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BUILDING BRIDGES:Learning from International

Friendship:Arlington and Teosinte

Social Studies and ELA Grade 4 Thematic Unit

Arlington Public Schools

Revised 2015AnitaCristina Calcaterra

APS Grade 4 Thematic UnitBuilding Bridges: Arlington and Teosinte

IntroductionThis unit was developed from a 2008-2009 Arlington Education Enrichment Fund (AEEF) grant entitled Learning from International Friendship: Bringing Teosinte to Our Schools.

This curriculum brings the Arlington volunteer organization, Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project (ATSCP), and the Arlington Public School (APS) curriculum together in a

Grade 4 thematic unit. ATSCP has been an integral part of the town since 1988 working with the common understanding of the importance of education for both towns. Arlington’s long standing friendship with Teosinte is an educational treasure available to all.

StandardsMassachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum FrameworksIdentify and locate on a map:Anguilla (U.K.), Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba (Neth.), Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda (U.K.), British Virgin Islands (U.K.), Canada, Cayman Islands (U.K.), Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greenland (Den.), Grenada, Guadeloupe (Fr.), Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique (Fr.), Mexico, Montserrat (U.K.), Netherlands Antilles (Neth.), Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico (U.S.), St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St.-Pierre and Miquelon (Fr.), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (U.K.), United States, Virgin Islands (U.S.)Optional Standards for Central America and the Caribbean Islands4.27 On a map of North and South America, locate the Isthmus of Panama which divides North from South America. Use a map key to locate islands, countries, and major cities of Central America and the Caribbean Islands. (G, E)4.28 Describe the climate and major natural resources of Central America and the Caribbean Islands and explain their relationship to the economy of those regions. (G, E)Common Core: English Language Arts StandardsComprehension and Collaboration: Literacy SL4.2, Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Literacy SL 4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Literacy SL 4.5 Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Literacy SL 4.6 Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g., presenting ideas) and situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g., small-group discussion); use formal English when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 4 Language standards 1for specific expectations.)

MaterialsCurriculum Binder

22015 Building Bridges Unit, Grade 4, Arlington Public Schools

Introduction including quick notes on El Salvador and the village of Teosinte, 4 th Grade Unit including an overview and 6 lessons, and suggestions for other lessons including materials needed, library curriculum overview and library resources for the teachers, Music and Art curriculum overview, and a section of resources and information about the history and culture of El Salvador.Tri-Fold DisplayThe left panel describes the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project. Photos, maps and volcano information are on the center panel to show where in the world Teosinte is and what climate it has. The right hand panel describes a daily part of life in Teosinte – the milpa which is the family corn garden.Map A color wall map of Central America.Non-Fiction BooksEl Salvador: The People and Culture and El Salvador: The Land by Greg Nickles.Video A vhs: “El Salvador is My Home” by Eileen ForanAdditional BooksAuthor Study: Jorge ArguetaAlfredito Flies Home and Movie in My Pillow by Jorge ArguetaTraditional LiteratureMagic Dogs of the Volcanoes by Manilo ArguetaPoetry Movie in My Pillow by Jorge Argueta

AssessmentIncluded in the unit are Social Studies quizzes. Additional assessments for the final digital project may be created.

Summary and Timeline for Projects to Teosinte Week 1

Lesson 1: We Have Friends in El Salvador!-locate El Salvador and other Central Am Countries

Lesson 2: What is El Salvador Like?-a closer look at El Salvador climate, resources, and people

Resources:-color wall map-tri-fold display-social studies worksheets

Resources:-non-fiction titles-comprehension worksheets


Week 2Lesson 3: Teosinte is Special to Arlington-find out details of our Sister City

Resources:-volunteers with ATSCP-posters to color-tri-fold display

Week 3Lesson 4: Meet Students from Teosinte-find out details of the people who will receive our projects

Lesson 5: Alike and Different-compare life in Arlington and Teosinte

Resources:-video-‘interviews’ with students from Teosinte-tri-fold display

Resources:-tri-fold display

Week 4Lesson 6- part 1: Teosinte Projects-write a draft of narration for project-begin project

Lesson 6- part 2:-revising, editing, creating final project

AssessmentSocial Studies quizzes

Resources:-all materials including diagrams created-iPads

Resources:-two quizzes are included

DeadlineBy the End of Term I (Variable) Select one project to and send to ATSCP/ACMi

SpringtimeCelebrate the arrival of the projects from Teosinte, and their translations! Enjoy!!

Lesson 1: We Have Friends in El Salvador!

Overview:In this lesson students are introduced to an overview of the unit. Students will locate Central American countries, major cities and bodies of water, and see the general location of Teosinte on a map of Central America. Time:

30 minutesMaterials Required:

A color map of Central America (provided)Blank worksheet for each student (see attached)

ObjectivesStudents will


-find locations on a map using materials available-students will label a map

Lesson PlanVocabulary

Central America: countries, cities and bodies of water (Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, San Salvador,

Guatemala City, Belmopan, San Jose, Panama City, Managua, Tegucigalpa, Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea)PlanIntroduction (whole class): 5 minPresent that Arlington has a special relationship a certain town in a special country they will find on a map. Present map of Central America and list of countries, bodies of water and major cities to label.Map Labels (independent or small groups):20 minUsing materials provided and other resources students can locate places and label the map provided.Recap (whole class): 10 minShow the general location of Teosinte on map of Central America as a review to what students did independently. Review and Closing (whole class): 5 min Close lesson by previewing the unit and final Teosinte project.

Lesson 1: El Salvador in Central America

Name:__________________

Where is El Salvador?


Use the large map of Central America to:Color and label the countries in Central America:Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, PanamaLabel major cities.San Salvador, Guatemala City, Belmopan, San Jose, Panama City, Managua, TegucigalpaColor and label the bodies of water.Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea

Lesson 2: What is El Salvador Like?

Overview:In this lesson the students read non-fiction material about the climate and natural resources of El Salvador and answer comprehension questions.Time:

40 minutes


Materials Required:Pages 10, 20, 21 of El Salvador: The Land. Pages 10, 22, 23 of El Salvador: The People and Culture (provided)Comprehension worksheets A and B (see attached)

Objectives:Students will

-read independently or in a guided group-answer comprehension questions

Lesson Plan:Vocabulary

climate, resource, economy, agriculture, cooperatives, livestock, export, plaza, PlanIntroduction (whole class): 5 minPresent the reading assignment and review the vocabulary. Assign groups unless they are to read independently.Reading and Questions (independent or small groups, one-on-one): 30 minUsing materials provided students are to read and answer comprehension questions.Review and Closing (whole class): 5 minClose the lesson by reviewing key elements of El Salvador’s climate, resources, and countryside living.

Lesson 2: Comprehension Questions APages 10, 20, 21 of El Salvador: The Land

Name:_____________________

Weather and Natural Hazards


Describe the climate of El Salvador.

What is a temporale?

Farming and FishingWhat has become an important source of income for the country?

Where do Salvadorans fish?

List the kinds of fruits Salvadoran farmers grow.

What three grains do they grow?

What are the three main livestock in El Salvador?

What are El Salvador’s main exports?

What are the new crops farmers are growing?Lesson 2: Comprehension Questions BPages 10, 22, 23 of El Salvador: The People and Culture

Name:_____________________

The SalvadoranHow many people live in El Salvador?


What language do they speak?

Life in the CountrysideHow do people travel in the Salvadoran countryside?

Where do many children have their classes in these countryside villages?

Where do villagers go to work?

Describe a countryside house.

How do they wash clothes in the countryside?

Do people in the countryside of El Salvador listen to music or watch television?

Lesson 3: Teosinte is Special to ArlingtonOverview: In this lesson students will be joined by a volunteer of ATSCP. The volunteer will present a ‘day in the life of’ Teosinte. In addition to introducing facts about El Salvador and Teosinte, this overview will inform students about the role of Arlington parents and other adults in the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project (ATSCP), and answer any questions.Time:

40 minutesMaterials Required:

One tri-fold display (provided)Writer’s notebooks or paperATSCP presenter! (provided)

Objectives:


Students will-listen and imagine a journey to Teosinte-see and handle objects from Teosinte and display board-write about what they learned or questions they have


Teosinte (pronounced “Tay-oh-SEEN-tay,” Spanish word for ancestor of corn)milpa (Spanish, crop field)

PlanIntroduction (whole class): 2 minPresenter introduces her/himself as volunteer with ATSCP, a community organization. ATSCP started 20 years ago when El Salvador was having a Civil War. The people of Teosinte were refugees, and were just trying to settle back in their own country. People in Arlington wanted to help them. Reads ATSCP mission (on display board). The kids and adults in Teosinte are very excited to share stories about their lives with you, and they are very curious about life in Arlington.What is Teosinte Like? (direct instruction): 10 minThe style will be informal, with questions encouraged. The presenter will use the classroom display board and map as a visual aid. (see Notes on Content for example)The presenter will bring coloring pages with the ATSCP logo. The teacher will decide whether students may color while they listen to the overview.Question and Answer (whole class): 10 minThe presenter will bring items that may be passed around as students ask their questions.Writing (independent, with one-on-one if needed): 15-20 minInstruct students to write about what they pictured or imagined, what they learned, or questions they have about Teosinte on paper or in their writer’s notebooks they will use it as a reference in later lessons.Review and Closing (whole class): 5-10 minSeveral students share with the whole class one or two items from their writing.

Notes on Content: Example of Presentation by ATSCP volunteer ● Presenter tells students that she will share with them a little about Teosinte houses, school, play,

food, shopping, technology and transportation. ● Presenter asks students to close their eyes and imagine themselves on an airplane bound for El

Salvador. We fly south along the Atlantic coast, and into Central America. We land in San Salvador, a busy, noisy city. Everyone is speaking Spanish! We get in a van and drive for two hours. The highway turns into a bumpy, dusty road. When you open your eyes, you’ll be in Teosinte.

● Here we are! Let’s go visit a house. Here’s where Doña Blanca and Don Abel live. Indoor/outdoor lifestyle (cooking areas, eating area). Beds are moved when it rains. Handmade art and a few photos and diplomas on walls. No locks on doors. Only flush toilet in village except for clinic. Yard: tomatoes, herbs growing. Make use of everything – the cab from an old truck is used as a storage area. Chickens. Banana trees just down the hill. Cement basin for washing clothes; hang them up to dry on one of the wires. Wash your clothes everyday because you have only one or two sets of school clothing.


● Time for school! Let’s go with Milagro Elizabeth [one of the girls in the profiles]. She works in her family’s milpa in the mornings, and goes to school from 1pm to 5:15 PM every day. Everyone walks to school – it’s in the village center. There are no windows – everything is open to the air. The building is just one level – no cafeteria or gym. Handmade decorations – students made a lot of them. There are three teachers here. A total of 63 students go to school here. Half of them come in the morning, and half in the afternoon. Two grades study together.

● After school, we’re going to play soccer! People in Teosinte love sports, and they built a field for soccer and basketball. However, Milagro Elizabeth tells us that her favorite sport is softball. Kids just come out and play here – no one calls each other or sets up “playdates.” No cars, so the kids have a lot of freedom to walk around the village on their own. While we are playing, you might notice all the sounds – lots of birds There are also roosters, and once in a while you might hear a cow mooing. All around the soccer field, there are trees – mango, banana, palm trees. Everything is bright green because it’s the rainy season. During the other half of the year, everything will get dry and brown. Because of the rain, you can also hear the river. A lot of kids go swimming when they have free time.

● Food: I’m getting hungry – are you? Let’s go back to Doña Blanca and Don Abel’s house and help with dinner. You can smell the wood fire getting ready for cooking. Listen: the sound of Doña Blanca making tortillas. We’ll have that with red beans and cheese that was made here. The beans are flavored with a flower named loroco that grows on a vine high in the treetops, right here in the yard. Don Abel climbed up the tree this morning to pick it. To drink, there’s atol, a sweet drink made with rice and milk. I hope you like tortillas and beans: we’ll eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sometimes with eggs or chicken or other vegetables.

● Shopping: We grow most of what we use while we’re in Teosinte ourselves. We even make our own soap out of olives. But some things are only available in stores. The nearest shopping area is Tejutla, and to get there we hop on the back of a pickup truck that comes through town at 6:15 AM and returns around 3:30 PM. This is also how high school students travel to school. When we buy things, we use dollars. ElSalvador used to use the “colon”, but four years ago they switched.

● Technology/ Transportation: Anywhere you go in Arlington, there is a sound you can usually hear – cars! Not so in Teosinte. The truck that we traveled in to Tejutla is the only one you’ll hear all day. What about other machines? Not many. People do farm work by hand. You’ll see men loading sacks of sand onto burros to take 1.5 hours up the mountain where they are mixing concrete for a new school. There is electricity and many families do have TVs and cell phones. But you’d never call someone in the village – you’d just walk to their house.

Lesson 4: Meet the Students from Teosinte

Overview:In this lesson students will see a 12-minute segment about a boy in El Salvador from the Central America Close-Up video. Then they will share the interviews of students with each other by reading them aloud. The teacher may copy one set of interviews for each student.Time:

30 minutes Materials Required:

Central America Close-Up video (provided)Interviews of Teosinte students (provided)

Objectives:11


Students will-listen and notice differences/similarities between Teosinte and Arlington-practice fluency skills


civil war, relocation, milpaPlan Introduction (whole class): 2 minExplain the video of the El Salvadorian boy and that after students will meet our friends in Teosinte who are about their age through interviews they gave to the ATSCP members.Video (whole class): 12 minInterviews (could be groups or as whole class select students reading): 10 minStudents read the interviews aloud and practice fluency. Copies can be shared as other students follow along.Review and Close (whole class): 5 minAsk students what they noticed about the students they ‘met’ in the video and interviews.

Lesson 5: Alike and Different: The Venn Diagram

Overview:This lesson will provide a framework for comparing the cultures of Arlington and Teosinte. Students will identify relevant information in six aspects of daily life: home, school, recreation/play, food, shopping, and technology/transportation in both Teosinte and Arlington – for the purpose of understanding life in Teosinte in relation to their own lives. Time:

40 minutesPreparation/Materials Required:

Divide students into six groups – id them by Spanish numbers or colorsSix large charts with Venn diagrams on them


Put on board the six areas students will compareColor markers

Objectives:Students will-use a compare and contrast graphic organizer – Venn diagram-recall and record aspects of life in Teosinte and Arlington


culture, perspective, non-judgmental, global awareness, understanding, co-opPlanIntroduction (whole class): 5 minPresent six areas of life to be compared, acknowledge they may have been comparing already. Do one of two warm-ups: solicit ideas verbally OR think-pair-share – students exchange ideas with partner, share one difference they noticed. Model recording ideas on the Venn diagram.Create Venn Diagrams (small group work): 10-15 minEach group is assigned a topic and has a chart to fill out. Each group has a different color marker. Carousel Activity (small group work): 5-10 minStudents rotate as a group, bringing their marker with them, they look at each chart, review ideas, add any others they have, groups rotate until they have reviewed all charts.Review and Closing (whole class): 5 minPut charts on wall for review. What surprised you, impressed you? What can we learn by comparing cultures? How is the world interconnected?

*Venn diagrams/ideas should be recorded for future reference/use.

Lesson 6 - Teosinte Project: Part 1(begin) & 2 time as needed to complete)

Overview:The students will produce a digital project focusing on comparing Teosinte and Arlington. (See below for a list of suggestions for topics.) Students will first prepare a script/narration. Students will paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats. They will also report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes, speaking clearly at an understandable pace. Students will add audio recordings and visual displays to the project to enhance the development of main ideas or themes. Students will differentiate between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is appropriate.


Time:40 minutes

Materials Required:All materials provided and previously prepared materials and completed

worksheets to use as references while writing (provided)iPads

Objectives:Students will:-hear/read/see previous projects as models (not in first year of revision)-plan and compose a narrative for the project


Teosinte, Arlington, comparison, difference, similarityPlanIntroduction (whole class) : 5 minPrepare students by reviewing all previous lessons, sharing observations, and recalling the Venn diagram lesson. Share models.Draft of Script/Narration for Project: (small group, explicit): 30 minStudents will prepare a narrative for the project and beginReview and Closing (whole class): 5 minStudents may be chosen to read their scripts out loud, or pair share.

Suggestions for Project Topics Comparing Arlington and Teosinte:Day in the life of both schools, Teosinte and ArlingtonGlobal ideas – hopes and dreams for the worldGeography – climate and landscape of Teosinte and ArlingtonVolcanoes – rocks and minerals, El Salvador is the ‘Land of Volcanoes’Rural Life vs. Suburban Life – Teosinte is a farming village, Arlington is suburbanCalendar Year/Festivals – Ex: Town Day in Arlington, Day of the Dead in TeosinteFamily History – sharing and comparingCultural Artifacts - what we hold near and dearRecipes/Food - similarities and differences

Assessments

Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks

North American Countries Identification and Standard 4.27The “Where is El Salvador” worksheet can be used for assessment purposes at the end of the unit. (See attached – assessment A.)

Standard 4.28Quiz on El Salvador. (See attached - assessment B.)


Assessment A: El Salvador in Central America

Name:__________________

Where is El Salvador?


Use the large map of Central America to:Color and label the countries in Central America:Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, PanamaLabel major cities.San Salvador, Guatemala City, Belmopan, San Jose, Panama City, Managua, TegucigalpaColor and label the bodies of water.Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea

Assessment B: Climate, Resources, and People of El Salvador

Name:_____________________

Social Studies Quiz16


Describe the climate of El Salvador.

What are the crops that are grown in El Salvador?

What are El Salvador’s major exports?

Describe life in the countryside of El Salvador.


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