By Lisa Ganguin

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• Summary of Unit: One of the major themes covered in the Social Studies framework is the concept of culture. Exploring the country of Japan is an exciting way to introduce cultural complexity. This unit focuses on the customs and traditions of Japan through one of its national holidays, Children's Day. Students will learn to appreciate Japanese festivities and recognize their cultural similarities and differences. Through cross-curricular lessons, this integrated unit will provide a wide variety of activities that will teach primary students the complexity of the Japanese culture through literature, discussion and hands-on participation.
• Background Information: Japan is a chain of islands off the eastern coast of Asia. Children's Day (Kodomo no hi) is a national holiday in Japan dedicated to celebrating the health and happiness of all children. It falls on May 5'", the same date as Boys' Festival (Tango no sekku). Boys' Festival encourages boys to be strong and brave. Families with sons put up carp streamers, symbolizing the wish for boys to grow up strong like the carp that swims against the current. Warrior figures are also put out on display. Even though Japan adopted Children's Day in 1948 to promote a celebration for both boys and girls, the dominant theme of May 5'h remains geared to the boys. However, Dolls' Festival or Girls' Day (Hina matsuri) is celebrated on March 3rd to promote the value of loyalty, devotion and good health to girls. Beautiful dolls dressed in ancient costumes are displayed. These dolls are viewed as symbolic ornaments rather than play things.
• Books on Japan:
  • Tames, Richard and Sheila. Country Topics-Japan. Franklin Watts, New York, 1994.
  • Kalman, Bobbie. Japan the Culture. Crabtree Publishing Co., Toronto, New York, 1989.
• Setting the Stage:
  • Display a poster of pictures depicting Japan. Encourage students to carefully look at the pictures and guess what country, they think, we will be talking about. Once narrowed down to Japan, show students a world map so they can see where Japan is in relation to the United States. Explain that Japan is a country. Ask students to define country or to tell something they know about a country. Help students locate Japan and a few other countries on the globe.
  • Make a K-W-L chart on a large piece of butcher paper (What we know... What we want to know... What we learned...) Ask the students to share what they already know about the country of Japan. List information in the (K) column. Then ask the students what they want to learn about Japan. List ideas in the (W) column. As information is learned throughout this unit, fill in the last column.
• Literature Connection: A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll
  • A Carp for Kimiko (Charlesbridge, 1993) is a good introduction to Japanese customs and traditions. This colorful tale is about a Japanese girl, Kimiko, who wishes she could have a carp kite on Children's Day like the boys. In this heartwarming story Kimiko's parents are able to keep their traditions while making Children's Day special for her, too. A Carp for Kimiko does a wonderful job of introducing students to the traditions of flying carp kites on Children's Day and the beauty of the dolls displayed during the Doll's Festival.
• Language Arts/Social Studies Activities:
• Reflection: After reading A Carp for Kimiko aloud encourage students to share their thoughts, opinions, and questions about the story. You may wish to prompt discussion with the following questions:
  • Vocabulary Words: Kimiko, kite, carp, polite, celebrate, tradition and Yukio.
  • Where do you think this story takes place? How would you describe the setting of this story?
  • Why can't Kimiko have a carp kite to fly?
  • Would you have given Kimiko her own carp kite? Is it fair that she doesn't get to have one?
  • What did Kimiko's mom mean when she said that Kimiko reminded her of a carp?
  • How did Kimiko's parents make her feel special without breaking tradition?
• Journal Writing: Write a journal entry about how you think Kimiko felt when she received her own carp.
• Create a Class Book: Help children write a description of their favorite holiday. Remind them to include family traditions, foods they eat and activities that they do on that holiday. Example: Hunt for eggs on Easter. Invite students to draw a picture to go with their holiday description. When done have students volunteer to share their work. Collect and combine the pages into a class book of multicultural holidays.
• Write it in Japanese: The Japanese have a very different system of writing. The script consists of Chinese characters, known as Kanji. These characters were originally pictures of things but over time they were simplified into symbols. Teach students a common word like man. Here is what the word man" looked like as a picture and than as a diagram. Using black tempera paint and white construction paper have students try using a paintbrush to try Japanese calligraphy writing. Invite a Japanese parent into your classroom to demonstrate other Japanese characters to your students.
• >SciencelArt Activities:
  • In Japanese culture the carp (koi) symbolizes strength, perseverance and courage. On Children's Day Japanese families hang a colorful, carp kite (koinobori) for each boy in the family. The oldest boy's carp kite is at the top and it is the largest. The kites should face the wind, representing the strength and determination that the fish shows when it swims against the current of the stream.
  • This is a good time to introduce the anatomy and attributes of fish. Fish are vertebrates that live entirely in water. Scales usually cover their bodies, they use fins to swim and have gills that enable them to breathe under water. Bring in various books and pictures of fish. Bring in a real fish for gyotaku.
  • Gyotaku is the Japanese art of fish printing. Cover a washed and dried, flat fish with a coat of poster paint. Place rice paper or newsprint on the coated fish and press firmly over the entire body of the fish. Gently peel off the paper and you have a simplified version of a fish print.
  • Have students decorate and hang their own Japanese carp kite.
• Math Activity: Introduce origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into objects without cutting or gluing. On' means "folding," and gami means "paper." Origami was brought to the Japanese by the Chinese more that ten centuries ago.
• Literature Connection: This Place is Crowded by Vicki Cobb
  • To get a better understanding of life in Japan read aloud this fascinating, fact filled book. Colorfully illustrated and easily understood this book will introduce students to the extraordinary life in Japan. This fun and educational book looks at the unique life style, current customs and history of Japan.
• Language ArtslSocial Studies Activities:
  • Reflection: After reading This Place is Crowded students will complete a comparelcontrast chart analyzing the similarities and differences between life in Japan and life in the United States. Using the Venn diagram list facts about Japan in the left circle, facts about the United States in the other circle and facts that relate to both countries in the middle.
  • Create an ABC Book: As a class, try to come up with a word that somehow relates to Japan for every letter of the alphabet. For example: "A" is for Asia, "B" is for Bamboo and "C" is for Children's Day. Once you have a word for each letter students can illustrate each page and compile them into a class book. Related Literature: A to Zen: A Book of Japanese Culture by Ruth WellsP/oshi. This ABC book shows readers the wide complexity of the Japanese culture.
  • Technology: Using the internet, establish pen pals with students in Japan. Have students write a rough draft of a letter to a Japanese student. Encourage students to share information about them self and have them include questions that they are interested in finding out about life in Japan. Go through the editing and revising process. The final copy should be typed on the computer and sent via e-mail. Read any responses to the whole class and encourage students to write back.
  • Social Studies: The name Japan means "the sun." The Japanese flag is a red circle (sun) on a white background. Have students use red and white construction paper to make a Japanese flag.
  • Experience the Culture: Japanese people are very polite. They live so closely together that they have developed good manners. When people meet they bow to each other. Have students learn the art of bowing. Discuss ways people are polite. Talk about manners and the way people sometimes treat each other.
  • Journal Writing: Students will add to their Journals throughout this unit. Today's entry: How would you feel if you lived in a place that was so crowded?
• Health & Nutrition: The most important staple food in Japanese cooking is rice. No Japanese meal would be complete without it. Rice is so important that gohan (goh hahn) the Japanese word for rice, is also the Japanese word for food.
  • Create a class cookbook featuring different rice recipes. For homework, have each student write and illustrate a favorite rice recipe. Collect the rice recipes and make a cookbook to give to mom on Mother's Day.
  • Japanese people eat their food with chopsticks. Eating with chopsticks means that table manners are different in~j9 Japan. For example, it is good manners to pick up a rice bowl and hold it up to your mouth, so that the rice doesn't fall. Bring in inexpensive chopsticks for your students to try using them. Have them practice using the chopsticks by picking up cotton balls before they try eating with them. When ready give every student a small bowl of sticky rice to try.
• Math Activities:
  • >Counting Rice: If students were to count they would discover that there are over 100 countries in the world. Help students understand how many 100 is by having them count out 100 pieces of rice. Have students try arranging the rice into two rows of 50, four rows of 25 or ten rows of 10.
  • Weighing Rice: Place a different amount of rice into plastic sandwich bags. Using the balance scale, have students try to estimate what two bags of rice will equal a larger bag of rice.
• Science Activity: Japan is on the other side of the world. Now is a good time for students to learn about the sun and the moon. Asia, including Japan, is located in the Eastern Hemisphere. We are located in the Western Hemisphere. When the Eastern Hemisphere is experiencing daylight the Western Hemisphere is experiencing darkness. Locate Japan on the globe. Using a flashlight, show that when we have daytime, Japan has nighttime.
• Art/Science Activity:
  • In this book it showed the value that the Japanese place on their gardens. Garden designers are regarded as artists. Since space is rare many gardens are sculptured to represent a miniature world. The items placed in the garden have special meanings:
    • Large rocks represent mountains.
    • Trees represent forests.
    • A pond represents an ocean.
  • Make a miniature Japanese garden in the top of a shoebox. Bring in aluminum foil, soil, tiny plants, rocks and pebbles. Cover the bottom of the shoebox with foil then cover with a thin layer of soil. Using glue, add some tiny plants to represent trees and shrubs, some pebbles for rocks and the uncovered foil represents a pond.
• Literature Connection: Japanese Boy's Festival by Janet Riehecky
  • Take a closer look at the Japanese Boy's Festival through this informative story about two brothers that learn about the holiday and brotherhood through their parents' observance.
• Language Arts/Social Studies Activities:
  • Creative Writing Assignment: Students will incorporate writing into this activity by pretending that they are from Japan. Students will write how they think it would be to live in Japan. They can write about where they would live, what they would eat, how they would spend their time or how they would celebrate Children's Day. When they are finished writing they can illustrate the story and color the cover. Assemble into creative books by folding pages in half and using chopsticks and rubberbands to bind the book together at the top.
  • Blackboard Bingo: To review Japanese terms, write ten to twelve words on the board. Students select five of the words to write on their game board (a strip of tag divided into five equal parts.) Teacher gives clues aloud about each word. Example: I'm thinking of a word that means fish. Students cross out the words on their game board that matches the clue. The first student who crosses out all five of his words wins.
  • DiscussionlJournal: How would you feel if the older kids didn't let you play with them? Have you ever excluded someone because they were younger or different from you? How can you make sure everyone is included when you play?
• Science Link: The kite contest is an important event discussed in this book. Have students color and make their own Samurai kite. Discuss the mysterious substance of air and wind. Begin by asking students to take a deep breath, then to exhale. Ask if they can see air (sometimes). Then ask if they can feel air (yes). Point the nozzle of a bicycle pump towards little pieces of paper or leaves to show how air can lift objects. Now explain that wind is fast moving air. It can move heavy objects, such as sailboats in the water or a kite in the sky. After making their kites (directions on attached worksheet) take the class outside to try to fly their kites. Ask them to think about the following questions. What did they do to get their kite to fly? Can your kite move by itself? What made it go faster? What are other things that the wind can help us do? (Sailboats, Windmills etc.) Bonus Question: What did Ben Franklin discover when he was flying his kite?

Bibliography

• Araki, Nancy and Jane M. Horii. Matsuri Festival. Heian International Publishing Co., So San Francisco, 1978. ISBN # 0-89346-019-2
• Armento, Beverly. I Know a Place. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 1991. ISBN#0-395-54022-4
• Cobb, Vicki. This Place is Crowded - Japan. Walker Publishing Company, Inc., New York 1992. ISBN # 0-8027-8145-4
• Hill, Linda Burrell. Using Multicultural Literature - Overcoming Difficulties. Huntington Beach, Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1994 ISBN # 1-55734-665-8
• Kroll, Virginia. A Carp for Kimiko. Charlesbridge Publishing, Watertown 1993. ISBN#0-88106-413-0
• Riehecky, Janet. Japanese Boys' Festival. Children's Press, Chicago,l994. ISBN# 0-516-00693-2
• Sullivan, Dianna J. Multicultural Education Series - Discovering Japan. Hayes School Publishing Co., Inc., Pittsburgh 1995.
• Tames, Richard and Sheila. Country Topics - Japan. Franklin Watts, New York 1994. ISBN#0-531-14315-5
• Thurley, Elizabeth Fusae. Through the Year in Japan. Batsford Academic & Educational, London 1985. ISBN# 07134-48199

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