Central Idea:

People celebrate for diverse reasons.

Lines of Inquiry:

• People celebrate in different ways.
• People celebrate the same things for different reasons.

Concepts: form, function, perspective

Related Concepts: diversity, family, traditions, celebrations

Story #1

Book Week!

The provocation ‘What is a celebration?’ encouraged the students to talk about the different types of celebrations they know about. We made a list of celebrations:

• Birthdays
• World Cup
• Thanksgiving
• Halloween
• Book Week
• Birth of a baby
• Wedding

Our initial thoughts and ideas:

First we reflected on how we celebrated ‘Book Week‘ with Emily Gravett (#emilygravett). We enjoyed listening to her read.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/666432996027686912

We decorated the ‘fish’ and our Grade 3 & 8 buddies read to us. We listened to the story about ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and then we decorated and ate our Gingerbread cookies. Our parents came in to read to us, we came to school in our PJ’s with our favourite books and soft toys and we dressed up as our favourite book characters. What a wonderful celebration of BOOKS!

We decided to choose our 4 favourite activities and record our wonderful moments.

Story #2

Sharing Ideas!

The students shared their thinking and experiences about ‘Book Week’ and ‘Birthday’ celebrations’. We used the 5 senses sight, smell, taste, sound and touch helped us brainstorm.

Students who celebrated their birthdays this month baked cupcakes for the friends!!!

Story #3

Happy Thanksgiving!

Parents in K2 came in to help the students learn more about ‘Thanksgiving‘. They listened to a brief explanation on what Thanksgiving was and then worked at a variety of stations to create artwork and decorate Thanksgiving cookies. They enjoyed working together and creating beautiful ‘turkey’ hats. Before students ate their cookies they reflected on what they were thankful for.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/670768285546213376

Story #4

Family Traditions

Students took home a graphic organiser titled ‘Family Traditions‘. Parents helped their children write down one/a few traditions that their family participate in. Students were asked to include writing, photographs or draw pictures to share their experience. The students enjoyed sharing their traditions with their peers in class.

Family Traditions PDF

Story #5

What is Chinese New Year?

The students wanted to know more about Chinese New Year. Mrs Hannah shared ‘The Story of Nian’ with the students. They had a discussion about the different traditions that take place during this time.

Students wanted to know how dumplings were made. They watched a video to look at the different ways dumplings can be made. Students made their own dumplings after watching the video.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/676595263859851264

Story #6

Holiday Party Celebration

The students worked in groups to plan a party to celebrate the holiday season. First, each student had to choose the group they wanted to work with. They could choose to work in one of the 5 planning groups. They voted for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. 

Party Planning Groups:

Next the groups gathered to brainstorm their ideas.

The Music and Performance Group

Ms. Heidi came in to meet with the Performance and Music Group. We had to decided which activities to have on the day of the celebration.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/672948432458268672

The Students planned to present their human shadow play story ‘The Little Monkey‘ to their parents on the day of the celebration. Here is the plan.

K2 have been practicing their shadow performance for the parents. Here is a quick preview of their story.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/672021493610491904

The Invitations and Costumes Group

The invitations group put together the invitation to the parents and teachers.

The Food Group

The group in charge of food put together a menu based on their brainstorm.

The Decorations Group

The decorations group made all the decor for the day.

The Activities Group

The activities group narrowed down their ideas and voted for their favourite activities.  

The day of the Celebration!!!!

Our K2 parents joined our celebration. They worked with students at activity centres, danced with them, watched performances and gathered together to share a wonderful meal! What a great way to celebrate learning.

 

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/675206399601823744