LeAnne

= CREATING AN INTERCULTURAL ORIENTATION IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM

> == To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant. Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness. == > == The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple. == > Amos Bronson Alcott (U.S. teacher and reformer, 1799-1888)

===The purpose of this page is introduce some activities that teachers can use in the classroom to help develop multicultural respect, understanding, and tolerance in their students. ===

= ACTIVITIES: =

= =  ** __The Sneetches__  **

I found this activity on the website //[|TeachingTolerance.org.]//
==== The Sneetches are creatures who live in a land where privilege and discrimination are determined by the green stars on their bellies. Some Sneetches have them, and some do not. Students will come to understand the emotional impact of unfair practices as they participate in the follow-up activity after reading the story. ====

**MATERIALS:**
====The Sneetches by Dr. Suess [|(Random House, ISBN 9780394800899, $14.99)] Green construction paper, sticky dots, or washable marker====

Safety pins

 * PROCEDURES :1. Read the book //The Sneetches// to the class.**
 * Make a list of classroom privileges such as being the line leader, extra center time, homework passes, read alone with teacher, etc.**
 * Divide the students into two random groups. Give one group green paper stars to wear (or green dots). The other group gets nothing.**
 * During half the day, allow the students with green stars or dots to have extra privileges on the class list.**
 * Be sure to switch off the second half of the day so all students get a chance to have the green star privileges.**


 * Hold a class discussion after the experiment about how the students felt when they had green stars, and how they felt when did not have a green star.**
 * **How did you feel about the students with green stars when you did not have one?**
 * **What makes you feel like a Plain Bellied Sneetch and what makes you feel like a Star Bellied Sneetch?**
 * **What lessons did you learn from this activity?**
 * **Can you think of some things we can do so that we can all feel like Star Bellied Sneetches in our classroom?**
 * **Do you think it was fair when you did not get the same privileges that the other students got?**


 * Have the class think about and list ways that they can end discrimination or unfair treatment in the classroom.**
 * Place the students in small groups with others they don't normally associate with. Tell them that this is their "team" and they will spend a few days listing ways they can help end discrimination.**
 * Give the teams time each day to reflect and discuss their findings.**


 * As a special treat, show the Dr. Seuss video //The Sneetches// to the class at the end of the week. The video can be found on YouTube.**

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__**Morning Meeting**__


 * I got this idea from Rebecca Esplin's First Grade Classroom. She is a general classroom teacher with an ESL Endorsement and has all of the ESL students in the first grade in her classroom.**


 * At the beginning of every day in class, the students do the Pledge of Allegiance and the school motto and then they sit in a circle on the rug. The leader of the day begins the Morning Meeting.**
 * (All names used are fictional)**
 * The leader turns to the student sitting next to them and says "Good morning Alex" and they give each other a high five with both hands. Alex then turns to the student next to him and says "Good morning Jennifer" and they give each other a high five with both hands.**
 * This continues until every student in the circle has been greeted for the day and greeted another student in the circle.**
 * The class then discusses the schedule for the day and class begins.**


 * I like this idea because it is an excellent way for all students to learn to speak in front of others and learn to greet others. This is especially good for English Language Learners (ELL's) because even if they come to the classroom speaking no English at all, they can learn the names of the other students, greet them and practice speaking in front of others. This is a good icebreaker and it only takes a few minutes of the day.**



** __Using Multicultural Paints and Crayon__s ** 

//**Imagine your students happily coloring or painting self portraits with flesh tone colors that have names as wonderful as ebony, sienna, mahogany, sepia, peach, or apricot!**//

 * I found a lesson plan on [|hummingbirded.com], which is an excellent resource for teachers. It has a lot of cultural activities and lesson ideas for the school.**
 * One of the lessons I found included an "All About Me" lesson. It was submitted by "Tammy" and is entitled //All About Me Self Portrai//t.**


 * The students are gathered together in the classroom and the teacher tells them that they are going to paint (or draw) a self portrait that has the correct skin color. All skin colors are beautiful and unique.** **Bring the students up in front of the class one at a time and give them a mirror to look at as they (and the class) choose the best color of paint or crayon for their portrait. What a wonderful opportunity to show off all the beautiful skin tones in your classroom. Students can gain a greater appreciation of their own skin color and the unique and lovely skin colors of their peers. Wouldn't this be a fun way to introduce Martin Luther King Jr. Day?**

To make a culture collage, have your students get a large poster board and fold it in half. One half of the poster board should be about the culture of the child. They can put things like magazine clippings, photos,drawings, bits of fabric, or any other item that they think represents their culture. On the other half of the poster board, allow the students to choose another culture that they are interested in or want to learn more about. Give them time to research the other culture and have them decorate the other side of the poster board with items they associate with the new culture. Finally, be sure to give the students time in class to present their poster boards to the class. Let them tell about their own culture and ethnicity and then compare/contrast it with the new culture they studied. This would be a great time to invite parents to watch the presentations. Be sure to hang the completed posters in the hall or the classroom!
 * __Culture Collages__ **



 Read more: [|How to Get Children to Reflect on Culture in the Classroom | eHow.com] [|http://www.ehow.com/how_7711979_children-reflect-culture-classroom.html#ixzz1rn0R3qQJ]

One teacher I read about helped her students create their own passports with construction paper at the beginning of the school year. She told them that they will going on many journeys throughout the school year to different countries. All throughout the school year, they studied many different countries like Japan, Russia, Africa, Hawaii, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, etc. Each time they studied a country, the teacher took a photo of each student with some kind of "prop" or "dress up" from the country they studied like a beret for France, or a lei of flowers from Hawaii. After each country, the students would paste their photo in their passport. At the end of the year, they had a completed passport with photos of the student as they "visited" each country.
 * __Passports__ **

I found this activity at []

**RESOURCES:**
Alcott, Amos Bronson**.** Ignorance Quote.Retrieved April 8, 2012 from [] Anti-Racism Activity: The Sneetches. (2012) Retrieved April 8, 2012 from [] Esplin, Rebecca. //Morning Meeting//. Personal Interview conducted April 10, 2012. Geisel, Theodore Seuss (Dr. Seuss). //The Sneetches and other Stories//. (1961) Random House Publishing. Book. Matina .//Passports//. Gayle's Preschool Rainbow. Retrieved April 11, 2012 [|from http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/multicultural.htm] Multicultural Crayons. Neatorama.com. Retrieved April 11, 2012 at [] Multicultural Paint.Discountschoolsupply.com. Retrieved April 11,2012 from [] [|Photos of students taken from freedigitalphotos.net]Retrieved April 8, 2012. Web. Tammy. //All About Me Self Portrait//. Hummingbird Educational Resources. Retrieved April 11, 2012 from [] The Sneetches (video). YouTube. Retrieved April 9, 2012 from[| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3yJomUhs0g] Tibbs, Nicole. //How to Get Children to Reflect on Culture in the Classroom//. eHow.com. Retrieved April 11, 2012 from []