Faces of a Family

Lesson 4: Why are families important?

Unit Essential Questions: What does family mean?  How are families alike and different?

Lesson Essential Questions: What do families give us?  Why are families important?

Time Needed: 1 class period, about 60 minutes

NCSS Standards:
  • I. Culture: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity so that the learner can
               a. explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures
                  address similar human needs and concerns
  • IV. Individual Development & Identity: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity so that the learner can
               a. work independently and cooperatively to accomplish goals
 
MMSD Standards:
  • Identify self as an important member of groups (i.e. classroom, family, community)
  • Describe how family members and friends provide for needs of love and respect
  • cooperate in group settings to establish and achieve mental goals and promote the welfare of its members
 
UW Teaching Standards:
 
Materials:
  • “Loving” by Ann Morris
  • Chart paper
  • Markers
  • Assessment Chart (see Lesson 2)
 
Objectives:
  • Students will understand that families provide for our physical and emotional needs.
  • Students will discuss and demonstrate ways families provide for us through the use of tableaus.
  • Students will respectfully listen to their peers while they are sharing.
 
Lesson Context:
This is the fourth lesson in a unit for first grade students focusing on families.  The students have already discussed what a family is, how families are similar and different, and who is in a family.  During this lesson, students will confront the question, “What do families provide for us?”  After listening to a story, they will make tableaus of different ways in which families provide for them.
 
Lesson Opening:
We are going to be reading another book all about families.  While I am reading this book, I want you to think about why families are important and what families give us.
 
Procedure:

  • Read-aloud of “Loving”
               o “Mommies and daddies take care of you for a long time.”
                         § We have a lot of adults in our lives that take care of us, not just parents.  Who are some of
                            the other adults that take care of us?
               o “to build a plane…to sew.”
                         § What is something that an adult in your life has taught you to do?  Share with a partner and
                            then we can make a list on the chart paper.
               o “Older children help younger children.”
                         § We can all help out too in our families!  Have you every helped someone younger or older
                            than you?  What did you do?  We will write these up on the chart paper too.
               o “Index”
                         § This page shows where all of the pictures were taken and they were taken all over the
                            world.  The author of this book wanted to show that love is what you get from families,
                            along with all of the other things that we heard about in the book and made a list of on our
                            chart paper.
  •  Tableaus
              o To show all of these things that our families give to us, we are going to make tableaus.  Write
                 tableau on chart paper and have students practice pronouncing it.  A tableau is a frozen picture
                 that we make with our bodies.  If I wanted to make a tableau of cooking, I might look like this.
                 Show example.  When you are making a tableau you have to be perfectly still and quiet so that
                 everyone can look at your creation.  When you are looking at a tableau, you can walk all around
                 it and look at every part.  Urge students to practice this while you stand in your tableau.
              o Place students in groups of two or three. 
              o I want you to choose one way your family helps you.  You can use ideas from the book or ideas
                that we wrote up on the chart paper.  If you have an idea of your own, you can do that too.  Ask
                for questions.
              o Give students time to come up with their ideas and practice their tableaus.  Give students
                 support in creating tableaus that show something families provide for us.  Go around to each
                 group and let them know that they will be showing their tableaus to everyone.  After everyone
                 has gotten a chance to walk all around and look at the tableau, the students who created will talk
                 about what they made.  This will give students a chance to think about what they will say and
                 will prepare them for performing their tableau.  Remind students that they should try to stay as
                 still as possible and as quiet as possible while the other students are observing them.

 
Lesson Closure:
Students present their tableaus one at a time.  Urge the other students to walk all the way around the tableau and to look at every little thing.  They can point out things that they are observing or take a guess at what they might be representing.  After a couple of minutes, have the students who made the tableau explain what it was they were demonstrating.  Remind students that these are examples of things that families give us and why they are important.
 
Assessment:
Students understanding of why families are important will be assessed during the preparation for the tableau and during the tableau presentation.  I will use a similar assessment chart as in lesson 2 to keep track of the students’ progress and will use these notes to help plan the areas of focus for the last lesson.
 
Special Considerations:
Students may need practice in performing tableaus.  It may be helpful to have an informal lesson before this that introduces the students to the use of tableaus.
 
Resources:
Morris, A.  (1990).  Loving.  New York: Lothrop, Lee % Shepard Books
This picture book is at a lower to middle elementary school level.  It discusses different ways families provide for us and why families are important.  The photographs in the book are from across the world and show families from all over to similar things, such as eating together and walking together.  I used this book as a read-aloud for this lesson to talk about why families are important but would also leave this out in the classroom library as it would be accessible for many students to read on their own.