• Relate family events and stories of the recent or distant past to the students’ place. (DR1.1)

Students will understand how past family experiences and stories connect them to their place.

• Describe kinship patterns of the past and present and describe according to traditional teachings (e.g., Medicine Wheel teachings). (DR1.2)

Students will explore kinship/family relationships according to traditional teachings.

• Describe the diversity of traditions, celebrations, or stories of individuals in the classroom and school. (IN1.1)

Students will honour the stories, traditions, and celebrations of individuals in their classroom and school.

Essential Questions – Guiding Questions:

• How are present events related to past events?
• How does the past influence:
  • Your present behaviour, ideas?
  • Your future behaviour, ideas?
• How does my background/point of view influence my behaviour?
  • What do I think about the past?
• What story is my behaviour telling?
  • Is my behaviour thought about and planned or am I reacting?
  • How do I change my behaviour? Change my story?

Vocabulary
Culture

• knowledge
• shared beliefs and values of group
• people with shared beliefs and practices
• shared attitudes

Point of View

• opinion
• viewpoint
• position

Tradition

• custom or belief
• handing down of customs
• accepted unwritten guidelines/ideas

Diversity

• social inclusiveness
• variety
• consisting of different things
• differing from one another

History

• family history, background

Surface what students know about their family history and cultural traditions.

• What do their names mean? First name, Last name.
• Why were they given their name?
• If community buildings or streets have names of people important to the community ask students if they know, and find out the origin of the name of the building or street.
• How is their community impacted by different cultures?
• Look for similarities and themes in naming practices of people, buildings.

Students are learning that differences among people or diversity creates a rich culture that is valued and respected by citizens and Canada. Students will explore the similarities and differences that exist among different cultures, beginning with similarities.

• Everybody Bakes Bread – Norah Dooley. This book talks about the many different kinds of bread there are in a child’s community, including chapatis, challah, and papusaa. This book gets students thinking about the similarities between cultures regarding food.
  • Create lists for many different kinds of breads
  • Create lists for many different kinds of similar foods
• Every culture has a way of saying hello. Brainstorm and have students research the many different ways of saying hello. Hello, Tansi, Bonjour, Hola, Aloha, etc.

Teachers should continue to connect learning outcomes to previous learning/ future learning.

• Events and ideas from the past influence the present.
• Lives of people in the past can serve as models of how to live as a contributing citizen.
• Actions and behaviours are learned.
• Past actions affect people and relationships in different ways.
• Diversity can have a variety of impacts.
• Background can impact points of view.
• Cultural practices that have their roots in history or another country are constantly changing and often have many similarities.

• Explore the similarities and differences that exist among different cultures; and,
• Look for connections between current practices and celebrations and past cultures and traditions.

Every culture has similar customs or celebrations. Brainstorm family traditions or special events like marriages, births, birthdays, graduation, anniversaries, deaths, family reunions

• Generate wide variety of cultures for students to research or survey classroom for the variety of cultures represented there.
• Research and present information in pairs or groups of three.

Presentations should include information on:

• Special Events
  • What are they?
    • Names, times
  • How do they celebrate?
    • Ceremonies?
    • Foods?
    • Music?
  • How are families involved?
  • What is the history of celebrations – link to place/country of origin
  • Why is the celebration important? What do families or celebrants believe about the celebration?
• Highlight differences, similarities
  • foods eaten,
  • songs sung,
  • prayers, verses,
  • leaders at celebrations,
  • special clothes worn
• Has celebration or recognition of event changed over time? How?
• The manner in which similar holidays are celebrated or recognized indicate different points of view and beliefs about traditions. Cultural practices that have their roots in history or another country are constantly changing and often have many similarities. In a variety of ways, provide examples of traditions and celebrations that connect people to the past, and consider why these traditions and celebrations are important today. Chart similarities and differences.
  • Students will understand how past is connected to the present
    • Students have been talking about how they celebrate traditions and family events. Have student create a personal family timeline documenting significant episodes in student and/or family life.
      • Family connections to community before student birth (before)
      • Birth of student, birth of siblings, extended family members (after)
      • Significant events linking family/student to community
      • Consider linking to Medicine wheel teachings where direction indicates times of life.
  • Students will explore the kinship/family relationships according to traditional teachings. (Check treaty education resources for info on traditional teachings)

• Consider how lives of people in the past can serve as models of how to live as contributing citizens and how people in the past are connected to place today.
  • Research community names, building names, street names to find out history of name and why it is important to the community
  • Connect info to study about responsibility toward community stewardship
    • What story was the individual’s behaviour telling?
    • Have student indicate how individual demonstrated community stewardship
• Invite an Elder or Knowledge Keeper to explain the teachings of the Medicine Wheel: 4 directions – South – infant/childhood, West – adolescence, North – adulthood, East – old age, death.

• Review students’ original thinking on the essential questions. Has their thinking changed?
• What new learning supports their change?

Inquiry Question:
Are cultures more similar or different?
What are some of the big ideas that students are seeing?
Why is this important to know?
Students will demonstrate their understanding that we act based on our worldviews, our cultural experiences and therefore may have different points of view.
What is my story?

• Have student choose one custom, tradition, celebration practiced in their life.
• Have students describe the event and tell:
  • how the event is rooted in the past;
  • how the event is important to the student (influences present behaviour); and,
  • what the event says about what the student values.

Informal Indicators of Understanding
What story is my behaviour telling?

• Give examples of situations and ask students to predict what might happen next.
• Identify thinking or reasons for predictions i.e. similar past experiences, read about similar situation in stories
• Recognize behaviours and attributes of appropriate role models (i.e. Identify and/or model behaviours of a supportive reading buddy.
• Revisit K-W-L chart as a whole class to see if questions and ‘want to knows’ were addressed