A Lesson in Cultural Diversity

America is one big melting pot when it comes to culture.  But how do you demonstrate that idea to  a group of 7 and 8 year old children?  With food of course!  As part of our social studies unit we have been learning about what culture is and how it varies from country to country across the world.  Students learned about the role of language and music in culture with Mrs. Miglini and about clothing from Mrs. Borden. With me they had the opportunity to discuss food.  (Yes, I did get the best one!)  To begin we spent time discussing what students around the world would each for lunch.  We reviewed the role immigrants have played in American history and culture and discussed that fact that when people immigrated they brought with them their culture - including foods.

 

Using the foods sent in by our wonderful parents (thank you!) we began a demonstration of what food in America looks like.  Students took turns naming a country while we added each individual snack to our mix.  Food from Germany (in go some pretzels), Nepal (Cheerios), Africa (crackers), Mexico (licorice), and on we went.  I was amazed at all the different countries that they could name!  We did have a few discussion about Texas, California and Las Vegas being a PART of the United States but other than that they did well!



Once we had all of our individual ingredients, I presented the mix to them.  Just as American food is a mixture of dishes and ingredients from many other cultures and countries, so was our snack.  It is one lesson that I hope they will long remember!

The best part of any lesson dealing with food is the opportunity to eat!  All of the kiddos enjoyed their tasty snack while they went on with another staple of American culture - a free public education.  We do live in a pretty amazing country, don't we?