Lesson Title: Marvelous Mexican Christmas Lesson#: Date: Dec 1, 2017 (10:40 – 11:40)

Name: Manisha Singh Subject: English Language Arts Grades: 3/4

Social Studies

Rationale:
Reading informational text can be both informative and inspirational for students. In order to
develop reading and writing skills and strategies, a variety of pre-reading/writing, during
reading/ writing and post-reading/writing activities will be practiced.
Curriculum Connections: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/
ELA (3)
Big Idea: Stories and other texts help us learn about ourselves, our families, and our
communities
Curricular Competency:
Comprehend and Connect:
 Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop
understanding of self and others.
 Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make
meaning
Create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing):
 Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding.
 Plan and create a variety of communication forms for different purposes and audiences.
 Communicate using sentences and most conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.
ELA (4)
Big Idea: Exploring stories helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to
the world.
Curricular Competency:
Comprehend and Connect:
 Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop
understanding of self and others.
 Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or
viewing to deepen understanding of text
Create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing)
 Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding.
  Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create texts for a variety of
purposes and audiences.
 Communicate in sentences and paragraphs, applying conventions of Canadian spelling,
grammar, and punctuation.
Social Studies:
Curricular Competency:
 Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and
analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions.
 Interpret information on simple maps using cardinal directions, symbols, and legends.
 Use simple map grids (e.g., letter-number co-ordinates) to identify specific locations.

Learning Intentions Activity Assessment

Students will be able to:
 utilize pre-reading
comprehension strategies to
prepare to construct meaning
from text.
 utilize during-reading
comprehension strategies to
prepare to seek information
during reading.
 utilize post-reading
strategies to discuss the
information found in the
text.
 participation in listening,
viewing and reading of
the informational text.
 attention and
participation pre-writing,
during-writing, & post-
writing strategies.
 attentive focus,
responses to prompts.
 contributions to whole
class.
 fully completed
worksheet- ‘Marvelous
Mexican Christmas’

Prerequisite Concepts and Skill :( for student success)

Word and letter formation, ability to view, listen and respond visually and physically, and social
interaction skills.

Materials and Resources with References/Sources:

For Teacher For Students

 Informational Text & Worksheet, Social Studies Connection Informational Text &
Sheet Worksheet, Social
Studies Connection Sheet
(prepared by the teacher. Please see appendix)
Video:
Passport to Christmas
Website 1. (http://mrnussbaum.com/interactive-world-map/) to
folders, HB Pencils,
learn about, capital city, weather, languages spoken.
Yellow or Orange pencil
Website 2. crayon, green mat for the
(http://www.worldatlas.com/travelaids/flight_distance.htm) to table.
learn the distance
Christmas coloring sheet for early finishers.

Differentiated Instruction (DI): (accommodations)

 Encourage writing but suggest words, sentences.
 Provide scribing help to students, who may need it.
 Move around room to engage each learner.
 Provide a Christmas puzzle for early finishers.
Organizational/Management Strategies: (anything special to consider?)
 Have students to work in small groups (3 or 4)
 Remind the students to use their indoor voice.
Possible Aboriginal Connections / First Peoples Principles of Learning
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/principles_of_learning.pdf and
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/pdf/aboriginal_education_bc.pdf

Lesson Activities:

Teacher Activities Student Activities Pacing

Introduction (hook/motivation/less
on overview)
4 - 5 min
 Grab students’ attention.
 Once you have their attention,
say “today we are going to
travel to a new country.” And
for this we have to use our
 Students respond verbally.
imaginations. Are you ready?
 Tell the students “Welcome
aboard flight M7 leaving for
Mexico. Please wear your
seat belts.”  Students participate in the virtual
flight to Mexico.
 Encourage students to make
the airplane sound.
 Tell the students “We have
safely landed at our
destination – Mexico. You
may please open your seat
belts”. Instruct them to stop
the airplane sound.

Body (lesson flow/ management)

 Tell the students “Today we
will learn about Christmas
Traditions that are practiced
in Mexico”. Engage students
in a group discussion about 50 min
any Mexican Christmas
traditions they are aware of.
Students are encouraged to
connect with their personal  Students engage in discussion.
experiences.
 Tell the students “before we
start our exploration each one
of us needs to bring out a
pencil, yellow or orange
pencil crayon and green mat.”
 Instruct them to get the
supplies and go back to their
tables.
 Students go to their stationary
 Hand in the Social Studies
bins, bring the supplies, passport
Connections Sheet.
folder and Green Mats, and go
 Show the Interactive website back to their tables.
(http://www.worldatlas.com/t
ravelaids/flight_distance.htm)
to learn the distance. Instruct
the students to write the
distance on their sheets, as
demonstrated. (Thumbs up
when completed)
 Students view the website and
 Show the Interactive website fill in the information in the
http://mrnussbaum.com/intera appropriate blank.
ctive-world-map/
(find the answers for the
Capital City, Official
Languages, Hemisphere)
(Thumbs up when
completed).

 Instruct the table captains to

collect the Social Studies
Connection Sheets from their
table and hand it in, and
collect Informational text,  The table captains collect the
and worksheet for their table. Social Studies Connection
Instruct them to hand these to Sheets and hand it in. They then
the students on their collect the informational text and
respective tables. worksheet and hand it to the
students on their table.
 Check to ensure all students
have received the text and
worksheet
 Display the comprehension
worksheet on the projector
screen. Before reading out
 loud the comprehension
questions check ensure all
students have the
comprehension worksheets in
in front of them.
 Instruct students to place the
instructional text in front of
them before commencing
guided reading. Remind
students to look for the
answers to the questions in
the text.
 Remind the students to wait
for the student / teacher to
finish reading the paragraph
before raising their hands for
the answers they may have  Students may raise hands to
found in the reading. clarify any expectations.

 Check for understanding.

(Thumbs up/ down)
 Guided reading of the text.
Ask if any student is
comfortable to read out loud.
 Instruct all students to follow
the reading with their index  Students may raise their hands to
finger. volunteer.
 Pause between sections to  Students follow the reader with
check as a class if any of the their finger.
questions were answered in
the section
 Instruct students to highlight  Students highlight any answers
the entire sentence. Remind found in the readings as a class.
them “we are just
highlighting the answers to
the questions and not writing
them as yet.”
  For the comprehension
worksheet, demonstrate
answering the first question
using full sentence. Have
them do the rest
independently.
 Check for understanding of
fully finishing the sentences.
(Thumbs up/ down)
 Instruct students to complete
the answers to the questions.
 Students complete the
 Instruct them to hand in the worksheet.
completed worksheet and
instructional text, and collect  Students hand in the completed
the coloring sheet. worksheet and comprehension
text and collect the coloring
sheet.
Closure (connections within lesson
or between lessons, sharing
successes, summaries)
Exit Ticket: As a class we will
complete a T- Chart to compare the
similarities and differences between 4 -5 min
the Christmas traditions of Canada  Students may raise hands to
and Mexico. respond to answer the exit ticket
Ask about any successes that question.
students may want to share.  Students may raise hands to
respond.
 Christmas in Mexico

In Mexico, Christmas is celebrated from the December 12th to January 6th. Merry
Christmas is called 'Feliz Navidad' in Spanish.
The children often perform the 'Posada' processions or Posadas from December 16th to
Christmas Eve. Posada is Spanish for Inn or Lodging. There are nine Posadas. These
celebrate the part of the Christmas story Posada where Joseph and Mary looked for
somewhere to stay. For the Posadas, the outside of houses are decorated with
evergreens, moss and paper lanterns.
One game that is often played at Posada parties is piñata. A piñata is a decorated clay
or papier-mâché jar filled with sweets and hung from the ceiling or tree branch.
Poinsettia plants are native to Central America. There is an old Mexican legend about
how Poinsettias and Christmas come together, it goes like this:
There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give the baby
Jesus at the Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked to the chapel sadly, her cousin
Pedro tried to cheer her up. 'Pepita', he said "I'm sure that even the smallest gift, given
by someone who loves him will make Jesus Happy."
Pepita didn't know what she could give, so she picked a small handful of weeds from the
roadside and made them into a small bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could
only give this small present to Jesus.
As she walked through the chapel to the altar, she remembered what Pedro had said.
She began to feel better, knelt down and placed the bouquet near the altar. Suddenly,
the bouquet of weeds burst into bright red flowers, and everyone who saw them were
sure they had seen a miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as
the 'Flowers of the Holy Night'.
The shape of the poinsettia flower and leaves are sometimes thought to symbolize the
Star of Bethlehem which led the Wise Men to Jesus.
In Mexico, Christmas eve is a family day. People often take part in the final Posada and
then in the evening have the main Christmas meal. There are lots of fireworks to
celebrate Christmas Day.
 Christmas Traditions in Mexico

Directions: Answer the questions using full sentences.

Question 1: What is Merry Christmas called in Spanish?

Question 2: When do children perform the posada processions?

Question 3: What is a piñata?

Question 4: What did Pedro tell his cousin Pepita, to cheer her up?

Question 5: What is the shape of the poinsettia flower and leaves sometimes thought to
symbolize?