In many countries, December and January bring exciting holidays and festivals. Here's a chance to focus on a multicultural study of winter celebrations. The Internet, will give your students a taste of events that they never knew existed, as well as let them enjoy the holidays that they know and love. While student partners are at the computer, give the class a few related activities. This winter you can help your class understand the differences and similarities that make our world the colorful and diverse place that it is.

LEARNING GOALS

• Understand that many other cultures and countries have winter celebrations
• Identify holidays celebrated by various countries and cultures.
• Add several multicultural holidays to a calendar or timeline
• Compare various holidays to find similarities and differences
• Understand that the Chinese calendar is computed differently than our calendar.

TEACHER THOUGHTS

1. Use a bulletin board to create a winter months calendar or timeline. As your class learns about the celebrations of other cultures and countries, enter the names of the holidays on the appropriate dates. Have your class use free time to draw and cut out pictures that relate to the holidays studied and decorate the calendar or timeline.

2. Use a piece of chart paper for each holiday studied. List the ways that the holiday is celebrated. As you and your class learn about the celebrations, compare the lists. Discuss the similarities and differences.

3. If a holiday is on a school day, set aside twenty or thirty minutes for a short celebration of the event, following the traditions of the culture. Possibilities include dress in the style of the culture, wear colors representing the holiday, traditional foods to sample as snacks, or craft project.

ACTIVITIES

1. As a class, test your students' knowledge of the Christmas holiday with an online quiz. Questions cover Christmas celebrations in other countries, as well as some history of the holiday. Could have each student take a turn at the computer, reading the questions aloud and clicking on the answer chosen by the class. Use tally marks to keep score and, when you have completed the quiz, have students find the percentage of correct answers. A printable version of the quiz is also available at the site.

2. Find out about the legends behind Christmas stockings and decorated trees. Learn how other countries view Santa Claus. Read the legends aloud and discuss the traditions and how they came to be. Each student chooses their favorite tradition and write a paragraph describing it. As an extension, each could create a fictitious tradition and write an equally fictitious legend to explain how it was started.

HANUKKAH

3. Why is Hanukkah called "the Festival of Lights?" What is the length of time for this celebration? Read the history of this special holiday. Find a design for a dreidel and create your own. Allow your class to listen to the traditional songs and follow along with the Hebrew words and their English translation.

4. Here is another site about Hanukkah. Using the list of words and phrases below, find them on the Web page. Later, you will write a description of the celebration, using your lists and any additional notes you made. WORDS: menorah, shamash, candles, festive meals, special blessing, latkes, and dreidel.

KWANZAA

5. Obtain information about the American holiday, Kwanzaa, using the following Web sites. Write your answers to the following questions. We may discuss the responses in class. On the chalkboard or on chart paper, we may list the other interesting facts found.

• What does Kwanzaa mean?
• Who created Kwanzaa?
• When does this holiday begin?
• When does it end?
• Name the seven principles. Give their Swahili and English names.
• What do the principles mean to you?
• How many candles are used for this celebration?
• What is the color of the candles?
• What other interesting facts did you find out about Kwanzaa?

Create Kwanzaa booklets with your class. Write the date and principle for each day of Kwanzaa on a separate piece of drawing paper. Draw a picture to represent each principle. Add a construction paper cover and staple the booklet. Decorate the covers.

NEW YEAR'S DAY

6. How is the New Year celebrated in other countries? At this Web site, read the descriptions written by people from countries such as Brazil, Columbia, and Korea. Select a country and write a paragraph comparing the celebration described with your own New Year's celebration.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

7. Celebrated next on January 24, 2001, New Year is the main holiday of the Chinese calendar. There are many traditions for this time period. Find out how the Chinese New Year is celebrated. Add the information to the class holiday calendar or timeline bulletin board. Chinese New Year is celebrated for fifteen days, and each day has a special significance. List the activities that should be done on each of the fifteen days of the Chinese New Year.

• What are some of the things that must be done in preparation for Chinese New Year? What things must not be done on New Year's Day? Why?
• Name some of the traditional foods that are prepared for the Chinese New Year celebration. What do they represent?
• Describe some of the items that are used to decorate homes for the Chinese New Year.

8. What will the Chinese New Year be? What zodiac animal is a component of the year? Then find out the year of your birth in the Chinese calendar. Challenge yourself to find the Chinese year of the birth of your parents.

OTHER HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD

9. Learn about other winter holidays that are celebrated around the world. With a partner, find the answers to the following riddles:

• On this holiday, a young girl walks down the street wearing seven burning candles on her head. What is the name of this holiday? Where is it celebrated? When?
• This is a festival for children who are three, five, or seven years old. What is the name of this festival? Where and when is it celebrated?
• This holiday is celebrated by giving money and gifts to needy people or charitable organizations. What is this special day called? Where and when is it celebrated?

ASSESSMENT

• Do students understand that many other cultures and countries have winter celebrations?
• Can the students identify holidays celebrated by various countries and cultures?
• Have they added several multicultural holidays to a calendar or timeline?
• Can the students tell how the various holidays are similar and how they are different?
• Do they understand that the Chinese calendar is computed differently than our calendar?

THANK YOU to Classroom Connect for permission to use ideas and sites they provided in their December 2000/January 2001 Newsletter in the creation of this webquest! www.classroom.com