Explore your Culture through Storytelling
Lesson Plan 3-5
National Language Arts Standard 3: 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 and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
National Language Arts Standard 10: Students whose first language is not English make use of their first language to develop competency in the English language arts and to develop understanding of content across the curriculum.
OBJECTIVE
Students will:
• Explore their cultural heritage through reading, writing and speaking exercises.
• Create illustrated mini-books that express their unique cultural and personal experiences.
• Share their stores with their class by reading and explaining their accordian books.
MATERIALS
• Legal size paper. One for each student
• Accordion Pocket Book Reproducible
• Crayons, markers and pencils
• One copy of De donde yo soy/Where I'm From by Levi Romero
SET UP AND PREPARE
• Copy Accordion Pocket Book Reproducible. One set for each student.
• Hand out one legal size paper or card stock for each student.
• Prepare to read De donde yo soy/Where I'm From poem by Levi Romero to class and/or other cultural heritage writings such as "Where I’m From" by George Ella Lyon (www.georgeellalyon.com) and cultural heritage writings by Hispanic poets, youth and children available at www.nationalhispaniccenter.org .
DIRECTIONS
Exploring cultural heritage and personal identity
1.As a group, brainstorm the elements of life that define culture. The list will probably include: place, language, beliefs, foods, clothing, music, jokes, and stories.
2.Read aloud the poem by Levi Romero and/or other poems about cultural identity. Additional poems by Hispanic poets and youth are available from the National Hispanic Cultural Center at www.nationalhispaniccenter.org.
3.Identify and discuss the everyday details that illustrate unique family and cultural communities. Have students share personal and cultural details which include: their birthplace, description of their home, birthplaces of their parents, names of family members, languages they hear and speak, common statements by parents and grandparents, everyday items, everyday foods, foods for special occasions, songs, and family stories.
Create an Accordian Pocket Book
1.Give each student a series of six to twelve "I come from" cards Accordion Pocket Book Reproducible).
2.Have students write appropriate words, sentences and/or create pictures on each card to create their own series of cards which represent their personal cultural heritage. Allow students to use their first language as needed to express their unique cultural traditions, i.e., tortillas, Día de los muertos.
3.Give each student a sheet of legal size paper to create their accordion pocket book. (see Accordion Pocket Book Reproducible for instructions).
4.Ask students to write their title and name on the front of the book.
5.Have students sequence their cards in a meaningful order and place them in the pockets of their books. Each pocket may contain one or more completed cards.
Sharing Your Story
Show and Tell
1. Ask each student to stand up, show their accordian book, and read their story to the class or a small group of students.
Circle Game
2. Ask the class to sit in a circle. Ask students to take turns completing an "I come from…" phrase. This activity can be teacher or student led.
Teacher or student prompts the group: "I come from...FOOD"
Student one: I come from tamales!
Student Two: I come from hot green chile!
Student Three: I come from papaya juice!
Continue around the room.
Teacher or student prompts the group: "I come from…SONG"
Student one: I come from Cielito Lindo!
Student two: I come from Old MacDonalds!
Game can continue as time allows.
Classroom Display
3. Display the Accordian Pocket books at family open house or parent conferences.
Additional Technology Activities
1. Using a digital or disposable camera, have students take photos of 6 - 12 items, places or people mentioned in their poem. Using these photos in print form to illustrate their version of "I come from…", students can glue the photos to the back of their "I come from" cards.
2. Using a digital or disposable camera, have students take photos of 6 - 12 items, places or people mentioned in their poem. Using the images in digital form, work with student to create a slide show or a digital story in order to share their cultural heritage with classmates, friends and family. Digital storytelling lessons plans are available at www.scholastic.com , enter the key words "Hispanic heritage."
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