Documenti di Didattica
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Documenti di Cultura
TLS 317
Diana Hill
20 November 2017
Rationale
For this assignment, my cultural story box was on China. Chloe and I worked together for
some parts of this assignment, for example the engagement in the WOW library but we also
worked separately, for example I planned the first week of unit plans and she planned the second
week going off my ideas. The activities in the two-week unit plan are created for a kindergarten
class in Tucson, Arizona for children who are five to six years old. Chinese culture and practices
are so different from Tucson, which is the environment that this class is familiar with, which is
why these activities are going to be so engaging and a great learning opportunity for them. For
the WOW event, Chloe and I had the idea to explore chopsticks which is an activity that uses
math as well as fine motor skills. This was an activity that children from Tucson can have
previous experience with, as most of them have probably gone to a Chinese restaurant with their
families. This engagement was the perfect opportunity for the children who came, to practice
using chopsticks with chopstick helpers, and learn how to count as they placed each chopstick or
rice roll into the bowl. This activity relates to the INTASC Standard #1 because in this activity,
the children can pick whichever treat they want to, but it also gives children room to challenge
themselves because the goal is to move either 5 fortune cookies or 5 rolls from one bowl to the
other. Our goal was also to have the children get an idea about the foods that are popular in
China. This also relates to the CREATE Principal 1, because I am valuing the funds of
knowledge within China by exposing children to different types of food. In my unit plan, I took
into consideration the fact that every child has different interests and abilities, so I incorporated
many different types of activities in my unit plan to represent each child’s different abilities
(NAEYC Standard 1). This will help me to create an inviting and warm environment for each of
my students. Each lesson plan can be modified for students who are having trouble or need extra
attention.
Alan Woo-Isabelle Malenfant. (2015). Maggie’s Chopsticks. This book is perfect for
studies unit week one on Thursday to teach the class about animals in China vs. the
animals in America.
Li-Qiong Yu-Cheng-Liang Zhu. A New Year’s Resolution. 2008. This book is great
for teaching children about the Chinese New Year’s and how it differs from our New
Year’s.
Christopher Niemann-HarperCollins-2008. The Pet Dragon. This book will be read in
class proceeding the activities with the dragon that we will be doing.
Elizabeth Long(Author). Prissy Sissy Tea Party Series Book 2 The Chinese New
Year Tea Party. November 6, 2015. This book will be read prior to the class tea party.
This is a great book for teaching children about other cultures and traditions and they
can connect this to their knowledge of the Chinese New Year that we will be learning
this week.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AUk4dGodD4YvBitvnZ1pEmg14WD7Z1qo7-
Wu, Faye-Lynn and Kieren Dutcher. Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes: Share
and Sign in Two Languages. Tuttle Pub., 2010. This book teaches children about
china in a fun way through nursery rhymes. You can also teach the class to sign in two
45 pages! Using this handout, have the children count how many artifacts there are.
Chinese New Year Slime and Science Activity for Kids. Pinterest, 7 Jan. 2017.
children to use fine motor skills to make fiery red and sparkling gold New Year Slime.
Easy & Cool Science Experiment for Kids. Pinterest, 6 July 2016.
children that the sky looks the same around the world whether you are in the US or
China.
STEM Activities for Kids: Great Wall of China Challenge. Pinterest, 26 Jan. 2017.
will be doing. The children will have the challenge to build the Great Wall of China using
blocks under pillows to represent the idea that it was built on a mountain.
1 literacy where they will trace each letter day by day (C, H, I, N, A).
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AdxiHGOvUD0si6DQLbbIRsGKYKgDr8M-4kjT9dU-
Y943x9m9HzfbiOc/ This is the recipe we will use to make the sesame noodles.
Learn Chinese. Classroom Rules- Super Fun Chinese Song. YouTube, YouTube, 2
birds.
extraordinary fireworks that take place in China and allow them to make connections to
STANDARDS
CREATE Principles
INTASC Standards
Standard #3: Learning Environments. The teacher works with others to create
environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that
encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-
motivation: The unit plan encourages positive social interaction when the children are
playing the game “Blind Man” because they need to work together and they are actively
engaged in learning because they are doing activities that are developmentally
appropriate.
Standard #4: Content Knowledge. The teacher understands the central concepts;
tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates
learning experiences that make the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners
to assure mastery of the content: The activities in the unit plan are accessible to the
children because they are developmentally appropriate. The activities challenge the
children however they are still meaningful and the children can master the content.
Standard #5: Application of Content. The teacher understands how to connect
concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking,
creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global
issues: The children will learn about how animals live in China and about the ocean that
separates us from China and any global issue that China is involved with.
Standard #7: Planning for Instruction. The teacher plans instruction that supports
every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of
content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as
knowledge of learners and the community context: The activities in the unit plan
connect to activities in other categories such as art, math, science, etc. The activities can
also be extended and modified, if needed.
Standard #8: Instructional Strategies. The teacher understands and uses a variety of
instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of
content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in
meaningful ways: The children are taught through science, math activities, reading, and
art related activities. Some of the activities build upon each other throughout the weeks.
For example, for literacy in week one, children will start by writing the letter C and by
the end of the week they will be able to spell and write out China.
NAEYC Standards
Standard 4B: Knowing and understanding effective strategies and tools for early
education, including appropriate uses of technology: I will use tools that are engaging
and fun for the children while making sure that these activities and tools are meaningful
to the children’s learning.
Standard 4D: Reflecting on own practice to promote positive outcomes for each
child: I will reflect on my practices to ensure that I am not being biased and that I am
representing a wide variety of cultures in China as well as anything else I may be
teaching in the future.
2 Week Unit Plan
Literacy Read Maggie’s Read A Read Chinese Read The Read The Chinese
Chopsticks by New Year’s and English Pet Dragon New Year Tea Party
Alan Woo Reunion by Nursery by Christoph by Elizabeth Long
Yu Li- Rhymes by Niemann
Qiong Faye-Lynn
Wu
Math Introduce WOW Using the Compare the Using a Explore letters A-E
Engagement: number amount handout of and then explore five
Use chopsticks to from picked up dragons, characters in
pick up fortune yesterday, from both have the Mandarin so they can
cookies and work to days and children see how different their
count how many pick up make a chart count how characters look from
you pick up more today to visually many of each our letters
represent the dragon there
amount are
increased on
day 2
Science Sensory table Learn Blue sky Make salt Chinese New Year
activity with about the experiment. water to sensory tub with tea
Chinese objects Chinese Teach them mimic party objects
using rice as the New Year that the sky ocean water.
main component and make looks the Have
fiery red same around children
and the world test the
sparkling difference
gold between
Chinese saltwater and
New Year fresh water.
slime Teach
children that
the ocean
separates us
from China
Writing Letter writing Letter Letter writing Letter writing Finish writing China
practice with the writing practice with practice with with the letter “A”
letter “C”. Tracing practice the letter “I” the letter “N.”
and exploring with the Goal is to get
upper and lower letter “H” to spell
case letters “China” by
the end of
the week
Social Studies Look at a map Build the Show children Watch a Learn about the
and show Great Wall a video of video of Chinese New Year
children where of China Blind Man pandas and and compare it to our
China is using which is a talk about New Year and
compared to blocks spin on tag animals in discuss how different
Arizona. Explore and have China vs. countries in the world
the Chinese flag class play it animals in celebrate similar
as well America holidays differently
Art/Drama/Music Bake Chinese Make Listen to Make paper Enjoy a Chinese tea
Sesame Noodles round Chinese plate panda party
folding fans music and masks
for Chinese have a little
New Year dance party
Science Explore the Sensory Discuss parts of Fire safety. Talk about
idea of activity. Set the body. Using Dragons fireworks, how
gravity by out bowls of panda stuffed breathe fire, the Chinese
learning to cooked rice, animal, talk but how can invented them
balance noodles, about parts of we breathe and how they
objects on and rice the body on the fire and keep are used now, in
chopsticks noodles panda. What do everyone small groups,
(the crispy we have the safe? children can
kind) and same, what are Children observe and
have different? experiment make
children with candles predictions
discuss the and fire about what
differences safety colors different
in smell and elements will
texture burn
(copper=blue,
calcium=orange,
barium=green)
The WOW engagement community event was a very successful experience for me and
Chloe. We had a table set up with the map, Chinese books from our cultural story box,
chopsticks and fortune cookies/rice rolls. Our engagement was to have the children learn how to
use chopsticks by picking up 5 fortune cookies/rice rolls. If they successfully picked them up
with the chopsticks then they could keep one to eat! We had many families and children come to
our table to do our engagement. I had a lot of fun with this engagement and learned a lot about
how to prepare for one event and how much time and effort goes into one event. One thing I
learned from this community event was the importance of practicing your engagement ahead of
time to ensure that it is developmentally appropriate, engaging, and a good balance between
challenging enough and easy enough for them to do on their own with help If needed. We had
the opportunity to share our invitation with our class before the event and this gave Chloe and I
the chance to practice our invitation with our classmates before the children and families had the
chance to. We received a lot of positive feedback from our classmates and were excited for the
event to take place. On the day of the engagement, we showed our engagement to parents and
children ranging from the ages of 3 to 10. Many of the older children were eager to try and use
If I were to do this engagement again, I would probably add levels to make it more of a
game. Once you have mastered the first round of picking up 5 fortune cookies successfully, you
would then move on to 10, 15 and so on. And once they have mastered that level, I could have
them try and use the chopsticks without the helpers and teach them the proper way to hold
chopsticks and how it is similar to holding a pencil. Since I am working with Kindergarteners
this is the perfect engagement for 5 and 6 year olds and the modifications I would make would
work beautifully with children in K-3 grades. This engagement connects to the Arizona State
Social Studies Standard Concept 4: Human Systems PO. 1: Discuss the food, clothing, housing,
recreation, and celebrations practiced by cultural groups in the local community. I can also talk
to the children and ask them what they think chopsticks are made of and teach them about how
chopsticks were invented for eating. Overall, I really enjoyed this event and I thought the entire
process was a great learning opportunity and meaningful experience for myself going into
teaching.