Celebrations, from TeacherLink

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/topics.html

Way back in 1996, students of elementary education at Utah State University produced lesson plans on dozens of holidays - from Cinco de Mayo to the Chinese New Year, from Mardi Gras to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There are also lessons on Consumerism and Holidays, the Christmas Tree, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah. There is even one on birthdays! Untested and wildly divergent, this collection nevertheless has some gems, and a lot of great ideas! Grab them and archive them, before somebody notices how old they are and takes them down!

Winter Holidays, from the National Confectioners Association

http://www.candyusa.org/Holidays/Winter/

Nothing says the holidays like candy! Here is a cluster of informational activities,  printable and colorable pages, history resources, and links to external websites, courtesy of the premiere candy manufacturer's professional organization, the National Confectioners Association. While you're there, don't miss their Candy in the Classroom (http://www.candyusa.org/Classroom)!

Track Santa with NORAD!

http://www.noradsanta.org/

On Christmas Eve, 1955, an accidental ad misprint connected curious kids to the information hotline of the precursor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs. The quick-thinking officer in charge played along, and 50 years later the tradition continues. This website "tracks" Santa on that magical night, spitting back locations, speed, areas visited, and other data. The phone lines are still manned on Christmas Eve by the NORAD officers themselves, fielding calls from news desks, radio shows, and, of course, kids. The website also gives information on what NORAD is and does, as well as providing links to printable maps and other resources. [I couldn't find any specific lesson plans aimed at this resource...if you know of any, shoot back a link! - jlj]

Christmas Around the World Scavenger Hunts

http://www.henry.k12.ga.us/pges/xmas_around.htm

For a good collection of links to Christmas traditions by country, take a look at this cluster at Santas.Net: http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

Pleasant Grove Elementary School in Stockbridge, Georgia, supplies this cluster of Internet scavenger hunts. There is a decided international theme to several of the questions, and the linked sites beneath each question constitute an excellent general collection of resources on Christmas traditions across the globe. No specific person takes credit for the page, but library/media specialist Ms. Scroggs is the webmaster for the school's award-winning website.

Teachers Resources - The Multicultural Pavilion from EdChange http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/teachers.html

A non-profit with an activist stance, EdChange is a project of Hamline University, Minnesota, professor Paul C. Gorski. This cluster of activities and resources is mostly for secondary and higher educational use. In addition to activity ideas and a printable Internet guide, there are links to organizations and resources off-site.

ADL's A World of Difference Multicultural and Anti-Bias Bibliography

http://www.adl.org/bibliography/

The Anti-Defamation League's World of Difference Institute provides this extensive bibliography of books with a multicultural theme. Although the site is understated and adult, the overwhelming majority of listings are for books for elementary students. The reviews are browseable by category, and include books which serve to display other cultures, or specifically address issues of cultural relations and prejudice.

National Association for Multicultural Education

http://www.nameorg.org/

NAME has been around since 1990, and this, its quirky and odd web presence, is nevertheless loaded with off-site links to informational articles and other resources. If you're looking for somewhere to explore the world of multicultural education, this is a good place to start.

American Indian Social Studies Curricula

http://www.marquette.edu/library/neh/

These curricular resources about Native Americans include reproducible copies of primary source documents, plus lesson plans and activities. They were created by participants in America's First Nations: American Indians in Social Studies Curricula, a summer teacher institute hosted by Marquette University and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Above the Influence

http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/

Edgy and clever, this informational website is a service of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign (a program of the Office of National Drug Control Policy). It's aimed at middle and high school students, and besides online streamed versions of the TV ads., offers a handful of activities aimed at students staying "above the influence" of peers and other pressures for drugs, sex, and other problems.