Family Stories
Students write a description of a treasured family object along with information about why it is important.
 20–30 min. a day for 4–5 days
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 whole class and individual
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CA Language Arts Standard (Writing) 2.2: Write descriptions that use concrete sensory details to present and support unified impressions of people, places, things, or experiences.
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paper, pencils |
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Plan
Draft
 | Have students use their concept webs as the starting point for a draft of a description of the object. Ask them to also include a paragraph that tells what makes the object special. Remind them that when drafting, they should try to get all of their ideas out on paper and should not worry about spelling and punctuation.
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Revise
| Have students reread their description, adding sensory details that will help the reader imagine what the object looks, feels, even smells like. You may want to have them exchange their work with a partner to read and then ask questions about anything that was unclear.
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Edit
| Ask students to proofread their work, checking for subject-verb agreement, as well as proper use of capitalization and punctuation.
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Publish
| Have students make a clean copy of the corrected version of their description. They can add their work to the classroom library of family histories. Alternatively, you could make a class museum of drawings of their objects, using their stories as exhibit "labels."
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Additional Writing Activities
| A New Point of View: Some students may have difficulty identifying a treasured family object or finding out about its link to their family history. As an alternative to that activity, have students rewrite Chachaji's Cup from a different point of view. Begin this activity by engaging students in a discussion of the point of view used in the story. (See Author's Craft: Point of View) Then have students rewrite the story from Chachaji's point of view.
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| Special Relatives: Ask students to write about a relative they are close to or someone else who is special in their lives.
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| Write a Retelling: Provide students with a variety of myths, including, if possible, some myths from India. Ask them to work independently to read a myth, take notes on the plot, and then write a summary. Finally, ask them to retell the myth to someone else in the class.
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| Write to a Prompt: Lead a discussion to answer these questions: What is a refugee? What are some reasons people become refugees? Why do people leave their homes? Then provide students with the following writing prompt: If you were to leave your home, what would you bring with you and why? What things hold memories for you?
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| Review a Movie: If possible, provide students with the opportunity to view a Hindi-language movie or a movie about India. Then ask them to write a movie review that includes a summary of the film along with their opinions about it.
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Family History / Community History
Students research immigration and settlement in their local community, and then interview family members to learn about how their families came to the United States.
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30 min. a day for 2–3 days
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whole class, small group, individual
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CA Social Studies Standard 3.3: Students draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of local historical events and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land.
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books, encyclopedias, pamphlets, websites with information about the history of the local community; pencils; paper
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Divide the class into small groups to examine available resources (books; encyclopedias; pamphlets from the local historical society, library, or chamber of commerce; appropriate websites) for information about the history of settlement in your local community. Ask students to take notes about what they find to share with the class. Specifically, ask them to look for the answers to these questions:
Who first lived or settled in the area?
Have there been waves of immigration into the area? If so, when were they? Who came?
What evidence of these different immigrant groups do we see today in our community?
If information on your immediate area is difficult to come by, have students focus instead on the nearest large city or population center.
Ask group members to report back to the class on the information they have gathered. Talk together about how your community is a combination of people whose families originally came from many different places. Use this as a jumping off point for discussing how the mixing together of different peoples adds to the richness of the community.
Have students work together to develop a list of questions to ask family members about the history of their family's journey to your community or to the United States. Record the questions on the board. Ask each student to make a copy of the questions to take home to ask an elder family member. Students should record the answers to bring back to share with the class. You might compile all of the information in a poster entitled "How Our Community Came to Be." (Note: Information regarding this topic may be difficult for some students to discuss or share with others. For those students, you may want to provide an alternate activity or simply skip this part of the follow-up.)
Additional Social Studies Activities
| Movies Can Teach About Culture: Remind students that Chachaji and Neel enjoyed watching Hindi movies together. Discuss with students the ways in which dramatic films preserve culture. If possible, view a Hindi movie or a movie from another culture. Ask students to comment on what they learned about the culture by viewing the movie.
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| Stores Are More Than Just Places to Buy Things: Point out to students that Neel's family rented Hindi videos at a local Indian store. Use this information to begin an examination of how certain ethnic stores are places where culture is preserved through the availability of culture-related items. If possible, plan a visit to a local store with ethnic goods. Have students see what they can learn from the items that are available for sale.
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| More About India/Pakistan, Past and Present: Have students work in small groups to research the history of British India, the partition, and the history of India and Pakistan to the present. (See the Resources section of this document.) You may want to have them create a timeline listing major events.
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| What Is a Refugee? Ask students to work in pairs to find out about refugees. Have them look for the answers to questions such as these: Why do people become refugees? What is it like to have to move from a homeland to an unfamiliar place? If appropriate, students can use examples from their families.
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| Service Learning: As a class, explore the experiences of refugees leaving and going somewhere new (students' families' experiences as well as those of others). Ask students to conduct research about the rights and treatment of refugees. If possible, have students contact or visit a local refugee assistance program and find out if there is a way for them to provide help.
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A Collection of Treasures
Students create their own display of treasured objects.
40 min.
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individual
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CA Visual and Performing Arts Standards 2.4: Create a work of art based on the observation of objects and scenes in daily life; 3.5: Write about a work of art that reflects a student's own cultural background.
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paper, index cards, paints, markers, colored pencils
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Have students paint or draw a realistic painting or picture of a treasured family object (or another object that they personally value) to include in a classroom collection of treasured objects.
Ask students to make a "name plate" to go beneath their picture with the title or name of the object, the name of the artist, and a brief paragraph describing the object's importance.
If possible, arrange a day when students can bring the actual object or a photograph of it to add to the display.
Additional Art Activities
| Different View of the Same Story: Have students visit the author's website to see the cup that inspired Chachaji's Cup. Ask students to compare that cup to the one the artist created for the book. Use this comparison as the starting point for a discussion about how different people can view the same events and depict them (in words and pictures) in different ways. Point out that the author and the illustrator of Chachaji's Cup each brought their own perspectives to the events surrounding the partition of India and the experiences of Indian Americans. Have students discuss how these perspectives might be different and why. Then read aloud the Author's Note that tells how the author herself reacted to the illustrations when she saw them.
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| Packing a Suitcase: Recall with students the situation that Chachaji and his mother faced during the time of the partition: They were forced to leave their homeland and could only bring what they were able to carry with them. Ask students to think about how they would answer the following questions: What would you pack if you could only bring what you could carry in a suitcase? Would you bring useful things or things that are emotionally important? Provide each student with a copy of the suitcase worksheet. Ask students to draw what they would take in the suitcase. Then ask them to imagine that they have to take some things out of it. Ask: What would you take out? Ask students to think about whether the things that remain are useful or emotionally important. Have them share the results. (At the end of the activity, allow students symbolically to put back what they removed.)
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| Indian Art and Music: Set up a center with books about the art and culture of India, audiocassettes of Indian music, and a tape player. Either in pairs or small groups, allow students to explore the materials and listen to the music to gain an appreciation for Indian art, culture, and music. (See Resources for sources of artwork to display.)
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| Design a Tea Set: Ask students to look back at the design on Chachaji's teacup. Then have them work individually to design their own tea set, complete with cups, saucers, and a teapot.
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| Dreamscapes: Have students look at the image of Neel's dream on pages 24–25 of the story. Discuss with them the aspects of the illustration that help them know it depicts a dream. Then ask them to create their own painting or drawing of a dream, using similar techniques or ones that they invent on their own.
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| A Play of a Myth: Have students work in small groups to dramatize a myth, such as one involving the monkey god Hanuman. If students have rewritten a myth (see Additional Writing Activities), suggest that they use their own work as a script for their dramatic retelling.
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Two for Tea? Tea for Two?
Students use basic operations to plan for a tea service to serve the entire class.
30 min.
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small groups, whole class
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CA Mathematics Standard 2.0: Students calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
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paper; pencils; cups; juice (or noncaffeinated tea); biscuits or tea cookies; cucumbers, thinly sliced; 2–3 loaves of sliced bread (white or wheat); butter; salt; pepper; ground cumin; plastic knives
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Ask students to imagine that they are preparing a tea. Write the following menu on the board:
Tea or juice
Biscuits or cookies (2–3 for each guest)
Cucumber sandwiches (1–2 triangles for each guest)
Provide students with directions for making the tea and the recipe for cucumber sandwiches.
Have students make the necessary calculations to figure out (a) the quantity of supplies they need for a certain number of guests (such as the class or members of the class plus two family members each) and (b) how many guests they can accommodate given a certain quantity of supplies.
Give students the opportunity to make tea (see the Science activities) and sandwiches, and serve them.
Additional Math Activities
| Geometry in Art: Ask students to examine the story art and identify the geometric shapes that the artist has used in various images. You may want to have students work in small groups, assigning each group a different shape to find in the artwork.
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| Elapsed Time: Have students calculate the elapsed time between the partition of India and the present. They can use the results to calculate Chachaji's approximate age.
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| Time and Distance: Remind students that Chachaji and his mother walked 20 miles to the border and that other refugees had to walk hundreds of miles. Ask students to time themselves walking a certain distance. Use that data to calculate how much time it would take them to walk a mile, and then use that information to calculate the time to walk 20, 100, 200, and 300 miles.
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Tea Science
Students examine various properties of matter related to the making of tea.
40 min.
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whole class
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CA Science Standard 1: Energy and matter have multiple forms and can be changed from one form to another: As a basis for understanding this concept: e. Students know that matter has three forms, solid, liquid, and gas; f. Students know evaporation and melting are changes that occur when the objects are heated; g. Students know that when two or more substances are combined, a new substance may be formed with properties that are different from those of the original materials.
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water (hot and cold); tea kettle; ice cubes; glass containers that can hold hot or cold water; sugar (or salt); stopwatch (or watch with second hand); paper; pencils
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Students are asked to prepare tea in the math activity in this guide. Use that activity as an opportunity to explore the three types of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) with students.
To begin, provide students with a glass container filled with water at room temperature. Ask them to make observations about the water based on its appearance, temperature, and any other parameters they can come up with. Have one student record these observations on a sheet of paper.
Next, during the process of boiling water for tea, ask students to note changes they observe given the parameters from the previous part of the experiment. These observations should also be recorded.
After that, provide students with a container filled with ice cubes. Ask them to make observations based on the previously established parameters. Ask students to predict what will happen when the ice cubes are dropped into containers of room temperature water and recently boiled water. Ask them to conduct the experiment to see if their predictions were correct. You may want to provide them with a stopwatch (or a watch with a second hand) to record how long it takes the ice to melt in each type of water. All of this information should also be added to the experiment log.
As a final step in the process, have students examine the solubility of salt or sugar by dissolving either substance in room temperature water and recently boiled water. Again, they can use the stopwatch to help them monitor the rate of change. Before they conduct this phase of the experiment, ask them to predict what the differences will be, then check their predictions against the results.
After all the stages of the activity are complete, ask students to review their experiment log and then work together to draw some conclusions about the properties of water in its different forms—solid, liquid, and gas—as well as about the effects of heat on certain objects.
Additional Science Activities
| Tea Senses: Have students test their senses of taste and smell with the spices and sugar that are used with tea (sugar) and cucumber sandwiches (salt, pepper, cumin).
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| Healthy Heart: Remind students that Chachaji goes to the hospital when he has trouble with this heart. Have students use reference sources or, if possible, talk to a medical professional, such as the school nurse, to learn about habits that result in a healthy heart.
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