Last updated: January 24, 2023
Lesson Plan
Holiday Treasures — Field Trip Lesson Plans
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 1.SL.1, 1.SL.1.a, 1.SL.1.b, 1.SL.1.c, 1.SL.4, 2.SL.1.a, 2.SL.1.b, 2.SL.1.c, 2.SL.3, 3.SL.1, 3.SL.1.a, 3.SL.1.b, 3.SL.1.c, 3.SL.1.d, 3.SL.3
- State Standards:
- NYS Standards Included: 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.9 and 3.3, 3.6
- Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.
Essential Question
What can culture tell us about a group of people?
Objective
Students will:
- Provide a basic definition of culture vs. nationality
- Identify at least two ways a group conveys it’s culture within the world community
- Examine, interpret, and question objects utilized in a modern setting as clues to another group’s culture
Preparation
1. Introduce vocabulary terms, post vocabulary signs on board, side by side with plenty of space below each.
2. Using America/their family as a reference, ask for examples of each term, for example:
a. Culture: hot dogs, rock music, baseball, etc.
b. Nationality: What country(ies) did your family come from? If you were born in America, what nationality are you?
c. Custom: Manners is a good one! In the United States it is considered rude to burp during/after a meal, but in places like Japan or Russia, it is rude to the host/cook if you do not burp.
d. Tradition: Anything students might do around their house on a regular basis, especially around a holiday.
Materials
The complete pre-visit lesson plans for Fort Stanwix National Monument Holiday Treasures field trip program.
Download Holiday Treasures of Fort Stanwix
Procedure
Development
1. Pass out “What is It?” photos and optional 3-dimensional objects to students.
2. Have students tape their photo/phrase to the board beneath the vocabulary sign they feel it belongs with. If you are using objects, line desks up below each of the vocabulary signs for students to place the objects.
3. As a class, review/edit choices and discuss what makes them fall within that vocabulary term.
Closure
Venn diagram:
1. Each of the included photos/phrases are color coded by border – Yellow=Italy, Black=Poland, Red=China
2. Based on the terms culture, custom, and tradition create a Venn diagram using the images to indicate which of the activities are unique or may cross over any of the targeted terms. Discuss why these similarities/differences may happen (close geographic proximity, influence from other countries, etc.)
Extension Lesson: Compare/Contrast Food
Vocabulary
Culture: The way people do things based on where they live. Culture is seen in people’s writing, religion, music, clothes, cooking, and what they do.
Nationality: The country a family has come from.
Custom: The usual way of doing things among a group of people.
Tradition: Handing down information, beliefs, or customs, from one generation to another.
Additional Resources
Websites:
- www.the-north-pole.com
- tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/christmas-traditions-aroundthe-world-ga3.htm
Books (all can be found for purchase online):
- Christmas Around the World Coloring Book (Dover Publishing)
- Christmas Around the World by Mary D. Lankford
- Longhouses (American Community Series) by Raymond Bial
- My Christmas Treasury (Little Golden Book Series) by Gale Wiersum
- Christmas in Williamsburg : 300 Years of Family Traditions by Karen Kostyal
- The Baker’s Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale by Aaron Shepard
- Felicity’s Surprise (American Girl Series) by Valerie Tripp