Building Responsibility: Structuring Class Routines and Agreements

The first month of school has flown by! We have been spending our time structuring class routines, morning meetings and setting up class agreements to make ourselves independent and responsible Third graders.

Our first unit of inquiry is “Who We Are”. The general focus of the unit is well defined by the central idea Cultures have different beliefs and values that influence the way people behave . The exposure to the concept culture will transform our students to be more caring and open-minded while being part of the diverse world around them.

Creating a " Culture Museum ": Sharing Artifacts and Personal Experiences

Third graders activated their prior knowledge through gallery walk and See, Think, Wonder routine and shared their prior knowledge on “Culture”. They inquired  into elements of culture and traditions, values and beliefs in their own culture. Integrated Specialist lessons provided the students with an opportunity to understand more about the culture of Indonesia. Third graders enthusiastically brought in artifacts from their culture and shared valuable information about them with their classmates.

Creating a “Culture Museum”: Sharing Artifacts and Personal Experiences

They created a “Culture Museum” displaying those artifacts in our classroom. Students learned more about beliefs and values through reading Folk Tales from different cultures. Third graders were open-minded and enthusiastic to share and relate personal cultural experiences with their peers. Next, we look forward to our end of unit presentation on a particular culture by communicating how certain beliefs and values contribute to certain behaviors. We are thankful to the parents who visited our class as “Cultural Ambassadors”and contributed to our learning. 

Explore resources for teaching cultural diversity and understanding at Teaching Tolerance.

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