Using Picture Books to Introduce Students to Celebrations

One of my favourite aspects of Social Studies is introducing students to celebrations of various cultural groups. One of the BEST ways to introduce students to any concept, is through picture books!

This blog post contains affiliate links which means that amazon throws a few cents my way if you purchase the books below through my links. As always, I only recommend books and resources that I truly LOVE!

Here are some of my favourite picture books which introduce students to various cultural celebrations:

Lighting Our World: A Year of Celebrations provides you with a new celebration to show your students each month! For example, in January students will learn about the Iroquois Midwinter Ceremony. Then in October they will study Diwali. Each page is filled with great information and beautiful illustrations.

Celebrations Around the World: This is a great book for your English Language Learners! The text is simple to read and students are provided with scaffolds such as a glossary and pronunciation guides.

Canadian Celebrations: This is a great book to help students dive into celebrations which are uniquely Canadian. There are 5 different chapters, each one touching on a different celebration. The celebrations include: National Aboriginal Day, Thanksgiving, Canada Day, Calgary Stampede, and Quebec Carnival.

If you are a Grade 4 Alberta teacher, all 3 of these books are suggested for use in my Social Studies Mini Unit – Examining Tourism and Recreation in Alberta. You can check out this engaging unit by clicking on the image below.