Families Past, Present, and Around the World

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Families Past, Present, and Around the World
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Unit Sub-Topics

• Different Types of Families
• Family Roles and Responsibilities
• Our Classroom Family
• Family Celebrations and Traditions

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Key Perspectives

• Students will learn that each family is
  different.
• This will be addressed primarily through group
  discussions and exploration through literature.
• Students will learn about how families work
  together as a unit.
• Students will learn this concept by examining the
  roles in their own family and in classmates
  families.

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Key Perspectives

• Students will learn that their classroom
  functions as a family.
• This will be addressed through teacher led
  discussion and will be related to the children's
  out of school families.
• Students will learn that families have different
  celebrations and traditions.
• The children will learn this through literature,
  guest speakers and student presentations of their
  own cultures.

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Background Information

• Interviews with children
• Children often think that every family is just
  like their own
• Interviews with members of various cultures.
• Families in other cultures often have different
  values and standards than what we consider
  normal.

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Rationale(Why is teaching family important?)

• Students need to learn about diversity.
• Family is a common parallel to use to help
  children cross borders at such a young age.
• Gives students commonalities with their peers
  (alike and unalike).
• It could be their first experience encountering
  multiculturalism.

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State Standards Addressed

• 18.B.1a Compare the roles of individuals in
  group situations (e.g., student, committee
  member, employee/employer).
• 18.C.1a Describe how individuals interacted
  within groups to make choices regarding food,
  clothing and shelter.

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National Standards Addressed

• 5D. Understands the interrelationships between
  people and their environment
• 5G. Understands the implications of cultural
  heritage and diversity, as well as cohesion,
  within and across groups.

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Instructional Strategies

• Integration of Literature
• Kindergarten is literacy intensive.
• Interviews and Surveys
• Helps create social experiences and personal
  connections to peers.
• Oral History
• Using experts on the topic helps children get
  more involved and excited about learning
• Integrating the Arts
• Gives children another outlet to express what
  they are learning.

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Literacy Links

• The unit will be literature based. We plan on
  using
• Fiction
• Poetry
• Integrating Writing Activities
• Non-Fiction
• Developing Speaking/Listening Experiences
• All of these literacy links are applicable to
  both the family topic as well as students
  literacy development.

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UNIT SKETCH
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Essential Questions

• A. What does a family look like?
• B. How do family members help each other?
• C. How does our classroom family work together?
• D. What traditions/celebrations does your family
  participate in?

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Enduring Understandings

• A1. With such diverse classroom populations,
  students will recognize that families are
  composed of two or more members who care for each
  other.
• A2. Classrooms no longer represent the
  traditional nuclear families.

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Enduring Understandings

• B1. Roles and responsibilities vary as much as
  the types of families.
• B2. Everyone has a responsibility/role within a
  family unit.
• B3. Family members communicate in different ways.

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Enduring Understandings

• C1. Classrooms represent a special type of
  family with different roles and responsibilities.
• D1. Traditions and celebrations reflect the
  religion, culture, and history of the family
  units.
• D2. All families have unique celebrations,
  holidays, and traditions.

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Lesson Descriptions

• Tuning In Students will bring in pictures of
  their families to start talking about different
  families
• Instructional Strategy Literature (The
  Relatives Came)
• Preparing to Find Out Students will prepare 2-3
  interviewing questions for a peer about their
  family
• Instructional Strategy Interviews and Surveys
• Finding Out Students interview each other using
  their prepared questions and present their
  findings to the class.
• Instructional Strategy Interviews and Surveys

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• Sorting Out Students will each make a square
  depicting what makes their family unique which
  will be compiled to make a classroom family
  quilt.
• Instructional Strategy Integrating the Arts
• Going Further Guest Speakers from community of
  families will present information on different
  cultures, celebrations and traditions.
• Instructional Strategy Oral History

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• Making Connections Students will compare their
  roles in their home family to their roles in
  their classroom family.
• Instructional Strategy Literature (I Need a
  Rest!)
• Taking Action Hall of Families (each child will
  create a family profile to be posted in the
  hall).
• Instructional Strategy Integrating the Arts

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Bibliography

• Adoff, Arnold. Black is Brown is Tan. New York
  Harper Collins, 1973.
• Carlson, Nancy. My Family is Forever. New York
  Penguin Group, 2004.
• Crews, Donald. Big Mamas. New York
  Greenwillow Books, 1991.
• Eggleton, Judy. I Need a Rest!. Rigby Books,
  2000. 
• Flournoy, Valerie. The Patchwork Quilt. Honk
  Kong Dial Books, 1985.
• Fox, Mem. Whoever You Are. Orlando, Fl
  Harcourt, Inc., 1997.
• Gliori, Debi. No Matter What. New York
  Scholastic, 1999.
• Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace. New York Dial
  Books for Young Readers, 1991.
• Morris, Ann. Light the Candle! Bang the Drum!.
  New York Dutton Childrens Books, 1997.
• Polacco, Patricia. Babuskas Doll. New York,
  NY. Simon Schuester Books, 1990.
• Rylant, Cynthia. The Relatives Came. New York
  Aladdin Paperbacks, 1993.

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Unit Assessment

• Throughout the unit, students should be
  informally assessed. The teacher should be
  watchful of students level of participation and
  engagement. It might prove useful to keep a
  checklist to keep track of the students.
• After the unit, students should write a journal
  and a drawing to be formally assessed for the
  unit.

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Lesson Plan

• My Family (tuning in)
• Essential Driving Question What does a family
  look like?
• Enduring Understandings 1. Students will
  recognize that families are composed of two or
  more members that care for each other. 2.
  Classrooms no longer represent the traditional
  nuclear families.
• Standards Addressed
• State Standard 18.B.1a Compare the roles of
  individuals in group situations (e.g., student,
  committee member, employee/employer).
• National Standard 5D. Understands the
  interrelationships between people and their
  environment

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• Materials The Relatives Came, by Cynthia Rylant
  and a picture of each students family
• Procedure
• Teacher will read The Relatives Came to the
  students
• Teacher will lead a discussion with the children
  about the family in the book. Who is in the
  family? How is the family like or not like your
  own family?
• Teacher will have students will show the picture
  of their family to the entire class and describe
  who makes up their family.
• When all of the children are finished, the
  teacher will facilitate a follow up discussion
  about the differences in families.
• Students will do a journal write based on the
  prompt Who is in my family?

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• Formative Assessment
• Teacher will assess the students throughout the
  discussions and picture presentations informally
  based on participation.
• Summative Assessment
• Students will be formally assessed on their
  journal writes (Is it clearly written and on the
  topic of the prompt?).

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• Adaptations
• If students do not have or choose not to bring in
  a picture of their family, they may draw or cut
  out a picture of a family from a magazine.
• If students do not feel comfortable sharing their
  pictures they are not required to do so and may
  present in a different setting.
• Students may draw pictures or use an oral
  explanation if they are not developmentally ready
  to write.