Lesson+Ideas

Lesson Ideas
<span style="border-bottom: windowtext 4.5pt double; border-left: windowtext 4.5pt double; border-right: windowtext 4.5pt double; border-top: windowtext 4.5pt double; display: block; mso-border-bottom-alt: thick-thin-small-gap; mso-border-color-alt: windowtext; mso-border-left-alt: thin-thick-small-gap; mso-border-right-alt: thick-thin-small-gap; mso-border-top-alt: thin-thick-small-gap; mso-border-width-alt: 4.5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 4pt; padding-right: 4pt; padding-top: 1pt;"> “ Each time we read a good piece of literature, we are changed by the experience: we see the world in a new way. For these reasons, literature can be a powerful vehicle for understanding cultures and experiences different from our own.” (Bieger) Our trip to Ethiopia sparked a variety of lesson ideas. Below we have listed just a few of the ways we have already shared or will share Ethiopia-related lessons with our students.


 * Studying the origins and meanings of names


 * "Book of the Month" Club is a form of the "One Book, One Community" movement. Each month, we will choose a multicultural book that will be read to every student in the school and discussed. This will create a common framework for exploring diversity and multiculturalism.


 * Library theme "Reading Takes You Places" incorporating multicultural read-alouds and guest speakers sharing international travel experiences for K-6 students.


 * Entry points approach -- exploring objects and realia in the classroom through guided observation.


 * Geography: comparing land forms of Ethiopia and Kansas


 * Looking at the Blue Nile River in the study of ancient civilizations and noting the importance of civilizations being built around a water source.

LINK: Crop production statistics by US State [] Staple foods: What do people eat? []
 * Agriculture: comparing the production of wheat in Kansas that produces our staple bread with the production of teff in Ethiopia and the production of injera
 * Animals and wildlife of Ethiopia


 * Reader's Theater: __Faraway Home__ by Jane Kurtz (script available from //Library Sparks// magazine)


 * Using a cultural study of Ethiopia as a jumping-off point for a multicultural novel study in which students choose and read a multicultural book, then do research on the culture of the country in which the book is set and prepare a presentation for peers. The culminating preoject will be a Multicultural Fair where students will share their presentations with other students at school.

Source of introductory quote: Bieger, E. M. 1996. //Promoting multicultural education through a literature-based approach//. __The Reading Teacher__ 49(4): 308-12.