Dominican+Repulic+Activities

Activities
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Early Elementary


Students can, in pairs or on their own, write a letter to a Dominican their age and ask them questions or talk about an interesting fact they found about the Dominican Republic that even a native might no know. The students will write rough copies of these letters and then proofread them. I will then used distance marking on their papers to have them find their own mistakes. Anything can do not correct they can get group help and if their table is also unsure then they can ask for my help. These papers will be then written into a formal paper and we can provide a photo or two to send to their pen pal. 

I will have students selected form the Dominican Republic schools so that we can write back and forth. I can also incorporate pen pals from other areas so that students can group by the nationality of their pen pal and discuss similarities and differences between those pen pals. They can also group with students from different cultures.

If you are reading this as a classroom who is interested in having pen pals please contact me and we can work things out.

Upper Elementary
Students can create their own poster for a presentation in class. Students can make a poster of information from the wiki and any other research they do. They can also use a Glogster to create this tool. If you want to choose one topic and make the whole poster related to that, that is allowed and would be a great way for the class to learn. If students do not use glogster they still need to use class time to find video clips to show the class. Click to use glogsters

Check list for poster: Includes at least 3 pictures: Yes No Gave at least 5 facts on the Dominican republic: Yes  No Poster has at least two facts found off the wiki (using sites connected are allowed but nothing typed on the wiki pages): Yes  No Has at least 2 videos related to their poster: Yes  No Poster is neat and colorful: Yes  No

Here is an example of what a glogster can look like related to the food in the Dominican. If you would like to have done food you still can but you need to find your pictures and clips. Students will be given time in class. media type="custom" key="7837661" width="130" height="130"

[[image:taino_wire_sun.jpg align="left" caption="This sun is an art piece a modern day Taino made" link="@http://fineartamerica.com/images-small/sol-taino-ricardo-lopez.jpg"]]
In class student will be making Taino sheet metal art. This is a traditional thing to do in sheets of metal or gold however our class will be making it out of sheet metal or tinfoil. We will use nails and hammers after stenciling out any Taino symbol. The symbols shown below are only a few of the symbols during the cultural day taught. The students will be able to string these together to make a story or combine symbols to create a beautiful art piece. These projects can then be cut to the outline of the art or left as a rectangle. Once we have added the texture we can also add painting to it. This can be used as the Tainos did by having the paint fall into the wells created by the texture. Students can also paint the whole thing but this will take different layers of paint or a thicker paint. If you want to provide the options for the students have both watered down as well as thick paint. These students can allow these to dry then you can poke a hole all the way through and string to hang up and put around the room. Students can also write a sentence or short story about the images they textured or the story they created with the combination of symbols they choose.

media type="youtube" key="6D4mcIZPlng?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

Home Activities
Here is a great recipe site for authentic Dominican food. One of my personal favorites is Mangu, mashed plantains. Have your parents help you create some cuisine to feel like your are really a Dominican for a night. "Aunt Clara's Dominican Recipes"

You can also measure the distance of the Dominican Republic as well as the size of Santa Domingo and compare those distance to that of our hometown. How far was the lowest and highest point in the Dominican Republic and how does that compare to your town. If you are interested in doing this ask for maps at school if you don't have any at home. The internet can also be used.


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