3-Social-Studies-Sept

Main Concept
Culture, Empathy: Cultures & Civilizations

Guiding Questions
What is a culture? What is a civilization? How and why do cultures change? Where do people settle and live? Why? Why do we celebrate holidays?

Theme/Content Skills

 * People in world communities exchange their cultures.
 * People in world communityies use legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, autobiographies, and historical narratives to transmit values, ideas, beliefs and traditions.
 * People in world communities celebrate their accomplishments, achievements and contributions.
 * Historic events can be viewed through the eyes of those who were there, as shown in their writings, art, music and artifacts.

Key Terms
community, culture, custom, citizen, holiday, heritage, ethnic group, history

Holidays
Labor Day Rosh Hashana Yom Kippur

Student Outcomes

 * Students will identify how cultures get exhanged between communities.
 * Students will define, compare and contrast the following terms: culture, civilization.
 * Students will identify aspects of their personal culture and comapre them to aspects of typical "American" culture. (ex: food, celebrations, music, etc.)

Assessment/Project

 * Students interview family members to learn about where they came from/their culture.
 * Have students identify and sort photos depicting different customs.
 * Have students write about their favorite holiday/custom.
 * Create a class calendar depicting cultural hoildays.

Resources for Teachers
Harcourt Brace Activity Book p.4 Word Web to define ethnic group

Field Trip Suggestions
Museo del Barrio Museum of the City of New York