Mini+Lesson

Graphic Organizers Day of the Dead vs. Halloween Sarah Bender TED 8006 October 23, 2013 Graphic Organizers Topic: Día de los Muertos vs. Halloween Target Audience: 3rd-4th grade Low intermediate Duration: two class periods (30 minutes each)

Objective(s): The student will be able to identify similarities and differences between Day of the Dead and Halloween.

Materials: KWL chart, Venn Diagrams, Sentence strips (or white board markers), large circles (drawn on board or hula hoops), readings about Day of the Dead and Halloween

Standards for Language Learning (TESOL, Language Arts): Use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways.

Procedure: Day one: Fill out KWL chart about Halloween and Day of the Dead. Have students tell you what they know about each holiday. Record their answers. Tell students that they are going to be comparing and contrasting Halloween and Day of the Dead. Start on day one with the lesson about Halloween. Using students’ prior knowledge, have them act out a Halloween skit about what they do and say when they go door to door. Read them about the origins of Halloween and make note of vocabulary they should know. Read a story about Halloween (for fun) and let students write about their Halloween traditions.

Day two: Go over KWL chart about Day of the Dead. Give students time to think about what they want to know about this holiday. Read them passage from //Piñatas and Smiling Skeletons//. Give them time to fill in what they learned from this passage. Hand out Venn Diagrams and allow students to start working on comparing and contrasting the two holidays. There will be a lot more contrasts than comparisons. After comparing the two, have students share what they wrote, and make a class Venn Diagram on the board using markers or hula hoops and sentence strips. Continue with more traditions about Day of the Dead in separate lessons. Give students the opportunity to celebrate this holiday by making the crafts or food and setting up an ofrenda.

venn diagram