Social and Cultural Learning: An inquiry into the similarities and differences between ourselves and others around the world

In Social Studies, students learn about family.  The essential questions that guide our inquiry are:
How does where you come from make you who you are?
How do traditions tell about who you are?
How are your decisions influenced by your family?

Our culminating activity was a celebration of culture, food and family. Students had the opportunity to dress in clothing that represents where their family is from. Everyone also brought in food and an artifact from their family to share with the class. Parents were invited to share in the fun. Students spent their time teaching others and learning about other families and cultures from our multicultural classroom.




Students where able to articulate and evaluate their learning afterwards by answering reflection questions which I recorded on video.  The videos where posted on each child's personal learning portfolio blog and were used as an assessment piece for this unit of study. Other assessment included anecdotal records and a rubric for a project that children worked on throughout the unit. Each student created a poster board and children presented their work during our family celebration.