Human Systems/Communities and The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

1. Human Systems/Communitiesand The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis Caitlyn Brill Paula Borinsky Marie Quingert Cheri Burdette http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/afghanistan.html http://www.metmuseum.org http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_afghanistan.html http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/afghantextiles/afghantextiles.shtml

2. Content Standards Intermediate: • Reading – Students will use a variety of strategies to understand literary text and reflect connections to text. • Writing– Students will use the writing process to create a persuasive essay. • Social Studies – Students will demonstrate an understanding of communities and human systems. • Students will understand the interactions between citizens and their government. • Math– Students will understand different money systems. • Art– Students will demonstrate the ability to use principles and elements of design.

3. Brain Target 1 • Students and teachers read the book, The Breadwinner, making connections to events in the story to their own everyday lives. • Students make a personal connection to the main character, Parvana, through visualization activities, such as simulations which excludes girls from the classroom and learning. • Remove all rules from the classroom but require a group assignment to be completed in order to leave. • View Afghan artifacts from the National Museum in Afghanistan (www.metmuseum.org or www.nationalgeographic.org). • Students will design their own rubrics to evaluate their communities and community projects. • Listen to Afghan music (www.smithsonianfolkways.org). • Students will play charades to assist with learning vocabulary from the story. • Connect students to the importance of rules/laws. Discuss how they felt in a chaotic situation. • Allow students to evaluate their own cognitive and social learning on a KWL chart. • Celebration of student work.

4. Brain Target 2 • Afghani music playing in the background as children enter the room. • Displays of Afghan artwork and children’s created work. • Display of maps of regions involved in book. • Display graphic organizer (timeline) of recent historic events in Afghani government. • Desks arranged in cooperative learning groups that simulate living quarters. • Reading area set up for class reading activities that simulates living quarters of Parvana’s home. • Materials organized to be easily accessible.

5. COMMUNITIES Geography Economy Communication systems • Import/export • Employment • Money systems • Goods and services Government • Shelter • Food • Water • Specified roles Laws • Types • of Gov’t Brain Target 3

6. BT 3 Continued Learning Goals: Social Studies: • Students will demonstrate the processes of building a community and be able to create an “ideal” community. • Students will be able to argue the importance of a structured government for the success/failure of a community. • Students will investigate the concept of trade in order to understand economics.

7. BT 3 Continued • Introductory “Big Picture” Activity/Assessment of Prior Knowledge Activities: • Students will review the concept map and discuss what they know about each topic in a think-pair-share. • Students will brainstorm types of communities and create a working definition to use throughout unit. • Students will use map skills to identify location of the Middle Eastern region. • Students will play a “telephone” game in order to simulate communication challenges.

8. Brain Target 4 Learning Goals: • Students will acquire background knowledge on how geography can impact the development of a community and be able to relate that information to what they know about the geography in Afghanistan and the United States. • Students will learn how communication plays a large role in a community by analyzing hieroglyphics, Roman numerals, and other early forms of communication and be able to create a communication system for language, numeracy, and money. • Students will develop a government system by weighing the pros and cons of different systems and be able to design a set of laws for their own community. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/afghanistan.html

9. Brain Target 4 • Activities: • Students will research modern forms of government. • Students will compare the use of hieroglyphics/Roman numerals in communication in ancient societies. • Students will create an outline of government charter, laws, and judicial systems. • Students will transcribe a letter in hieroglyphics.

10. Brain Target 5 Learning Goals: • Students will be able to identify the parts needed to establish a community and will be able to design all elements of an effective community. • Students will test their community for its ability to respond to stress and conflict.

11. Brain Target 5 Activities: • In small groups students will use previously created outline to create their own communities aligned to a rubric. • The teacher will distribute scenario cards to test conflict resolution. • Students will design an artifact such as a community seal, flag, and/or song to represent community identity. • Students will create a persuasive article to influence others to join their community using previously written communication systems.

12. Brain Target 6 • KWL chart • Opinion papers • Reflection paper on how well community succeeded • Develop traits of each role • Record ongoing history of community using language system key • Create a map of geography territory • using rubric