Added: 11/26/2005 |
Create A Calendar And Learn About One?s SelfAny time I can disguise actual learning in the form of a fun activity or project I feel like I've scored a point for educators everywhere. In this case it was a project for students to create a calendar of different cultures. I hoped that by selecting 12 cultures different from their own, the kids would learn that at heart - men and women the world over aren't really that different.
That was the goal of this mini journey of self-discovery. I wanted the students to create a calendar and search through magazines and books for photographs, articles and poems. Anything that created an image that would be the basis for a particular culture and a particular month. For example, to create a calendar with a month selected for Africa, a student might use photos of Martin Luther King or quotes from his many speeches. Or America might be profiled with photos of the American Indian when the students create a calendar with this theme.
Further more, I wanted the students - when it came the time to present the calendar they created - to try and bring in foods or other items that would supplement their presentation.
That was the philosophy I tried to impart on the kids when it came time for them to create a calendar. The technical aspects, by this I mean the materials the students needed to create a calendar were fairly simple and low on the budget:
• Twelve pieces of 8 1/2" x 11" drawing paper
• Twelve blank calendar pages
• Art material to include colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors, tape, etc.
• Magazines and other reference sources that can be cut out and eventually pasted.
Each of the 12 months will have an accompanying title page that will display all the different elements of each particular culture. One of the challenges I presented the kids was that they had to find important dates specific to each culture that could be included in the calendar. I wasn't letting the students off easy! They had to do some research on this one. I wanted to know if the 5th of October had any special meaning for the Irish or if 12 December meant anything for the Apache Indians. Oh, and too make things extra difficult, each student had to have 12 cultures different from the others. No sharing of ideas or materials!
And so - armed with the right tools, materials and information - the students set to work to create a calendar in which they had a vested interest. I, in the meantime, sat back and watched the magic begin to happen.
Each child had to research cultures they knew absolutely nothing about! One child had picked the Inca's, another Spanish, another -- a tribe in Africa. To create a calendar in which each culture was depicted as unique and different would be truly a challenge!
The students that had to glue their illustrations and other reference materials and the calendar sheet on a piece of 11" x 17" construction paper. Then they had to fold and staple the pages in the middle to create the calendar. Before binding the sheets, I had each student make copies as well, so each child would have a copy of their calendar to take home. As a bonus project I offered the students a chance to create special covers for their calendars as well displaying a montage of the many cultures found in their calendars.
By the project's end, the students have learned something new, have created something new, and were able to present their projects before the entire class. Success!
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