Discovering Diversity Objectives: Students will understand that people come from different countries. Students will list the various countries represented in their classroom and will show list in bar graph form. Students will research where their ancestors came from. Background: Students should have already completed an oral history with their families and be prepared to share what they learned. Materials: Large sheet of paper, colored markers, note paper. Procedure: After students complete an oral history with their families open a discussion about where those families came from. Allow students to tell each other what they know about those places. Make a list on the board of all the countries mentioned. Describe for the class what a census is. Do a class count or census of where the students ancestors came from. (Some students may list more than one country). Make a bar graph showing how many students are from each country. If appropriate take a census of the whole school. Discuss whether the school census might be a reflection of the community. Extension: Groups of students can do oral reports on the countries mentioned in class that focus on food, traditions, clothing, language, etc. Parents and grandparents can share old family recipes which can be made into books. Students and parents can talk about family traditions, how they started, holiday traditions, special jobs for family members. Do you still do the things that your grandparents did as children?

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