Thanksgiving Week Idea #1 - It's a Great Time to Celebrate Diversity!

It is the Perfect Week to Celebrate our Cultures...

Just like the Pilgrims and the Indians!

Our country has become such a melting pot, that it is not unusual to have at least one student in the classroom that does not celebrate the traditional American holidays.  As I plan my activities for this week of Thanksgiving, I always try to remember these students.  Instead of stressing the idea of the holiday itself, I use this week as a time for students to share their family traditions and customs.

It does not matter whether a student actually celebrates Thanksgiving in their home, they are able to share their celebrations and festivities (not just at Thanksgiving - anytime throughout the year.)  I ask my students to think about the traditions that are important to their family.  These may have cultural or religious roots, but then again they may not.  Students might share what their family does every summer, for birthdays, or one student even shared about a football tradition for cheering on the USC Trojans!

To kick off this week, I first have my students create a poster that shows some of their family's customs and traditions.  I encourage the students to include pictures and captions, along with a title and any other decorations that they feel are appropriate.  The students and the parents love this assignment, and I get really beautiful work.

Now, when the posters come in I want the students to share their work, but the thought of 36 presentations just does not excite me!  So instead, I have half of my students put their poster up somewhere in the room or on a tabletop and stand by their poster.  The other half of the students walk around with a clipboard and a paper divided into 8 sections on the front and 8 sections on the back.  As they walk up to each poster, it is their job to listen to the student tell them a little about their family, then ask questions in the end.  Each student must find a connection or similarity between their own family traditions and those of the students that they have viewed.  (These do not have to be exactly the same - just similar in one way or another)

The students viewing the posters walk around the room for approximately 15 minutes viewing the various posters and finding connections.  After the allotted time, the students switch places and the viewers become presenters while the old presenters become viewers.

We culminated this activity with a whole class discussion on their findings.  My students were so insightful!  They noticed things such as:

• Most celebrations involved good food
• Most cultures incorporated some type of rice into their food dishes
• All celebrations involved family
• Many of the celebrations incorporated gift giving of some type
• Many of the celebrations used candles, lit decorations, or fire of some type
• There was religious significance to many of the family celebrations
•  Most celebrations involved dressing differently than just every day clothes, whether it was dressing up for church or wearing ceremonial or traditional clothing.

What  a great way for the students to realize that we are more similar than different - and I didn't even have to direct their thinking!