Learning Experience Plan

Subject: Spanish
Unit:

Grade level: 9

Day of the Dead

Length of LEP (days/periods/minutes): 25 minutes

Topic: Comparison between Day of the Dead and Christian Holy Days
Content Standards: (include only standards addressed in this LEP)
Literacy Standards: (include only standards addressed in this LEP)
Learning Experience Outcomes (knowledge/skills)
Students will: understand the differences and
similarities between Mexican/Latina culture and
Christian American culture in regards to Day of the
Dead, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Halloween.

Learning Experience Assessments

A comparison sheet and a paragraph in Spanish
summarizing the main differences between Mexican
and American culture in regard to the holidays el Da
de los Muertos, All Saints and All Souls Day, and
Halloween

Differentiation (What will you do to meet the needs of students at these different levels?)
Approaching
On-level
Beyond
These students will have
This student will be challenged to
difficulty forming sentences and
write at a higher level than the
expressing themselves
other students.
accurately both in writing and
speaking so they will be provided
a cheat sheet with the present
tense ER/IR/AR verb
conjugations and useful
vocabulary for comparing and
contrasting.
Curriculum Integration (Does this lesson correlate with any other content area? Describe.)
Social Studies = Comparisons between cultures are a major component of Social Studies.
Materials
Procedures/Strategies
Day 1

(add additional days as needed)

Sponge Activity (activity that will be done as students enter the room to get them into the mindset of the concept to be
learned)
I will explain that we will be going over the homework and the previous lesson in order to
refresh our memories of the material. Then I will say that we will be comparing Day of the
Dead with Halloween and with Christian Holy Days: All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
I will read through the answers and ask them What is a marigold and have all of the
students call out the answers so they can all practice pronunciation

Anticipatory Set (focus question/s that will be used to get students thinking about the days lesson)
I will explain to the class that in order to understand Day of the Dead further, we will be
comparing it with Halloween and All Saints and All Souls Day.
I will then explain that we will be learning a little bit about All Saints and All Souls day, but
first we have to quickly review Day of the Dead to refresh our memories.
Activating Prior Knowledge (what information will be shared with/among students to connect to prior
knowledge/experience)
I will ask the class to recall the previous lesson and will ask for a volunteer to say what Day of
the Dead is, and will ask for more volunteers asking questions like
1. How do people celebrate their deceased loved ones on these days?
2. What kind of celebration is it? (I will cue them by asking if the people celebrating are
happy or sad )
3. What kind of foods do they make?
4. What do they do?
After getting the main ideas down, I will begin with the brief lesson on All Saints and All
Souls Days. I will ask the students if they know anything about these Holy Days of
Obligation.
Direct Instruction (input, modeling, check for understanding)
I will go through the slides about All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Halloween. I will point out
similarities between these holidays and the practices of Dia de los Muertos.
I will then tell the students that their assignment is to write a paragraph in Spanish
comparing the three holidays. I will hand out the comparison chart organizer and I will then
explain what the comparison organizer is, and put up the example on the smartboard. I will
then ask if anyone would like a cheat sheet to help them with the Spanish writing portion of
the assignment.
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new learning)
The students will work together in groups to fill in the comparison chart until the end of the
lesson. The groups will be as follows : RJ and Jimmy; Aleysha and Brittany; Kat, Sister Mary
Ann, and Robert.
Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation to an appropriate close)
I will ask the students to finish the chart and use the chart to write a paragraph that
highlights some of the main points of comparison and contrast between the three holidays. I
will ask them to comment on the perspectives of the different cultures given the information

theyve learned about the holidays.

Independent Practice (what students will do to reinforce learning of the lesson)
The students will complete the comparison organizer and paragraph at home.