Curriculum Library
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Curriculum Development Committee | All Lesson Plans
K-5
LESSON PLANS
UNIT ONE
Kindergarten to First Grade |
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Lesson |
Subjects |
Description |
Lesson One: |
Language Arts |
The lesson is about the story of Pinocchio and the importance of truth and character development. Students will focus on the significance of telling the truth and the value of accepting responsibilities. They will also discuss the history of the original story written by Carlo Collodi, and they will learn about his background. Students will have the Disney version of the story read to them aloud in class. They will discuss some of the differences and similarities between the original story and the Disney version. |
Lesson Two: |
Social Studies |
State and national curriculum standards require that students be exposed to the cultures and celebrations of other countries. Although Christmas is a very important holiday in both Italy and Puerto Rico, both lands place a special emphasis on the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrated twelve days later. Students will investigate the Italian gift-giver, La Befana. |
Lesson Three:
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Art |
Students will be introduced to the characters of the Commedia dell’ Arte. They will learn that all of the actors developed their own specific type of character, such as the Captain, the Pantaloon, the Doctor, or the Zanni. Since the actors wore masks, their roles were eventually called masks. Before going on-stage, actors agreed on a basic plot and a general idea of how the play should be performed. The improvised or ad-libbed performances were never subtle. Students will make masks to perform part of the comedy in class. |
Lesson Four: |
Language Arts Character Education |
Most students are familiar with the Bugs Bunny cartoons. No matter who challenges Bugs, Bugs always outwits his adversary. Many Italian fairy tales offer similar plots. The hero is usually an underdog who has to face a superior adversary. The hero uses his quick wit against his opponents by appealing to their greed or desires. In this story of the “Cunning Shoemaker” an astute cobbler befuddles a group of dangerous robbers, by appealing to their avarice and exploiting their obvious lack of intelligence. Students will develop reading comprehension while appreciating the advantage of industrious behavior and a quick wit. |
K-5
LESSON PLANS
UNIT TWO
Second to Third Grade |
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Lesson |
Subjects |
Description |
Lesson One: |
Art |
Students will be introduced to the Italian Renaissance masters: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo, through the cartoon: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The lesson starts with the turtles, then introduces the Italian masters and their works to the students in four distinct lessons. |
Lesson Two: |
Art |
Students will learn about Giotto di Bondone. More than |
Lesson Three: |
Language Arts |
Students will examine the founding myth of ancient Rome. They will see why Roman culture developed such a strong “family-centered” culture. Students will contrast stories of sibling rivalry in ancient Greece, ancient Israel, and ancient Ireland, to discover why sibling rivalry can be destructive. They will also examine ways to ease tensions and negotiate settlements. |
Lesson Four: |
World History |
Students will examine the life of the famous explorer, Marco Polo. They will follow and chart his travels along the ancient Silk Route, and his travels throughout the realm of Kubla Khan. Students will learn the names of the ancient kingdoms of the Orient, east of Constantinople, along with the names of the modern nations, east of what is now Istanbul. |
Lesson Five: |
Geography |
This lesson plan is about the story of Pinocchio and the importance of truth and character development. Students will focus on the significance of telling the truth and the value of accepting responsibilities. They will also discuss the history of the original story written by Carlo Collodi, and they will learn about his background. Students will have the Disney version of the story read to them aloud in class. They will discuss some of the differences and similarities between the original story and the Disney version. |
K-5
LESSON PLANS
UNIT THREE
Fourth to Fifth Grade |
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Lesson |
Subjects |
Description |
Lesson One: |
US History |
Students will examine when the Portuguese and Spanish explored alternate ways to reach Oriental spice markets and how Italian sailors, cartographers, and navigators started to offer their considerable skills as seamen to find a western route to the Indies. Cristòfero Colombo was the first Italian to cross the Atlantic. Giovanni da Verrazzano also made great voyages west, and was the first European to look onto the New Jersey coast and sail into what became New York harbor. |
Lesson Two: |
Language Arts |
Students will read a major best-selling Italian story— “Geromino Stilton,” a mouse that works both as a journalist and amateur sleuth. The books have sold more than 1.6 million copies in Italy since the first story was published by Edizione Piemme. Stilton is now closing in on JK Rowling's best-selling Harry Potter series, whose four Italian editions sold a total of 2.7 million copies. |
Lesson Three: |
US History |
Students will be introduced to the concept of immigration. They will explore how Italian immigrants traveled across the Delaware River from Philadelphia to become migrant workers in Gloucester County. Many of the migrant workers eventually owned most of the prosperous farms in the area. Students will investigate the opportunities available to immigrants in the USA and the prosperity achieved by those who worked hard, ethically, and intelligently. |
Lesson Four: |
Music |
Students will examine Verdi’s opera Aida. They willexamine the torn loyalties Aida must confront as she chooses between her love of nation and family, and her love for the Egyptian general, Radames. |
* English versions may indicate only one “z”.
6-12
LESSON PLANS
UNIT FOUR
History & Society |
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Lesson |
Subjects |
Description |
Lesson One: |
World History |
The theory of Natural Law is explored, highlighting the works of Cicero, Justinian, and Aquinas. Students identify a primeval concept of Natural Law in the play Antigone, and they compare that concept to the words in the Declaration of Independence. |
Lesson Two: |
World History |
The lesson explains the intellectual change that took place during the Renaissance from a society based on the unchanging eternal, to a society that accepted change and actively sought to bring beauty and improvements into the world. |
Lesson Three: |
World History |
The Venetian monopoly on Oriental spices and the alternatives that were pursued by Western powers and especially by Italian captains, sailors, cartographers, and navigators, are studied. |
Lesson Four: |
Language Arts World Languages |
Students will participate in the Stream-of-Consciousness method, based on observations of Leonardo da Vinci’s work. |
Lesson Five: |
World History |
The concept of Equality from Paul of Tarsus in 48AD, through Ulpian in the 3rd century AD, to Filippo Mazzei’s influence on George Mason and Thomas Jefferson is presented. Dr. Martin Luther King’s understanding of the concept is explored. |
6-12
LESSON PLANS
UNIT FIVE
Immigration & Prejudice |
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Lesson |
Subjects |
Description |
Lesson One: |
Science |
This lesson investigates the turn of the twentieth-century belief that different groups of people evolve differently from one another. Students learn how this belief affected changes in the United States immigration laws. They also research and report how history has proved the theory to be egregiously erroneous. |
Lesson Two: |
Language Arts |
Poetry is presented that highlights the subtle and often overt ethnic stereotyping that can occur in classrooms. |
Lesson Three: |
U.S. History |
The lesson investigates immigration to New Jersey. It focuses on the encroachment of the market economy into the European peasantry at various times during the nineteenth century. Students explore various reasons for the emigrations to the United States of America. |
Lesson Four: |
U.S. History |
Reasons for Italian Immigration to New Jersey in 1890, and corresponding settlements are explored. |
Lesson Five: |
U.S. History |
The lesson investigates lynching and mob violence, focusing on the late nineteenth-century lynching of Italian immigrants and the international ramifications. |
Lesson Six: |
U.S. History |
The U.S. policy of detaining Italian nationals and other “enemy aliens” during World War II is investigated. |
6-12
LESSON PLANS
UNIT SIX
Arts & Sciences |
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Lesson |
Subjects |
Description |
Lesson One: |
Art |
The lesson focuses on the symmetry found in late eighteenth-century art, music, law, and architecture, inter alia. It highlights how Jefferson viewed this symmetry and order as republican virtues influenced by Palladian architecture. |
Lesson Two: |
Science |
The controversies surrounding who invented the radio and the telephone are explored. Marconi and Meucci have great claims, but the students will research and decide. |
Lesson Three: |
Art |
Changes in art that took place from Medieval to the High Italian Renaissance, to the late Italian Renaissance. Students will contrast four frescos of The Last Supper. |
Lesson Four: |
Science |
The lesson includes Galileo’s investigation of gravity. It emphasizes the shift from Aristotelian deductive reasoning to empiricism by changing the investigative question from “why things fall to earth,” to “how things fall to earth.” |
Lesson Five: |
Art |
The lesson focuses on Vespasian's desire to build a great monument to honor himself and to keep the plebeians amused and content at the games. The lesson also highlights the ineffectiveness of slavery in a society. |
