There’s nothing that’s more exciting to kids than the holiday season! 🙂 December brings so much magic, joy, and lots of curiosity. Because of that, I like to take advantage of this time of year by teaching with inquiry based learning to teach students about Christmas around the world.
Why Teach about Christmas Around the World?
While we know that Christmas is a holiday celebrated by Christians, it’s important to recognize how other countries celebrate this same holiday. This helps bring awareness and understanding to different cultures. Of course there are many other winter holidays to be celebrated this time of year depending on the religion and/or ethnicity you align with. For example, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or even Boxing Day! But my inquiry based lessons I share with you today are all about how I teach Christmas celebrations around the world!
Topic Introduction
I like to introduce this unit by incorporating my own family heritage. I bring in some of my Norwegian troll figurines and have my students begin brainstorming questions and ideas about what they are, what they could mean, or what they represent. You can gather these thoughts and ideas from your students by having them write them on a post-it note or writing a journal entry. You could also get your students up and moving by doing a gallery walk around the room. This is a simple way to start teaching with inquiry based learning because you’re asking students to guess or wonder about the object first.
Lesson 1 – Read Aloud
To correlate with my own family heritage and continue with the idea I initially introduced to them, I like to choose the story Christmas Trolls by Jann Brett. The story is set in Sweden, not Norway, but there are actually many similarities in the cultures! Trolls aren’t typically a symbol of Christmas in North America, which is why I love teaching with inquiry based learning. Because it’s something that is different, students can discuss why they believe Norway thinks trolls are a part of Christmas after reading the story.
Depending on your own family heritage, you can almost always find a story to connect it to. The Christmas Nisse by Patrick Nielson tells of a Scandinavian elf, or An Irish Night Before Christmas by Sarah Blazek is similar to the typical Night Before Christmas story, but with a few Irish twists! Your students will love hearing about your heritage and where you came from. In turn, they may also share some traditions they have that are not the norm.
The same day I teach this lesson, I also send home an information sheet with my students to give to their parents. This letter tells them about the Christmas Around the World unit!
Lesson 2 – Brainstorming
During this lesson, I like to have my students brainstorm what they already know about Christmas celebrations. What are common traditions or practices we recognize? Do we already know anything about how other countries celebrate Christmas? Depending on the diversity in your classroom, you may be surprised by what your students already know about some countries. Plus, you are getting them to inquire, question, their own traditions. In many cultures and households, we do things because that is just how it is. However, giving students the chance to use inquiry based learning, they can gain a deeper understanding of their own culture, heritage, and traditions.
Lesson 3 – KWL Chart
After generating curiosity and excitement in lesson 2, I then have each of my students fill out the ‘K’ and ‘W’ sections of a KWL Chart. The letters stand for: Know, Wonder, Learn. The first section is what they already know. The second section is what questions they have or are wondering about. Finally, the L section will be what they learned from the unit once it’s over. Teaching with inquiry based learning is all about thinking beyond the now which is why a KWL chart is so important!
Lesson 4 – How to Come Up with a Question of Inquiry
While this may seem like a simple step, it’s actually a very crucial piece to making you are teaching with inquiry based learning. Depending on your age of students, it’s likely that the questions they have are basic yes/no questions. In order to have your students engaged in true inquiry based research and learning, you’ll want to teach what a good question of inquiry looks like! Teaching with inquiry based learning means your students need to know the different between a thin and thick question. A thin question is surface level and asks you to simply understand what is happening. Thick questions ask you to dig deeper and understand why. Teaching students this will help guide their more in depth research.
In this post you’ll find 10 lessons on how to teach Christmas around the world by teaching with inquiry based learning! Everything is in reference to my Christmas Around the World Unit of Inquiry and Project Based Learning. You can find it linked at the bottom of this post! Let’s get started! 🙂
Lesson 5 – Choosing a Topic of Inquiry
It’s typical for students to want to study their own culture, which is great! But if your classroom isn’t very diverse, allowing students to choose their own culture will only result in everyone presenting the same information.
My Christmas Around the World unit comes with 16 different countries to study. I have each student write down their first, second, and third choice of culture they would like to research. I preface this by telling the students they may not get their first or second choice. However, I emphasize that each one is equally important to learn about. Based upon their preferences and my class size, I end up choosing their country for them. This way there are no more than 1-2 students studying the same country.
After they’ve been given their country, they begin reading and taking notes about their country by using the materials provided in my unit!
Lesson 6 – Writing a Rough Draft
In lesson 6 the students are composing a paragraph using the facts they just collected about their country in lesson 5. I ask them to include at least 3 new facts in their paragraph. Often students will get stuck on how to start, so I help them begin their paragraph by constructing an opening sentence. I will use sentence starters like: “Let me tell you about Christmas in _____,” or “I learned so much about Christmas in _____!”
After their opening sentence, students are to write at least one sentence about each new fact they learned. Finally, they must include a concluding sentence. That might look something like: “I think learning about Christmas in _____ was fun,” or “I think that Christmas in _____ sounds interesting!”
Lesson 7 – Check for Good Copy
I read each student’s paragraph and help them correct any spelling or grammar mistakes. This helps them think beyond “just one draft” and see in order for things to be done well, you often need more than one copy. Once the corrections have been made, they copy the final draft onto a nice lined piece of paper with a Christmas-themed border.
Lesson 8 – Create a Diorama
To make their project come to life, I have students create a diorama. I have a specific worksheet that provides room for the kids to draw out their images for the diorama. The worksheet gives them a variety of images to consider for their diorama like special gifts, who delivers the gifts, decorations, and what food is eaten.
Lesson 9 – Complete KWL Chart and Class Presentations
While their own countries are fresh in their minds, have each student complete their KWL chart first. They can list their 3 facts from their paragraph in the ‘Learned’ section or any other new facts they took from the reading material.
Following the KWL Charts, we move on to presentations. I do some coaching with the class on how to present their countries. For example, starting out the presentation such as, “My project was about Christmas in Brazil. Brazil is a country in South America. Here are some facts I learned…”
I also have them refer to their 3 main facts they learned, their dioramas they created, and finally get them to ask for questions from the audience. I like to prep the class ahead of time with an idea of what kinds of questions could be asked. This is a great way to “conclude” the project itself because it shows if students understood inquiry based learning. By having students fill out their KWL charts again, they learn how to listen to their classmates.
Lesson 10 – Self-Evaluations
Looking back on the project and evaluating yourself is a valuable skill. Consider teaching for example. If we never reflected, we would never know how to improve and education would never evolve. Therefore, self-reflection is one of the greatest forms of learning we can provide to our students! I have provided an editable version of a self-evaluation here in my Christmas Around the World Inquiry Unit.
Teaching with inquiry based learning is an essential part of developing curiosity in students. We want future citizens to be able to question and research. This unit is a fun and simply way to do that with your students! I wish you and your students a very Merry Christmas and hope you have a wonderful month of bringing cultural awareness and appreciation to your classroom!
