Digital Collections

Unit Overview

LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO BACKGROUND, SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Topic: Social Studies: Family Tree, Circle, Diversity

Time frame: 2 days

Activity:

• Send a letter home to parents before starting this unit, asking them for a family tree starting with the student, then the parents, grandparents, and great parents if possible. Have them go as far back as they can, but let them know that the objective is to find out where they originated from. (What country?) You will likely be most successful if you send a blank form that goes back five or six generations.
• Collect all the family trees. Do you have one from everyone? Peruse them before using them in class. Are they acceptable? Do they go back at least three generations? Do they tell you where the student originated from? Send the appropriate questions home to receive all information necessary - no student can be left out of this process, although you may have to juggle with a student whose family does not comply - they will still have to view themselves and be viewed as an individual as important, different and the same as everyone else.
• Have students sitting in a circle so all are on the same level. Explain that this lesson, as all should, demands respect. Everyone will have a turn to speak, and everyone will have a turn to listen. We must respect each other by letting everyone have her or his turn, and by understanding that everyone is different in his or her own way.
• Introduce a number of multicultural resources. This can include books or items, symbols, etc. I would suggest using the Franklin series of books, as they are familiar, good quality books with well illustrated stories, and each student in his school is different (a different animal), and they have to learn to appreciate, understand, and respect each other.
• After reading a couple of the books from the series, ask the students about the similarities of the different students in Franklin's school. (Oral discussion) Then start a discussion on what is different about the students. Emphasize that they are friends with each other and that they all work together, despite their differences. Also note that Franklin depends heavily on his family to figure out what is special about him.
• Then begin to do the same with the students in your class. What similarities are there between students? Differences? Use a variety of techniques, like height, hair colour, clothing colour, eye colour, gender, etc. See if the students can come up with some topics and sort themselves appropriately.
• Take the family trees and use one as an example from class (your own, maybe?). Show that you know who your parents are and so on, but don't focus on this. Focus on where you originated from. Reinforce to students that every one of them has come from a different place. Redistribute the trees to the appropriate students and ask them to colour a tree into the background. While they are busy with the activity, go from table to table asking them if they know anything about their background.
• Return to the circle. Try to group students according to their backgrounds (optional, as there may be sensitive situations depending on your class). Find out in an oral discussion if anyone from the group knows about his or her background. Write them out on the board. Keep these for future reference.
• If time permits, write out the origins of the students in your class, and have students attempt to write them at their desk. They should be familiar with those around them as they will likely work together in school for a long time.
• Have them write in their journals at the end of this section. What did they learn about themselves? Their classmates? Grade two journals may still be half text and half blank for pictures; use the space in the journals effectively.