To extend our study of multiculturalism in Canada we did a math activity that involved sorting and graphing. To begin with, we made a list of all the different cultures represented in our class. I wrote these along the bottom of a piece of chart paper. To help with the sorting and graphing, I wrote each in a different color.
Then I brought out some unifix cubes that corresponded to the same colors that the cultures were written in. Each student had to decide what culture he or she belonged to and what color of unifix cube he or she should have. Once everyone had a unifix cube (a couple children had 2 cubes because they were, for example, Vietnamese and Chinese), they had to sort themselves. They walked around and found everyone else with the same color and therefore with the same cultural background.
The different groups sat down together and I gave a few minutes to allow them to talk. The conversations were interesting as many did not realize that we had so many different groups in our class and some had not noticed that there were other people the same as them. They all wanted to see who was in each group and they got very excited about it. It was amazing to see their innocence as I realized that they had not seen before the connection between hair and skin color and cultural groups. One of the children asked me if I was Vietnamese, which I am clearly not. We got into a discussion then about how different cultures look different and how beautiful it is to look around and see the different people.
Next, each child had a chance to come up and put his or her unifix cube on the graph. I used tape to stick the bottom cubes on the paper and taped every 3rd or 4th cube as needed. There was so much excitement as the children watched the towers grow. Giggles were heard and heads kept straining to see the results as each child had a turn.
This activity would not have been complete without a good discussion about the results. We talked about the cultures with the most children in our class and the one’s with the least. We also noticed that some had the same number of people. We talked about how we are all friends and how neat it is to have so many different kinds of friends. Everyone agreed that our class was certainly special for having so many different people!
To sum up, each child drew a picture of some of his or her friends. We wrote down the names of the friends and the culture of each friend. The children kept this page in their Canada research booklets.
