Lesson Plan : Christmas in Sweden

Teacher Name:
 Mrs. Ulrich
Grade:
 Grade 3
Subject:
 Social Studies

Topic:
 How is Christmas celebrated in Sweden? What personalities are associated with the season in Sweden?
Content:
 Christmas celebration in Sweden will be covered including St. Lucia Day. Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Vocabulary: Advent, St. Lucia, julebrod, Jultomten
Goals:
 Students will identify St. Lucia and Jultomten. Students will use the computer to explore Christmas in Sweden and apply what they have learned to answer questions.
Objectives:
 At the end of this lesson students will be able to compare and contrast their family's Christmas traditions with Swedish Christmas traditions. Student's will also be able to summarize the Swedish Christmas celebration while discussing the personalities associated with Christmas in Sweden.
Materials:
 Computer, Venn Diagram, book, How to Make a Swedish Christmas, by Helen Ingborg.
Introduction:
 I will show on Plasma Screen, Harlekins Julklapp, by Hans Wilhelm. This story can be found at http://www.childrenslibrary.org. I will give each student a post it note and have them guess What language this is and what country they think we are going to learn about today.I will share answers given by children.
Development:
 Next, we will do a picture walk through the book, How to Make a Swedish Christmas. We will predict what we think is happening in the book. I will read the story to the students. After reading this story we will discuss some of the important ideas in the story.
Practice:
 Students will break into partners to research websites that will discuss Christmas in Sweden. http://www.santas.net/julebrod.htm http://www.northpole.net/world.htm http://christmas-world.freeservers.com/sweden.html http://www.history.com/minisites/Christmas They will be instructed to list details about St. Lucia Day, Christmas Eve,Christmas Day, and traditions that occur on these days.
Accommodations:
 Accommodations can be made for those with special needs. Some of the students may need help with reading the websites. Possibly require only a caption for drawing instead of an entire paragraph.
Checking For Understanding:
 Students will make a Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts their family's own Christmas traditions with those traditions of a Swedish family. Write a story from the younger daughter's point of View on St. Lucia Day.
Closure:
 Students will share their Venn Diagrams and will read stories to classmates.
Evaluation:
 Venn diagrams and stories.
Teacher Reflections:
 

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