ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT (0) 11 :

11 ) Identify symbols, customs, famous individuals, and celebrations representative of our state and nation. (Alabama)

Examples: symbols—United States flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle (Alabama)

customs—pledging allegiance to the United States flag, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

individuals—George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Squanto; Martin Luther King, Jr.

celebrations—Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 2 :

2 ) Identify national historical figures and celebrations that exemplify fundamental democratic values, including equality, justice, and responsibility for the common good.

•  Recognizing our country's founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, John Adams, John Hancock, and James Madison

•  Recognizing historical female figures, including Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe

•  Describing the significance of national holidays, including the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Presidents' Day; Memorial Day; the Fourth of July; Veterans Day; and Thanksgiving Day

•  Describing the history of American symbols and monuments

Examples: Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, bald eagle, United States flag, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial

[MA2019] (0) 17 :

17. Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common to see which object has "more of" or "less of" the attribute and describe the difference.

Example: Directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as "taller" or "shorter."

[MA2019] (2) 9 :

9. Compare two three-digit numbers based on the value of the hundreds, tens, and ones digits, recording the results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, and < and orally with the words "is greater than," "is equal to," and "is less than."

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students will join Peg+Cat as they learn about the Muslim holiday Eid-Al-Adha from their friends Yasmina and Amir. In addition to exploring how Muslims celebrate the holiday, students also explore the mathematical concepts of less than (<) and more than (>), fractions, and how to create equal amounts.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn to explore Alaska Native culture and learn how to use and create recipes, a type of informational text, in the 11-minute animated story "New Nivagi" from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. (Move the cursor over the video progress bar to locate the story at 01:00.) After Molly's dog, Suki eats the first batch of nivagi—Alaska Native ice cream—Molly and her friend Tooey must make another batch of Grandpa Nat's prize-winning recipe in time for the Qyah competition. They search out the ingredients (moose fat, moose meat, strawberries, and carrots) and improvise when they can't find something, using their knowledge of the land and people around them. The result is different but delicious.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 3 :

3 ) Use various primary sources, including calendars and timelines, for reconstructing the past.

Examples: historical letters, stories, interviews with elders, photographs, maps, artifacts

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students discover what happens when Molly's dog, Suki, finds a bone with beautiful markings on it in the 11-minute animated story “Suki's Bone” from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. (Move the cursor over the video progress bar to locate the story at 01:00.) After Grandpa Nat's archeologist friend confirms that the bone is an important Alaska Native artifact, Molly and her friends Tooey and Oscar think everything they find might belong in a museum! Integrating Alaska Native culture and history with informational text, the video shows how labels in museums help explain the exhibits, while Molly and her friends also learn about traditional Alaska Native games and tools.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT (0) 12 :

12 ) Describe families and communities of the past, including jobs, education, transportation, communication, and recreation.

•  Identifying ways everyday life has both changed and remained the same

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students explore Alaska Native culture and the importance of dog sledding in the 11-minute animated story "Tooey's Hero" from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. (Move the cursor over the video progress bar to locate the story at 14:00.) Tooey, an aspiring dog musher, is excited to meet his hero, champion racer, and philanthropist Eugene Pike, who is dogsledding to Qyah. Molly and Tooey track his progress using a map and Pike's video blog—two types of informational text—and realize they must act quickly to warn Pike about warming ice conditions. Can they find him in time so that he can finish recreating the historic Great Mail Race?

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT (0) 12 :

12 ) Describe families and communities of the past, including jobs, education, transportation, communication, and recreation.

•  Identifying ways everyday life has both changed and remained the same

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 10 :

10 ) Identify ways people throughout the country are affected by their human and physical environments.

Examples: land use, housing, occupation

•  Comparing physical features of regions throughout the United States

Example: differences in a desert environment, a tropical rain forest, and a polar region

•  Identifying positive and negative ways people affect the environment

Examples: positive—restocking fish in lakes, reforesting cleared land

negative—polluting water, littering roadways, eroding soil

•  Recognizing benefits of recreation and tourism at state and national parks (Alabama)

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students explore Alaska Native culture and values using "First Fish," an 11-minute animated story from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. (Move the cursor over the video progress bar to locate the story at 01:00.) Before Molly catches her first fish, a childhood milestone that is as important today as it was in the past, she researches facts about salmon to help her. When Molly finally succeeds, she follows the tradition of honoring one's elders by offering her prized catch to Grandpa Nat. As students examine values, such as sharing with others and respecting elders, they learn social-emotional skills as well as the importance in Alaska Native culture of connecting to all living things.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT (0) 12 :

12 ) Describe families and communities of the past, including jobs, education, transportation, communication, and recreation.

•  Identifying ways everyday life has both changed and remained the same

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, explore Alaska Native history and culture using the 11-minute story "Grandpa's Drum" in this episode from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. (Move the cursor over the video progress bar to locate the story at 01:00.) An old photograph sends Molly and friend Tooey on a mission to find out why Grandpa Nat no longer sings or plays his drum. As they uncover Grandpa's past, using visual clues and the internet, they understand more about their own heritage and the importance of cultural identity. As students explore the importance of diverse cultures and honoring traditions, as well as Alaska Native lives then and now, they also learn about finding and using informational texts.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

In this activity from PBSLearningMedia, students follow the steps to make a paper dog sled, complete with dog team and passengers – Molly, Tooey, and Trini from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™.  Where will their imagination take them?

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 10 :

10 ) Identify ways people throughout the country are affected by their human and physical environments.

Examples: land use, housing, occupation

•  Comparing physical features of regions throughout the United States

Example: differences in a desert environment, a tropical rain forest, and a polar region

•  Identifying positive and negative ways people affect the environment

Examples: positive—restocking fish in lakes, reforesting cleared land

negative—polluting water, littering roadways, eroding soil

•  Recognizing benefits of recreation and tourism at state and national parks (Alabama)

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn about Native American land stewardship in South Dakota and raise money for your local food pantry. This video is part of Activity Starters, which is an animated video series. In each episode, an animated character introduces a concept and an activity.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

In this activity, students will read about the Carnival in Ponce, Puerto Rico and about being a vejigante. Then, students will design their own Carnival costume.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 3 :

3 ) Use various primary sources, including calendars and timelines, for reconstructing the past.

Examples: historical letters, stories, interviews with elders, photographs, maps, artifacts

[ARTS] VISA (0) 5 :

31. Apply knowledge of grade-appropriate phoneme-grapheme correspondences and spelling rules (or generalizations) to encode words accurately.

a. Encode vowel-consonant (VC) and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, while using some knowledge of basic position-based rules for spelling English words in closed syllables.

Examples: /k/=k before i, e, or y as in kit; /k/= c before a, o, u, or any consonant as in cup, cat, cop; /k/= -ck after an accented short vowel as in duck, back, rock, pick, deck

b. Encode consonant-vowel (CV) words using knowledge of open syllable patterns.

Examples: he, me, she, go, no

c. Encode words with two-consonant blends in beginning position, including blends that are commonly confused with other spellings, by distinguishing the placement and action of the lips, teeth, and tongue during articulation.

Examples: cl, bl, sl, tr, cr, sk, st, sl, sm, sn, sp, sw, dr, br, bl

Note: Many students spell the tr blend with digraph ch because of the confusion of the coarticulation of the /t/ and /r/ sounds. Many students spell the dr blend with the letter j because of the confusion of the coarticulation of the /d/ and /r/ sounds.

d. Encode words with consonant digraphs using knowledge that one sound may be spelled with two letters.

Examples: sh, th, ch, wh, ng, ck

e. Encode words with vowel-consonant-e syllable patterns.

Examples: hike, spike, joke, dime, make

f. With prompting and support, encode words with the common vowel teams and diphthongs.

Examples: ee, ea, oa, ai, a, au, aw, oi, oy, ou, ow, oo, igh

g. With prompting and support, encode words with vowel-r combinations ar, or, er, ir, and ur.

h. With prompting and support, encode words with final /ch/ sound spelled -ch and -tch.

Examples: /ch/= ch after a consonant, vowel-r, or vowel team as in munch, bunch, porch, smooch
/ch/= tch after a short vowel sound as in hatch, crutch, ditch

i. With prompting and support, encode words with final /f/, /l/, and /s/ sounds in one-syllable base words by doubling the final consonant when it follows a short vowel sound.

Examples: cliff, hill, pass

j. Encode words with final /v/ sound, using knowledge that no English word ends with a v.

Examples: have, give, save

k. Encode grade-appropriate high frequency words that follow regular phoneme-grapheme correspondences.

Examples: am, at, can, he, we, be, in, it, came, like

l. Encode grade-appropriate high frequency words that follow regular phoneme-grapheme correspondences and patterns in all but one position, pointing out the part of the word that does not follow the regular pattern.

Examples: said, are, to

m. Encode words with suffixes -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.

Examples: dogs, wishes, jumping, jumped, faster, fastest

n. With prompting and support, encode words with common prefixes re-, un-, and mis-.

o. With prompting and support, encode frequently confused homophones, using knowledge of English and meaning to facilitate learning.

Examples: hear/here; for/four; to/too/two.

Note: To is a preposition which begins a prepositional phrase or an infinitive. Too is an adverb meaning "excessively" or "also." Two is a number. Many other words in English which reflect the number two are spelled with tw: twin, twice, between, tweezers.

[ARTS] VISA (2) 14 :

14) Create works of art about events in home, school, or community life.

In this learning activity, students will learn about women's history and making quilts. Students will make a quilt square in honor of a person who is important to them.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT1 (1) 11 :

11 ) Identify traditions and contributions of various cultures in the local community and state. (Alabama)

Examples: Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo

[ARTS] VISA (0) 1 :

1) Engage in self-directed exploration and imaginative play with art materials.

a. Use motor skills to create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.

b. Use motor skills to create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching and pulling clay.

[ARTS] VISA (1) 2 :

2) Explore and experiment with a range of art materials.

a. Create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Family portrait or gadget printing.

b. Create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Pinch pots or found-object sculptures.

In this learning activity, students learn about Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican culture by creating their own Carnival mask.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT1 (1) 11 :

11 ) Identify traditions and contributions of various cultures in the local community and state. (Alabama)

Examples: Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo

[SS2010] USS6 (6) 7 :

7 ) Identify changes on the American home front during World War II.

Example: rationing

•  Recognizing the retooling of factories from consumer to military production

•  Identifying new roles of women and African Americans in the workforce

•  Describing increased demand on the Birmingham steel industry and Port of Mobile facilities (Alabama)

•  Describing the experience of African Americans and Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II, including the Tuskegee Airmen and occupants of internment camps (Alabama)

[ARTS] VISA (0) 1 :

1) Engage in self-directed exploration and imaginative play with art materials.

a. Use motor skills to create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.

b. Use motor skills to create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching and pulling clay.

[ARTS] VISA (1) 2 :

2) Explore and experiment with a range of art materials.

a. Create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Family portrait or gadget printing.

b. Create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Pinch pots or found-object sculptures.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

In this learning activity, students make their own Koinobori (fish kite). These kites were an important way of life for Japanese American children in internment camps during World War II.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT1 (1) 11 :

11 ) Identify traditions and contributions of various cultures in the local community and state. (Alabama)

Examples: Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo

This is a collection of lessons that can be used to help students understand Kwanzaa. Students watch a brief documentary and view images related to the holiday as an introduction to Kwanzaa. Students compare and contrast images of Kwanzaa with images of Christmas and Hanukkah. Students are also asked to view an image and use that image to describe Kwanzaa to someone unfamiliar with the holiday. Be sure to click "Read More" at the top of the collection to view the lesson that can be used with this collection.