NCDPI – AIG Instructional Resource: Background Information
Resource Title: Appreciating Culture in our Community
Subject Area/Grade Level (s): Social Studies/2
Time Frame: 3-4 hours
Common Core/Essential Standard Addressed:
2.C.1 Understand how various cultures influence communities.
2.C.1.1 Explain how artistic expressions of diverse cultures contribute to the community (stories, art, music, food, etc.).
Additional Standards Addressed:
3.RI.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the
high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
3.W.6 With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and
collaborate with others.
Brief Description of Lesson/Task/Activity: After the whole class has learned about different cultures in the community through books and
internet articles, higher level students will work collaboratively in groups to research and gather more detailed information about different
cultures within their own community. They will create a PowerPoint or Prezi and present it to the class.
Type of Differentiation for AIGs (include all that apply):
Adaptations for AIGs:
Content
x Process
Enrichment
x Extension
x Acceleration
x Product
Explanation of How Resource is Appropriate for AIGs: This task is appropriate for higher-level students because while they continue to work
with the Essential Standard for this grade level, they will also use third grade objectives for writing and research. They will use the internet and
books and conduct interviews to complete a PowerPoint or Prezi and present it to the class about cultures that influence their community.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project
Needed Resources/Materials:
Below are books which may be helpful:
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Mexican Cantina by Shenanchie O'Toole
•
Chinese Culture, Western Culture by Tai P Ng,
•
Wah Won Ng M. Eng B. Asc (With)
•
Native American Culture by Kathleen Kuiper
•
Latino Food Culture by Zilkia Janer
The teacher may want to invite members of the community from the cultures that her students will research, so students may conduct
interviews with people of these cultures to gain more information for their presentations.
Sources:
•
Rubric was created in: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
TEACHER NOTES: The teacher should find books related to different cultures that exist in the community in which the school resides.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project
NCDPI AIG Curriculum Resource Outline
STAGE ONE: ENGAGE
Follow this link: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/culture-places/ and look in the different categories to see life (festivals, celebrations
and foods) in different parts of the world. Ask students to compare/contrast what they see with our culture and with the other different cultures they
view. Before showing video clips to the students, please watch them first to make sure they are appropriate and worthy of your time spent on them.
Ask students what they ate last night. If students say they have eaten Chinese, Indian, Mexican, or Italian food, talk about the different parts of
the world that these foods came from and discuss how the foods are different and so are their activities, celebrations, languages, and holidays.
Discuss how America has become a mix of different cultures and that is why we eat these foods and celebrate the way we do.
Questions to engage students in the lesson:
•
Do you always eat cheeseburgers and fried chicken or does your family sometimes eat at an Italian restaurant? Chinese restaurant?
Mexican restaurant? Indian food?
•
Have you ever been to a festival in town or somewhere else (Greek festival, Latino festival, etc.)? What did you see? Eat? Do? Did you
learn new things about the culture? (new foods, dress, celebrations, art, etc.)
•
Why is it important to learn about different cultures? What can it teach you about people? Celebrations? Foods? Beliefs? Traditions?
•
The teacher will read books to students to get them thinking about the following:
•
How different cultures in the community influence available foods/cuisine
•
How different cultures bring art into the community (visual arts, dance, storytelling)
•
How different cultures speak different languages (even if different cultures speak the same language, perhaps English, they may still
have different expressions they use, colloquialisms, dialects, and accents)
STAGE TWO: ELABORATE
After the whole class has learned about different cultures in the United States, has begun to discuss cultures in their own community and how
the varying cultures have influenced their community’s food, arts, and entertainment, and has explored books and internet articles, the higherlevel students will be asked to begin a project. Higher-level students will work on researching the different cultures in their community.
The students will be placed in pairs or groups of 3 to collaboratively work on researching one particular culture in their community. Each group of
students will be assigned or given the opportunity to choose one particular culture found within their community to research. The groups will
research the culture (food, arts, stories, entertainment, dance, music, language, dress) and how the culture has influenced their community. (In
addition to using the internet and books, if the teacher wishes to invite community members of the cultures that students are researching, students
may interview these people to enhance their research for their presentations). The students will then create a PowerPoint presentation or a Prezi
online to have a visual display of pictures, videos, and information as the students present the particular culture to the class. Other students in the
class can make books about all that they learn about the different cultures and how they have had an influence on their community.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project
Guiding questions for students to consider as they research (these could be listed on a chart)
Thinking about your particular group of people (ethnic group or culture), what do you know about the following:
Food? Celebrations? Holidays? Religions? Dance? Music? Language? Dress? Arts? Entertainment? Beliefs?
How has this group of people influenced our American society? Have we adopted any of their customs, music, dress, foods, etc.?
Are there any prevalent ideas/feelings/myths about this group of people that you thought were true but you found out were not true?
Do these people feel welcomed into our society or do they feel that people don’t understand them or make fun of them?
After students have finished presenting to the class, the teacher should lead a discussion about the following:
How different cultures may do the following differently than we are accustomed to doing them…dress, talk, eat, celebrate, worship, etc.
Talk about how observing people doing things differently makes them feel (strange, upset, interested, happy, curious, or angry?).
Talk about prejudice and how people judge people based on their outside appearance. Talk about how learning about new cultures can make
our lives richer and more enjoyable. Talk about how as the Pilgrims and others migrated to America that early Americans adopted customs,
foods, celebrations, religions, dress, etc. from all the different groups. Discuss how America is actually an amalgamation of many different
cultures and that is what makes it so interesting to live here.
STAGE THREE: EVALUATE
The teacher will assess students by using the attachment (rubric) for PowerPoint/Prezi and the actual verbal presentation. This could be an
assessment for each group of students for their PowerPoint/Prezi; however, in the verbal presentation part of the rubric, students could be
individually scored on their individual rubrics.
TEACHER NOTES: The teacher can tweak the rubric if she wishes to do so.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction
AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project