Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
Ohio Standards
Connection:
People in Societies
Benchmark B
Identify ways that different
cultures within the United
States and the world have
shaped our national
heritage.
Indicator 2
Identify different cultures
through the study of
holidays, customs and
traditions utilizing
language, stories, folktales,
music and the arts.
Lesson Summary:
During this lesson, the students will explore the traditions
and rich cultural experiences of many African-Americans
through the study of Kwanzaa. They will be exposed to the
seven principles of Kwanzaa, which contribute to building
and reinforcing family, community and culture. Students
will also learn how many families in the United States use
stories, music and togetherness to instill cultural pride.
Guest speakers, literature and videos are also among the
resources suggested to enhance student learning. This
lesson can be adapted for any culture studied.
Estimated Duration: Six to eight hours
Commentary:
This lesson will take approximately eight days (30 to 60
minutes per day) to complete. Each day will consist of the
study of one principle of Kwanzaa. Throughout the year, as
students study other cultures, help students make
connections, comparisons and broader generalizations with
information learned about other holidays such as how
holidays bring families together, the involvement of food,
lights/candles, music, folktales/stories and gift-giving.
Some preparation for this lesson is necessary since guest
speakers, videos, learning centers and children’s literature
are suggested. The public library, historical societies,
cultural organizations, museums and other community
resources are helpful in finding the suggested resources for
this lesson. Also, be aware of, and sensitive to, the fact that
some children or their parents may not wish to participate in
lessons on holidays due to varying customs or convictions.
The teacher will need to address this indicator with those
children in a different manner. Therefore, it is a good idea
to send a note home ahead of time letting families know
what is to be studied and the manner in which it will be
studied. Be sure to emphasize that studying holiday
celebrations is one of many ways the students will be
studying various cultures. The emphasis of these lessons is
on how the holiday celebrations are a reflection of each
culture being studied. A note home is also a good way to
solicit volunteer participation in the classroom, build
support and extend classroom learning.
1
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
Pre-Assessment:
 Tell the students that the class will be studying a holiday called “Kwanzaa.” Spell the
word and sound it out for the students and have them repeat it. Ask the students if they
have heard of Kwanzaa and what they think it is. Do any of the students celebrate
Kwanzaa?
 Begin a K-W-L chart with the class. On top of a piece of chart paper, write a K. Ask the
students what they know about Kwanzaa. Record what they say on the chart.
 On another sheet of chart paper, write a W. Ask the students what they want to learn
about Kwanzaa. Write their answers on the paper.
 On a third sheet of paper, write an L. Explain to the students that they will be learning
many things about Kwanzaa and, after the lesson, they will list what they have learned on
this chart paper.
Scoring Guidelines:
At this grade level, the pre-assessment is meant to help the teacher identify what background
knowledge the children have and to guide instruction.
Post-Assessment:
 Give the students a piece of paper to draw a picture depicting something related to at least
one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa (i.e. a symbol, a scene related to one of the
principles). Have the students also dictate a sentence explaining their drawing. The
papers will be bound into a book.
 Use a yes/no checklist to state whether or not each student is able to use/explain at least
one of the seven principles/symbols of Kwanzaa. You might also want to have a
“Comments” space on the checklist to write a description of the student’s
drawing/dictation. An example of a possible checklist is shown below.
Child’s
Name/Date
Yes
No
Comments
Instructional Procedures:
Day One: Guest Speaker
1. Invite someone who celebrates Kwanzaa to speak to the class about how he/she
celebrates Kwanzaa and to show the class some of the seven symbols of Kwanzaa (i.e.,
kinara, Mkeka, corn, etc.).
a. Allow time for the students to share their own Kwanzaa experiences and/or ask
2
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
questions.
b. If a speaker is unavailable, show the class a video of a family celebrating Kwanzaa.
2. Tell the students that today they will be making an “mkeka” (em-kay-kah), which is a
mat. The mkeka is the foundation upon which the other symbols of Kwanzaa rest.
a. With the students sitting at tables, give each child a piece of black paper, which has
been folded longways and has slits cut into the fold two inches apart.
b. At each table, place one-inch strips of red and green paper.
c. Show the students how to weave the strips in and out of the slots to make a mat.
Instructional Tip:
This weaving activity provides an opportunity to increase students’ fine motor skills. Many
students may need help with alternating the paper strips over and under the slots.
3. Give each student a piece of fruit and an ear of corn to be placed on top of their
completed mkeka.
a. Explain that the mkeka is the foundation upon which all of the other symbols are
placed.
b. Tell them that corn is very important in the celebration of Kwanzaa. Families display
one ear of corn for each child in the family. The corn is called “muhindi” (moo-hindee).
c. Provide time for students to talk about and share the number of muhindi needed to
represent the number of children in their family.
d. Have the students repeat the word “muhindi” as they hold up their corn.
e. Tell the class that fruit, called “mazao”, symbolizes sharing.
f. Discuss how food is associated with other holidays.
4. Ask the students what they have learned and write their answers under the L on the
K-W-L chart.
Day Two: Umojah (oo-moh-jah)
5. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
6. Tell the students that Kwanzaa is an American holiday inspired by African traditions. The
term Kwanzaa means “first fruits of the harvest.” Kwanzaa is celebrated from December
26 through January 1, which corresponds with the days of African harvest festivals, when
the new planting season is celebrated. Ask students to name another holiday which
celebrates the harvest.
7. Tell the students that there are seven principles of Kwanzaa and seven symbols. Explain
that the class will study one principle of Kwanzaa each day. The symbols will be studied
throughout the lesson. The first principle is Umojah, which means unity.
8. Say the word “Umojah” for the children and have them repeat it.
a. Tell them that Umojah means unity. On the first day of Kwanzaa, families practice
unity by gathering together at home and talking about Kwanzaa.
b. Explain to the students that some families may read a story together, like the one read
3
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
in class.
9. Bring out a kinara (kee-nah-rah) to show the class. Tell the students that the kinara is a
candle holder, which stands for the families’ ancestors. Ancestors are people who lived
long ago.
10. Place a black candle in the middle of the kinara. Tell the children that this is the first
candle to be lit and it stays lit throughout Kwanzaa, although no candles will be lit in
school for safety reasons. The candle is black to show the richness of black skin.
11. Have the students sit at tables and give each student a chunk of clay.
12. Encourage the children to mold the clay into eight little candle holders, which can be
lined up and glued together to make a kinara. Allow the kinaras to dry overnight.
13. To bring closure to the day’s activities, bring the class together to discuss what was
learned about Kwanzaa.
a. Record student’s responses under the L on the K-W-L chart.
b. Invite individual students to draw or paint pictures to illustrate their understanding.
Add the illustrations to the L chart. Two or three illustrations may be added to the
chart at the conclusion of each day.
c. Ask students to think of other holidays that use lights or candles.
Instructional Tip:
Before sharing a story about Kwanzaa each day, use the K-W-L chart to revisit knowledge
gained as a result of the previous day’s activities and discussions. Support students as they
describe the experiences – sequencing events and new words/vocabulary learned. The chart’s
text and students’ illustrations will provide visual clues to support their recall.
Day Three: Kuji Chagulia (Koo-gee-cha-goo-lee-yah)
14. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
15. Tell the students that the second principle of Kwanzaa is Kuji Chagulia, which means
“self-determination.” On this day, families learn traditions that help them define who they
are. One African tradition is playing drums and gourds.
16. Have some African drums and dried gourds for the students to play rhythms. Play a CD
with African drums for the children to listen to and play along with. Ask students to think
of other holidays that are celebrated with music.
17. After the students have explored the music and are settled, add a red candle to the left of
the black candle in the kinaras.
a. Tell the children that the red candles represent the struggles we sometimes
experience.
b. Allow time for students to talk about struggles children and families may experience
(e.g., getting along with brothers and sisters). Ask students to recall ideas from
children’s literature shared. Create a list of the students’ responses.
18. To bring closure to the day’s activities, ask the students what they learned about
Kwanzaa. Add their answers to the L section of the K-W-L chart and invite two or three
students to illustrate with pictures or drawings.
4
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
Day Four: Ujima (oo-gee-mah)
19. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
20. Explain to the children that today you will be talking about Ujima, which means working
together. On this day, the family works together to get a chore done. This can be cleaning
the house, etc.
21. As a class, talk about chores that can be done together, such as tidying up the classroom.
a. Make a list of the ideas generated and ask the students to vote on a chore that the
class could complete together.
b. Have the class work together to complete the chosen task.
22. When the task is complete, add a green candle to the right of the black candle in each of
the students’ kinaras. Explain to the class that green symbolizes looking to the future.
23. To bring closure to the day’s activities, ask the students what they learned about
Kwanzaa. Add their answers to the L section of the K-W-L chart and ask two or three
students to illustrate.
Day Five: Ujamaa (oo-jah-mah)
24. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
25. Tell the students that today you will be talking about ujamaa, which means “cooperative
economics.”
26. Explain to the class that families who celebrate Kwanzaa save up coins all year to buy a
family gift, such as a clock, telephone, etc.
27. Engage the students in a conversation about what their family would buy for a family
gift.
a. Ask the students to go to tables to draw what they think their family should buy.
b. Encourage the students to use inventive spelling to label what they would buy or to
dictate their idea to an adult.
c. Have students think of other holidays when gifts are given.
28. Provide time for students to share their drawings and writings and to talk about why the
family gift was chosen.
29. Following the class sharing, add another red candle to the left of the first red candle on
the kinaras.
30. To bring closure to the day’s activities, ask the students what they have learned about
Kwanzaa and add their answers under the L on the K-W-L chart. Invite two or three
students to provide illustrations to the responses on the chart.
Day Six: Nia (nee-yah)
31. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
32. Tell the students that today you will be talking about nia, which means purpose in life.
This is a time when people think about their goals. One goal for students to think about is
what they want to do when they grow up.
a. Ask the students what they want to be when they grow up.
b. After taking a few responses, ask them to go to tables to draw or paint a picture of
5
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
what they want to be when they grow up.
c. Encourage them to write or dictate words to go with their picture.
33. Allow time for each child to share their picture and writing with the class.
34. Following the class sharing, add another green candle to the kinara on the right of the
first green candle.
35. To bring closure to the day’s activities, ask the students what they have learned today and
add it to the L section of the K-W-L chart. Invite two or three students to illustrate
responses on the chart.
Day Seven: Kuumba (koo-oom-bah)
36. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
37. Tell the class that today you will be discussing kuumba, which means creativity.
38. Explain to the students that on this day, people express themselves in many different
ways: through stories from Africa, dancing, planting seeds, reading poetry, etc.
39. Share an African folk tale with the students or have a guest speaker come to the
classroom to tell a story about Africa. If the story lends itself, encourage the students to
take turns acting out the story.
40. Following the story-telling, add the last red candle to the kinaras.
41. To bring closure to the day’s activities, ask the students what they have learned. Write
their answers under the L section of the K-W-L chart and invite students to provide
drawings or pictures to illustrate.
Instructional Tip:
Provide opportunities for students to express themselves daily through dancing to African
music, drawing or painting pictures and/or writing stories about Kwanzaa.
Day Eight: Imani (ee-mah-nee)
42. Read a children’s book about Kwanzaa to the class.
43. Tell the students that today you will talk about Imani, which means faith.
44. Explain to the class that on this day, people think about trust: trust in themselves, their
teachers, and their families. Discuss what trust is and what it means to be trustworthy.
45. Tell the students that Imani is the last day of Kwanzaa and is the day of a big feast, called
Karamu (kah-rah-moo). Everyone works together to prepare the feast.
46. Prepare a dish together. Based on traditional ingredients for Kwanzaa recipes (using rice
and vegetables from the harvest), have the students pick a recipe and prepare a dish for a
class feast.
47. As the class enjoys the meal, show the students the kikombe cha umoja (unity cup). Tell
the children that during the feast, the cup is used to symbolize staying together.
48. After the meal, tell the class that another tradition of Kwanzaa is the giving of gifts,
called ziwadi (zah-wah-dee). Usually, these gifts are to tell the children about their
heritage.
49. Have a wrapped gift that has been purchased for the class (the game mancala, for
example). Unwrap the gift, explaining that it is a class gift.
6
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
a. Engage the children in a conversation about the class gift, its use and how it will
serve as a reminder of what the class has learned about Kwanzaa.
b. Provide opportunities for individual students to talk about a Kwanzaa gift they may
have received.
50. To bring closure to the Kwanzaa experience, ask the students what they have learned for
the day. Write their answers under the L section of the K-W-L chart and invite students to
provide drawings or pictures to illustrate.
a. Share with the class all of the responses and illustrations on the K-W-L chart.
b. Focus their attention on what they knew, what they wanted to know, and what they
have learned as a result of their study about Kwanzaa.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs to help all learners either meet the
intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the
specified indicator(s).
 Have the teacher and other adults available to help those who need it.
 For those children who cannot yet read, use picture directions at all centers.
 Have an adult or peer buddy take dictation.
 For children who are working beyond the indicator, read stories to them about a holiday
other than those studied by the class. Have the children draw pictures of what they have
learned about that holiday to share with the class.
Extensions:
 Have the class present information they have learned to their families and/or the school
through the sharing of stories, artwork and the class book.
 Have a bulletin board or another place in the classroom for students to share their own
family traditions in the form of artifacts, drawings, photos, etc.
 Encourage children to dictate a story about their family traditions.
 Ask children to invite family members to come to school to share their holiday traditions
and cultures with the class.
Homework Options and Home Connections:
 Have the children take home books that have been read in class and are included in takehome backpacks. These backpacks can have activities for the children to do at home to
learn more about holidays or to reinforce something learned in class.
 Have the children share their own family’s holiday traditions. Have them draw a picture
illustrating the tradition and dictate the explanation to a family member, then bring it to
class to share.
7
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
Interdisciplinary Connections:
 Reading Process
Benchmark C: Draw conclusions from information in the text.
Indicator 7: Recall information from a story by sequencing pictures and events.
Benchmark E: Demonstrate comprehension by responding to questions (e.g., literal,
informational and evaluative).
Indicator 8: Answer literal questions to demonstrate comprehension of orally read
grade-appropriate texts.
Benchmark F: Apply and adjust self-monitoring strategies to assess understanding of
text.
Indicator 9: Monitor comprehension of orally read texts by asking and answering
questions.
 Reading Applications: Informational Text
Benchmark A: Use text features and structures to organize content, draw conclusions
and build text knowledge.
Indicator 1: Use pictures and illustrations to aid comprehension.
Benchmark C: Identify the central ideas and supporting details of informational text.
Indicator 3: Tell the main idea of a selection that has been read aloud.
Benchmark E: Evaluate two- and three-step directions for proper sequencing and
completeness.
Indicator 5: Follow simple directions.
 Writing Applications
Benchmark C: Write friendly letters and invitations complete with date, salutation,
body, closing and signature.
Indicator 4: Dictate or write informal writings for various purposes.
 Research
Benchmark A: Generate questions for investigation and gather information from a
variety of sources.
Indicator 1: Ask questions about a topic being studied or an area of interest.
Indicator 2: Use books or observations to gather information, with teacher assistance, to
explain a topic or unit of study.
Benchmark B: Retell important details and findings.
Indicator 3: Recall information about a topic, with teacher assistance.
 Communication
Benchmark A: Use active listening strategies to identify the main idea and to gain
information from oral presentation.
Indicator 1: Listen attentively to speakers, stories, poems and songs.
8
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of
its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does
not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main
page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information
required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes
over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related
to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the teacher: Chart paper, markers, guest speakers, videos, books for the children and
teacher to research holidays, symbols of Kwanzaa, children’s books about
Kwanzaa, cooking materials, recipes, CD player, CD with African music,
utensils for cooking, ingredients, paper, glue, markers and other chosen art
supplies.
For the students: Markers, books for the children to research holidays, paper, glue, markers
and other chosen art supplies.
Vocabulary:
 Kwanzaa
 trust
 trustworthy
 creativity
 harvest
 self-determination
 cooperation
 economics
 purpose
 faith
Technology Connections:
 Use video or audio clips about Kwanzaa.
 Make digital pictures of activities. Discuss each slide as a review.
ResearchConnections:
Blachowicz, Camille and Donna Ogle. Reading Comprehension: Strategies for Independent
Learners. New York: Guilford Publications, 2001.
Ogle, Donna. “K-W-L: A Teaching Model that Develops Active Reading of Expository
Text.” Reading Teacher, (1986) 40, 564-570.
9
Winter Celebrations as a Reflection of Culture –
Grade Kindergarten
Students apply higher-order thinking strategies which help them apply their prior
knowledge, construct meaning from what they learn and help them monitor their
progress toward their goals.
General Tips:
 Vocabulary words will vary based on the resources used in the classroom (i.e., children’s
books, nonfiction sources).
 Make sure your class revisits the chart made during the pre-assessment as necessary. Also
make sure that children understand that some, but not all, African-Americans celebrate
Kwanzaa.
 Research shows that children have established biases by age six. Teaching children about
different cultures can help prevent biases, as well as address misconceptions early enough
to help reverse or eliminate stereotyping.
 This lesson’s format may be used in the study of other cultures/holidays. Throughout the
lesson and study of other cultures, help students make connections and broader
generalizations to other holidays that involve:
o Food and/or harvests (e.g., Thanksgiving);
o Lights and/or candles (e.g., Hanukah);
o Music;
o Gifts;
o Stories;
o Family/community.
10