, streamers, a
cake and a small gift for each student, eg bookmark.
 Ask students how they knew that this was a party, whether they have been
to other parties, the purpose of the party, what happened and how they felt.
 Ask students about other celebrations that they may know of, where they
could find information about some of these and who they could contact.
 Introduce the unit, ‘Celebrations’: How and why do people celebrate special
days and events? Have students brainstorm and list their initial answers to this
question.
 Commence a calendar of celebrations involving class members, and a media
file for news clippings and photographs of celebrations in which the students,
their families and members of the community are involved.
Date
Weeks Learning Sequence 2: Celebrating Special Days and Events – What Makes a
Celebration?
3-4
Date
 Have students study pictures of common celebrations and annotate them
with the name of the special day or event, why they think it is celebrated, and
what people are doing. Have groups or pairs present their work.
 Display the pictures and annotations. Question the students to determine
common and differing elements of celebrations, eg clothing, food, music,
symbols, gifts, customs.
 Invite two visitors to talk to the students (separately) about a similar event
that they have celebrated recently (eg birthday or name day, anniversary,
wedding), showing slides, photographs or video clips of their event, playing some
of the music featured and talking about why they had the celebration, who came
and why, what people did, and how they felt.
 Ask the visitors to talk about how the customs and practices of the
particular celebration have changed over time. What changes have been made to
adapt to current circumstances?
 Complete the following retrieval chart after each visit:
Celeb Purpo When Speci Symb Music Food Cloth Gifts
ratio se
al
ols
ing
ns
behav
iour
 Have students, in groups, discuss and list the similarities and differences in
the two celebrations. Ask the groups to prepare and present their information to
the class.
 Have students investigate similar events that their family members have
attended — who went and why, what people did, wore and ate, and whether there
are any photographs. Ask the students to record the information on individual
retrieval charts. I
 Discuss ways in which the celebrations were similar in order for students to
generalise and complete the statement: ‘Celebrations usually have … (special
food, music, clothing, customs
Week
5-6
Learning Sequence 3: Special Days and Events Celebrated –
What Special Days and Events Do People Celebrate and Why?
Investigate four or five different types of celebrations of special days or
events, eg religious, cultural, national, community, family. Have students use
various sources, eg visitors and their memorabilia and artifacts and visual texts
(including electronic texts such as bookmarked or copied websites).
 Add information about each celebration to the retrieval chart.
 Discuss the types of special days/events on the chart and why people
celebrate these. Develop a list of major categories of celebrations and those
investigated under each category.
 Provide students with images of a variety of celebrations and ask them to
categorise these and add them to the display.

Date
Weeks Learning Sequence 4: Feelings About Special Days and Events –
How Do Special Days and Events Affect People?
7-8
 Have students interview a family member about celebrations of special days
and events in which the family participates. Students should also find out why
their family celebrates these days/events.
 Have students draw, on separate sheets of paper, images of different kinds
of celebrations that are important to them or their family and list the feelings
they have about each of these. In groups, have students share their information,
identifying whether all students celebrate the same days and/or events and
whether they have the same or different feelings about these days and/or
events.
 Develop a class picture graph of the results.
 Analyse the graph to highlight the diversity of celebrations that students
think are important and the variety of feelings that celebrations evoke.
 Ask students to recall the interviews with the visitors and family members
and to list the types of feelings that these people expressed about their
celebrations.
 Ask students whether they have negative feelings about any celebrations.
Date
Weeks Learning Sequence 5: Organising a Special Day or Event
9-10
 Organise for the students to design and hold a class celebration. Jointly
decide the purpose of the celebration, the symbols that will acknowledge this
purpose, special music that should be played and customs to be practised. Groups
could be given responsibilities for designing and preparing invitations,
decorations, food and entertainment.
Following the event, have students reflect on how they felt about the
celebration.
Date
Assessment:
Evaluation