My family traditions: A class book and a potluck lunch
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=941
A lesson plan for grades 3–5 English Language Arts
In this lesson, after a read aloud and analysis of Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia, by Carmen Lomas Garza, students describe the book’s pictures and discuss family traditions.
Students will:
- appreciate unique family traditions by analyzing a piece of children’s literature by and about a Mexican-American woman and by thinking about and researching their own family traditions.
- apply what they have learned about family traditions and use their creativity and the writing process to make three pages of a class book that include artwork.
- practice research skills by looking up information about their ancestral countries and writing about it in the class book.
- practice using description in writing about their family traditions.
- practice letter writing by inviting their families to a potluck lunch.
- develop social skills with their peers and other adults by sharing their books and family recipes and hosting a lunch in which they will make short oral presentations to the invited guests.
- build self-esteem and bond as a class by writing about topics that are important to them, by working together to complete a class book, and by planning a potluck lunch.
Readwritethink provides several helpful online and print resources for this lesson. This lesson also suggests a variety of extension activities and offers multiple reflection opportunities.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 3
- Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.02: Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing by:
- setting a purpose.
- previewing the text.
- making predictions.
- asking questions.
- locating information for specific purposes.
- making connections.
- using story structure and text organization to comprehend.
- Objective 2.02: Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing by:
Grade 4
- Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.02: Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, and viewing by:
- setting a purpose using prior knowledge and text information.
- making predictions.
- formulating questions.
- locating relevant information.
- making connections with previous experiences, information, and ideas.
- Objective 2.02: Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, and viewing by:
Grade 5
- Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.02: Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, and viewing by:
- making predictions.
- formulating questions.
- supporting answers from textual information, previous experience, and/or other sources.
- drawing on personal, literary, and cultural understandings.
- seeking additional information.
- making connections with previous experiences, information, and ideas.
- Objective 2.02: Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, and viewing by:
