Happy Birthday! - Around the World
Celebrating Our Differences, Exploring Our Similarities
By Patricia Horn & Kris Vassos
Guiding Questions
Objectives
Materials / Resources
Web Resources
Literature:
Engaging and Effective Activities
Assessment Methods
Enrichment/Extension Activities
Differentiation Strategies
Connections
Guiding Questions
- • How are people around the world alike?
• How are people around the world different?
• How are people around the world alike and different with respect to the ways they celebrate birthdays?
Objectives
- • Students will explore the concept of celebrations through understanding how people around the world celebrate birthdays.
• Students will understand the types of events people celebrate (such as birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, and Labor Day).
• Students will discover how their birthday celebrations compare to others’ around the world.
Materials / Resources
- • Birthday Information questionnaire
• Pages Birthday Graph
• Digital camera
• Scanner
• Computer
• iLife [http://www.apple.com/ilife]
• iWork [http://www.apple.com/iwork]
• Inspiration [http://www.inspiration.com]
• Graph Club [http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?SKU=GRPV20&Subject=Math]
Web Resources
- • Google Earth [http://earth.google.com]
• Google Maps [http://map.google.com]
• The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis [http://www.childrensmuseum.org/birthday/birthday_world.html]
(Students can hear songs and words from the different countries.)
• Kids Party Connection [http://www.kidsparties.com/TraditionsInDifferentCountries.htm]
• Birthday Express [http://www.birthdayexpress.com/bexpress/planningBirthdayCelebrations.asp]
• Traditions Around the World [http://www.birthdaycelebrations.net/traditions.htm]
Literature:
- • Shake Shake Shake: Family Celebration Board Books by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
• Pretty Brown Face by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• Watch Me Dance: Family Celebration Board Books by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• Let's Count, Baby (revised) (What-a-Baby Series) by Cheryl Willis Hudson
• Good Night, Baby (revised) (What-a-Baby Series) by Cheryl Willis Hudson
• I Smell Honey: Family Celebration Board Books by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Engaging and Effective Activities
- 1. Discuss with the class the meaning of the word "celebrations." What is a "celebration”?
2. Discuss the celebrations in which the students participate. (Examples: birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) Make a list of the class celebrations. Make a graph of the various celebrations and how many students participate in each of them using Graph Club or a Pages Celebrations template.
3. Have the students take home the Birthday Celebration Questionnaire and have parents fill it out with students. Ask the students to discuss the answers with their parents so they can present their information to the class. In addition, students should bring in a photo that shows an example of what their family uses to celebrate birthdays, such as a photograph of a birthday cake, decorations, candles, etc.
4. Have children present to the class how they celebrate their birthday. Create a list of the different things involved such as a cake, party, candles, etc. From the list, have students create a Pages graph showing how many students have a cake, get presents, and so on. The students can also make a Venn diagram with Inspiration or a Pages Celebration template to compare and contrast their birthday celebrations.
5. Place students in groups. Have each group create a short presentation about the different aspect of how birthdays are celebrated. One group can discuss the different birthday cakes, another group can discuss parties, and so on. If the students have limited writing skills, use GarageBand or an iPod with a voice recorder to record each group's presentation.
6. Either scan or photograph the birthday photos brought in by the students. Import them into iPhoto. Using the crop tool, crop each photo so that it highlights an aspect of a birthday celebration.
7. From this point, a number of projects can be completed with the audio and photographs:
- • Younger students can create an iPhoto picture book.
• Create an iPhoto book [http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/iphoto/ip5-3.html] with captions describing how cakes, candles, etc. are used in a birthday celebration.
• Create a Pages book [http://www.apple.com/iwork/pages/], placing the audio with the photos.
• Create a Keynote presentation [http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/] with the photos, writing text, and using the audio clips.
• Create an iMovie project [http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/] using the clips and the audio. Students can also place titles and use the voiceover tool to add audio to the movie.
• Create an enhanced podcast with GarageBand [http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/] using the photos and the audio. Students could interview each other about their birthday traditions.
8. Now that students have an understanding of how they celebrate birthdays, they can research how others in the world celebrate birthdays.
9. Students can work individually or be placed in groups, depending on the grade level. Assign different countries to different students. Students will:
- • Research the birthday celebration of their country
• Locate the country by using either Google Maps or Google Earth
• Compare the birthday celebration of their assigned country to how the class celebrates birthdays
10. Each individual or group will create a presentation about their country’s birthday celebration and share with the class.
11. As closure, discuss the differences in how people around the world celebrate birthdays.
- • What surprised students about how other people celebrate? Why?
• What was their favorite way of celebrating? Why?
• What was their least favorite way of celebrating a birthday? Why?
• What did they learn about people in other countries?
Assessment Methods
- • Assessment of the Venn diagrams
• Assessment of the student research
• Teacher observation
• Rubric for student projects
Enrichment/Extension Activities
- In addition to the list of projects above:
• Enter students’ birthdays in iCal [http://www.apple.com/macosx/apps/#ical].
• Create an iPhoto calendar with students’ birthdays. Place students’ photos in the months and on the dates their birthdays take place.
• Create iPhoto birthday announcements.
• Students could interview parents to find out how they celebrated their birthdays.
• Organize a day when people from other countries are invited to come speak to the students about their birthday traditions.
• Use Facetime [http://www.apple.com/macosx/apps/#facetime] or a distance learning unit to connect with other students around the world.
Differentiation Strategies
- • If older students are available, have them work with the younger students to complete the various projects.
• Universal Access can be used to help students who need assistive technologies.
Connections
- • Student to Family Connection - students learn more about their family’s birthday celebrations
• Family to School Connection - teachers learn more about their students and their families
• Student to Country - students learn more about their country’s birthday celebrations
• Student to World connection - students learn more about other countries' birthday celebrations