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Children's Book Creations
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. In this children's book lesson, students design their book to explain Japanese culture to...
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students explore the concept of Japanese internment. In this Japanese internment lesson, students examine primary sources that enable them to discover what internment camp life was like and its implications, Students write their own...
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Dorothea Lange and the Relocation of Japanese Americans
Students consider the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II. For this Japanese relocation lesson, students examine photographs by Dorothea Lange, the "Pledge of Allegiance," and a US government flyer from 1942. They use...
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Changing Perspectives on the Japanese Internment Experience
Students explore the issue of Japanese-American internment. In this World War II lesson, students analyze historical biases regarding Japanese-American internment as they analyze literature, research print and Internet sources, and...
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Dorothea Lange and the Relocation of Japaneses Americans
Young scholars analyze Dorothea Lange's photographs about Japanese American relocation. In this art and history lesson, students analyze a photograph about the relocation of Japanese Americans. Young scholars discuss the impact of...
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Japanese American Baseball in the Camps
Learners study Japanese American internment camps. In this American history lesson plan, students compare and contrast the camp internees' experiences with with team sports-related challenges learners have encountered. Students discuss...
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Japanese Folktales
Students identify that Japanese folktales reveal information about Japanese history, life, and customs. Students identify and interpret the work kamishibai, paper play and explain that in Japanese folktales are told through a series of...
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My Childhood Portrait
Students practice descriptive writing by viewing auto-portraits of young children. In this art analysis lesson, students examine an auto-portrait of their teacher as a young child and ask him/her questions about their youth. Students...
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The Art and Writing of Estelle Ishigo, Heart Mountain Internment Camp, 1942-1945
Students view images of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp created by Estelle Ishigo. They discuss the time and place portrayed in the images and create a timeline recording events related to the internment of Japanese Americans.
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Experiencing Japanese Feudalism
Students identify that a system of feudalism similar to that of medieval Europe developed in Japan by 1300. Students identify the social hierarchy of feudal Japan. Students identify what the cultural basis for the relationships among...
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Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Third graders explore their culture in comparison to Japanese culture by reading the book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. They identify islands of Japan, create a Venn diagram comparing Japanese culture to American culture, and...
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Sadako: A Tribute to a Girl with Cancer
Students explore the story of Sadako, a young girl, who had leukemia as a result of a bomb being dropped on Hiroshima in 1955. They create a chain of paper cranes and design a fund-raising event. They write poems in the Japanese style of...
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The Bracelet: Five Senses
Students investigate the 5 senses by reading children's literature. In this descriptive writing lesson, students read the story The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida, analyzing the story and characters as they go. Students identify the use of...
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Writing Japanese Stories (Grades 6-8)
Students listen to several Japanese stories and write their own Japanese-style stories, which they share with the class.
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A Journey To Japan Through Poetry
Third graders gain an appreciation for writing, analyzing, reading and listening to poetry, viewing poems as a motivation for studying Japanese culture and tradition. They study and create their own haiku and tanka poems with illustrations.
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Introduction to China
Compare and contrast the distinctive characteristics of art forms from various cultural, historical, and social contexts, and describe how the same subject matter is represented differently in works of art across cultures and time...
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Exploring Japan Through Learning Centers
Young scholars explore the Japanese culture and literature through various learning centers. They compare and contrast story details in two stories and complete a Venn diagram. After comparing the stories, they rotate to different...
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Good Prevails
Students write descriptive paragraphs of characters after reading a Japanese folktale in which characters represent by good and evil.
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How Do You Say Hello?
Students access an online resource to study how to say hello in Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic. They complete a worksheet telling how to say hello in these three languages before practicing the proper pronunciation of each.
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Literature: Yoshiko Uchida Unit
Sixth graders read the books, The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography by Yoshiko Uchida and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki about Japanese Americans during World War II. They hold discussions, take quizzes, and write essays about the...
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Journey to Japan: An Elementary Geography Standards-Based Unit on Japan
Second graders compare and contrast Japanese customs and culture to those of Americans through research in this year long study. They determine the basic needs of all people in spite of cultural differences.
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Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages of looking at a historical event from the multiple points of view of...
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Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...
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"Kokoro (True Heart)" by Velina Hasu Houston
Students read and analyze a play that examines a cultural defense case. They analyze case studies, formulate an argument, write about the Japanese Festival of the Dead, and answer discussion questions about the play.