Day 1

Goals:

1. For the students to gain an understanding of the various cultures who make up the Caribbean Region.

2. To introduce this week's topic of Caribbean culture and people through literature.

Time:

30 minutes

Resources/Materials:

paper, pens, chalk, chalkboard, For The Life Of Laetitia by Merle Hodge, Bob Marley music

Procedure:

1. The teacher will have some Caribbean music, such as Bob Marley, playing in the background as he/she comes into the classroom today dressed as the little girl Laetitia from the book For The Life Of Laetitia by Merle Hodge.

2. The teacher will act out a small portion of the book to get the students interested in reading this novel as well as to introduce the topic for this week, which is people and culture of the Caribbean.

3. The teacher will briefly tell the class some of the goals and activities that are planned for the following week to get them interested and excited about this topic.

4. The students will engage in a short activity dealing with cultures and people.

5. The students will individually write down some ideas of the first images they see of people in the Caribbean, or some typical characteristics of these people.

6. The class will discuss some of these images and characteristics. The teacher will explain stereotypes and then inform the children what are some basic characteristics of this culture. This will give the students a general understanding of characteristics of Caribbean people.

Assessment:

The students will be assessed by how affectively they communicated their ideas to the class during participation. Please see participation rubric found at the end of the week's lessons.

Curricular Strands:

English - introduction of a new adolescent book, communication skills, writing

Social Studies - knowledge of history of people of the Caribbean, culture, values

Science - geography of people of Caribbean Region

Music - Bob Marley

Possible Extensions:

The students could choose a book about people from the Caribbean to present to the class in the form of a Book Talk to get them interested in reading it. People who feel strongly about an issue that came up during the discussion of the Caribbean may want to prepare a debate to present to the class, or to research it and see if there are any court cases that relate to that idea.

Carribean Unit - written by Trina Collins, Richard Wheeler, & Daniel Shimek

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