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Kodomo No Hi: Children's Day Celebration

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
Children's Day is a beloved Japanese holiday with many colorful and engaging traditions. On this national holiday celebrated yearly on May 5, children are honored for their strengths and given good wishes for happiness. Your younger...
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Japanese Carp Kites/Children's Day

For Teachers K
Students listen to the story "A Carp for Kimiko" and discuss its instructional activity and theme. They design and create their own carp kite in celebration of Children's Day. They discuss gender discrimination and how that makes them feel.
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Children's Book Creations

For Teachers 10th - 12th
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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Changing Perspectives on the Japanese Internment Experience

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the issue of Japanese-American internment. In this World War II lesson plan, students analyze historical biases regarding Japanese-American internment as they analyze literature, research print and Internet sources, and...
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Kamishibai Stories

For Teachers K - 8th
Learners explore kamishibai stories, Japanese stories told through illustrated picture cards, and become familiar with their form. Afterward, they develop their own illustrated kamishibai story. Students discuss the process of drawing,...
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Japanese-American Internment/Relocation Camps

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners create poetry and verse, using all 5 senses to paint a visual image of life in a Japanese-American internment camp.
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Art of Japan - Textiles - Kimonos

For Teachers K - 5th
Students examine and discuss the role of the Kimono in Japanese culture. They create Kimono Paper Weavings, Kimono Scratch Art, and Kimono Clay Sculptures.
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Dorothea Lange and the Relocation of Japaneses Americans

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Students 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. Students discuss the impact of governmental...
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Molded Clay Faces

For Teachers K - 8th
Artists create clay masks using pre-formed molds, clay, glitter, feathers, gems, and paint. The expressive qualities of clay are perfect for creating many different types of face masks, from Mardi Gras glitter to Japanese Kabuki to...
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Japanese Folktales for Children

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Young scholars study Japanese folkart traditions and culture through storytelling, class discussions, and a creative project. The project involves students creating drawings of a pre-selected folktale and putting them together in a...
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Origami Ducks: Geometry, Listening, and Following Directions

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...
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Hiragana - Perfect ~ Writing a Japanese Pictionary

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students listen to a story and view Japanese artifacts. They use the internet to explore the writings known as Hiragana. They create their own Japanese pictionaries and share them with the class.
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Foods and Languages of the World

For Teachers K - 1st
Students explore cultures around the world. In this cross-curriculum geography lesson, students listen to This is the Way We Go to School , a Book about Children around the World , and locate various countries on the globe and a map....
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My Childhood Portrait

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
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....
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Japan: A Pacific Rim Neighbor

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students descirbe everyday events typical in the lives of contemporary, young, Japanese school-age children and understand some of the underlying reasons for various practices. They see that Japan and the state of Washington have many...
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Japanese Folktales

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students listen to examples of Japanese folktales and identify universal themes. Students construct a 'kamishibai' - a traditional Japanese storytelling prop - and dramatize a folktale through puppetry.
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Japanese Carp Kites

For Teachers K
Students listen to the story A Carp for Kimiko and discuss its theme/instructional activity. Then they identify and are introduced to the Japanese holiday, Children's Day, formerly known as Boy's Day. Students also design and create...
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Sadako: A Tribute to a Girl with Cancer

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Pupils 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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Incorporating Japanese Music into the Music Classroom

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders experience the music and arts of Japan as they explore the language and culture of the country in this lesson. A variety of musical elements from the culture are demonstrated.
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Japanese Festivals and Celebrations

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the importnce of celebrations anf festivals in Japanese culture and then create a story based upon an image from the lesson. Resource links are provided for images of events.
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A Journey To Japan Through Poetry

For Teachers 3rd
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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Yoko and the Sushi Party

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students listen to a read aloud of Rosemary Wells, Yoko as they begin a study of Japanese culture and customs. They experience Japanese food, geography and culture. They write a friendly letter to the author.
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World War II

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders read Under the Blood Red Sun (UBRS), V is for Victory (V), and Number the Stars(NS). They examine WWII through the eyes of Japanese, Danish, and American students and complete at least two projects: a radio broadcast and a...
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Foods and Languages of the World

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Pupils explore Japan. In this Japanese culture instructional activity, students listen to stories regarding Japan, view Japanese art, learn Japanese words, and make Origami.