Heritage

Traditions, Customs and Celebrations

My Heritage PowerPoint

What is heritage?

You have been reading stories on the theme of Heritage.  What exactly is it?  Take a look at these links about Heritage to learn what makes up someone's Heritage.

Encarta Definition

Answers.com on Heritage-Explore this whole page!  It has a definition, synonyms, quotes and articles on Heritage.  It even has the word in different languages!  (Watch out for the advertisements-don't click on them.)

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry quotation from Bartleby.com

A doll in traditional dress from Africa

A  Shinto religious procession in Japan, with children and teacher in traditional dress.

Some questions to ask yourself before starting:

Make a quick list of notes to come back to later.  Click here to print out a form for your notes.  Traditions Notes Page

1. Where are your family members from (choose one country to concentrate on)?

2. What customs, traditions or celebrations do you follow in your life from that country?

Think about your holidays or special occasions.  Do you have any special ways to celebrate that may be different from other people in the United States?  Are there special foods that you cook or special things you do?

3. What customs, traditions or celebrations do you plan to pass on to your children or younger relatives?

This is just something to think about: 

4. What is important to you about your heritage? What things would you like to pass on to future generations (children or younger relatives if you don't have children)?  Include this in your PowerPoint project if you would like to (we will get to this when we get to our final project).

Young girls in Poland at a military ceremony dressed in traditional costume.

A doll from Korea, in traditional dress.

Let's find out more about the countries of your ancestors, and learn more about your own heritage.

Check out these web resources below to find out information about the countries of your ancestors.  Focus on one country.

If you don't know anything about your country, do a search for the country and find out what they wear, and what traditions, customs and celebrations they have.  Please let me know if you have trouble finding information.  Bookmark the information by dragging the URL from the page you want into your folder on the server if you want to come back to it later.

If you find good pictures, you can copy images to use in your PowerPoint presentation by dragging them to your folder on the server.

**Cultural Profiles Project Best place to start! Very easy to read and use. You may be able to get all your information here.

Kids Culture Center ONLY has information on Mexico, Korea, China, Vietnam, Guatemala, Russia and India, but if you click on the country and "Culture" you will get a wealth of information about celebrations from those countries.

Yahoo Holidays If your family celebrates a particular holiday, look up the holiday and find where it came from and how it is celebrated.

Google Image Search for finding pictures of cultural objects, the flag, food, maps, etc.

Now it is time to put all your research and hard work together! 

You will create a PowerPoint presentation about your heritage.   

• Have a title slide with your picture, your title, name and teacher's name as your first slide.
• Choose one or two countries of your heritage. Introduce it on the second slide.
• Tell about some customs, traditions or celebrations you follow and where they come from in the world.
• You must have at least 4 slides, including your title slide.
• You should have pictures or images for each slide, with some text to explain the images.

Click here to see the sample Mrs. Timm's Heritage PowerPoint presentation.

Click here to see the rubric for your PowerPoint presentation.

STEPS IN CREATING THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION:

1. Use your notes as a rough storyboard for your presentation. Make sure you plan for 4 slides, with the first slide as your Title Slide (with title, your name and teacher's name).

2. Use Google Image Search to find more images for your PowerPoint presentation. The images should go with the customs, celebrations or traditions that you will talk about in the presentation, or have something to do with the country of your heritage. Copy the images into your folder on the server to use later when you put the presentation together. You may not use every image, but it is good to have some extra to choose from (try to find 6-7 pictures). You should take one picture of yourself using PhotoBooth to go on your Title Slide.

3. Start putting the PowerPoint presentation together. Go slide by slide, completing the image and text on each slide before going on to the next slide. First add the image to the slide, then type the text that goes with each image. After you have finished all your slides, go back and format the text (change the shape, layout, color, font) and add transitions or effects.

4. Do a practice run of your presentation. Make sure everything looks like you want it to look, that all the text can be read easily and the images are clear. Make sure it works! If it doesn't, go back and fix it. If you need help with this, ask Mrs. Timm during class.

5. Be ready to present your PowerPoint project in class. You can read the slides and make extra comments if you want. The best slide shows might be published on our school website!