Culture and Texts

Overview

This 45-minute lesson is the first in a 9-lesson unit titled “Exploring Cultures Through Texts” for Grade 4 students. It aims to build foundational understanding of culture and how it is expressed through texts, grounding students in critical literacy and inquiry aligned with the British Columbia Curriculum for English Language Arts (ELA). Using the picture book All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, students will activate prior knowledge about culture, connect personally to the concept, and explore the unit’s essential question: “How do texts reflect and shape our understanding of culture?”

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Curriculum Connections (British Columbia Curriculum - ELA Grade 4)

Curricular Competencies:

• Comprehend and connect (Reading and Viewing): Use multiple strategies to connect as they explore texts.
• Engage and share (Speaking and Listening): Participate actively in discussions related to texts and ideas.
• Create and communicate (Writing): Express ideas about texts and culture clearly and creatively.

Content:

• Understanding text structures and features.
• Exploring themes and ideas including culture, identity, and diversity within texts.

Big Ideas:

• Texts can reflect and shape personal and cultural identities.
• People understand the world around them through stories and texts.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Define what culture means in their own words, recognising it includes traditions, beliefs, languages, foods, and celebrations.
2. Identify ways in which culture can be represented in texts, particularly picture books.
3. Engage in respectful class discussion to share personal experiences of culture.
4. Begin considering the essential question: How do texts reflect and shape our understanding of culture?

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Materials Needed

• Picture Book: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon
• Chart paper or whiteboard
• Markers
• Student notebooks and pencils
• Sticky notes (2 per student)
• Visual word bank on culture-related vocabulary (e.g., tradition, community, celebration, language)

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Lesson Procedures

1. Welcome and Connect (5 minutes)

• Greet students and introduce the unit title: Exploring Cultures Through Texts. Write it on the board.
• Introduce the essential question in kid-friendly language: “How can stories help us understand people’s ways of living?”
• Inform students that throughout this unit, they will discover how texts tell us about culture.

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2. Activate Prior Knowledge – “What is Culture?” (10 minutes)

• Write the word Culture on chart paper.
• Ask: “What comes to mind when you hear the word culture?”
• Use a Think-Pair-Share strategy: Students think quietly for 30 seconds, then share with a partner, then share aloud.
• Record all student ideas on the chart (accept all ideas, emphasise diversity).
• Briefly discuss how culture is about people and their way of life—things like languages, foods, celebrations, stories, and traditions.
• Introduce and display the visual word bank for support.

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3. Read-Aloud: All the World (15 minutes)

• Show students the book cover and ask for predictions on what it might be about based on the title and cover art.
• Read the book aloud with expressive intonation and show all illustrations clearly.
• Pause occasionally to ask reflective questions:
  • “What kinds of people and places do you see in this story?”
  • “What do you think this tells us about the world and communities?”
• After reading, invite a brief share: “What did you notice about culture in this story?”

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4. Interactive Class Discussion (10 minutes)

• Refer back to the student-generated chart of what culture means.
• Ask: “How did All the World help us see culture? What parts of culture did it show us?”
• Lead students in connecting the story to their own ideas about culture.
• Add new ideas to the chart as needed.
• Introduce the phrase: “Texts reflect culture,” explaining that books show us who people are and how they live.
• Discuss briefly how stories also shape (or influence) how we understand others—prompt with questions like:
  • “How can stories help us learn about new cultures?”
  • “Can stories change how we think about people?”

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5. Reflection and Exit Ticket (5 minutes)

• Distribute sticky notes.
• Ask students to write one thing they learned today about culture or one question they now have about culture and texts.
• Collect the sticky notes as a formative assessment to guide the next lesson.
• Thank students for sharing their thoughts and remind them this is just the start of their journey exploring culture in stories.

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Assessment and Follow-up

Formative Assessment

• Observation of student participation during Think-Pair-Share and discussion.
• Review of exit ticket sticky notes for understanding and questions.

Next Lesson Preview

• Plan to build on this introductory discussion with text explorations that feature diverse cultural perspectives.

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Extensions and Differentiation

• Support: Provide sentence starters or visuals for ELL students or students needing language support during discussion.
• Challenge: Invite students with strong personal cultural experiences to prepare a short “culture share” for upcoming lessons.
• Cross-Curricular Link: Connect to Social Studies by introducing local Indigenous cultures and their storytelling traditions in later lessons.

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Teacher Reflection Notes

• Monitor student engagement with concept of culture and vocabulary use.
• Note which examples or questions sparked the deepest interest for differentiation in future lessons.
• Reflect on effectiveness of read-aloud interaction strategies and adjust questioning for next texts.

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This lesson perfectly aligns with the BC Curriculum by nurturing critical thinking, oral communication, and comprehension skills while grounding learning in student experience and inquiry into the cultural dimensions of texts. It sets the stage for students to become thoughtful readers and culturally aware citizens.