Appreciating Similarities and Differences in Cultures That Celebrate New Year

Title of Project: Appreciating Similarities and Differences in Cultures That Celebrate New Year

Schools and Teachers

Camp Avenue School and Harold D. Fayette School Teachers: Cathy Marketos & Lauren Kotler

ENL Proficiency Level | ENL Program | Standards | Technology

Entering, Transitioning, Expanding, Commanding | Stand-Alone | 3R1, 3L6, 3SL1 | Popplet, Nearpod, Google Meet, Chromebooks

Assessments

Formative & Summative:

Vocabulary - sentence context and matching pairs (Nearpod slide)

Popplet organizer - category completion and thoroughness

Speaking Rubric - teacher scored

Collaborative Speaking Rubric

Description

In each student's classroom, New Year's Eve was introduced as a holiday in America. In ENL we provided the opportunity for students to explore New Year traditions around the world, inclusive of their own culture via Nearpod and a shared nonfiction reading. ELLs were asked to complete a graphic organizer using Popplet, outlining their New Year celebration. Using DoInk (green screen app), students will upload a photograph of one part of their New Year celebration and write a caption to match. To culminate, each student shared their personal New Year traditions via Google Meet with ENL students in another school in the District.

Content

I can locate relevant details to answer questions and complete a graphic organizer.

Language

I can acquire and use academic and content specific words and phrases. I can participate in conversation and collaborate and express ideas.

Technology

I can use Popplet on an iPad to create a graphic organizer. I can use a chromebook to participate in a Google Meet and a Nearpod lesson. I can use an iPad to upload an image for a DoInk/Green Screen project and export to Google Drive to type in a caption.

Student work

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Students working on their project in the classroom

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Procedure

First we used realia (New Year’s hat, party horn) to reinforce the New Year custom in America. A student-paced Nearpod lesson was created (also presented on the Smartboard) to include listening to holiday greetings, vocabulary development, VR celebrations to frontload vocabulary in context and reinforce cultures around the world. The Nearpod lesson was launched and students were able to enjoy the interactive components, such as Draw and Matching activities. In the next lesson, the group read Raz Kids/Reading A to Z: Happy New Year Around the World by Lisa Harkrader, and completed basic comprehension questions. We modeled and completed a chart of information on New Year celebrations in China. Students used the chart/model to create a Popplet organizer about the New Year celebration in their country. As an extension activity, students were recorded saying Happy New Year in their native language. Students upload onto the iPad a picture of a New Year celebration in their country. DoInk will be used to upload the student image in front of the country celebration. Student writes a caption. As the culminating activity, we were going to utilize Google Meet to have two ENL groups from different schools work together to share and to fulfill our collaborative speaking activity. Teacher will use the Speaking rubric to assess their ability to communicate using learned vocabulary and in a small group setting to express ideas, and participate effectively in conversation. Their DoInk photos were to be shared to springboard the conversation. Due to school closures, some of these activities could not be completed.

Resources and Other Materials

Raz Kids/Reading A to Z: Happy New Year Around the World by Lisa Harkrader, Popplet app
Popplet
Nearpod
Graphic Organizer, Chromebooks, iPads, DoInk

Reflection

We performed a test of a Google Meet session in two classrooms simultaneously using the Smartboard. This was not as successful as using two small groups and individual chromebooks. The students could hear the teacher if and when we were close to the board. The kids could not really interact and began to lose focus. We decided to create a Google Meet using our grade 3 and 4 students in two small groups. Popplet was easy to use to create the organizers. We didn’t originally realize we could save the Popplets uploading to Google Drive as a Jpeg. The Nearpod was a student-paced lesson. It was necessary to stop and review understanding and answers to the vocabulary matching pairs activity. Unfortunately, due to school closure, we were not able to complete the project.

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