Mary Todd Tours the World

Mary Todd Elementary School
A Standards-Based Integrated Unit of Study  (K-5)
Written by Clarice Morbley, James Poff, and Shannon Dunn  

Organizer    Essential Questions    Academic Expectations    Secondary Academic Expectations    Culminating Performance    Scoring Guide    Content/Knowledge Needed    Skills/Abilities Needed    Instructional/Assessment Activities    Schoolwide Concluding Events    Critical Resources 
      



The world is made up of people from different cultures.  Understanding the cultural similarities and differences will help us get along with others.

Organizer:

How does understanding another culture encourage us to respect each other?

Essential Questions:

1.  What is culture?

2.  What does a country’s culture say about that country?

     a.  food                                                       f.   pastimes

     b.  music                                                     g.  geography

     c.  art                                                          h.  language

     d.  folktales                                                i.  money

     e.  customs                                                 j.  government

3.  How do other cultures affect our culture?

Academic Expectations:

1.1    Students use multiple reference tools to find  the information they need to meet specific demands, explore interests, or solve problems.

1.11  Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.16  Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize, and communicate information and ideas.

1.2   Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.

2.19 Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.

Secondary Academic Expectations:

1.12 Students speak using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.13 Students make sense of ideas and communicate ideas with visual arts.

1.14 Students make sense of ideas and communicate ideas with music.

2.22 Students create works of art and make presentations to convey a point of view.

2.24 Students have knowledge of major works of art, music, literature and appreciate creativity and the contributions of the arts and humanities.

2.25 In the products they make and the performance they present, students  that they understand how time, place, and society influence the arts and humanities such as language, literature, and history.

2.26 Through the arts and humanities, students recognize that although people are different, they share some common experiences and attitudes.

2.27 Students recognize and understand the similarities and differences among languages.

2.37 Students demonstrate skills and work habits that lead to success in future schooling and work.

2.6   Students understand how living and non-living things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.

2.7   Students understand number concepts and use numbers appropriately and accurately.

2.8   Students understand various mathematical procedures and use them appropriate and accurately.

4.5   Students demonstrate an understanding of, appreciation for, and sensivity to a multi-cultural and world view.

5.1   Students use critical thinking skills such as analyzing, prioritizing, categorizing, evaluating, and comparing to solve a variety of problems in real-life situation.

5.3   Students organize information to develop or change their understanding of a concept.

Culminating Performance:

Each class will contribute to a school web page on countries of the world.  The countries include:

Culminating Performance Scoring Guide:

Your contribution to the web page shows that you:

  • Used research tools to access information.

  • Expressed thoughts/ideas through verbal and/or symbolic representation.

  • Used computers and other kinds if technology to collect, organize, and communicate information and ideas.

  • Related reading experiences to life situation.

  • Examined the interaction between people and their environment.

Content/Knowledge Needed:

Culture

K

1

2

3-5

Food

Food

Food

Food

Music

Music

Music

Music

Art

Art

Art

Art

 

Folktales

Folktales

Folktales

 

Pastimes

Pastimes

Pastimes

 

Money

Money

Money

 

 

Customs

Customs

 

 

Language

Language

 

 

Geography

Geography

 

 

 

Government

Skills/Abilities Needed:

Instructional/Assessment Activities:

Kindergarten:  Italy

Suggested Reading:

 Little Ninos Pizzaria by K. Barbour

Grandfather’s Rock:  An Italian Folktale by Joel Stranglis

The Mysterious Giant of Bartletta: An Italian Folktale  by Tomie dePaola

Petrosinella:  A Neopolitan Rapunzel by Diane Stanley

Amzat And His Brother:  Three Italian Tales by Floriano Vecchi

Silver At Night by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Peppe The Lamplight by Elisa Bartone

The Painter’s Trick by Piero and Marisa Ventura

Tony’s Bread by Tomit De Paola

Stone Soup by Marsha Brown

1st Grade:  Australia

Suggested Reading:

Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker

Possum Magic by Mem Fox

2nd Grade:  China

Suggested Readings:

The Paper Crane by M. Bang

Lion Dancer:  Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year by K. Waters

Cleaversticks by B. Ashley

I Hate English by E. Levine

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Betty Lord

El Chino by A. Say

Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China

 3rd Grade:  Mexico

Suggested Readings:

Friends From the Other Side/Amegos Del Otro Lado by G. Anzaldua

Fiesta’ by J. Behrens

The Riddle of the Drum by Verna Aardema

Arroz Con Leche by L. Delacre

The Flame of Peace: A Tale of the Aztecs  by D. Lattimore

Mexicalai Soup by K. Hitte and W. Hayes

Three Stalks of Corn by L. Politi

A Birthday Present for Tia by P. Mora Abuelo

Tigers and Possums:  Animal Legends by M. Kurtycz and A. B. Kobeh

Juanita by Leo Politi

Sons of the Swallows by Leo Politi

4th Grade:  Japan

Suggested Readings:

How My Parents Learned To Eat by I.R. Friedman

Tree of Cranes by A. Say

Grandfather’s Journey by A. Say

The Magic Fan by Keith Baker

Mai-Li and the Magic Brush by

The Bracelet by Y. Uchida

5th Grade:  England

Suggested Readings:

Percy To the Rescue by Steven J. Simmons

The Inside-Outside Book of London by Roxie Munro

You Can’t Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown by Paula Danzinger

England, by Jean F. Lashfield

Games People Play! England by William Lychack

Science:  Egypt

Suggested Readings:

Mummies Made in Egypt, by Aliki

Hieroglyphs From A to Z by Peter Der Manuelian

The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut by Dorothy Carter

Life in Ancient Egypt by William Crouch

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Pyramid by David Macaulay

Mummies by John Vornholt

Pepi and the Secret Names by Jill Paton Walsh

The Egyptian Polar Bear by JoAnn Adinolfi

The Day of Ahmed’s Secret by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland

Croco’Nile by Roy Gerrard

The Mystery of King Karfu by Doug Cushman

A Puzzling Day in the Land of the Pharaohs by Scoular Anderson

School-wide Concluding Events:

Critical Resources:

 

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