Teacher Page

Project Description

This project will encourage students from grades K-5 to research information about their cultural background. Students will also interview their parents to find out about their cultural background. They will learn about their classmates’cultures and will act out plays about information they have gathered.

As “minority” people, students experience many forms of discrimination from society in the United States. Because children are prohibited from speaking their first language and are encouraged to melt into the “American way”, many of them become ashamed of their cultural heritage. At the end of the project, they will feel more comfortable with their cultural background and understand that while we may have cultural differences and look different from one another, we all are very much the same. By learning about their rich cultural background, children will raise their level of knowledge so that they are able to be proud of their heritage and background. True self-esteem comes from accepting and expressing who we are rather than being ashamed and hiding it.

Project Goals

Essential Question:

Why should I be proud of who I am?

Specific Questions:

What is my cultural background?

Who were my ancestors?

What did my ancestors contribute to the present society?

Why do I need to know about my past?

Illinois and CPS Learning Standards

Grade Level: K-5

STATE GOAL	CAS	CFS
#1	A	1-5
	B
	C

Unit Prerequisites

Basic keyboarding skills

Brainstorming skills

Researching skills

Knowledge of the alphabet

General knowledge of the child’s cultural background

Listening skills

Knowledge on the use of the mouse-click, scrolling down, etc.

Performance Tasks

You are an Aztec warrior who has lived for more than 500 years. Your classmates have only been living on earth for 10 years and they do not know anything about the Aztecs. Your mission is to use your incredible history and your parents’ stories to help your classmates research their history and find out where they come from. Your acting skills will also help you write scripts that contain important facts about the Aztecs as well as sound effects and the actors' dialogue. In addition to the script, you and your team are to perform a recorded demo-version of the play, complete with sound effects, that will be recorded on audio cassette.

Performance Assessment Plan

STANDARD	ASSESSMENT TOOL
State Goal #1	Teacher – scoring Scaffolding Lesson Reading checklists Writing Prompts Staging of a play Voice recordings
CAS A	Teacher – scoring Scaffolding Lesson Reading checklists Writing Prompts Staging of a play Voice recordings
CAS B	Teacher – scoring Scaffolding Lesson Reading checklists Writing Prompts Staging of a play Voice recordings
CAS C	Teacher – scoring Scaffolding Lesson Reading checklists Writing Prompts Staging of a play Voice recordings
CFS 1-5	Teacher – scoring Scaffolding Lesson Reading checklists Writing Prompts Staging of a play Voice recordings

Teacher Resources

http://www.yahooligans.com

This is a search engine safe for kids to research topics. Have them look up Ancient Mexican stories and then click on search. Allow students to go into the different web pages found so that they can learn more about Mexican History.

http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~cycle/CPYRAE.HTML

This site offers a virtual tour of Chichen Itza so students can read while they look at pictures of the pyramids.

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/

This site offers a lot of information about different ancient Mesoamerican sites. The information is written for an adult audience, so this site is only appropriate for the teacher to use as a resource for information. Although, it also has great pyramid pictures.

http://www.inside-mexico.com/SAN.htm#serenata

This site has a very beautiful story about Aztec weddings