Grades K–2
Explore lessons, teaching suggestions, and activities based on Peace Corps volunteer experiences, to help young learners explore the world and gain cross-cultural understanding.
- Asha's Village
- Asha, a young girl living in India, takes the reader on a virtual journey through her village. She offers a glimpse into aspects of her culture and daily life while introducing a variety of words in Hindi. By seeing components of a village in India, students can compare and contrast daily life in India with their own. In doing so, they can see that although people may have differences in country of origin, foods, or language, we are more alike than different.
- Barrels and Buckets: Access to Water
- Students increase their understanding of access to water through reading Peace Corps Volunteer stories from Kenya (in east Africa) and Ghana (in west Africa). As part of this lesson, each student will make a book that compares access to water in the United States, Kenya, and Ghana. An overall goal is to develop the students' understanding of the similarities and differences among water use in Kenya, Ghana, and the students' own communities.
- Bringing Water to a Village in Lesotho
- In this lesson, students will learn about the role of water in ceremonies and celebrations around the world, as well as about the role water plays in the daily lives of those living in Lesotho.
- Building Bridges for Young Learners—Community
- The following lesson engages young children in ideas and concepts surrounding community with an exploration of the varied factors that influence how people live, the roles of adults and children, and the interaction of people who live and work within a community.
- Building Bridges for Young Learners—Culture
- This culminating lesson engages young children in exploring the macro concept of culture, including identifying visible and invisible features of culture, how interaction with the environment and others shapes one's culture, and how culture is shared and transformed over time.
- Building Bridges for Young Learners—Family
- The following lesson engages young children in exploring the concept of family with emphasis on how families around the world share more commonalities than differences.
- Building Bridges for Young Learners—School
- The following lesson engages young children in exploring the concept of school and education with an exploration of the varied factors that influence children's access to formal schooling, the subjects taught and learned, and children's role in their classroom.
- Building Bridges for Young Learners—Self
- Students will examine themselves relative to their characteristics, abilities, and feelings. By making connections to children in another part of the world, they will discover that people are more alike than different.
- Communities Around the World
- Where we live helps shape who we are. By examining the concept of community and its importance in our lives, students will gain an appreciation for their own community while gaining respect for communities that may be very different than their own. They will also explore their role within the community around them.
- Cultures Around the World
- Our own culture is all around us and has helped to shape who we are, what we enjoy, and our social norms. Our encounters with those of a different culture are excellent opportunities to celebrate our diversity while appreciating our own culture. Students will compare and contrast cultures of the world celebrating their differences and similarities.
- Explore More About Bottle Construction
- Many Peace Corps Volunteers collaborate with their host communities to make the best use of locally available materials. Explore the stories from Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Guatemala and collaborated with community members on bottle construction projects. Then extend students' learning from these stories using the accompanying teaching suggestions.
- Families Around the World
- The concept of family and it importance in our lives is something that is shared by people of every culture. By looking more closely at photos and simple text describing the roles we each play in our families, students will gain an understanding of the similarities shared by families around the world.
- Narrative Cartoons
- Based on essays and photos provided by Peace Corps Volunteers, students will create a narrative cartoon, a set of sequentially placed images that tell a story.
- Peace Corps Challenge Game—Traditional Greetings
- The world if full of different cultures with different traditions, languages, customs, and greetings. Students will explore several ways in which people around the world greet each other. The following teacher suggestion is designed to enhance the students learning from playing the Peace Corps Challenge on-line game.
- Peace Corps Challenge Game—Water Quality
- The water pollution of the lake in the village of Wanzuzu has affected much more than just the lives of the humans in the village. Animals and plants have also been affected. Through letter writing students will have the opportunity to express their feelings by writing as if they were a fish in the lake and also understand that sometimes we all must work together to solve a community problem.
- Peace Corps Challenge Game—Foods from Other Countries
- Not everyone in the world eats at fast food restaurants, or even has the same vegetables as we do in America. When people think of a traditional "American" type of food, they usually say hamburgers and hot dogs. In most countries they have a popular dish. In fact, in the Peace Corps Challenge game they drank root juice and ate fried ants. Students will have the opportunity to learn about some of the traditional dishes from other countries of the world. The following teacher suggestion is designed to enhance the students learning from playing the Peace Corps Challenge on-line game.
- Peace Corps Challenge Game—National Trees
- Trees are found all over the world, in every country. Although trees are common to all parts of the world, there are different trees species found in different places. In this teaching suggestion, students will have the opportunity to explore the national trees of several countries as well as compare them to some of the native trees in their own community.
- Playing in Lesotho
- Children everywhere play. American students will have the opportunity to see how resourceful children are in the country of Lesotho when it comes to finding things to play with. Imagination can transform a simple item into the best toy ever.
- Schools Around the World
- As each of us goes to school, it quickly becomes one of the most important parts of our lives. Although schools are found in every corner of the world, they can be quite different. Learning about schools and schooling around the world can help students understand not only the importance of education, but also how children of every culture have many of the same needs.
- Splish-Splash: Daily Use of Water
- This lesson facilitates the students’ understanding of access to water through reading stories from Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Kenya (east Africa region) and Ghana (west Africa region). As part of this lesson, each student will make a book that compares access to water in the United States, Kenya, and Ghana. An overall goal is to develop the students’ understanding of the similarities and differences between water use by people in Kenya and Ghana and their own communities.
- The Flow of Women’s Work
- Water provides an excellent lens for studying gender roles. In this lesson, students compare the division of labor in water-related work in rural Lesotho with their own households. By doing this, they will gain an understanding of the multiple factors that influence how gender roles are established in different societies. This lesson culminates with students writing letters in the voice of visitors to the United States from Lesotho.
- Visual Messages: Creating a Photomontage
- How do we best communicate a rich and complex visual world when it is captured on a two-dimensional surface? In this lesson, students will manipulate photographs by cutting, reassembling, and adding two-dimensional materials, such as text, maps, charts, documents, notes, and drawings.
- Water Uses and Children’s Lives in East Africa
- This lesson uses students’ interactions with water to help them compare their lives with those of children in Kenya or Tanzania. It looks at ways that access to water helps define children’s roles in the family, and how this relates to culture. Students write essays and draw pictures to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts.
- Weather and Water in Ghana
- This lesson uses the dramatic contrast between the rainy and dry seasons in west Africa to help students learn about weather. Students will define weather, examine its features, define their area's weather, and apply this knowledge to their study of the ways weather affects people and the environment.
- Who Are You?
- Each of us has unique characteristics that make us not only look different from one another, but also act differently. These characteristics include our likes and dislikes, as well as our talents and abilities. These characteristics can help children understand that we each have worth and are a vital part of our world. Students will also see that although we are different, there are also many things that make us similar.