Lesson Plan Title : The Melting Pot

Age Range: Grade 3 through Grade 5 (Elementary)

Overview and Purpose: "One of these things is not like the other..." Imagine how boring life in America would be if everyone were alike? Students can learn to celebrate the differences in each other, as well as the different cultures that make up America.

Objective: The student will be able to describe how having so many different cultures in America makes us unique among nations.

Resources:

Magazines

Newspapers (lifestyle section)

Butcher paper

Activities:

Talk with the students about other countries and how the people who live there are mostly from that country (Germany, Italy, Mexico). Then talk about America. Ask the students where the people who live here are from. List all the places they name and then show them the map or a globe and tell them that there are people from every nation on earth living in America.

Talk about what those people brought with them when they came here (language, holidays, and styles of dress). Discuss what things we use, say, wear, etc that are influenced by other cultures.

Draw an outline of America on the butcher paper and have the students find as many examples of diversity as they can in the newspapers and magazines. They can glue the pictures on to the outline. Explain that they can overlap pictures but they should not cover the faces of any of the people.

Display the mural in your room or in the hall to celebrate our diverse nation.

Wrap Up:

This may be a good time to have an open discussion about how everyone in your class, school, community, etc., is unique, and how we can accept and respect those differences in each other. You may want to have the students cut out squares of different colored fabric. You could then have this made into a small quilt or wall-hanging and hang it in your classroom to remind your students of what they have learned.