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Why do cultures have celebrations and remembrances?

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Kids Web Japan provides fun content that helps children learn about Japan. The site is widely used in elementary and middle school classrooms around the world. Parts of the site are available in French, German, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Arabic.

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Sponsored by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA). Kids Web Japan. http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/index.html
Summary: Kids Web Japan is a website that introduces Japan to schoolchildren aged who live in other countries. The site is available in eight different languages.
Rationale: I chose this website to incorporate into my text set because I wanted to use technology so that my students had the opportunity to explore all modes of text. This will allow students to learn to read digital literacies while also learning about Japan's culture, celebrations, and remembrances.
Literacy Strategies: I-Statement Charts: Students will work in the computer lab with a partner to explore the website, I will model before. Students will have post-it notes with them during their exploring and will create I-statements to their reading. Some examples are...I learned, I really liked, I found, I didn't know. We will place our post-its together on the board and when everyone is finished come back together and share our learning and connections about the website.

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Nepali Dance - Folk Art Form, Nepal | World Culture festival 2016

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[The Art of Living]. (2017, March 13). Nepali Dance - Folk Art Form, Nepal | World Culture festival 2016. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MRxCSM_k74
Summary: Nepali Dance is an unaffected folk art.. It depicts activities such as work and courtship. 150 Dancers creatively express their cultural diversity by showcasing four dances.
Rationale: I chose to include this video in my text set because my school has a large population of Nepali students who are refugees from Nepal. I wanted to include a part of their culture so they could either learn more about it or share their culture with the other students in the classroom. The video shows traditional dance and clothing in Nepal.
Literacy Strategies: After watching the video as a class, students will turn and talk about what they saw and heard. Students will then respond to the dance in any form they choose, written narrative, poem, illustration, dance, song, etc. Students will share their responses and connections they made to the video and discuss.

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Dooley, N. (1992). Everybody Cooks Rice. Carolrhoda Books.
Age Range: 5 - 9 years
Grade Level: 1 - 3

Summary: The main character is sent to find their younger brother at dinnertime and is introduced to a variety of cultures while encountering the many different ways rice is prepared at the different households visited.
Rationale: I chose this book because food is a huge part of culture and I felt it represented all the different ways cultures can cook the same food. It also shows students that different cultures can live right down the street, they don't need to be a world apart.
Literacy Strategies: Graffiti Board  After reading the story aloud as a class, students will work in small groups to create a graffiti board representing all the different cultures and their ways of cooking. Each group will then share their board and discuss the similarities and difference between the responses.

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Vardell, S. &  Wong, J. (2015). The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (children's Edition): Holiday Poems for the Whole Year in English and Spanish. New Jersey: Pomelo Books.
Grades: K-5th grade
Summary: This text is a collection of 156 poems in English and Spanish about celebrations all around the world. Some of the choices are Valentine’s Day, Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Black History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Three Kings Day, Lunar New Year, the end of Ramadan, Obon, and Diwali.
Rationale: I chose this text because it incorporated another form of text into my set, poetry. I also enjoyed how it was written in both English and Spanish for my ELs who speak Spanish in my classroom.
Literacy Strategies: Quoteable Quote:  In my classroom I would select 10 poem from the text, in English or Spanish based on the students, and pair them up. Students will work in groups of two, read their poem, and then discuss the main parts of the culture's celebration. Students will then individually choose a quotable quote and write it on an index card. On the other side, draw a picture or write why they chose the quote and what connections they made to it or the importance of the quote. Students will then take turns sharing their poem and their quotable quotes they chose and why with the whole group.

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Staub, L. (2006).  Whoever You Are. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
Age Range: 4 - 7 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
Lexile Measure: 280L
Summary: Every day all over the world, children are laughing and crying, playing and learning, eating and sleeping. They may not look the same. They may not speak the same language or celebrate the same way. Their lives may be quite different. But inside, they are all alike. This book touches on many cultures and how they are similar and different.
Rationale: I chose this book as my anchor text for my text set because I felt it would be a good activator for the text set to get students interested in learning about all different cultures around the world and their celebrations and remembrances.
Literacy Strategies: Cultural X-Rays: After reading the story aloud, we will discuss the meaning of the word culture, a set of social practices by a group of people. These practices go beyond external characteristics, like language, food, and clothing, to include basic values and perspectives. (Gertz, 1973). Students will create a cultural x-ray of their own culture and identify their values, beliefs, celebrations and remembrances. Some questions to spark their interest are, What values do you gain from your family? What does your family add to your life? Students will then share their cultural x-rays and discuss the differences even within our classroom, which will hopefully spark an interest in learning about cultures all over the world.

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Karroum, B. (2018). Tell me More about Ramadan. Bachar Karroum.
Age Range: 5-8 years
Summary: The story of Laila, a curious young Muslim girl that wants to learn about Ramadan. This is a fun story for kids to make comprehending religious concepts easier while also sparking their curiosity for further knowledge about the Islamic religion. This Muslim book uses Islamic concepts coming from the Quran (Qur’an) and explained in a way that is easily understood by Muslim kids.
Rationale: I chose this book because I have Muslim students in my classroom, so I thought this would be an excellent way to explore one of their celebrations, Ramadan.
Literacy Strategies:  Art Trading Cards: I plan to have my students "think artistically" and design a trading card to demonstrate their learning of Ramadan. Students will then trade their cards and discuss with other classmates.

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Rondina, C. (2012) Lighting Our World: A Year of Celebrations. Toronto Kids Can Press.
Age Range: 7 - 10 years
Grade Level: 2 - 5
Lexile Measure: 1090L

Summary: Throughout the year and around the globe, people use light, candles, bonfires, lanterns and fireworks to celebrate special occasions. This richly illustrated book is an illuminating tour of the world's brightest and warmest festivities.
Rationale: I chose this text because it uses a fictional character to share one festival, and on the facing page a festival from a different area of the world is described in straight nonfiction. I loved the combination of fiction and non-fiction to expose my students to multiple genres within the same text.
Literacy Strategies: Say Something After reading the text aloud as a whole group, students will engage in Say Something strategy where pairs of students will receive one copy of a section of the text. Students will re-read and discuss together. After reading the fiction side, students will stop and "say something" to each other about the reading and then repeat for the non-fiction side. As a closing, I will ask the students to reflect on how "say something" supported their reading and discussions.

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Reynolds, J. (2010).  Celebrate!: Connections Among Cultures. New York Lee & Low Books.
Age Range: 6 - 10 years
Grade Level: 2 - 4
Lexile Measure: NC1060L
Summary: This book presents a fascinating look at the celebrations of various cultures around the world. The text describes the unique traditions followed by these groups and also highlights the underlying similarities and connections of these different cultures. The people covered in the book are: the Tibetans and Sherpas of the Himalaya, the Tuareg of the Sahara, the Aborigines of Australia, the Sami of northern (Arctic) Europe, the Yanomami of the Amazon Basin, the Inuit of northern North America, and the Balinese of Indonesia.
Rationale: I chose this text because it discusses the many celebrations and remembrances within many cultures around the world. Within my school we have Balinese students so I thought they would be able to relate to the text and share their knowledge with the other students.
Literacy Strategies: Quick draw: After reading aloud together as a class, students will draw a picture of one of the celebrations discussed in the book that they felt connected to or wanted to learn more about. Students will share with the class and discuss.