World Travelers: France

Property of the Springfield-Greene County Library District

World Travelers: France
Grades K-5

My goal with this series is to bridge cultural gaps in children's literacy. The best part about it is that I learn a lot about the countries in the process, and even the parents get involved with asking questions. Sometimes I bring in a special guest or two that has lived or visited that specific country and they tell about their experiences and share items from there. The more this program develops, the better it gets!

MUSIC

BOOKS

CRAFTS

Each child that attends gets a passport. I created a template to save ink, then filled in the space with the airplane and the quote with stamps. The inside pages are from this template, and each time a child comes to the program, they get a special stamp on the inside. If they "travel" to so many of the locations, they get a prize!

MUSIC

I found this snazzy playlist of French music on YouTube. It played in the background during the program.

OPENER

Foreign exchange student, Anne Sophia, was kind enough to come in and talk about life in France. She provided a power point that everyone really enjoyed. The kids were especially interested in talking about the food! Since the last program, the kids have started opening up more and becoming involved in the presentation.

 

FACT SEARCH
Each child received a page of questions and had to find the answers hidden around the room. Here are some random facts I used:

1. The name France comes from the Latin word Francia, which means 'country of the Franks.'

2. French is the second most studied language in the world after English.

3. The capital city is Paris. Other major cities include Marseilles, Lyon, Lille, and Nice-Cannes.

4. France is the most visited country in the world, with over 80 million visitors every year.

5. The Louvre is the most visited art museum in the world. The famous Mona Lisa painting is on display in this museum.

6. During World War II, allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in northern France. The first day of these landings is called D-Day.

7. The famous Eiffel Tower in Paris was built as the entrance point for the 1889 World Fair. It is one of the most visited monuments in the world.

8. France was the second country to host the modern Olympic Games in 1900 in Paris. Paris also hosted the games again in 1924. Three winter Olympics have been hosted in France.

9. The most famous road bicycle race in the world, the Tour de France, zig zags through the French landscape.

10. Louis Pasteur was a French scientist who made many discoveries in the fields of chemistry and microbiology.

ACTIVITY STATIONS

Each station has a description of the history and uniqueness of the specific craft they are making. I also provide examples as well.

Cave Paintings

The Chauvet Cave and Lascaux are France's hubs for some of the oldest cave paintings in the world, between 20,000-36,000 years old! I had to incorporate the awesomeness of cave painting, so I got a cardboard box, wrinkled brown paper, and some crayons. My first version of the structure lasted about 5 minutes. So I reconstructed it and this is what I ended up with (along with some cave drawings I started them out with): 

Monet's Water Lilies

This was a great way to introduce impressionist painting. It allowed the kids the opportunity for open creativity and they really enjoyed learning about Monet and his method of painting. I also covered Degas a little bit while I explained the project.

Materials:
Different shades of blue construction paper
Tissue paper
Scissors (although I would recommend ripping instead, to create that blurry Monet effect)
Glue

 

French Knitting

This was incredibly popular! I got the idea from BuzzMills. A lot of the parents asked me to print off the instructions so they could do it at home, too. Kids were wearing their creations throughout the library, it was great!

Materials:
Toilet paper roll
4 Popsicle sticks
Some nifty tape
Scissors
Yarn

   

Escargot

The French version of hop scotch! I just drew the game onto bulletin board paper so it was big enough to tape onto the ground.

How to play:

1. Decide which foot you will be hopping with. If you decide on your left foot, you must hop in and out each time on that foot.

2. Hop through the snail pattern

    a. Hop only once in each space. No player may touch a line when hopping.

3. In the center “home” space you may rest on both feet.

4. After resting, turn and hop back to the beginning. Repeat the pattern 1x.

5. After you have hopped in and out twice, choose one space for your “house”. Write your initials in this space. This becomes another rest space for you. No other player may hop into your house.

The game ends when it is impossible for anyone to hop into the center space or when all of the squares have initials in them. The player who “owns” the greatest number of squares wins.

Bilboquet

Pretty simple. Just get the pom pom in the cup. This is a versatile game that has different versions of itself all around the world.

Materials:
Cups
String
Pompoms
Whatever you wish to decorate the cups with
Something to puncture a hole in bottom of cups (since I had styrofoam, I just used a paperclip)

RECEPTION: Again, a very successful program! This was probably the biggest group I've had for this series thus far. I had lots of returning kids with their passports, and they became more involved with the speaker, too. The activities at this one were also a hit. 

After the presentation, Anne Sophia said she was really grateful to come and share about her country. The night before, I was thinking about what a great opportunity this could be for people who are far away from home. This has become a chance to not only bridge cultural gaps for children and their parents, but also for foreigners to share about their homelands while they're over here.  I could tell it meant a lot to her, and that expanded my entire perspective on this program. 

Check out my list of books related to France HERE.


Follow My France Board on Pinterest.

World Travelers: Japan

Property of the Springfield-Greene County Library District

World Travelers: Japan
Grades K-5

My goal with this series is to bridge cultural gaps in children's literacy. The best part about it is that I learn a lot about the countries in the process, and even the parents get involved with asking questions. Sometimes I bring in a special guest or two that has lived or visited that specific country and they tell about their experiences and share items from there. The more this program develops, the better it gets!

MUSIC

BOOKS

CRAFTS

Each child that attends gets a passport. I created a template to save ink, then filled in the space with the airplane and the quote with stamps. The inside pages are from this template, and each time a child comes to the program, they get a special stamp on the inside. If they "travel" to so many of the locations, they get a prize!

MUSIC

I checked out this CD from the library from the soloists of the Ensemble Nipponia. It includes traditional vocal and instrumental music featuring traditional Japanese instruments such as the shakuhachi, biwa, koto, and shamisen (a few of these we demonstrated during the presentation). You can find a copy and more info on this CD on Amazon.

OPENER

Through the Ozarks Chapter of the Missouri Writer's Guild I met a new friend, Majetta. Majetta, her husband, and her daughter spent several years living in Japan and agreed to come in and present. What an amazing time we had! The presentation was only supposed to last 15-20 minutes, but people were so interested it turned into 45 minutes! I couldn't have asked for more. 
They brought authentic paraphernalia to share with kids and families, some of which included Kokeshi dolls, a Shamisen (stringed instrument), Taiko drums, a Japanese drivers license, and rice paper eggs that each attendee took home with them as a souvenir. I had also provided free chopsticks for everyone. It was an enjoyable and educational experience for both children and adults!

 

FACT SEARCH
Each child received a page of questions and had to find the answers hidden around the room. I've asked what they remember from last time, and they relayed some facts back to me! I was impressed. Here are some random facts I used:

1. The Japanese name for Japan is "Nihon" or "Nippon" which means "sun origin".

2. Japan belongs to the continent of Asia. Japan is an island nation surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West.

3. Japan is made up of 6,852 islands.

4. The highest point in Japan is Mount Fuji, which stands at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet).

5. As of July 2012, there are over 127 million people living in Japan, which is the tenth largest population in the world.

6. Tokyo is the capital city of Japan and also the largest city. Other major cities include Osaka, Nagoya, and Sapporo.

7. Japanese if the official language of Japan.

8. Japan sits along the "Pacific Ring of Fire," so it has many volcanoes and experiences many earthquakes. In 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 hit Japan and created a tsunami which resulted in much devastation.

9. Almost three quarters of Japan's land is either forest or mountains and is difficult to be made into farms, industrial, or residential areas.

10. Ancient warriors of Japan were known as Samurai. They were very skilled fighters and swordsmen. Their main weapon was the Katana, a sharp sword with a slight curve to it.

11. Due to gases produced by power plants, Japan sometimes suffers from acid rain.

12. Japan is an industrialized nation, producting some of the most technologically advanced motor vehicles, electronics, and machine tools.

13. Some of the most well-known companies in the world are Japanese, such as Toyota, Honda, Sony, Nintendo, Canon, Panasonic, Toshiba, and Sharp.

14. Japanese cuisine has become popular around the world. Some well-known dishes are sushi, sashimi, and tempura.

15. Sumo is recognized as the national sport of Japan, although the most popular spectator sport is baseball.

ACTIVITY STATIONS

Each station has a description of the history and uniqueness of the specific craft they are making. I also provide examples as well.

Koinobori (Flying Carp) Kite

In Japanese culture, the carp symbolizes courage and strength because of its ability to swim up a waterfall. Originally, the banners were used by samurai warriors on the battlefield. Now, they are used for Children's Day and family order, being flown above houses from biggest "fish" to the smallest. 

Materials: 
Printable carp found at Activity Village 
Streamers
String
(Flat) wooden skewers to create a handle or "pole"
Adhesive

Kids were flying kites around the Children's department all day!

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

I chose to integrate the infamous Great Wave Off Kanagawa in this simple art project. I also offered questions for them to consider: What is the first thing you notice? This is the focal point. What shapes do you see? What colors? Is there movement in the piece? How does it make you feel? Have you been to the ocean? What was it like? What time of day and season do you think is it? Does this painting look realistic or imagined? Try smearing the chalk with your fingers, what kind of effect do you see?

Materials:
Brown and blue construction paper
White, purple, and blue chalk
Scissors
Glue

Just draw your waves, color the sky, then cut and paste your waves to the brown paper.

Mt. Fuji Diorama

I printed this out at Canon Creative Park, but when I went back to find it, it wasn't there. So hopefully it isn't gone forever...but there are still plenty of really cool, educational crafts on there!

Japan Inspired Sensory Bin

Rice, origami, chopsticks...anything I wanted to fit into the program somehow could go in here. I had a lot of kids play with this for a long time. I actually got some complaints when it was time to put it away!

Otedama Games

Another great find from Activity Village! If you want to make traditional bean bags for these games, head on over there to find out how, but I just used some bean bags we already had in the office. To find different games you can play, go here.

RECEPTION: Wow! This was probably the best program in this series so far. The excitement and interest between both parents and children was thriving and I received a lot of great feedback. The program is originally set for 1 hour, but I had people stay for 2! I felt that it was very successful and I'm really happy with how everything turned out.

Check out my list of books related to Japan HERE.


Follow My Japan Board on Pinterest.

Author Interview: Carole P. Roman - Cultural Children's Author

Carole P. Roman is a notable author to add to your storytime collection. She writes about pirates, frogs, yoga, and my personal favorite, culture. For an assignment at school, I had to develop a proposal for something within my chosen career that I was passionate about. The American Library Association put out an article from the School Library Media Research journal about bridging cultural gaps in children's literacy. In a nutshell, it suggests that kids are less likely to become strong readers if they can't relate to what they are reading (authors, characters, content, etc.). In 1985, the Cooperative Children's Book Center began documenting such information, and it looks a lot like this (the following chart is one I created for my project):

Roman noticed something else about the world around her. We are constantly surrounded by culture outside our own, but we don't understand how it relates to us. This epiphany inspired her to write the "If You Were Me and Lived In..." books. I love these books because they simplify cultures not just for children, but for adults, too! They are short enough for storytimes, and they allow children of different cultures to relate to what they're reading, while also educating their peers. I believe these books are the beginning of a new era in children's literature, and I hope we continue to see this gap diminish.

During research for my project, I had the opportunity to call Miss Roman and learn more about her aspirations via phone interview. The passion she has for reaching a generation of children and educating them to understand the world around them was evident in her voice. It was incredibly moving for me to hear her story and how she came to act upon her convictions to write about what she felt the world was missing. It inspired me to start a program at the library called "World Travelers" where I aim to educate children about different countries and their cultures.

Please welcome Carole P. Roman to The Indigo Quill with me, and be sure to check out her books for your collection!

Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012 for her first book, award winning author Carole P. Roman started writing as a dare from one of her sons. Using an imaginary game she played with her grandson as a base, Captain No Beard was born. It has followed with four more books to the series.

Motivated by her love of yoga, Roman has written a book that not only teaches four poses, but shows how easy and accessible yoga can be.

She has just finished the first of six books in a groundbreaking new nonfiction series about culture around the world. "If You Were Me and Lived in..." combines her teaching past with her love of exploration and interest in the world around us.

Writing for children has opened up a whole second act for her. While she is still working in her family business, this has enabled her to share her sense of humor as well as love for history and culture with the audience she adores. Roman lives on Long Island with her husband and near her children.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

What inspired you to write multicultural books for children?

I’ve always been interested in different cultures. I have a multicultural background and I was a Social Studies teacher—I graduated as a History major and taught Jr High for a while before I and quit. 

One night, I just thought I should write about what I know. Alexander (my grandson) was in Vegas with me and didn’t understand the concept of different countries. So the first multicultural book I wrote was If You Were Me and Lived in Mexico… (because I lived closest to there).

I asked myself, what is culture and what does it mean? Alex was exposed to cultures but didn’t understand them. He’d ask what the eiffel tower was, and even after telling him, he still did not understand what it was and why it was relevant to him.

What elements do you ensure are included in your multicultural books?

I ask myself questions about what the child should know, such as…

1. what would you call your parents?
2. what could your name be?
3. what a doll would be called?
4. what would you call school?

I tackle things kids would read and make them understand why it’s diverse.

Where do you find your inspiration for which country you’ll write about next?

Restaurants…I write about what country the places I go inspire. Everywhere I go I notice I’m surrounded by these cultures. Korea, Greece, Kenya, Hungary…etc. We are surrounded by culture in everything we do!

How do the kids respond to learning about different cultures?

Kids are delicious and wonderful, and they love it!  They like to talk about themselves…so if they have some kind of relation or story with it they get excited.

I printed out post cards and would have them write about what they would know or do if they wanted to go there.

What do you hope your books achieve?

I feel the books are really important for tolerance. They give knowledge….the goal is to give children information and not hatred.

When I was a substitute teacher I had my class write down their Thanksgiving menu. The menu always had turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie. But there was always an ethnic dish. These kids are already experiencing culture and they don’t even realize it.

What is one thing you want readers to take away from reading your books?

The most important lesson that comes out of my books is that the world is very large, but  yet it is very small, and we are so connected. If we don’t learn to appreciate the differences and embrace them then the world is not going to be a safe place for our children. There is no better than the other, they are all beautiful! 

Each book has been a labor of love. 

Carole P. Roman's Cultural Books for Children