The Way We Are: Instructional Plan The step-by-step instructions to complete this project Engage, Activate Prior Knowledge and Build Context Time: Two 45-60 minute blocks Engage: Depending on students' age and their experience with pen pals as well as their experience with the country where their epals live, select at least two of the following activities to engage students at the start of your unit: Gather and display books about pen pals. (See resources page.) Post maps and pictures of your epals' region/country. Exhibit artifacts native to the region/country. Use and display resources found by researching countries and neighboring countries on National Geographic Country Pages. Create a resource center that includes informational texts, fiction stories relating to the country, photos depicting lifestyles in the region/country and lists of websites that will help your students learn more about your epals region/country and their day-to-day lives. Encourage students to use this when they have free time as well. Invite students to discuss what they liked most about their activities you have chosen. As students share their thoughts, try to instill an excitement about the unit and about the country you will be looking at more closely. Take notes on a piece of chart paper to track student interest for future lessons. Activate Prior Knowledge: This unit has three purposes: getting to know students from another country, learning about the country in which they live, and understanding the differences that can result from students' different backgrounds. Explain to your students that they will make friends (epals) with students who live in another country. By exchanging emails, they will learn about daily life in that country. They will explore their epals experiences and daily lives and share and reflect on their own experiences and daily lives. For many students the concept of a pen pal (or epal) is new. For others, being a pen pal is old hat. Ask your students what they know about pen pals so you can decide how much time you need to spend explaining what a pen pal is. If students already understand the concept of a pen pal, then you might want to change the lesson objective to what makes a good pen pal and spend time identifying good characteristics (e.g., is interested in the other person, answers all the questions they have been asked by their pen pal and asks good questions of him or her, etc.) If they do not know much about pen pals or if you have the time, it may be useful to include a read aloud and a K-W-L chart to support their understanding. Picturing someone they cannot see or meet in person may be hard, and this support can further invest your students. For students who are not familiar with pen pals or who require further support Introduce the term "pen pal" by using a K-W-L chart and brainstorm what they and what they want to know before a read aloud. After the read aloud, discuss and revisit the K-W-L chart. Add students' responses to the column, What We Learned. Next, read Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James to help your student understand the concept of a pen pal. Ask your students to think about two questions as you are reading: Why do they write to each other? and What do they talk about in their letters? Share the kinds of thoughts and questions that come to mind as you read. This process models what good readers do. Keep your thoughts and questions brief so you don t interrupt the flow of the story. After you read the book, discuss your students responses to the questions on the K-W-L chart and add or revise any information they provide.
K What we Know You write letters to pen pals. W What We Want to Know What do pen pals write about? L What We Learned The pen pal writes letters back. Where are pen pals from? This next section is useful for all students. It can be the only focus, however, for students who are already familiar with pen pals or who have used a site like epals before. Create a chart with your students, titled What Makes a Good Pen Pal Letter? and post it. As a group, list characteristics of a good pen pal. Start with these suggestions, or come up with your own list. What Makes a Good Pen Pal Letter? 1. The pen pal shares interesting information about him or herself. 2. The letter is friendly. 3. It asks questions about the other person's life. 4. It's fun to look at! For all students. introduce their epals country. Pass around the artifacts you collected about your epals country. Ask your students what they know and want to know about the region/country where their epals live. Post their responses on a KWL chart with three categories: what I know, what I want to know, and what I have learned. Post the essential questions and ask your students to share what they think the questions mean. Explain to the students that these will be guiding questions throughout the unit and that you will ask them periodically to respond to the questions. Keep the Essential Questions posted throughout the unit and refer to them as needed. Build Context: The project is titled The Way We Are. Ask your students what this means. Explain to them that, in order to share The Way We Are with epals, it is important for each student to be able to identify and describe specific characteristics about himself. One engaging way to do this is to play a Getting to Know You game called Fact and Fiction. A bonus to this game is that your students will learn about diversity within their classroom and develop a greater sense of community. Older students (grades 5-7 should be introduced to the concept of a stereotype during this session. To begin, students should sit in a circle. Students need to choose all statements (Fact and Fiction) from the following topics: nicknames, ethnic background, where their parents were born, which generation they represent in this country for their family or one custom their family practices. Students must guess which statement is a fictional. Model the game by telling them three statements about yourself, only two of which are true. After making your three statements, have students write down which item they think is fiction. Call on a few students to guess the lie and explain why they chose that statement. After you model the process, give students time to think carefully about ideas for their own facts and fictions. Instruct each student to write down his three statements. Ask students to share their three statements with partners and discuss responses. Invite volunteers to try to outwit the class. Have a chart or projected list with everyone s name on it and write down one true statement about each student. (This list will also help you keep track of who has shared their truths.)
End the activity by asking students what answers they expected from their classmates and what facts they might expect to learn about their epals. This part is not to be shared, but can help people realize how they formulate ideas about people based on appearances, prior knowledge and more. These ideas about people can change over time. Other lessons can help students understand the concept of stereotypes even more. See http://www.yale.edu/peace/session6.htm. Email #1: All About Me Time: Two 30-45 minute blocks on consecutive days Grades 2 and 3 Day 1: Classroom Instruction Engage students by asking them to tell you about one of their close friends. Where are they from? What are their favorite things to do? What do you like to do together? Remind students that close friends know a lot about each other. They become closer friends as they learn more. This will be very important for getting to know your epals. Finding specific words to describe themselves may be hard for students, but the worksheet All About Me can help. Tell students that they will use the All About Me worksheet as a guide to help with their first epals email exchange. Show students how to fill out the All About Me worksheet by filling out one about you in front of the class. Then pass out All About Me to your students. Give ample time to complete the worksheet or assign this for homework. Give students time to share the information on their All About Me forms. If students are completing their worksheets in class, have students who quickly complete it draw a picture that represents who they are on the back of the paper. A picture of this drawing can be included in the email. Day 2: Writing Email Before beginning, remind students about what makes a good pen pal. Brainstorm with students about questions they want to know more about their pen pals. A suggested structure for their email might be: 1. Students introduce themselves and open their letter. 2. Students share the information from their All About Me worksheets. 3. Students ask their epals questions about themselves. 4. Students end their letter with a friendly closing (how excited they are to receive their epals letter, etc.). Grades 4-7 Day 1: Classroom Instruction Engage students by asking them to tell you about one of their close friends. Where are they from? What are their favorite things to do? What do you like to do together? Remind students that close friends know a lot about each other. They become closer friends as they learn more. This will be very important for getting to know your epals. Provide students with vocabulary for the lesson trait, characteristic, unique. Discuss with students how these concepts connect to the idea of a stereotype.
Using the My Pen Pal and Me worksheet, model for students how they can think of the 5 most important facts, characteristics or traits about themselves. Do the same for what they want to know about their pen pals. You should model how they can work in small groups to answer this question. Encourage students to share with each other what they think makes the other person interesting and unique. Encourage students to spend time learning more about their pen pals country if they have finished the worksheet. Day 2: Writing Email Before beginning, remind students about what makes a good pen pal. Brainstorm with students about questions they want to know more about their pen pals. A suggested structure to the email might be: Students introduce themselves and open the letter in a friendly way. Students share the information from their My Pen Pal and Me worksheets. Students ask their epals questions about themselves based on their work on the My Pen Pal and Me worksheets. Student offer a friendly closing to the letter (they tell their epal how excited they are to hear from them, etc.). Email #2: A Day In My Life Time: Two 45-60 minute blocks on consecutive days Day 1: Classroom Instruction Have your students print out the emails they received from their epals. Give your students time to read them. Lead them in a discussion about the emails, giving your students the opportunity to share information about their epals and brainstorm answers to the questions their epals asked. Go back and add new information to the Essential Questions chart you began earlier in the project. Have students share one surprising and one interesting fact that they learned from their emails. Have your students create a timeline of an average day in their lives. Explain that they will use the timelines as guides for their second email exchange. Timelines should include when they wake up, what they do before school, important parts of their school day, what they do in the afternoon, what they do in the evening and the time they go to bed. Engage your students in today's lesson by showing them examples of timelines from textbooks or from the Internet. You can find some examples here, but be sure to use example timelines that correspond to the types of timelines your students are going to create: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/timeline.html http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/space-travel/space-timeline-interactive http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/vikings/timeline.shtml For younger students or students who need support, consider http://www.teachervision.fen.com/childrens-art-activities/printable/45111.html Depending on your students grade, encourage them to spend more time with these other timelines. Specifically, you can discuss how the Vikings timeline (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/vikings/timeline.shtml) is different. How does it include two different types of events on one timeline? How can you use this strategy for the future?
Explain to students how important your daily schedule is to others. Explain that one of the most important parts of friendship is understanding what another person s life is like. Model on an overhead or on a piece of chart paper what an average day looks like in your own life. Include when you wake up, what you do before school, important parts of the school day, what you do in the afternoon, evening, and what time you go to bed. Highlight the important components of a timeline. Have students do the same, and include a list of what they must include in their timeline. For younger students or those who need support, use the scaffolded timeline above (see last bullet point). You may encourage students in grades 5-7 to leave one side of their timeline blank so that they can fill in information about their pen pal s schedule (see the Viking link above). Give students time to share the information on their timelines. During the sharing, you might create a chart documenting similarities and differences between your students days. Day 2: Writing Email Remind students what makes a good pen pal letter and brainstorm questions with students about what they might ask their pen pals. A suggested email structure might be: 1. Students begin their emails with a friendly opening. 2. Students should answer any questions their epals asked of them in the first emails. 3. Students then describe their typical day. Students should answer some of the following questions, using their timelines as guides for their email: What are three things that you do almost every day? What time do you get up and go to bed? What do you do when you get home from school? Do you have any chores or jobs? What are your favorite foods? How long is your school day? What are the most important subjects you study? What are your favorite activities to do after school? 4. Students should ask their epals at least three questions about what the epals do on a typical day. Students should also ask any questions they had after reading their epals first emails. 5. Students should end the letter with a friendly closing message (how much they enjoyed their epals' letters, etc.). Email #3: Environment Time: Three 45-60 minute blocks on consecutive days Day 1: Review of Previous Email Have your students print out the emails they received from their epals. Give your students time to read them. Lead a discussion about the emails, giving your students the opportunity to share information about their epals typical days. How are they similar to or different from their own typical days? Create a Venn Diagram of the similarities and differences. Then brainstorm answers to the questions their epals asked. Go back and add new information to the Essential Questions chart you began during the Engage, Activate Prior Knowledge and Build Context lesson. Students in grades 5-7 should use their epals email as a way to construct a two-sided timeline like the Viking timeline found in the previous lesson (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/vikings/timeline.shtml). Model how you can do this using your
timeline from the previous lesson. Use an example email or a mock email you have drafted. Then give students an opportunity to add information from their pen pal to their own timeline. You may suggest that they use a different color to distinguish the two timelines. Review the parts of the timeline and the importance of a key for the timeline now. Day 2: Classroom Instruction Engage students by putting a copy of two (or more) maps around the room. The maps should include similar maps of both your location and your epals locations. If you d like, give students time to walk around the room and see them. Depending on your students grade level and experience with maps, focus on just physical maps or expand to look at physical, climate, and political maps. Share with students that they will study maps of their location and their epals location to explore and describe the local areas where each of them live. talk about what maps are (e.g., something that conveys information about a place visually) and about all the different things maps can teach us about where your epal lives! You can print country maps for students to support their activities in this lesson: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html You can also research country information in advance or with your students: http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/directory.html A climate map of the world can be found http://www.allcountries.org/maps/world_climate_maps.html For Grades 2-4 Provide students with the vocabulary they will need for this lesson. This may include landforms, physical geography, climate, weather, etc. Brainstorm with your students how the environment where people live can impact their lives. Focus particularly on the physical aspects of where you and your epals live. Have your students review a physical map of their location and their epals location. Make sure you have pictures printed off of major features on the map. This will draw the connection between the colors they are seeing and the real world. If possible, it may be useful to have more than one physical map of your own area (one of the entire country, another of your region). For further explanation of landforms, visit: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/types_of_land_2/. Model using a Venn Diagram to distinguish between the environment in your area and in your epals. You may use the Describing Environments worksheet (simplified for your students ability) to guide some of your answers, but we suggest using a Venn Diagram as your activity. Students will use this Venn Diagram to help them write their third emails to their epals. Divide students into groups. Ask students to add at least 3 more facts to their Venn Diagram. Give them the list of suggested questions for their next emails (listed day 3). Encourage students to brainstorm answers using the worksheet to the questions or create new related questions to answer. For Grade 5-7 Provide students with the vocabulary they will need for this lesson. This may include landforms, physical geography, climate, weather, urban, suburban, rural, etc.
Brainstorm with your students how the environment in which people live can impacts their lives. Use very concrete examples to make it clear in students' minds. How does living in the mountains affect our lives? How does living in a city affect our lives? Explain that there are many factors that shape an environment, including physical and climate aspects. Have your students review a physical map and a climate map of their location and their epals location. Use epals Maps Project as necessary to further teach map skills to your students. You may use more types of maps if you feel your students have already mastered some map skills. For further explanation of landforms, visit: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/types_of_land_2/. Hand out the Describing Environments worksheet. Students will use this worksheet to help them write their third emails to their epals. Some of the questions may need to be answered as a whole class. Divide students into groups. Ask student to complete the worksheet and give them the list of suggested questions for their next emails (listed day 3). Encourage students to brainstorm answers using the worksheet to the questions or create new related questions to answer. Day 3: Writing Email 1. Students begin their emails with a friendly and good opening. 2. Students should then answer the questions that their epals asked of them in the second email exchange. 3. Students will then provide information on the focus of the lesson and answer the following questions or related questions that they created: What does the environment near your school look like? What landforms and other sites are nearby? What is the climate like? Include this question only for grades 5-7. What activities are popular in your area related to its environment and climate? 4. Students should ask their epals at least three questions related to the environment and climate where they live. Students should also ask any questions that they had as they read their epals second emails. 5. Students should provide a friendly closing to the letter. Email #4: Culture Time: Two 40-66 minute blocks on consecutive days Day 1: Classroom Instruction Direct students to print out and read the third set of emails from their epals. Lead students in a discussion about the emails, giving them the opportunity to share information about their epals environment. Ask your students how their epals answers were different from what your students predicted on their worksheets. Then brainstorm with the class answers to the questions their epals asked. Ask your students to return to the Essential Questions chart and add any new information they have gained. Then ask if students have any new questions. Begin today s lesson by posting some definitions of culture around the room. Shorten or simplify these definitions depending on your students ages and abilities. Some of these might include: Culture is a way of life for a group of people. It includes what they do, what they believe, what they think is good, how they act, and how they communicate with each other. Culture is the
attitudes and behaviors of a group of people Culture is what a people knows, celebrates, worships and values all put together. It includes religion, food, how they communicate and much more. Culture is all the knowledge and values shared by a society or community. Discuss some of these definitions. Specifically, you might list some of the concrete things culture might mean for your lives (music, language, food, how people say things, what people want to become, etc.). Students should be thinking about what makes the country or region in which they live unique. It is possible that students have never thought that other places have different cultural experiences or ways of living. Have your students watch one or more of the following videos, then make a chart together of how the cultures of these places are different from and similar to their own culture. Younger students may be better engaged by using a read aloud about culture (consider: The Art of the Deal about shopping in a Moroccan market Cooperstown, about a small town in New York State: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/cultureplaces/sports/us_cooperstown.html Moken, a community that lives on the water in Myanmar: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/regions-places/asiasouthern/myanmar_moken.html Apache Girl s Rite of Passage: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countries-places/unitedstates/us-apachegirl-pp.html Depending on your students familiarity with culture, consider using the Culture Bingo Activity as a way to explore the different cultures within your classroom. Once you have finished discuss the results, what surprised students, etc. For older students, discuss the connection to stereotypes. In class or for homework, have students complete a worksheet on their culture in order to prepare for writing their fourth email exchange to their epals. Model the My Culture worksheet by writing down your answers to the questions in front of the class (For older students, consider using Aspects of Culture). Remind students that these are some of the parts that make up culture. Have students complete their worksheet. Have students share their answers with partners and then share the most interesting answers with the entire group. Discuss the similarities and differences in culture within the class. Also, in what ways are their answers different from their teacher s? Day 2: Writing Email 1. Students should start with a good and friendly opening. 2. Students should then asnwer the questions that their epals asked of them in the last emails. 3. Students should then provide information to their epals on the basis of the lesson. They should answer the following questions: Identify and describe the important elements of your culture. How do you celebrate those elements of your culture? What are your favorite cultural activities and celebrations? Where you live, are there many communities with different cultural experiences from yours? If so, how do they differ?
4. Students ask their epals questions about their culture. Students should also ask any questions that arose as a result of reading their epals last emails. 5. Students should provide a friendly closing to the letter. Email #5: Culminating Activity Time: Four 45-60 minute blocks on consecutive days Day 1: Classroom Instruction, part 1 Remind students that they are creating individual digital presentations about themselves and their epals similarities, differences and unique characteristics. Explain that these presentations offer them an opportunity to really reflect on all that they have learned about their epals and about the country where they are from. This is something they will be able to look back on for the rest of their lives. Have your students compile a list of information about their epals by individually rereading all of their emails. Divide students into small groups to discuss what they have learned from their epals. What similarities andn differences do your students see in how their epals live and what they like? Direct your students to pay particular attention to some of the main topics in the unit: culture (food, holidays, family, etc.), environment (climate, physical geography), their daily schedule. Lead the whole class in a discussion of what your students learned and the patterns your students found reviewing the emails from their epals. What inferences can students make what it s like to live where their epals live? Day 2: Classroom Instruction, part 2 Explain to students that one of the best ways to think deeply about their epals and who they are as a person is to think about the similarities and differences between their lives and your students. Model creating a Venn Diagram for your students. This will be the basis of the days activity. Students will create a Venn Diagram about themselves and their epals. Label one circle with a student s name and the other circle with an epal s name. Label the overlapping circle in the center Similarities, and the outside areas Differences or "What Makes unique." Students should then create a list in their journals of traits that make each of them unique. Have students identify which traits are culturally based, and which traits are parts of their own individual personality. Refer to previously-made lists of cultural traits for guidance. Students should then transfer this information into their digital presentations or- if this is not possible- onto a set of posters. PowerPoint presentations allow students to present this information in a compelling way and to be creative about how that information is presented. Students should create at least one slide per email topic: all about me, a day in my life, environment and culture. Students will show they have mastered the objectives of the unit by answering the essential and supporting questions based on what they know about themselves and what they learned about their epals. They can also show the ways they and their epals areunique compared to their classmates. Questions to consider include the following: How is my life similar and different from my epal's life? How do the physical geography, environment, and climate of my epal s region affect his or her life? What effect does the culture in my epal's region have on his or her life?
How do environment and culture impact me? what way do you think a person s environment and culture, no matter where they are from, impact the way they live? What are the things people my age do every day? Day 3: Sharing the Presentations Students will share their individual presentations with their classmates. Day 4: Writing Email: Students will share their completed projects with their epals. They should be sure to include a friendly opening, answers to any of the last questions, a brief introduction to the presentation, and a friendly closing that thanks them for being their pen pal. Reflection/Assessment Time: One 45-60 minute block Have students complete the L (Learned) column on their KWL chart. By evaluating these charts, you will see how your students knowledge of their epals' region has increased. Teachers: 1. Use the Culminating Activity Rubric to evaluate the culminating activity. 2. Use the Email Rubric to evaluate students email exchanges.