Teacher’s Notes

Ontario Social Studies Curriculum Grades 1 to 6, 1998Strand: Heritage and CitizenshipTopic: Traditions and CelebrationsGrade: 2

© Social Butterflies, 2002All rights reservedDeveloped by T. TaskerMay be photocopied for classroom use. Further replication or commercial use is strictlyprohibited.

Overall Expectations- demonstrate an understanding that Canada is a country of many cultures- describe family history of traditions as they relate to being Canadian- describe contributions made by individuals and groups to the local community

* All specific expectations are covered by this unit and are mentioned at the end of each activity.

Materials Box

• a variety of books that describe places around the world (perhaps create a socialstudies library where these books can be accessed and stored)

• a large map of the world (you could either draw this or buy a commercial one)• artifacts from around the world to make an interactive display or to introduce lessons• Q-cards and tape for HCactivity006

** The homework booklet is best done over a holiday such as Thanksgiving or ChristmasHolidays when children may have a chance to see their extended family**

Dear Parent or Guardian,

We are beginning our Social Studies Unit, Heritage and Citizenship:Traditions and Celebrations. By the end of this unit, your child will:- demonstrate an understanding that Canada is a country of many cultures- describe family history of traditions as they relate to being Canadian- describe contributions made by individuals and groups to the local communityAs outlined in the Social Studies Curriculum, Ministry of Education,1998.

There will be a lengthy homework booklet for your child tocomplete with family members. This booklet is meant to encourageyour child to explore your family’s culture and traditions in moredetail.

Home Links:To help your child further their understandingof this social studies unit, here are some funactivities for you and your family:

- visit a restaurant that servestraditional food from another culture.- look up in the atlas the countries of family origins- look through old family albums and tell old family stories.- research your family tree beyond three generations.

Happy Adventures,

© Social Butterflies, 2002

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Traditions and CelebrationsCanada and its Cultures

Canada is a country built by many people who have come from allaround the world. Maybe your parents or grandparents came fromanother country.

What are some of the cultures that make up our community?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are some contributions that those cultures make to ourcommunity?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Draw a picture of our community working together . . .

Grade 2 HCactivity001 covers:HC1: demonstrate an understanding that communities may be made up of many culturesHC14:identify the contributions that various cultures have made to the community (eg. producing works in the visual arts, music, dance;providing services, new kinds of restaurants)© Social Butterflies, 2002

Traditions and CelebrationsOur Community Members

As a community we hold elections to determine a mayor. What does amayor do?** Create a discussion about elections and voting and what that means. Lead students withquestions to construct a good idea of what a mayor might do.**________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who is our mayor right now? __________________________________

Let’s think of other important people in our community. Let’s make alist in our chart below and describe what they do.

Jobs in our Community What they do . . .

Grade 2 HCactivity002 covers:HC7:describe the contributions each family makes to the community (eg. voting, providing services through occupations) © Social Butterflies, 2002

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Traditions and CelebrationsCelebrations in our Community

All communities have their own special celebrations. For exampleQuébec has Carnaval, a winter carnival in February. Calgary has theStampede where cowboys and cowgirls compete in a rodeo. What aresome of the celebrations we have in our community? As a class let’smake a list of our community celebrations. Write the list on your specialnote pad below (remember your commas):

Grade 2 HCactivity003 covers:HC18:identify community celebrations that reflect their own heritage and Canadian identity (eg. Carnaval de Québec, Calgary Stampede)© Social Butterflies, 2002

**Photos of these and other special events can be found in a variety of books or onpostcards.**

Traditions and CelebrationsSpecial Celebrations in Canada

We have some very special days that we celebrate in Canada. A few ofthem are listed below in our chart. Let’s write down when and how wecelebrate those days.

Celebration Date(when)

What happens on that day . . .(how)

RemembranceDay

November11

Canada Day July 1

Flag Day February 15

There are some empty spots in our chart. Are there any other specialsdays that our class would like to add?

What is your favourite celebration?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Grade 2 HCactivity004 covers:HC3:identify ways in which heritage and traditions are passed on (eg. through community celebrations, special days such as Remembrance Day,Canada Day, the Canadian flag, music, dance, recreation, food, clothing)© Social Butterflies, 2002

Traditions and CelebrationsSharing or Family Traditions

As a class let’s meet at the carpet and form a circle to share our Traditions andCelebrations Homework Activity Book.**Use the rubric below to assess the students homework booklet.**

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Understanding ofConcepts

• demonstrates alimited understandingthat traditions arepassed down

• demonstrates abeginningunderstanding thatcelebrations are passeddown

• understands thatcelebrations are passeddown

• understands thatcelebrations are passeddown in their own andother families

Inquiry / ResearchSkills

• Inquiry and recordingskills gave limitedinformation aboutfamily traditions andculture

• Inquiry and recordingskills gave basicinformation aboutfamily traditions andculture

• Inquiry and recordingskills gave completeinformation aboutfamily traditions andculture

• Inquiry and recordingskills gave in depthinformation aboutfamily traditions andculture

Communication ofKnowledge

• sharing of bookletwas unclear• new terminology wasrarely used

• sharing of bookletwas clear some of thetime• new terminology wasbeginning to be used

• sharing of bookletwas clear• new terminology wasused

• sharing of bookletwas clear and precise• added new orexpanded oninformation• used newterminology withconfidence

What did you learn from your classmates today?Draw it: Write about it:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Write down a question you still have:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Grade 2 HCactivity005 covers:HC9:ask questions to gain information and explore alternatives (eg. the differences in celebrations among culture)HC13:communicate the results of inquiries for specific purposes, using simple demonstrations, drawings, and oral and written descriptionsHC17:share family traditions with members of the class (eg. festival of lights)© Social Butterflies, 2002

Traditions and CelebrationsAround the World

** This last activity will take several periods. Build a library of books (if you have not already) fromaround the world. Place students in heterogenous groups and assign them a particular area or country(this area should be the same for every task so that they become familiar with the books from thatarea). Each day give the groups the same piece of information to find. Have the students draw orwrite about the information they found as a group. Have the group place the information on a largemap (you could draw a simple one or buy a large commercial one). Then discuss what they have foundas a class.**

Research Activity ONE: In your groups and within the books you were given,find what the population is of that area. Write the population down on the Q-cardand place it on the map. Wait at the map for our class discussion.

Let’s graph the populations we studied.

_______________________________

Country

** You will need to determine the scale for them - but discuss why you made each box more than one. Be sure to identify the parts of the graph too.**

Research Activity TWO: In your groups and within the books you were givenfind a traditional toy of that area. Draw a picture of it as a group on the Q-cardand place it on the map. Wait at the map for our class discussion.

Our toy that we researched lookedlike:

The other toys were different because:_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The other toys were the same because:_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Research Activity THREE: In your groups and within the books you were givenfind a traditional outfit of that area. Draw a picture of it as a group on the Q-cardand place it on the map. Wait at the map for our class discussion.

Our traditional outfit that weresearched looked like:

The other outfits were differentbecause:_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The other outfits were the samebecause:_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Research Activity FOUR: In your groups and within the books you were givenfind some celebrations of that area. Make a list of those celebrations on the Q-Card and place it on the map. Wait at the map for our class discussion.

The celebrations we researched were: The other celebrations were differentbecause:_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The other celebrations were the samebecause:_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Grade 2 HCactivity006 covers:HC11:sort and classify information (eg. concerning traditional costumes), using more than one attribute.HC12:make and read a variety of graphs, charts, diagrams, maps and models for specific purposes (eg. to compare toys from other cultures)© Social Butterflies, 2002

Celebrations Certificate

This certificate hereby certifies

______________________

as a Grade 2 Celebration expert.

___________________ __________________Principal Teacher

Share your social studies booklet with at least one familymember at home. After you have shared complete thefollowing:

1) Cut out your Celebration Certificate.2) Get the person you shared your social studies bookletwith to fill out the form below, detach it and bring it backto school.

C.................................................................................................

_______________________ shared their social studies bookletwith the following familymembers:

___________________Parent’s Signature© Goggled Science, 2001

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My Traditions and Celebrations Homework Activity Book

NAME:______________________

DUE:_______________________

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Dear Parent or Guardian,This Traditions and Celebrations Homework Activity Book is anopportunity for your child to explore their family’s heritage and cultureduring the holiday season. You and your family are encouraged to helpout and do the activities with your child. This book will be shared withthe class when completed.Sincerely,

Summary of activities:Activity Title Materials Needed Done

1 Family Traditions Pencil and pencil crayons

2 Interviewing a FamilyMember

Pencil and pencil crayons

3 Building a Time LineBuild a time line of afamily member frombirth to today.

Pencil, pencil crayons,pictures and mementoes.

4 Building a FamilyTree

In general (depends onchoice): pictures, scissors,pencil crayons, paper,string, a tree branch.

5 Describing a FamilyCulture

Pencil and pencil crayons

Grade 2 HChomework covers:HC2:demonstrate an understanding that traditions are passed down from parents and grandparents (eg. celebrations, names)HC4:identify the cultural origins of various families’ membersHC5:identify the significant features of various family cultures (eg. food, dress, celebrations)HC10: locate simple information about family history and traditions from primary sources (eg. interview, eyewitness visitors, class trips) andsecondary sources (eg. maps, illustrations, print materials, videos)HC15: construct a time line identifying the history of a family member or a special person, orally, pictorially, and in written formHC16:construct a simple family tree identifying members of a family© Social Butterflies, 2002

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Activity 1: Family TraditionsLots of families have their own special family traditions. Write anddraw about your favourite family tradition below. Ask a family memberhow this family tradition started.

Describe a special family tradition.In words:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a picture:

Describe how this tradition started.In words:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a picture:

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Activity 2: Interviewing a Family Member

Follow the steps below to help you interview a family member.

Step 1) Decide who you are going to interview.I am interviewing: ________________________________________

Step 2) Get your questions ready. One question is already written foryou. Write three more.

Question 1: What was your favourite tradition as a child?In words:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a picture:

Question 2: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In words:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a picture:

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Question 3: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In words:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a picture:

Question 4: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In words:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a picture:

Step 3) Read the questions to the family member you’re interviewingand have them help you write and draw their answers in the boxes belowthe questions.

Step 4) You’re done!

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3) Then . . . 5) Later . . .

2) Next . . . 6) Today . . .4) Afterwards . . .

Activity 3: Building a Time Line (build a time line of a family member from birth to today)

1) First . . .

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Activity 4: Making a Family Tree

You could choose one of the following ways to build your family tree:

Choice ONE: Hang pictures of your family from three generations on a tree branch tomake a family tree mobile.

Choice TWO: Make a family tree out of construction paper and glue/tape pictures ofyour family from three generations on the tree to make a family tree poster.

Choice THREE: Draw a family tree on a piece of paper and glue/tape or draw picturesof your family from three generations to make a family tree picture.

Fill out the chart below with your family tree information:Grandparent:_______________Birthday:_______________Country of Birth:_______________

Grandparent:_______________Birthday:_______________Country of Birth:_______________

Grandparent:_______________Birthday:_______________Country of Birth:_______________

Grandparent:_______________Birthday:_______________Country of Birth:_______________

Parent:___________________________Birthday:_________________________Country of Birth:__________________

Parent:___________________________Birthday:_________________________Country of Birth:__________________

Me:_______________________________________________________________My Birthday:_______________________________________________________My Country of Birth:_________________________________________________

My Sibling:_________________________________________________________Birthday:___________________________________________________________Country of Birth:____________________________________________________

My Sibling:_________________________________________________________Birthday:___________________________________________________________Country of Birth:____________________________________________________

My Sibling:_________________________________________________________Birthday:___________________________________________________________Country of Birth:____________________________________________________

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Activity 5: Describing a family cultureChoose one cultural origin in your family and fill in the chart below:

Country:The flag looks like: A traditional food would be:

______________________________

A traditional toy would be:______________________________

Traditional dress would look like:

Traditional Celebrations would include:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________