Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Library Lesson

Take your students on a trip to the continent of Asia! This library lesson was designed for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. Students will find Asia on a map, meet four notable Asian Americans, and see famous monuments and foods of Asia.

Please note that this presentation is designed to complement a read-aloud. The actual read-aloud story comes from you!

This lesson has 79 slides & pages, and includes:

• 55-slide Lesson Presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint + Google Slides
  • All text is editable; you choose which slides you want to use.
  • 16 slides are for the guided lesson and/or whole class discussion slides about the seven continents, Asia, and different countries in Asia.
  • 35 slides are “scrolling presentation” slides that are great for extending lessons or scrolling in the library during checkout and downtimes.
• Recommended Reads (1 slide/page)
  • All 22 recommended books in the presentation are also listed on a separate “Recommended Reads” list.
  • The list is great to hand out to parents, teachers, and students looking for high-quality, interesting books related to Asia.
• Two (2) editable, differentiated scavenger hunts (3 pages)
  • Students “hunt” for images and information in the “scrolling slides” part of the presentation. This gives students something to focus on during library checkout and downtime.
  • Includes 2 scavenger hunts. One is images only, and the other is images and text.
  • Answer key included.
• Detailed explanation of how I have used themed library lessons like this one for story time on the “Specials” rotation. (10 pages, PDF)
• Google Classroom Basics (4 pages, PDF)
• Instructions on how to set up PowerPoint slide timings for scrolling slides (2 pages, PDF)
• Detailed prep instructions and lesson plan (2 pages)
• Elementary Library Lesson Plan in editable PDF and Microsoft PowerPoint format, aligned to:
  • 2018 AASL National School Library Standards for Learners,
  • National Common Core ELA Standards, and
  • Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

16 Lesson / Class Discussion Slides:

The slides walk you through the entire discussion, from start to finish. It’s a great introduction to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and the continent of Asia.

• 4 recommended library read-alouds. Each book has a video recommendation to accompany the story. Two additional links are to easy how-to origami videos (butterfly and dog origami).
• Sign language slide and “how-to sign” video link (“Asia”)
• What are the seven continents? (includes colorful continent map)
• What continent is…largest? smallest? Which one do you live on?
• May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
• Real photos of Taj Mahal (India), Red Square (Russia), Angkor Wat (Cambodia), the Chocolate Hills (Philippines), and rice terraces (Vietnam)
• 5 largest countries, 5 small countries, and 5 island countries in Asia
• Slide for your read-aloud (paste the book cover on the slide).
• Checkout reminders slide — add your own reminders!
• “What Should We Do Now?” slide — This is very clear instructions on what students should be doing after the lesson.

35 Scrolling Slides:

The second part is the scrolling slides. Set them on a timer to scroll on a screen during library checkout. Students can use the scrolling slides to complete one of the two Scavenger Hunts. All images and information in the slides relate to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

• Asian foods: kimchi, hummus, samosas, borscht
• More photos of Asian landmarks: The Winter Palace (Russia), Punalu’u Beach (Hawaii), Manila North Cemetery (Philippines), Mount Damavand (Iran), Mount Everest (Nepal / Tibet), Lake Baikal (Russia), Bruce Lee statue (Hong Kong), and the Great Wall of China
• Famous Asian Americans: Anna May Wong, Bruce Lee, I.M. Pei, Dwayne Johnson
• Extinct tigers in Korea (pair with When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller)
• Vocabulary words: immigrants and naturalization
• 3 Would-You-Rathers and 1 This-or-That
• 5 trivia questions with answers
• This week’s birthdays
• Weekly schedule and agenda
• Checkout reminders (you add your own!)

IMPORTANT! Due to copyright law, read-aloud videos of the books are NOT included. You will have to record yourself reading the book, or do a live stream of the read-aloud for students to access the book. If your library owns the ebook(s), you could also share how to read or access ebooks through your online catalog or ebook management platform.

Standards Addressed:

AASL National School Library Standards – See the AASL Standards Framework for Learners to view full text. 

• Inquire – A.1. – A.2.
• Include – A.3.
• Explore – A.1. – A.2.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards –
© Copyright 2010 National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.10. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.8.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.10.

Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) –
© Copyright 2019 Texas Education Agency.

• TEKS LA.3.5.
• TEKS LA.4.5.
• TEKS LA.5.5.

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