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Christmas in Other Countries: A Venn Diagramming Activity
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Subject: | Language Arts, Technology
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Grade: | 3-5, 6-8
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Brief Description
Students diagram similarities and differences in Christmas celebrations around the world.
Objectives
Students will
- learn about how people celebrate Christmas around the world.
- compare and contrast their celebration of Christmas with the celebrations of others.
- create Venn diagrams to compare their Christmas celebration with that of another country.
Keywords
Christmas, Venn diagram, multicultural, world, graphic organizer, geography, holidays
Materials Needed
The following Web sites are among the online resources you might share with students. These would be good places for students to begin their research.
Christmas Traditions Around the World (Santas.net)
Christmas Around the World (TheHolidaySpot.com)
Christmas Around the World (The-North-Pole.com)
Christmas Around the World (Christmas.com, an archived site)
Lesson Plan
- Introduce the Venn diagram to students. A Venn diagram is a simple graphic organizer that students can use to compare and contrast their Christmas celebration with the celebrations of children in other lands. This particular Venn diagram can be printed and used as a work sheet -- or it can be saved as a Word document and edited online by students.
- In this activity, each student will research the Christmas celebration in another country. If students do not have Internet access, the teacher can print explanations of how Christmas is celebrated in countries throughout the world from any of the resources listed above. The teacher can provide each student with the printed resource for one country.
- Each student should make a list of facts, symbols, and key words associated with Christmas as he or she knows it and as it is celebrated in the student's assigned country. Students will transfer that information to Venn diagrams. Section A of the Venn diagram will include information about Christmas as the student knows it, Section B will include information about Christmas in the assigned country, and Section C (the overlapping area of the diagram) will include information that is common to both Christmas celebrations.
Assessment
Students share their completed Venn diagrams with their classmates. They talk about the major similarities and differences. The completed diagrams can be displayed around a world map in the classroom. Students can use lengths of yarn to connect each diagram to the country the student learned about.
Lesson Plan Source
Education World
Submitted By
Gary Hopkins
National Standards
Technology:
NT.K-12.1
NT.K-12.5
Language Arts:
NL-ENG.K-12.1
NL-ENG.K-12.2
NL-ENG.K-12.6
NL-ENG.K-12.7
NL-ENG.K-12.8
NL-ENG.K-12.9
Originally published 12/04/2000
Links last updated 10/16/2009
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