Japanese Culture

 

Bette E. Hudnutt

 

Wauseon Exempted Village Schools – Leggett Street Primary School

 

Sylvania - Timberstone

 

Social Studies – Grade 2

 

Grade 2

 

Social Studies

 

Ohio Social Studies Standards – Grade 2 – People in Societies – Grade-level Indicator # 1

          Describe the cultural practices and products of people on different continents.

 

The content is directed at primary-level information/sources that show and explain Japanese cultural practices and products.  The Dewey numbers range from 495.6 for the alphabet book on Japanese culture to 952 for the country of Japan.  The above resources were searched using those key words.

 

Books include:

            A to Zen: a book of Japanese culture by R. Wells and illustrated by Yoshi (495.6)

          Japan by C. Boast (952)

          How my parents learned to eat by I. Friedman and illustrated by A. Say (Fiction)

          Grandfather’s journey by A. Say (Fiction)

          Hokusai: the man who painted a mountain by D. Ray (Biography)

          Sadako and the thousand paper cranes by E. Coerr

Videos include:

          Japanese-American heritage (Series – American cultures for children)

          Families of Japan (Series – Families of the world)

 

Web sites include:

          www.infohio.org compiled resources for Grades K-6 (http://www.infohio.org/ERK-6matrix.html) and one resource is

          SirsDiscoverer (http://www.infohio.org/ER/secure/SIRS.asp).  Clicking on the “Countries” icon allows me to search Japan on the right column listing various countries http://discoverer15.sirs.com/cgi-bin/dis-tree-search?key=001136&begin=001136&id=0000NWOCA1-D51008WA ).

          Some interesting links are

                   http://discoverer6.sirs.com/cgi-bin/dis-article-display?id=0000NWOCA1-D99533GL&artno=165775&searchkey=

          http://discoverer6.sirs.com/cgi-bin/dis-article-display?id=0000NWOCA1-D99533GL&artno=027376&searchkey=

          http://discoverer6.sirs.com/cgi-bin/dis-article-display?id=0000NWOCA1-D99533GL&artno=150717&searchkey=

 

Likewise, when in Sir Discoverer, a “cultures” icon http://discoverer15.sirs.com/cgi-bin/dis-tree-search?key=001293&begin=001293&id=0000NWOCA1-D51008WA allows a search by Holidays, Ceremonies and Observances . 

          Once there, any holiday can be selected.  The topic New Year led to this site about the Japanese New Year http://discoverer15.sirs.com/cgi-bin/dis-article-display?id=0000NWOCA1-D51008WA&artno=027911&searchkey=

 

Any search engine can be used to search selected terms that a student has learned from these web sites. 

 

Searching “Shogatsu”, Japan’s biggest holiday, led to this web site www.hawaiiokinawa.com/recipes/page1.html

This web site lists all of Japan’s holidays www.holidayfestival.com/Japan.html

 

Students interested in martial arts can search using a search engine.  This website on Judo is an English link http://judoinfo.com

 

www.kidsclick.org has a subject Sports and Recreation.  On that list is Martial Arts.  The above link was there as well

 

www.kidsclick.org also has a subject Geography/History/Biography that then lists Folklore as a subject.  After typing Japan in the search box, there is great information.  The Photos of Mount Fuji is at the 0-2 reading level.

http://www.mt-fuji.co.jp/index-e.html is Mt. Fuji Home Page.

 

www.ipl.org has Kidspace http://www.mt-fuji.co.jp/index-e.html

Culture quest is on the left column http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/cquest/

Searching Asia and the Far West provides a listing of Japan’s holidays, games, crafts, museums and recipes. http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/cquest/asia/asia.html

 

Any realia can be collected from community members that may have traveled to Japan.