Grade: K-1
Physical Geography 1. Where is Africa? 2. Map Making with Play Dough 3. Legend and Symbol Map of Nigeria Basic Needs 4. Traditional African Recipes 5. Body Tracings with Traditional African Dress 6. Making a Kente with Tie-Dye 7. Clay Model Village of a West African Tribe 8. Wall Story of a Nigerian Market Celebrations 9. Weaving a Place Mat 10. Making a Kinara 11. Kwanzaa Gift Exchange Language Arts 12. Introduction to Storytelling in Africa 13. Puppet Making and Drama 14. Wall Story of Ashanti to Zulu 15. Individual Book of a Nigerian Folktale 16. Wall Story of Anansi the Spider 17. The Language of the Yoruba People Music and Art 18. Making Traditional African Drums 19. Making African Shakers 20. Traditional African Masks Science and Math 21. Experimenting with Color 22. Spider Making 23. Ayo, A Nigerian Board Game 24. Culminating Big Book
Using the world map and a globe students will be introduced to the continent of Africa. Students will color Africa and outline the continent with beans. This activity should be used as part of the beginning of the Nigeria unit.
Students will work in cooperative groups to make a map of Africa using play dough. This activity benefits students by exposing them to map-making skills, cooperative teamwork, and physical geography, and requires the use of fine motor and visual discrimination skills.
During this activity students will be introduced to a legend and its symbols on a map of Nigeria. The map will show Nigeria's major products. After the students become familiar with the legend symbols, they can find the parts of Nigeria where each is produced. This activity may be used in conjunction with Activity 8 (marketplace activity) within this unit.
The following are traditional African recipes which can be made to celebrate Kwanzaa. For more background information on this celebration, refer to Activity 10, "Making a Kinara." Try these recipes with the class, or have parents prepare them and bring them in for an African feast!Recipe 1- Chin-Chin, a sweet pastry from Nigeria
This activity entails tracing the student's body and then allowing the student to add traditional West African dress and body decorations on the tracing. This activity provides practice in fine motor and visual discrimination skills, shape identification, and use of color.
This activity entails making an African shawl called a kente through tie-dyeing. After reading the story The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez, the students can create their own magic storytelling shawl.
In this activity the class will construct a model village based upon the story The Village of Round and Square Houses by Ann Grifalconi. This is a true story from West Africa near Nigeria. Although this village's story is unique, the architectural structure of the houses is similar for Nigerian villages. This is a good activity for developing beginning mapping skills, fine motor coordination, comprehension of a story, and cooperative learning.
In this activity students will learn about the Nigerian market and will then make a wall story or mural depicting the activities of the marketplace.
Trade in Nigeria has always been and continues to be an important part of life whether in the world marketplace or in the local village. Generally there are very few indoor shops similar to those found in the United States. Rather, outdoor markets are the norm where nearly every item and food necessary to the Nigerian culture is bought or traded: vegetables, fruits, spices, meat, fish, cooking oil, cloth and clothes, pots and pans, soap, baskets, etc. Staple foods in the Nigerian diet include: peanuts or ground-nuts, yams, cassava, fish, rice, okra, bananas, guinea corn and millet, and palm nuts. Along with trade, other activities of daily life go on in the market, such as music, juggling, discussion of politics, and even romance.Markets are considered the hives and buzz of activity for Nigerians. In the north the markets are generally run by men but in the south the markets are run by women. These women are called "market mammies" and they keep everything under tight control. Goods are rarely measured out using scales; instead, they are divided into little piles. Goods such as food and smaller items are displayed in woven baskets and placed either on tables or on the ground. Some wooden structures have been constructed for markets but generally they are quite open with some partial tent-like coverings used. The principal unit of currency used in Nigeria is the naira, which is divided into 100 kobo.
Weaving is very important to Nigerians, from children to adults. Students are going to weave a place mat to be used in an African celebration. This activity promotes fine motor coordination, the understanding of the concepts of over and under, and patterning skills.
The teacher will demonstrate how a kinara, a Kwanzaa candle holder, is made while explaining to the students the reason for the Kwanzaa holiday.
Kwanzaa, which means "first fruits," is a holiday celebrated by African Americans. It was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 to honor the roots of Black Americans. The holiday is based upon seven principles which are part of a week-long celebration. The principles are: unity, self-determination, work and responsibility, cooperation, purpose, creativity, and faith.Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26th through January 1st. On the first day of Kwanzaa a hand-woven mat is placed on the floor. On the mat is placed a basket of fruits and vegetables, which symbolize the African harvest, one ear of corn for each child in the family, and a kinara, or candle holder.
The kinara holds seven candles: one black candle in the middle, three green candles on the left, and three red candles on the right. Each candle stands for one of the seven principles. The colors of the candles represent the dark skin of the African people, the green hills of Africa, and the blood Africans shed for freedom. Each night as another candle is lit, family members explain and reflect on the principle the candle represents.
Students will string and decorate pasta to form a necklace. The necklaces will be exchanged between friends during the Kwanzaa holiday activities.
On New Year's Eve, the last night of Kwanzaa, families and friends exchange gifts. These gifts or zawadi are given as a reward for work well done.
This activity will appeal to the visual, auditory, and Africa kinesthetic learners. Students will experience A Story A Story by Gail E. Haley through literature, drama and a video.
This Nigerian folktale will come to life for the students as they create masks and puppets to represent characters in the story. These masks and puppets can then be used in an exciting drama activity.
This activity involves making a wall story based on the story Ashanti to Zulu by Margaret Musgrove. This wall story is to be in the form of a quilt with a letter of the alphabet represented on each quilt square.
Twenty-six tagboard squares should have a penciled margined bottom and the teacher should write in the letter of the alphabet and corresponding name of the African tribe for each. The students will illustrate above the lettering. The twenty-seventh square will be used for the title square. The teacher may write the title or get a student to copy it down on the square.
This activity involves telling the class a popular Nigerian folktale and then having them illustrate it in an individual book of their own. Through this process the students will be working on such skills as listening comprehension and illustrating a story.
According to Nigerian tradition, in the beginning the sky was very close to the earth. The people did not have to plant crops or cook any food. When they were hungry all they had to do was to reach up and cut off a piece of sky. The sky would taste of different things such as meat stew, roasted corn, and even ripe pineapples. Since there was little work to do, the people would weave beautiful cloths, carve wonderful statues, and tell tales of adventure.But since it was so easy to get food from the sky the people were becoming wasteful. They would cut off more than they could eat and then throw the rest away until there were great garbage heaps. The sky saw this and grew very angry. The sky did not like seeing itself become spoiled and thrown onto a garbage heap.
So one day a huge, dark cloud appeared over the palace of Oba, the king of the people. The sky roared at Oba not to let his people waste any more of the wonderful gift they received or they would have it no longer.
This frightened the king so he sent out messengers telling the people of the sky's warning. People were then very careful, taking only from the sky what they could eat and no more.
Then the time came of the greatest festival of the year to honor Oba, the king of the people. There was dancing and laughing and singing. And even though the people celebrated for many days they were still careful not to cut off any more of the sky than they could eat. Except for one woman, Adese, who was never satisfied. She always had to have more and she also loved to eat.
On the seventh day of the festival Adese and her husband were invited to the king's palace. They had so much fun that Adese was sad it ended when it was time to go home. She wanted to relive the night, the music, the dancing, and the wonderful food. Standing in her garden Adese cut off a huge piece of sky. She ate a third of the piece but because it was so large she found she could not eat anymore.
Adese became nervous. She knew she could not throw the rest of the food away so she called her husband. But he was so full and tired that he could only take two bites. Then Adese called her children but they were also so full and tired they could barely nibble at the huge piece of sky that was left. Adese then called her neighbors but they too could not eat very much. Adese still had a chunk of sky left that could not be eaten. Frustrated and thinking that this piece would not be noticed, Adese threw the piece of sky onto the garbage heap.
Immediately upon doing this, the ground shook and the sky roared with thunder and lightning. The sky boomed with a mighty voice to Oba, the king, that his people were very wasteful and they now would lose the gift of food. From then on they would have to learn to plant crops and hunt in the forest. Then, maybe, they would learn not to waste the gifts of nature.
From that day forward, the sky moved away all its food. The people had to grow their own food and hunt their own meat. And this is how it came to be that the people had to learn to take care of themselves, and respect what nature gave them, and why the sky is distant and blue.
Paraphrased from the book, Why the Sky is Far Away retold by Mary-Joan Gerson, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1974.
This activity involves the students in reproducing a part of the story Anansi the Spider. It incorporates cooperative learning, fine motor skills, pre-reading, and writing skills.
This activity lists some ideas for exposing the students to the language of one of the tribes in Nigeria. From making a number book to learning simple phrases, the students can get an idea of the Yorubian language.
There are some 250 different tribes in Nigeria. The three major ethnic groups are Hausa-Fulani, Ibo, and Yoruba. Although the official language in Nigeria is English there are different languages among the people. Here are some examples of the language of the Yoruba group.
Pronunciation: Vowels and Consonants a = ah e = a (tape) e = e (let) i = e (pet) o = o (toe) o = a (tall) u = oo (too) p = kp Common Expressions: Hello = Pele How are you? = Se da da ni? Good morning = Karo Good night = Odaro Please = Jowo Thank you = A dupe I love you = Mo feran re Good-bye = Odabo What is your name? = Kini oruko re? My name is _____. = Oruko mi ni _____. How old are you? = Omo odun melo ni o? I am ____ years old. = Omo odun ____ ni mi. Numbers: 1 = okan 2 = eji 3 = eta 4 = erin 5 = arun 6 = efa 7 = eje 8 = ejo 9 = esan 10 = ewa 11 = okanla 12 = ejila This is my ____. Eyi ni _____ mi. mother = iya sister = anti father = baba teacher = oluko brother = egbon friend = ore Information from Children are Children are Children. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1978.
Drums are a very important part of African culture. They come in many sizes and shapes, which all make different sounds. Students will experience these different sounds by making drums out of a variety of household materials.
West Africa is known for drums and drummers. In Nigeria and Ghana drums are played for celebration, to announce the coming and going of visitors, to praise and honor important people, and to warn of danger.A master drummer always has the leading drum called the Iya Ilu. It is decorated with jingling bells around the drumhead. The drum is two-headed, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, with cords stretched down the length of the drum. When the drummer presses on the cords of this drum, the drumheads tighten and make a high and sharp sound. When the drummer loosens his hold, the sound is low. The master drummer plays the drum so well that the sounds from the drum are like words in the Yoruba language.
Students will make a variety of musical shakers out of household materials. The sound that comes from the shakers will be determined by the materials used to make them. This activity reinforces auditory discrimination skills, math concepts and fine motor skills.
Students will design and make African masks using papier-mache. Masks can be decorated with paint, feathers, and sequins. This activity will take three to four days.
Masks are used in ceremonies as a way of appealing to the spirits. Through rituals and ceremonies a masked individual can attempt to speak directly to the spirits asking for help, or celebrating and giving thanks. Ceremonies are performed to ward off drought and disease, to encourage a plentiful harvest, to worship ancestors, and to announce births and deaths.
Directions for papier-mache:
Color is very important to the people of Nigeria. Throughout their history they used berries and plants to make dyes for their fabrics. This is a science activity to help students understand color and color combinations. The students also get acquainted with the concept of recording what they have learned. This activity lends itself to being a good science station. Just have the materials ready and explain to the class what they are to do. They can then explore and learn about color.
This is a two-part activity involving geometry, fine motor skills and visual discrimination. The class will work together as a whole group to discuss geometric shapes and assemble "Anansi the Spider." Following will be an independent center activity where students cut out and assemble their own spider.
Ayo is a traditional Nigerian board game- sometimes in modified form and with a different name- played throughout Africa and other parts of the world. A wooden board with two rows of six and a "home cup" at each end is used with 48 games pieces. Two players sit opposite each other and try to accumulate game pieces to win the game. For our purposes an egg carton and two additional containers used as "home cups" will work.
This activity is good to do near or at the end of the Nigerian unit. The class cooperatively makes a big book containing things related to Nigerian culture and what they have learned. For successful completion of this activity the students will need to have been exposed to information concerning Nigeria and West Africa through a number of books and activities.