Students make their own daruma. Students play a Japanese game related to the daruma.

Students develop a design for their own family crest. Students make a large model crest for their family.

Students investigate the content of The Pillow Book. They conduct research and complete journals about the readings. There are target questions to guide the writing and reflection process.

Young scholars practice simple Japanese expressions. They explore the information available from artifacts. Groups of students attempt to figure out other groups culture by examining a series of artifacts in a paper bag.

Students write a one-page description of a postcard received from the teacher. After finishing, they tape postcards to the blackboard and number them. They read their descriptions, while other students guess which card the student is...

Pupils use clustering to write short paragraphs called vignettes.

Students explore the elements of a ghost story and cautionary tales. The story, "Encounter With a Skull" is read and used as a model for their own story creations. The values and belief systems of various cultures are examined.

Young scholars read "Congruent Figures," by Takahashi Takako. They conduct small group discussion using the role sheets and their reading logs.

Students work in groups in order to investigate primary and secondary resources in order to make their own conclusions about the history of World War II. They look at the evidence critically looking to find valid resources.

Students research the legend of Tanabata in order to explain some of the astronomical findings in the night sky. The Japanese tell the story in order to explain the origin of celestial bodies.

Fourth graders learn some traditional Japanese designs and what they represent, then make their own stamps for printing Japanese designs.

Students set, and attain a goal using a daruma, a Japanese folk toy.

Students study the significance of the daruma through history since the sixth century. Students discuss good luck symbols used by other cultures. Students make a paper mache daruma, filling one eye and setting a goal.

Students learn that articles used by a culture reveal much about life and people's values. They learn the Japanese word to identify some artifacts and some simple games using Japanese toys.

Tenth graders study "A Sound of Hammering," which is a letter written by a former soldier after the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II.

Students watch the movie, Mr. Baseball, and discuss the difference between Japanese and American cultures.

Students read a story twice. The first time they read it is without contextual information. They read it with the contextual information.

High schoolers explore a Japanese science fiction story that deals with the dangers of technology, failed attempts at utopia, mind control, and loss of loved ones through the reading of Yasutaka Tsutaka's "Standing Woman."

Students explore various intellectual traditions which dominate human history through a variety of contemporary pieces of literature which exemplify the traditions. Biblical monotheism, Greek rationalism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism...

Young scholars investigate the life and work of the Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho as the Japanese poetic forms are studied. Nature, symbolism, and history are probed as the lesson is developed.

Students explore the key concepts of the story, "Standing Woman" which portrays futuristic settings, and the search for artificial happiness. Parallels are drawn to Orwell's "Brave New World" and the movie, "Solent Green."

Students experience the components of Japanese dance and music through the songs, "Soran-bushi nd Hanagasa Odon." The music is presented in relation to the country's history and culture.

Twelfth graders research the Kamakura Period, along with Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist principles. Also, they study Yoshida Kenko.

Students, in pairs, develop two poems--one must be a haiku, the other must be a tanka. They recite their poems to the class.