Birthdays, Everyone Has One!

Goal and Standard
Listen critically and respond appropriately across the subject areas.

Listening
EL.03.SL.07 Retell in own words and explain what has been said by a speaker.
EL.03.SL.08 Connect and relate prior experiences, insights, and ideas to those of a speaker

EL’s Content objective to be displayed on board
You will recognize that people from around the world have a birthday.

EL’s Language objective to be displayed on board
You will relate your own birthday experience to other people from around the world.

Assessment
Children will be assessed by the teacher informally to see if they are listening to the information by their responses to the questions at the end of the power point.

Materials Needed
Party favor
Computer
Power point presentation
Willing children

Getting Started/ Attention Getter
The teacher asks, “Do you know we all have one thing in common? Our eyes are not all the same, our hair is different, and we look different. One thing about us is the same. Do you know what that is?” (Use wait time for responses)” Yes, we have those things in common because we were all born! We all have a birthday!” The teacher then takes out a party favor blows it and says, “Happy birthday everyone!”

Summary of the Lesson
1. Tell the children this lesson will start by asking question and end by asking question. You will be able to answer the question at the end by listening to how other people have birthdays from around the world.
2. First ask questions the students already know about birthdays such as, “Does anyone remember their birthday?” or, “Have you ever had a party?” and so on to build background knowledge.
3. Next tell the children we are going to use our ears and our eyes to see and hear how other people from around the world celebrate their birthdays.
4. Show power point presentation about birthdays from around the world. Teacher reads aloud the texts on the screen as students read along and look at the pictures. The underline sentences are the exact sentences that are written on the power point slides.
5. Then tell the children, “Now it’s time for you to tell me what you saw and heard.” Note the following are only example questions, let the class tell what they remember from the power point presentation and lead the group in class discussion.
6. Which country do they pull on the child’s ear? Brazil - Pulls on the earlobe. The birthday child receives a pull on the earlobe for each year they have been alive.
7. Which country greases the child’s nose? Canada - Greasing the nose with butter or margarine. In Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland) the birthday child is ambushed and their nose is greased for good luck. The greased nose makes the child too slippery for bad luck to catch them.
8. Which country do they eat noodles for lunch? China - Noodles for Lunch. The birthday child pays respect to his/her parents and receives a gift of money. Friends and relatives are invited to eat lunch and noodles are served to wish the birthday child a long life.
9. Which country flies a flag to tell everyone it’s your birthday? Denmark - Flying Flags. A flag is flown outside a window to designate that someone who lives in that house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child's bed while they are sleeping so they will see them immediately upon awakening.
10. Which country does the child sit in a chair while others raise it in the air? Israel - Chair Raising. A small child sits in a chair while grown-ups raise and lower it a number of times corresponding to the child's age, plus one for good luck.
11. Which country has Pinatas? Mexico - Piñatas. The piñata is usually made out of paper mache and in the form of an animal, is filled with goodies and hung from the ceiling. The birthday child is blindfolded and hits the piñata until it is cracked open. All the children share the goodies. The song Las Mananitas is sung. Also, when a daughter is 15, the birthday is celebrated with a special mass in her honor. A party is then given to introduce her to everyone as a young woman. The father dances a waltz with her.
12. Which country taps you on the arm for each birth year? Puerto Rico - Taps on the arm. The child gets tapped on the arm for each birth year. A big party which includes a formal dinner is held.
13. Which country gives pie instead of cakes? Russia - Birthday Pies. Instead of a birthday cake, many Russian children receive a birthday pie with a birthday greeting carved into the crust.
14. Which country has everyone’s birthday is on the same day? Vietnam - Everyone’s birthday is celebrated on New Year’s Day. Not only is Tet the beginning of a New Year, it is also everyone's birthday. The Vietnamese do not know or acknowledge the exact day they were born. A baby turns one on Tet no matter when he/she was born that year. Children say they were born in the year of the symbol of the lunar calendar for that year. On the first morning of Tet, adults congratulate children on becoming a year older by presenting them with red envelopes that contain "Lucky Money," or li xi. These envelopes are given to the children by parents, siblings, relatives and close friends.
15. Other question may be asked as the discussion leads.


Closer / Recap
The teacher directs the student’s attentions to the “Birthday Word Wall”. The teacher explains the “Word wall” will be used to write a paragraph on day six of unit. The teacher will explain that we will be adding words all week to the wall to help us write our own birthday stories. The children are asked if they would like to add words today from the “Birthdays from Around the World” power point that may help them write their own story.

Reflection
Ask the students to put their thumbs up if they enjoyed learning about birthdays from around the world. The students are asked to put their thumbs up if they listened and controlled themselves while watching the power point presentation.

Meeting all the Learner’s Needs
This lesson contained many components to help meet all learners’ needs. This is not a separate concept but an integral part of my classroom setting. First, I wrote content and languages objective on the board and discussed them first to help EL’s as well as other children who need to see the whole before the parts. Second, I read the words on the power point aloud so reading levels could be easy differentiated. Third, I asked questions to the group as a whole rather than individuals so advanced students could assist emerging readers, nonreaders, as well as EL’s to hear the information more than once. Forth, I recapped by introducing a “word wall” that will help all students feel confident when we write our paragraphs. Ample room is always provided for my physically challenged student as well as all materials in brail for my visually changed student. Again, the combinations of these techniques are not a separate part of the lesson but interwoven throughout the whole lesson to facilitate the whole class.