Session 4: Celebrating Family Traditions

Session 4

CELEBRATING TRADITIONS

Photo Courtesy of Austin PBS

PHOTO CREDIT

“Honor Your Elders – They Show You the Way in Life”

Celebrating Traditions: Goals and Focus

Learning Goals

In this session, families will explore how we can use informational text, particularly procedural text, to learn how to do something.

All four of the FCL sessions focus on the primary MOLLY OF DENALI informational text learning goal: To use

informational text they access and/or create to meet their needs, and wants, including to help them solve real-world problems, to satisfy their curiosity, to take advantage of opportunities, to teach others and to accomplish tasks.

The session’s supporting learning goal is: to create an

informative/explanatory or procedural text through writing and/or developing a presentation. In this session, Molly is creating procedural (how to) text.

Photo Courtesy of Austin PBS

NOTE

The informational text learning goals are concepts that are meant to help facilitators guide families’ explorations, but do not need to be explicitly stated to families. Families should be focused on the experience of using and creating informational text.

This Session’s Molly Story

In “New Nivagi,” Molly is entrusted with her Grandpa Nat’s Nivagi recipe for the annual Alaska Ice Cream Competition. When her dog, Suki, eats all the Nivagi, Molly must hunt for all the hard-to-find ingredients and make another batch to recreate Grandpa Nat’s recipe. Kids will learn to create how-to or procedural text about a special tradition to share with other families.

This Session’s Artifact:

A how-to about a personal tradition

Session Priorities

Families will: • Learn about procedural text and when, how and why families might use it. • Explore recipes and other procedural or how-to texts. • Create their own procedural text to share a personal family recipe or tradition. • Develop and strengthen positive attitudes towards using and creating informational texts.

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Celebrate the different ways that people are family. Family can also be the people that you feel close to and learn from and can include friends and community members.

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In Alaska Native culture and other cultures around the world, any Elder is respectfully considered ‘grandma’ or ‘grandpa,’ even if they are not biologically related. This is also true of other community members—calling them brother, sister, auntie, uncle, etc. out of respect.

Alaska Native Value

Introduce the Alaska Native value of “Honor Your Elders – They Show You the Way in Life” to center and ground the experience of this session’s workshop. Throughout the center activities, encourage families to discuss how our family history helps guide, shape and inspire us.

Celebrating Traditions: At-a-Glance

EAT (25 minutes)

Welcome families. Sign everyone in, pass out conversation placemats and name tags and invite everyone to eat.

Watch complete episode story, “New Nivagi.”

Review the previous workshop and preview the current workshop.

LEARN (25 minutes)

Model the Land Acknowledgement.

Watch a clip from the video story “New Nivagi” which families have previewed in full before the session.

Introduce and discuss the Alaska Native value, “Honor Your Elders – They Show You the Way in Life” • Invite families to discuss their own traditions. • Connect Molly’s recipe and family traditions with the tradition or recipe families will be sharing.

EXPLORE

(40 minutes)

Facilitate family learning and play at three centers in the following sequence:

1. Molly’s Research & Writing Center - Families explore examples of procedural text for inspiration and ideas. Families create their own procedural text to teach a familiar recipe, craft or other tradition.

A template is provided in the Museum Planner. 2. Tooey’s Make & Take Center - Families make a snack together following procedural text. 3. Trini’s Digital Media Center - Families will play the

“Beading Art” Game found in the PBS KIDS games and Molly of Denali app and/or can watch the full story video “New Nivagi.”

SHARE

(25 minutes)

Completed How-to templates

Molly’s recipe book

Certificates of Completion

Celebrating Traditions: Workshop Rundown

Welcome

Welcome families back to Session Four! Sign them in, distribute placemats and name tags.

EAT

• As families arrive, invite them to get their food, start eating and use the placemats for conversation and activities. • Encourage families to notice the conversation prompts on their placemats, inviting them to use the questions as they notice, wonder and connect about recipes. • Co-view “New Nivagi.” Provide some set up such as, “Molly’s

Grandpa Nat shares a special recipe with Molly for an ice cream contest. Watch carefully and look for when you see or hear an ingredient for the recipe.” • Clean up meal and gather together as a whole group.

Courtesy of WCNY

Review and Preview

• Revisit the previous week’s workshop on maps as well as the FCL format. Introduce today’s topic—celebrating traditions—where families will have the opportunity to teach others about one of their own traditions such as a family recipe, song, or dance. Families get to share their traditions for the mini-museum to showcase and celebrate their community.

Families will:

• Explore and learn more about informational text that teaches us how to do something (also called procedural or how-to text).

• Play and learn together at hands-on and digital activity following this sequence:

1. Molly’s Research & Writing Center - Families will explore examples of procedural text such as recipes, instructions to a game, etc. The procedural texts will provide families models of how-to instructions to create their mini-museum artifact.

Families will create their own procedural text to teach a simple recipe or tradition that is special to them. 2. Tooey’s Make & Take Center - Families will make a snack using procedural text. 3. Trini’s Digital Media Center - Families will play the “Beading Art” game found in the PBS KIDS games and Molly of Denali app and/or watch the story video “New Nivagi”.

• Share their traditions in the mini-museum and make connections to their own special traditions.

Photo Courtesy of Austin PBS

Explore (15 minutes)

After viewing the episode story during “Eat,” invite families to talk about the story and make connections. You can ask:

• “Grandpa Nat wasn’t there to show Molly how to make his ice cream. How did she know what to do?”

Introduce the Alaska Native value on the placemats:

“Honor your Elders—They Show you the Way in Life” Prompt discussion by asking families questions such as: • What does this value mean to you? • What are some things your Elders have shared with you? • What have your Elders taught you?

Explain that today, we will be exploring informational texts that teach us how to do something. Invite participants to pull a procedural text example from the bag and share what they think their procedural text will teach us. What clues might help us? (Title, cover photos, graphics, ingredients, a list of steps).

Grandpa Nat’s Nivagi recipe on our placemats is another example of a how-to text because it shows you the materials needed and steps to make something. It’s also a tradition, a custom, or belief that is passed down from generation to generation. Grandpa Nat passed down his Nivagi recipe to Molly. The tradition, and in this case, a recipe, lists the ingredients we need and gives us step-bystep directions on how to make it. Encourage families to think about the Alaska Native value of Honor Your Elders – They Show You the Way in Life in relation to the video. Invite families to turn and talk with a neighboring family. • What recipe is a special tradition in your family? • What are other traditions in your family? • What are some traditions an Elder has taught you?

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We know that all families look different. Families attending the FCL may be grandparents, aunts, neighborhood friends, and other wise Elders. As the facilitator, set up a safe space to allow families to share what they are comfortable sharing as much or as little as they would like to.

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Alaska Native recipes may include ingredients that while unfamiliar to us, are common in Alaska. Remind participants of the importance of being respectful as we share our traditions and explore unfamiliar ideas.

Introduce the artifact families will be making together for the community museum exhibit: A ‘how-to’ guide with a museum placard. Show the research and artifact pages in the Museum Planner. You can say, “Today, we are going to create an informational text to share how to carry out a tradition. What is a tradition? (an activity or custom handed down from older family or community members) A tradition can be a recipe, a song, a dance, a handshake. If it is an activity you do together that is meaningful to you and your family, it’s your tradition. At the centers, you’ll write or draw instructions and explain the tradition on a placard. Your tradition and placard will be added to our community museum exhibit so that visitors can learn about some of the special traditions in our community.”

Encourage families to discuss with each other what tradition they may want to share. Preview the three centers for families. Open up the Museum Planner and show families what pages kids will use for today’s artifact.

Courtesy of Austin PBS

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If you would like to create the space for grown-ups-only and kids-only time, consider having kids preview centers with facilitators, and in particular, procedural text and other informational text at Molly’s Research & Writing Center. At the same time, gather grown-ups to discuss and reinforce the intention of introducing Alaska Native values and the purpose of sharing traditions as part of the mini-museum exhibit. Also, during this time, explain to grownups what will happen at each Play Center and discuss with families whether they may need any accommodations during the session.

PLAY (45 minutes)

Families will rotate through the centers at their own pace, moving to the next activity when their child is ready. They can revisit centers as they wish.

1. Molly’s Research & Writing Center

Families can explore a variety of procedural text to get inspiration and ideas for what they might want to share of their own special traditions.

• Set out a variety of simple recipe books and how-to guides. If it’s appropriate for your group, have a tablet with a few how-to videos of kids or families demonstrating a family tradition.

You can use the interstitial from the featured Molly video story or others that you find online. • Encourage families to jot down ideas in their Museum Planner. (They may even want to call a knowledgeable friend or family member to get more information about the steps in creating the tradition they are sharing.)

Families will create a simple how-to guide of a tradition to share with others.

• Set out craft materials and copies of the How-to template and placard from the Museum

Planner for each family. • Invite families to talk about what tradition they would like to share. It can be a recipe, a dance, a craft, a hairstyle, handshake, etc. Encourage them to share the history of the tradition for them. • Designate the space where families will hang their completed how-to artifact about their tradition with a corresponding placard in the museum exhibit. Families may have different language and literacy

levels. Families can communicate about their

TIP tradition orally. Using a smart phone, record the information as an alternative option to writing. For

families who regularly communicate in a native language other than English, encourage writing in their native language. Using voice-to-text technology can also help families who might need some extra help with translations or writing.

Tooey’s Make & Take Center

Follow the steps in the Trail Mix recipe to make a simple snack. Consider local recipe books that highlight local ingredients.

• Display copies of your snack recipe for families to read and set out the ingredients for your snack. • Remind families that the very first step of any recipe is getting hands clean. What are the steps to wash our hands? • Encourage families to talk through the recipe together and look for important clues: Where is the ingredients list? Do we have everything?

What is the first step and what comes next?

Courtesy of WFSU Public Media

Trini’s Digital Media Center

• Set out four fully-charged tablets with the “Beading Art” game loaded from the PBS KIDS games and Molly of Denali app, and the “New Nivagi” episode for any families who weren’t able to preview it at home. In the “Beading Art” game, Molly shows players how to make various beading designs using the procedural/how-to text of design cards. Players are then guided to use the design cards to decorate clothing and other items and/or create their own designs.

Courtesy of WFSU Public Media

Share (25 minutes)

Share (10 Minutes)

Gather families and unveil the mini-museum with artifacts from all four sessions! The mini- museum is now ready to be shared with outside guests. • Allow time for families to circle through the completed exhibit. • Then gather families to share something new they learned. • Did you learn how to do something? • What is something interesting that you learned from the mini-museum? • Remind families of this session’s Alaska Native value, “Honor

Your Elders – They Show You the Way in Life.” Help model positive language that honors the gifts each family is sharing and helps them make connections to their own family’s traditions. “I enjoyed learning about Jose’s strawberry juice recipe. I can’t wait to try it. It reminded me of a strawberry tea recipe my grandmother used to make in the summertime!”

Courtesy of Alaska Public Media

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If there isn’t enough time for the mini-museum reveal and walk through, consider digitizing artifacts and sharing through a virtual photo album or closed social platform.

Wrap-Up and Take-Home

Since this is your last Family & Community Learning session, take some time to engage in a culminating discussion about your shared experience together. Recap the four exhibits you made for the museum and the type of informational text they created for each one. Use the following questions to help guide a reflective discussion with families: • What was your biggest discovery? • What new things did you learn? • What did you enjoy most about the sessions?

For Grown-ups (15 Minutes)

Gather together one final time to check in and connect. Encourage families to discuss and share answers to the following questions: • Have they noticed their kids using informational text at home? How? • Have grown-ups noticed any new opportunities to talk about or use informational text with their kids? • Have they noticed their kids applying and/or referring to any of the values that were shared?

Review and discuss some ways to encourage using and creating informational text long after the FCL experience is over:

1. Nurture your kid’s sense of wonder and curiosity. Join them in asking questions about things that interest them and help guide them to use informational texts to find the answers.

2. Give your kids opportunities to use informational text with you. Talk with your children as you use informational texts in your everyday activities. Read through the steps of a recipe together, learn about a favorite sports hero or watch a video together on how to make a new craft.

3. Find out together! Help your kids find answers to their questions, whether it is searching the internet, asking a knowledgeable friend or Elder or taking a trip to the library.

Now that your mini-museum is complete, review with families how they want to share and promote it. Will you plan a museum “open house” where families can invite friends and neighbors?

Courtesy of WFSU Public Media

Acknowledge all the incredible work you’ve accomplished together wondering, following the clues, researching and creating informational text. • Take the time to present each participant or family with a certificate to recognize their hard work and contributions, and, if possible, give each family a parting gift, like an action shot of the family working together or a collage of their experience. Distribute Molly’s recipe book to families. • If you have plans to continue engaging with families in some capacity, share your plans with them. This can include informing families about other local events and activities to take part in or pointing them to online and on-air resources they can use. • Make sure families know how to keep in touch with you and your partners (such as through social media, websites, phone or email or calendar of events). • Before everyone leaves, take a group picture!

Prompt everyone to say “Mahsi’choo, Let’s go!”

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If families have grown close over the course of the experience and want to exchange contact information, help facilitate that sharing. With that said, also be sensitive about families who may not want to share their contact information.

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During wrap-up, administer surveys for families to complete. Provide a child-only activity while grownups complete the surveys, such as a bonus MOLLY OF DENALI episode that kids can watch. If families need to leave promptly, provide an online survey link.

By using the enclosed materials and holding community workshops, you agree to indemnify and hold CPB and PBS, their affiliates, officers, directors and employees harmless from any and all claims, liabilities, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising in any way from the workshops, including by way of example, without limitation, personal injury and property damage to workshop hosts and participants.