Explore Lessons
Kodomo no hi: Children's Day Celebration
Grade Level: ElementarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Social Studies,Visual & Performing Arts
A lesson plan with songs and craft activities for Children's Day (kodomo no hi), celebrated every May 5.
Japanese Architecture for Elementary School Students
Grade Level: ElementarySubject Area: Visual & Performing Arts
Architect Aki Ishida gives a lesson in Japanese architecture for elementary school students, focusing on relationships between space and light.
Japanese Architecture for High School Students
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Visual & Performing Arts
A lesson for high-school students on Japanese architecture.
Tanabata: Japan's Star Festival
Grade Level: ElementarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Visual & Performing Arts
Bring Japan's Star Festival, Tanabata, to the classroom and experience a Japanese summer holiday through visual aids, storytelling and many hands-on activities!
Unit: Japan, 1945 to the Present
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
These lessons deal with the broad changes--politically, economically, and socially--that occurred in Japan from the occupation through the "Lost Decade" during the 1990s. This trajectory is of particular interest in light of the current economic crisis facing the world.
Nature and the Environment in Postwar Japan
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Social Studies
Modern Japan has a particularly fascinating relationship with the environment. Students will explore Japan's seemingly contradictory attitude and actions, characterized both by a profound, self-proclaimed respect for nature along with a proclivity to exploit and degrade the natural environment. Students will use a variety of sources including informational texts, poetry, and traditional and modern art to explore this paradox. They also will evaluate the government's response and the social reprecussions.
Living Efficiently: Daily Energy-Saving Practices from Totoro and Today
Grade Level: Elementary,SecondarySubject Area: Science & Environmental Science
Hayao Miyazaki's much beloved film, My Neighbor Totoro, is used to spark discussion about daily energy-saving practices.
Obento: The Japanese Lunch Box
Grade Level: ElementaryThis lesson, featuring hands-on activities, teaches lower elementary students about nutrition and Japanese food culture through introducing the obento, or Japanese lunchbox many children bring to school.
Our Family and Other Families: Using Totoro to Teach Family Structure
Grade Level: ElementarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Social Studies
In this lesson for elementary students, children find similarities between their own families and Japanese families using the well-known and well-loved film "My Neighbor Totoro."
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Education Programs are made possible by generous funding from The Freeman Foundation.
Additional support is provided by The Norinchukin Foundation, Inc., Chris A. Wachenheim, Joshua N. Solomon, Jon T. Hutcheson, Lesley Nan Haberman, Joshua S. Levine and Nozomi Terao.
About Japan: A Teacher’s Resource is generously funded, in part, by a three-year grant from the International Research and Studies (IRS) Program in the Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education (P017A100018).
Student and Family Programs are supported by the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
