Families Around the World

As a part of being an International Baccalaureate candidate school, we've had to take on certain expectations. One of which being teaching 6 units throughout the year based on the 6 themes as designated by the IB. The themes are Who We Are, Where We Are in Place and Time, How We Express Ourselves, How the World Works, How We Organize Ourselves, and Sharing the Planet. So far this year we've taught How We Express Ourselves, a unit based on understanding how ideas and feelings can be expressed, How the World Works, a unit based on understanding how the natural laws help us explore the environment around us, and we are currently in Who We Are, a unit based on families around the world.

We began the unit with our provocation into family roles and responsibilities. We asked our students to illustrate a picture of their families and to label their responsibilities. Our provocation was perfect because many students didn't quite understand what responsibilities were, but they knew it had something to do with our unit. We then moved on to unpacking our central idea. Our central idea is used to guide our student's understanding to a universal concept. It begins in "teacher talk" but we work with our students to (as a student has labeled it) "uncomplicated it".

Central Idea: Human relationships are different in cultures.

After we unpack our central idea, we look over our lines of inquiry that guide our learning throughout the unit.

1. Structure of a family
2. Family Responsibilities 
3. Traditions, customs, and beliefs are different in families around the world

Throughout our unit of study, we touch on each line of inquiry based on the countries the students chose prior to the unit. I had my class vote on a list of countries and the 3 countries with the most votes were the countries we were going to study for holidays around the world and for our study on families around the world. In December, we primarily focused on the holiday traditions in the countries they chose: France, Netherlands, and Greenland. I highly recommend the Holidays Around the World Bundle by Rachel Smith (Go visit her blog!). This bundle has a lot of resources to choose from and was very useful for this part of our inquiry. My students made many connections to the countries traditions and gained appreciation for their differences.

We've now moved on to the families around the world portion of our unit. My students chose Australia, Kenya, and China. We begin each country by watching a DVD on the families in that country. You can find those HERE. (I'm not getting paid to advocate for these DVDs. Just a suggestion if you are doing something similar. They are great DVDs). Our 1st graders do learn how to take notes while watching the video! We split their paper in two columns: family roles and family responsibilities. By now, our students have an understanding of what these mean. As we watch the first video, Families in the USA, we pause the video throughout the movie to allow the students to write. By the 2nd or 3rd movie, the students have gotten the hang of taking notes while watching. After the movie, the students work in research groups and collaborate to document their learning of the roles and responsibilities from that country.

Throughout the rest of the week, we will research the culture of the country by using the Communities Around the World Bundle from Natalie (Visit her BLOG!). This pack is one I've used since I began teaching. I love this pack for teaching my Social Studies requirements. :) It fit for 2nd grade and I've made it work for 1st grade too!