Lesson Plan

Japanese New Year Lesson Plan: Middles Edition

Scale a mochi recipe, design a nengajo, and race through a karuta deck you made.

This is the Middles Edition of Japanese New Year: one ready-to-teach week written just for grades 4-6. Every day follows the same rhythm: Reading on Monday, Writing and Words on Tuesday, Science and Math on Wednesday, a Hands-on Project on Thursday, and Show and Tell on Friday.

The big question: Why does almost every food, decoration and game of the Japanese New Year carry a wish?

The Week

• Mon: Three Friends of Winter (Reading) • Tue: Nengajo and Kakizome (Writing & Words) • Wed: Mochi by Fractions (Science & Math) • Thu: Make a Karuta Deck (Hands-on Project) • Fri: New Year Open House (Show & Tell)

Teaching more than one level? The all-levels edition of Japanese New Year has Littles (K-3), Middles (4-6) and Bigs (7-8) in one file, so siblings or a mixed classroom can study the same topic together.

Perfect for homeschool families, grade 4-6 classrooms, co-ops and substitute plans.

What's inside

• 5 ready-to-teach days for Middles (grades 4-6), about 60 to 90 minutes a day
• Lab sheet: Mochi by Fractions
• Sequence cards (New Year, Step by Step) and a cut-and-sort page (What Does It Wish For?)
• Writing page: My Word for the Year
• Hands-on project: A Homemade Karuta Deck
• Word search, crossword, scramble and secret code puzzles
• 8 fact cards, 9 vocabulary cards and a book list of 5 titles
• A certificate and an answer key for the grown-up

Instant PDF download after checkout. Print at home.