Teachers Guide

http://herbergercollege.asu.edu/artswork/arts/students/holidays/

The Holidays Through the Arts units are designed to introduce the children to several different cultures that are a part of our national communities: Chinese, Mexican and African. We've also included a link to a section in the Theatre Book to help students do a Christmas tableau, but there is no text about the holiday. The arts are integrated into the units so the students have time to learn about the arts. In addition, the arts serve as a way to make the work active and interesting.

Unit Content

The Introduction is but two paragraphs. It introduces the idea that holidays are community affairs that can be religious or political. They reflect the history and culture of those who celebrate them.

If you choose to do additional exploration of political and religious holidays, there is a link to Cinco de Mayo http://www.zianet.com/cjcox/edutech4learning/cinco.html, an excellent WebQuest unit. Click on "Teachers Notes" for the lesson plan and Student Rubric for the assessment ideas. We mention Chanukah and Ramadan as examples of religious holidays. We searched the web for appropriate sites for the students, but didn't find what we could accept. The materials were either loaded with advertising, or were written by religious groups and seemed difficult to include in a public school curriculum. But the idea of helping students know about the many different groups in our society is certainly worthwhile. Sites that you might use for information to share with the students are: "Happy Chanukah http://www.holidays.net/chanukah/ and "Islmic Holidays and Observances" at http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/MSA/events/Ramadan.html and Islamic art at http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/Islamic.htm

Each unit has:

• Text about each holiday that includes:
1. Who celebrates the holiday and where they live; maps are included for children to realize that the holiday reflects cultures from countries other than the United States
2. When it is celebrated
3. What it is about, including some background information about the culture
4. Links to other sites that have additional information

• Links to a dictionary created for chosen words in the texts

• "My Vocabulary," a section created for the students to develop their personal dictionaries. For each holiday the vocabulary words are listed and linked to the dictionary.

1. There is space for the students to type in up to four words they would like to learn.
2. After each word chosen there is a space for the students to type in the definition of the word.
3. There is also space for the children to type a sentence using the word.

• Arts activities with instructions about how to do the activity. The student activities demand creativity and the development of knowledge and skill in the art form. Chinese New Year has a calligraphy exercise and pageant; Dias de los Muertos, a dance and puppet show; Kwanzaa, a dance and a craft project.

• A final quiz that asks five to ten questions about the holiday and the general principles of the art activity

• Time for each unit , approximately 4 to 6 half-hour periods.

Usually our teachers use one to two periods to read the text, and one to three periods for the arts activities.

Your Role

• Reading the text. The text is written at the third or fourth grade level. The Kwanzaa material is a bit more difficult. Your better readers should be able to manage on their own, but many students will benefit from having the material read aloud. In our field testing, the teachers usually projected the text on the large screen in the computer lab or their classroom and had students read the material aloud, or they read it to them.

As the material is read it will benefit student comprehension if you help them think about:

1. The difference between religious and social/political holidays the role of the family in the holiday
2. The basic values central to the holiday
3. The traditional activities connected with the holiday
4. How this holiday is similar to and different from the holidays they celebrate with their family. For instance relate Chinese New Year to Christmas and the western New Year, Kwanzaa to Christmas, Dias de los Muertos to Chinese New Year when ancestors are remembered.

• The Vocabulary Words and "My Vocabulary." The students should be encouraged to look up the words that are linked to the dictionary, although many words have the meaning written in the text immediately following their first use. It would be good to encourage the students to use the new words as they discuss the lesson or as they write in class.
  The "My Vocabulary" activity was a particular favorite of one of our teachers who strongly felt that developing vocabulary was essential to reading comprehension. She printed the worksheets, had each student fill them out and keep them in a vocabulary folder. Another teacher had the class choose words to learn. The chosen words were written, with the definition, on tag board and posted in a corner of the classroom.

• Final quiz . If you have the capability of having a computer station for each student, they may enjoy doing the quiz individually. We'd suggest you print a copy with their answers so you can read them. This should help the students feel accountable for what they've learned.
  Printing the test and having each student complete it manually is also possible. This will require your correcting the test. This would then give you an opportunity to discuss the material once more with the students.

• Doing the arts activities. Instructions are written so that the students should be able to do the activities with little help, but ideally you will help the students gather materials and proceed through the process of creating a parade, a skeleton dance and, a puppet show, or the gestural dance for Kwanzaa. Here are our suggestions for your role in helping the students do their creative best.

1. Chinese New Year - Parade with dragon costume
2. Dias de los Muertos - Puppet Show
3. Kwanzaa - Dance

The National Standards that may be met

1. Social Studies
   1. Civics
      1. Understands the importance of Americans sharing and supporting certain values and beliefs
         1. Understands how Americans are united by the values, principles, and beliefs they share rather than by ethnicity, race, religion, class, language, gender, or national origin ( students analyze similarities in values promoted by the several different holidays)
         2. Know how the values and principles of American democracy can be promoted through respecting the rights of others (e.g., being open to opposing views, not invading others' privacy, not discriminating unfairly against others) (respecting the religious, social and cultural practices of others)
   2. History
      1. The students understand the cultures and historical developments of selected societies in such places as Africa, the Americas and Asia
         1. Explain the customs related to important holidays and ceremonies in various countries in the past. (Assess the importance of ideas and beliefs in history
   3. Culture
      1. Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity. . . Culture helps us to understand ourselves as both individuals and members of various groups. Human cultures exhibit both similarities and differences. We all, for example, have systems of beliefs, knowledge, values, and traditions. Each system also is unique. In a democratic and multicultural society, students need to understand multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points. This understanding will allow them to relate to people in our nation and throughout the world.
2. English Language Arts
   1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world. . .
   2. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning. . .
   3. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g. libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
   4. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g. for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
3. The Arts
   1. Dance
      1. Identifying and demonstrating movement elements and skills in performing dance a. Accurately demonstrate nonlocomotor/axial movements (such as bend, twist, stretch, swing)
         1. Accurately demonstrate basic locomotor movements (such as walk, run, hop, jump, leap, gallop, slide, and skip), traveling forward, backward, sideward, diagonally, and turning.
         2. Demonstrate accuracy in moving to a musical beat and responding to changes in tempo
         3. Demonstrate kinesthetic awareness, concentration, and focus in performing movement skills.
         4. Demonstrate the ability to define and maintain personal space
         5. Attentively observe and accurately describe the action (such as skip, gallop) and movement elements (such as levels, directions) in a brief movement study
      2. Understanding choreographic principles, processes, and structures
         1. Improvise, create, and perform dances based on their own ideas and concepts from other sources
         2. Create a dance phrase, accurately repeat it, and then vary it (making changes in the time, space, and/or force/energy
         3. Demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and with a partner
   2. Drama/Theatre
      1. Script writing by planning and recording improvisations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature and history
         1. Collaborate to select interrelated characters, environments, and situations for classroom dramatizations
         2. Improvise dialogue to tell stories
      2. Acting by assuming roles and interacting in improvisations
         1. Use variations of locomotor and nonlocomotor movement . . . for different characters
         2. Assume roles that exhibit concentration and contribute to the action of classroom dramatizations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history
      3. Directing by planning classroom dramatizations
         1. Collaboratively plan and prepare improvisations and demonstrate various ways of staging classroom dramatizations
      4. Analyzing and explaining personal preferences and constructing meanings from classroom dramatizations
         1. Articulate emotional responses to and explain personal preferences about the whole as well as the parts of dramatic performances
         2. Analyze classroom dramatizations and, using appropriate terminology, constructively suggest alternative ideas for dramatizing roles, arranging environments, and developing situations along with means of improving the collaborative processes of planning, playing responding, and evaluating