LESSON PLAN - A World Wide Christmas Calendar

Theme – Developing Self

CAREER SKILLS – Developing Self

KEY SKILLS – Communication, Problem Solving, Working With Others, Improving Own Learning and Performance

WORK RELATED LEARNING – Learning For Work

COMPETENCIES – *ai, *aii, *bi, *ci, *cii, *di, **ei, **eii, **eiii, **eiv, **evi, ***fiv, ***kiv, ****li, ****mi

SUGGESTED SUBJECT AREA – Social Studies, English, art

Learning Outcomes

By completing this task students will be able to:

· Make a calendar about Christmas traditions in different countries.

· We will make it on the World Wide Web so that kids all over the world can enjoy it.

How do you celebrate Christmas in your country?

Each day on our calendar will tell about one Christmas tradition as it is celebrated in different countries. You need to have the students make connections with different students in different countries. Once you have the connections with the other countries and classrooms then send them the list of what you would like them to send to you. Here is a list of ideas, but you should feel free to choose anything that you in particular like and think is special about Christmas in your country.

For contacts in England you should contact the principal at Pontiac High School. For other schools have the students research it on the net they can write a generic letter and then email it to the schools you have discovered. The French emersion group can make contact with the schools in French speaking countries and then the finished project can go on your web site as a project from the students.

· Christmas trees

· what kind of tree do you have?

· what do you decorate it with?

· are there any special customs associated with the tree?

· Carols and songs
could include recorded singing or instrumental music

· Legends, poems, stories

· Food

· what special foods do you eat around Christmas? (recipes?)

· Christmas dinner

· cookies, candies, cakes & sweets

· foods with traditions (in Denmark we hide an almond in the Christmas porridge and the finder gets a present - have you got any customs like this with food?)

· Customs & traditions

· kissing under the mistletoe

· feeding birds & animals

· Gift giving

· do people give each other gifts at Christmas in your country?

· when do you open your presents?

· who brings the presents?

· what are typical presents?

· Special days during the Christmas season

· St. Nicholas day

· St. Lucia day

· Boxing day

· what special days are there in your country?

· Santa Claus

· do you have 'Santa Claus' in your country?

· what is his name?

· where does he live?

· does anyone help him?

· Decorations

· creche

· Christmas cards

· paper cut-outs

· how do you make the special decorations in your country?

Have the students from other countries do more than just write!

The calendars could include pictures and even recorded sounds. Schools can send contributions over the computer network, or they can send writing, drawings, and photos in the regular mail which we will type in or scan. They can also send computer files on a floppy disk (IBM or Mac) if this is easier. Please have the schools mark 'RETURN' on the envelope just incase any material needs to be sent back to them (and of course make sure they include a return address).

You could put something like this in your proposal

Everything submitted for the calendar should be made by you or a friend or someone in your family - it should not be from a book or a magazine or a CD because of copyright laws. We want your original work!

Because it is your original work, we would like to make a list of everyone who has contributed to the calendar. Please include your name (first name plus last initial only), age, school, city and country.