Susanne Spencer & Macayla Lanzilotta

PBL Elements:

Driving Question: How culturally diverse is our classroom, our city, and our country?

Student Voice and Choice: Based on personal life/family/identity, students are

encouraged to deliver information in various manners. Students will create a class book
of each of their own cultural identities to represent diverse cultural identities within the
classroom and our country. Students could create a list of children books that offer
students opportunity to meet characters who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

Authentic: Students are encouraged to explore their personal cultural identify. Students
are encouraged to explore cultural identities of characters in global literature they read.

In-depth Inquiry: Students will explore their own identities and cultures as well as
others in their classroom and community. Students will be introduced and familiarized
with different cultures through research, guest speakers and children’s literature. Through
textual examples students will understand different perspectives and ways of life through
the vantage point of those from different cultures.

Public Product: Class book

Significant Content – Standards:

 Social Studies Framework:

o 3.4: Communities share cultural similarities and differences across the
world.
o 3.5 Communities from around the world interact with other people and
communities and exchange cultural ideas and practices.
 Next Generation ELA:
o 3SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse
partners, expressing ideas clearly and building on those of others.
o 3SL1b: Follow agreed- upon norms for discussion by actively listening, taking
turns and staying on topic.
o 3SL1c: Ask questions to check understanding of information presented and link
comments to the remarks of others.
o 3SL1d: Explain their own ideas and understanding of the discussion.
o 3W6. Conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions,
and to build knowledge.
o 3W7: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather information from
multiple sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided
categories.

21st Century Skills –communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity:

Students will work collaboratively with their peers and family members to develop an
understanding of their own cultural background. Throughout the lesson series, students
will use digital databases to research and begin understanding different cultures. This will
involve developing more complete digital literacy skills. Together in teams students will
discuss and learn to solve problems and think critically in terms of understanding
multipole perspectives and different global mindsets. The culminating project at the end
of the series will showcase student’s creativity, communication, evidence collection,
cross-cultural understanding, and presentation skills. Throughout this project students
will gain awareness for important 21st century skills that they need for being responsible
citizens of a global community.

Daily Lessons:

Day 1: Ask students, “How culturally diverse is our classroom? Our city? Our
country?” Provide an example by modeling our own response to the question, illustrating
our personal cultural identity. After, ask students to write a journal entry giving examples
of what they believe makes up their cultural identify. Explain to students that they are
going to create their own page illustrating their cultural identity within a class book.

Day 2 (Macayla): Explain the research process to students. Provide possible interview
questions for students to ask family members. Model the interview process with other
instructor. For homework, have students begin interviewing family members.

o Background information:
 Students will need to have been in previous class to understand the
PBL, as well as the driving question, “How diverse is our class? Our
city? Our country?”
o Objectives:
 Students will be able to create interview questions relevant to the
topic.
 Students will be able to accurately complete an interview with
family member(s) to research their cultural identity.
o Materials:
 Two instructors to model interview
 Prepared interview questions
 Prepared interview responses
 Pencil/Paper
 Whiteboard/Marker
o Procedure:
 Recap with students the driving question that we are seeking the
answer to: “How diverse is our class? Our city? Our country?”
 Tell students that today we are going to talk about how to get
started on our research.
 Ask students if they have any ideas and record responses on the
board. (Answers may include: ask my mom, ask my grandma, google
it)
  Tell students that we are going to teach them a research strategy to
help them get started. It is called an interview. Ask students if they
have an idea of what an interview is.
 Inform students that an interview is a set of prepared questions
asked to a specific person in order to learn more about that person. In
this case they will prepare questions that will help them to conduct an
interview with someone at home. This person can be mom, dad,
grandma, grandpa, an aunt, among other people in their family.
 Tell students that you are going to model to them what an
interview looks like by conducting an interview with another teacher.
Some prepared questions may include: “What holidays do you
celebrate?”, “What kind of food do you normally eat at family
gatherings”, “Does anyone in your family speak a different language?
If so what language?”.
 After completing the interview, ask students if they name how all
of these questions are similar. (Possible responses may include: They
all are about the person and their family. The person had to know a lot
about the family to answer some of them)
 Discuss the importance of conducting an interview with someone
who will and does know a lot of information about the family.
 Tell students they are going to write their own interview questions,
as well as think of individuals in their family they might interview.
 Give students approximately fifteen minutes to write their
interview questions, then ask for volunteers to share some questions
they wrote.
 Instruct students that for homework they are going to start their
research process by interviewing someone at home, they can do this in
person, or over the phone, and record the responses so they are
prepared to share.
o Assessments:
 Formative:
 Discussions
 Summative:
 Composed interview questions
 Completed interview with written responses

Day 3 (Macayla): Read, “The Color of Us” by Karen Katz. Ask students what color
they think their skin is in reference to food, like the ones referenced in the book. Using
paints with various food labels find the matching skin color of students by mixing the
different paint colors, and label their skin color with the paints they mixed together.

o Background Information:
 Students should have completed interview regarding their own
cultural history.
 Students should be aware of the PBL and the driving question,
“How diverse is our classroom? Our city? Our country?”
o Objectives:
 Students will be able to recognize the classroom diversity
regarding their skin color.
 Students will be able to recognize their individual role in the
classroom.
o Materials:
 “The Color of Us” by Karen Katz
 Paints of various colors, but mostly skin tones
 Labels for each paint made by teacher labeling the colors as food
like in the book. (Ex/ cinnamon, nutmeg, cream, etc)
 Paint brushes
 Soap/Water/Paper towels
 Name tags/markers
o Procedure:
 First, initiate classroom discussion to refresh their memories on
what their PBL consists of. Review cultural diversity and ask them for
examples of ways in which people are diverse (skin color, names,
gender, etc.)
 Read-aloud Karen Katz’s “The Color of Us”
 After reading ask students what kind of diversity did this book
focus on (skin color).
 Explain to students that they are each going to get a chance to
create a name for their exact skin color because no two skin colors are
exactly alike. Tell them that their teachers will mix some of the paints
together to match their skin and then create a name tag for them by
combining all of the paint names.
 Have one student at a time come up to teachers to find paint colors.
Students who are not meeting with the teachers may write in a writing
journal, or read silently to themselves until further instruction is
given.
 After each student has been given a new label with what colors
their skin is, ask them how it makes them feel to have these kind of
names for their skin. Then ask them if they would like if we only
referred to their skin color as black, white, red. Show them that no one
is really any of these colors, and that many of us have a little bit of the
same thing in our skin color.
 After discussion tell students that they are each going to write a
journal entry and reflect on the diversity/similarities they found in the
class today among their peers. Collect these after to ensure
understanding on the concepts covered in the class.
o Assessments:
 Formative:
 Discussion
 Summative:
 Journal Entry
o Resources/References:
  “The Color of Us” by Karen Katz

Day 4 (Susie): Using a map, and pictures of places like “Little Italy”, and “Chinatown”
compared with pictures of Italy and China ask students if they can tell which community
is the actual country. Discuss why these countries are replicated into smaller
communities. Explain that when people immigrate to the United States they bring their
cultural heritage with them and share it with their new community.

FSA Department UDL Lesson Plan Format

Teacher’s Name: Susanne Spencer Subject Area: Social Studies/ELA
Grade Level: 3rd Topic: Cultural Identity (Day 4)- Cultural
Communities
Preparation for Teaching
What will you teach? What’s the objective?
Common Core Standard(s)

Framework:
3.4: Communities share cultural similarities and differences across the world.

3.5 Communities from around the world interact with other people and communities and
exchange cultural ideas and practices.

NG ELA:

3SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners,

expressing ideas clearly and building on those of others.
3SL1b: Follow agreed- upon norms for discussion by actively listening, taking turns
Content

and staying on topic.

3SL1c: Ask questions to check understanding of information presented and link
comments to the remarks of others.
3SL1d: Explain their own ideas and understanding of the discussion.

Knowledge

Students will begin to develop an understanding of interaction of cultures in various

geographic locations. Students will use Chinatown and Little Italy in Manhattan as
example for learning about change and development within cultural groups.

Skill(s)
Students will critically think about how different cultural traditions and elements
 can be replicated and translated to new geographical locations. Students will
continue to think critically as they identify and determine the difference between
Little Italy, Chinatown, and the actual geographic locations they are based on.
Students will be asked to communicate their ideas about cultural reproduction
through discussions with peers. Students will partake in collaborative learning with
their peers to learn about different perspectives on cultural heritage.

Pre-assessment Tool(s)
Students will be assessed for their understanding through classroom discussion
with peers. Using Project Look Sharp students will infer the geographic location of
various images of Chinatown, Little Italy, Naples, and Hong Kong.

Data about what students know

Pre-assessment

Data for what students know will come from their journal entries from the
previous day. Student’s work with Project Look Sharp will give a general
understanding of where there may be misconceptions in their learning.

Data about what students need to know

Students should have a basic understanding of cultural diversity talked about in
the previous class. Students need a general understanding of different continents and
their various cultural backgrounds.

Lesson Objective(s)
Students will be able to show an understanding of cultural diversity through writing and
verbal discussions. Students will be able to compare and contrast different cultural
epicenters and show understanding of how traditions, holidays, communication, etc. can
be translated from one area to the next. Students will show their understanding of
cultural diffusion through a journal entry at the end of the lesson that shows that cultures
change and adapt depending on their physical locations.

Relevant IEP Goal(s)

Adaptatio

N/A
Anticipated Modifications/Accommodations
ns

Students who are having trouble with written skills in limited time frames will be
allowed to use Chromebooks to complete their journal entry.

Teaching All Learners

How will you teach? What will happen to promote student accomplishment of the
objectives?
Engage/Activate Learning
ess
Pr
oc

Students will participate in Project Look Sharp to start their critical thinking process
about cultural diversity all over the world. Students will then engage in a whole class
discussion about how communities reproduce their cultural heritage.

Teacher Talk- “Before I show you some pictures I want you all to think back and
remember our conversation about how diverse our world really is. (Show students
the Project Look Sharp images on the SmartBoard). We are going to be detectives
today and use clues to help us figure out where in the world some pictures were
taken. Do not worry about being right, make a guess based on clues. (Slide 1)
Thumbs up if you think that this image is in America. Thumbs up if you think that
this image is Italy. Thumbs up if you think this image is in New York City. Thumbs up
if you think this picture was taken in Naples, Italy. (Slide 2) Thumbs up if you think
that this image is in America. Thumbs up if you think that this image is Italy. Thumbs
up if you think this image is in New York City. Thumbs up if you think this picture
was taken in Naples, Italy. (Slide 3) Thumbs up if you think this picture was taken in
China. Thumbs up if you think this picture was taken in America. Thumbs up if you
think this picture was taken in Hong Kong China. Thumbs up if you think this picture
was taken in New York City in America. (Slide 4) Thumbs up if you think this picture
was taken in China. Thumbs up if you think this picture was taken in America.
Thumbs up if you think this picture was taken in Hong Kong China. Thumbs up if you
think this picture was taken in New York City in America. I am going to put all these
pictures up and lets see if we were right. (Point to the top left picture) Can anyone
give me their guess about where this was picture was taken (Allow students time to
answer. Discuss how they decided upon their answer). Believe it or not this picture
was actually taken in New York City, which is not too far away from us. Let’s look at
this picture (Point to top right picture). Can you see some similarities between this
picture and the this one (Top left picture)? (Allow students time to give their answers).
(Point to bottom left and bottom right images) Now that we know how to spot
similarities and differences, what are some things between these photos that are the
same and different? This was a tough task that you all did so well with. Can anyone
tell me why people in New York City would chose to recreate streets like Naples and
Hong Kong in America? (Prompt students to think about bringing their culture with
them). (Show map on the PowerPoint) Here is where these pcitures were actually
taken. Look at the distance between these places. Even with those thousands of
miles, these places look almost identical. Why do you think these places look so
similar? People will often recreate what they feel is important to them. When people
move they bring everything that is important with them when they are able. Think
about this, if you were to leave home now what things would you bring with you?
Turn and talk with your elbow partner about what you would bring with you (Give
students a few minutes to think about what they would bring). Most of you talked
about different items you would bring that would make you more comfortable. Your
ancestors brought with them language, art, clothing, architecture, and even foods
that made them feel comfortable because it was familiar to them. Through
immigration, which is a fancy word for people moving away from their home
country to a new place in the world, people bring their culture with them as
reminders of home and their family traditions that help make them who they are.
 When our ancestors came to America they brought with them reminders of their
home countries, such as food, art, architecture, language, religion, and traditions that
can be seen in neighborhoods all around us. Even here is Homer we can see
examples of cultural elements that come from many different cultural backgrounds.
Have any of you seen the Christmas tree on the green? The idea of Christmas trees
came from a German tradition, which they called Tannenbaums Have any of you ever
had a bagel? Or even spaghetti? What about hamburgers and hotdogs? (Allow
students to raise their hands). All of these things came from different countries
around the world. By bringing our cultural heritage with us we create the diversity
that makes up the United States. I want you to write in your journal at least two
things that you learned today that have changed the way you think about the
movement of people and the cultures they bring with it (Give students ten minutes to
jot down some notes in their journals). We will talk more about the food that makes
us such a diverse nation and community. I want you to keep talking with your
parents about their heritage and tonight I want you to ask them if there are any
foods that they learned from their parents, and if there are any dishes that represent
your cultural identity. Work with your parents tonight to make food from your
cultural background that we can share in class tomorrow. “

Activities/Procedures to acquire knowledge and skills

1. Project Look Sharp
2. Discussion about immigration and the transmission of cultures.
3. Journal time

Formative Assessment
Students will be assessed on their understanding of cultural diversity through Project Look Sharp
and their journals at the end of the day.

Closing Activity/Conclusion
The closing activity will include a discussion about different foods that are derived from cultures
that came from other countries. This will all culminate in journal time at the end of the day. The
conclusion will help students prepare for tomorrow’s lesson.

Grouping Structure
The majority of the lesson will be whole group discussion. There will be time for
individual work during journal time.

Co-teaching Option
Logistics

This lesson can be modified to work as a co-taught with Ms. Lanzilotta.

Materials/Technology
 SmartBoard
 PowerPoint for Project Look Sharp
 Student journals
 Chromebooks (for students needing modifications)
 Summative Assessments for All Learners
Did you teach effectively? How do you document the degree to which students meet
objectives?
How does summative assessment occur?

N/A. Summative assessment to be completed at the end of the 10-day lesson.

Independent Practice and Extending Activities

Students will be asked to go home and interview and ask questions of their families about their own
cultural heritage. Students will also be allowed to borrow books from the teacher’s library to do more
research on their own cultures. At any point students will be given feedback by the teacher on their
research (NG ELA Standard: 3W6. Conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated
questions, and to build knowledge).

See Last Page for pictures of the PowerPoint.

Day 5: Read “Grandfathers Journey” by Allen Say. Students will explore immigration,
and where their own families originated from based on their cultural identities already
identified.

Day 6 (Susie): Read, “Let's Eat" by Beatrice Hollyer and "Food of the World" by
Nancy Loewen. Create a list of the different foods around the world that were discussed
on the books that were read aloud. Bring in various foods from around the world that
children can sample and experience. Parents will be involved with cooking, and talking
about their own cultural backgrounds.

FSA Department UDL Lesson Plan Format

Teacher’s Name: Susanne Spencer Subject Area: Social Studies/ELA
Grade Level: 3rd Topic: Cultural Identity (Day 6)- Food
Around the World
Preparation for Teaching
What will you teach? What’s the objective?
Common Core Standard(s)
Content

Framework:
3.4: Communities share cultural similarities and differences across the world.

3.5 Communities from around the world interact with other people and communities and
exchange cultural ideas and practices.
 NG ELA:

3SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners,

expressing ideas clearly and building on those of others.
3SL1b: Follow agreed- upon norms for discussion by actively listening, taking turns
and staying on topic.
3SL1c: Ask questions to check understanding of information presented and link
comments to the remarks of others.
3SL1d: Explain their own ideas and understanding of the discussion.
3W7: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather information from multiple
sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

Knowledge

Students will begin to develop an understanding of interaction of cultures in various

geographic locations. Students will be introduced to new cuisines from around the
world. Students will work collaboratively with other students to begin researching
various cultures that will help them understand their own cultural diversity.

Skill(s)
Students will critically think about how different cultural traditions and foods are
replicated and translated to new geographical locations. Students will continue to
think critically as they identify and determine the difference between their food and
those from around the world.

Pre-assessment Tool(s)
Students will be assessed for their understanding through classroom discussion.

Data about what students know

Pre-assessment

Data for what students know will come from their journal entries from the
previous day.

Data about what students need to know

Students should have an understanding of how cultures are recreated in many ways
throughout small communities and households.

Lesson Objective(s)
Students will be able to compare and contrast the different lifestyles of children living in
other countries and their own lifestyle. Students will learn to research different cultural
foods around the world.
Relevant IEP Goal(s)
Adaptations
N/A

Anticipated Modifications/Accommodations
N/A

Teaching All Learners

How will you teach? What will happen to promote student accomplishment of the
objectives?
Engage/Activate Learning
Students learn about how food is a large part of cultural identity and as such they
will learn about cuisine around the world. Students will continue to learn about
various foods through different children’s literature.

Teacher Talk- “ Welcome back everyone! Today we have many exciting things to do,
so lets all work together to make sure that we have time for everything. We are going
to listen carefully to two wonderful books that will let us continue our exploration of
different cultures and the diversity that we have all around us. Different cultures
around the world provide us with the food we eat today. We all experience diversity
in many ways and that is what makes this classroom and global community so
exciting. In the first book I am going to read aloud we are going to learn about food
from South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, France and India. All these places are very far
away from here, yet we can still see some of the foods that we share in common.
Many of the foods we eat today came across to the United States through our
Process

ancestors who immigrated here. We have them to thank for such a variety of foods
that we eat everyday. Let’s read and see if we can’t spot some similarities and
differences between our lives and the lives of each of the children this book follows.”
(Read Let’s Eat: What Children Eat Around the World by Beatrice Hollyer.)
Teacher Talk- “Let’s make a list of the different foods we heard about in this book
(Make a list with students on the SmartBoard). Now that we have a good list of some
of the food eaten in these different countries let’s keep our ears open for more to add
to the list. I am going to read to you one more book by Nancy Loewen and its called
Food of the World.”
(Read Food of the World by Nancy Loewen.)
Teacher Talk- “What are some more items that we can add to the list? (Allow two
minutes for students to give examples from the book). Today we have some very
special guests today who are going to talk about their cultural heritage and let you
try some of the food that is part of their culture. We are going to split you into even
groups and you will each be given eight minutes with each guest to listen and ask
any questions you wish. Take a sheet of paper with you to every station to write
down questions that you may not have had the opportunity to ask. At the end we will
have a few minutes to ask more questions of our friends. Lets give these guests the
 respect they deserve.”
(Split students into even groups and assign each group to a parent volunteer.
Allow eight minutes per adult).
Teacher Talk- “I hope you all had time to have questions answered and to try some
new foods. Was there any questions you have that our guests can answer? (Allow a
few minutes for student questions). We are now going to give you some time to write
down what you have learned today. You may use your notes on the loose leaf paper
as a reminder. There is room at the bottom of your worksheet to include some
questions that you still are curious about. These questions may even help guide the
research you will be doing on your own cultural identity. Tomorrow we are going to
be continuing our research and learning what tools will help us dig deep into all the
resources out there. However, we know that those around us are always the best
resources so keep asking your family for more information. While you are working
on your worksheets I will come around and give you some more food to sample.
These recipes come right from the books we were reading today. So enjoy and take
some time to get your ideas on paper.”
(Allow students time to finish worksheet. Go around and pass out food samples
for each student).

Activities/Procedures to acquire knowledge and skills

4. Read Lets Eat: What Children Eat Around the World by Beatrice Hollyer.
5. Read Food of the World by Nancy Loewen.
6. Parent presentations (students break into smaller groups)
7. Student sample foods from around the world.
8. Students complete worksheets

Formative Assessment
Students will be assessed through classroom discussions. Students will also be assessed through
a worksheet they will use to conduct research on other cultures around the world (see
worksheet below).

Closing Activity/Conclusion

The closing activity will include sampling foods from the story and filling out their formative
assessment worksheets.

Grouping Structure
Students will be participating in whole class discussion at the beginning of the
lesson.
Logistics

Students will then be placed in small groups to better ensure parent volunteers will
answer all questions.

Students will work individually at the end of class to complete their formative
assessment worksheets.
Co-teaching Option
 This lesson can be modified to be a co-teaching lesson. One teacher can read the first
story, and the co-teacher can read the other story. Both teachers can help to prompt
student’s questions and discoveries.

Materials/Technology
 Lets Eat: What Children Eat Around the World by Beatrice Hollyer.
 Food of the World by Nancy Loewen.
 Formative assessment worksheet
 Loose leaf paper for students notes
 Various food samples from recipes in Let’s Eat: What Children Eat Around the World by
Beatrice Hollyer.
 SmartBoard/Whiteboard

Summative Assessments for All Learners

Did you teach effectively? How do you document the degree to which students meet
objectives?
How does summative assessment occur?

N/A. Summative assessment to be completed at the end of the 10-day lesson.

Independent Practice and Extending Activities

Students will be asked to go home and interview and ask questions of their families about
their own cultural heritage. Students will also be allowed to borrow books from the teacher’s
library to do more research on their own cultures. At any point students will be given feedback
by the teacher on their research (NG ELA Standard: 3W6. Conduct research to answer
questions, including self-generated questions, and to build knowledge).
Name:

Write down some facts that you have learned today. Make sure to use
complete sentences.
Country

What is something similar to my life?

What is something different from my life?

Country

What is something similar to my life?

What is something different from my life?

What is one question you have from today’s lesson?

Day 7: Revisit how students can do their research. Explain to students that they can use
the responses to their interview questions to further explore their family’s culture. Have
students visit the school library and have the librarians give support and examples of how
to continue their research process. Example: How are various holidays and traditions are
celebrated within their own households?

Day 8: Give students time in class to write and illustrate their page.

Day 9: Each student will present their page with the rest of the class. Teacher will
collect the pages to create the class book, which will in turn be given to each student.

Day 10: Revisit class list made on Day 1. Ask students what things they can add to the
list based on their findings. Students will each present their own page in the class book to
the rest of the class. Parents and family members are encouraged to come to the class
presentation of the student’s pages.
PowerPoint for Day 4