New Year’s Lesson Plan: Culture

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic New Year’s, and supports the standard of understanding diverse cultures and customs practiced throughout the world. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students: 

  • What is a favorite holiday you celebrate? What traditions are related to this holiday?
  • How do your family and friends celebrate the New Year?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read aloud the description on the New Year’s topic page. 
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Laws and Customs” or “Around the World”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign the New Year’s Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about New Year’s while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Choose one region or culture described in the movie and create a mini-documentary about how New Year’s is celebrated in that community. 
  • Make-a-Map: Create a concept map comparing and contrasting the ways people celebrate New Year’s throughout the world. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a meme expressing why New Year’s is important to you. 
  • Primary Source Activity: Examine the Victorian-era British postcard and cite details to answer the accompanying questions.

More to Explore 

Culture Unit : Continue to build understanding around different cultures by exploring related topics.

Teacher Support Resources:

 

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4