Holidays and Traditions

Holidays and Traditions Unit: Social Studies Lesson: Holidays and Traditions Grade: First Grade Author: Jennifer Neer

Table of Contents • History Topics – slides 3-5 • People in Societies Topics – slides 6-8 • Geography Topics – slides 9-11 • Economics Topics – slides 12-14 • Government Topics – 15-17 • Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities Topics – Slides 18-20 • Social Studies Skills and Methods Topics – Slides 21-23

History • Students will need to learn about the following aspects of history: • Chronology, • Daily life, • and Heritage.

Student Activities • Make a calendar including various holidays. • Read books about the people who celebrate specific holidays. Focus on the past. • Make a predictable chart of people who holidays are about. (ex. If I were Martin Luther King Jr., I would…) • Have students dress up and reenact the daily life and celebration of a chosen holiday. • Make individual lists of what the students have learned about holidays. Combine all of the class lists for one big list of what they learned.

Helpful Websites • Everything about Kwanzaa – http://www.tike.com/celeb-kw.htm • Akhlah – The Jewish Children’s Learning Network http://www.akhlah.com/holidays/hanukkah/hanukkah.asp • Worldview – Christmas.com Around the World http://www.christmas.com/worldview/ • Celebration of the Chinese New Year http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/newyear/newyear.html • Thanksgiving – its history, customs, and traditions http://wilstar.com/holidays/thanksgv.htm

People in Societies • The students will learn about the following aspects: • Cultures and • Diffusion

Student Activities • Make and eat food from specific holidays. Have a food/cookie exchange with the class. • Make models of holiday symbols. • Create clothes for paper dolls that are dressed up for the holiday celebration. Reenact the celebration with the paper dolls. • Listen to music and learn the words to various holiday songs. Put on a concert for other classes and parents. • Draw pictures of what the students think a specific holiday would look like. Draw the pictures in the style of that specific culture.

Helpful Websites • First School http://www.first-school.ws/theme/h_wholidays.htm#hanukkah • DLTK’s Crafts for Kids http://www.dltk-teach.com/ • DLTK kids http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/index.htm • Kididdles http://www.kididdles.com/mouseum/c056.html • Songs for Teachers http://www.songs4teachers.com/

Geography • The students will learn about the following aspects of geography: • Location, • Places and regions, • and Human environmental interactions

Student Activities • Create flat maps or paper mache globes. Glue on the countries where specific chosen holidays began. • As a class create a model city where specific holiday traditions are often celebrated. Discuss transportation, shelter, etc. • Make a salt relief map as a class. Discuss hills, rivers, and forests of the country where the holiday began. • Do an interactive writing comparing and contrasting our country to the country where the holiday began. • Create sorting cards with the land information of where the country started. Have children sort the cards making up their own criteria for the categories. (ex. Rivers, hills, etc.)

Helpful Websites • Abc Teach http://abcteach.com/ • Kidzone http://www.kidzone.ws/ • Kid’s Heart http://akidsheart.com/ • A to Z Teacher Stuff http://atozteacherstuff.com/ • Lesson Plans Page http://www.lessonplanspage.com/index.html

Economics • The students will learn about the following aspects in economics: • Scarcity and resource allocation, • Production, distribution, and consumption, • and Markets

Student Activities • Discuss the idea of limited resources and how to conserve those products. Have the students create holiday decorations using a limited number of resources. (Provide enough supplies for each student.) • Use the created holiday ornaments. Then create a class market to practice buying and selling goods. • Have the students write a journal entry about their experiences during their class market place. Include how they felt and what their role was. • Listen to stories that explain how countries that celebrate the specific holiday produce their food and goods. • Draw a picture of the specific country’s market during the specific holiday season.

Government • The students will learn about the following aspects of government: • The role of government • and rules and laws.

Student Activities • Discuss voting. Have a student election allowing the students to vote for their favorite holiday. • Have a holiday party. Have the students create a list of rules and consequences for appropriate party behavior. • Have a brief discussion about the rules of certain holidays and traditions. Make a chart. • Write a story about the laws of specific holidays. Students could even make up their own holiday. • When studying a country and holiday, show examples of the country’s symbols.

Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities • The students will learn about the following aspects of citizenship rights and responsibilities: • Participation • and rights and responsibilities

Student Activities • Have students work in a team to play holiday games. (ex. What did Santa Bring? or The Hanukah Game) • Have the students work together to break open a Mexican piñata. • Have the students work together to decorate the classroom for a specific holiday. • Create a class collage of holiday items. Discuss the need for respect for individual opinions. • Write a class book about a holiday. Discuss the need for respect and responsibility.

Social Studies Skills and Methods • The students will learn about the following aspects of social studies skills and methods: • Obtaining information, • Thinking and organizing, • Communicating information, • and problem solving.

Student Activities • Place a variety of holiday and country objects on a table. Have the students work together and list what they can figure out. (ex. Which holiday, what country, what type of weather) • Sort a variety of holiday objects. Have the students determine the categories and criteria. • Have the students work in groups to make a holiday decoration. Then share the object visually and orally with the class. • Read a book about the holiday. Each student can then create a list about what the information they learned. • Place objects from different holidays that the children have studied on their desks. Have the students work together to problem solve and categorize the objects into the appropriate countries or holiday.

The End!!

Holidays and Traditions