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Unit Community Building for Elementary Classrooms
Lesson Name Connecting Through Similarities: One World (We Are One)
Grade Band Elementary (3-5)
Required Materials

  • Computer with internet access

  • Projector with speakers
Standards / Competencies

SEL Core Competencies: 

  • Self-Awareness: identifying emotions, experiencing self-efficacy, linking feelings, values and thoughts, demonstrating honesty and integrity 

  • Self-Management: managing one’s emotions, exhibiting self-discipline 

  • Social Awareness: taking others’ perspectives, recognizing strengths in others, demonstrating empathy and compassion, identifying diverse social norms, showing concern for the feelings of others 

  • Relationship Skills: communicating effectively, developing positive relationships, showing leadership in groups, resolving conflicts constructively, seeking or offering support when needed 

ELA Standards: Listening and Speaking, Reading, Writing 

Social Studies Theme: Individual Development and Identity 
Recommended Time 45 mins 
Essential Question How can we celebrate the ways we are similar and the ways we are unique?
Learning Objectives Students will be able to understand the idea of unity through diversity.
Activating Prior Knowledge

Today, we are going to learn about how, through our unique identities, we can find similarities and common experiences as humans. We are going to do this through a music video by an amazing group called Mag7, which is a musical group of Native MCs and song writers from different tribes. Taboo, one of the musicians, says, “We as humans all live in this one world where we have to work and live together. Our goal is for Native peoples to be normalized in a current today and show accurate and positive representations of our people. We can find unity in our diversity. […] We are here to fight the invisibility that Natives face by amplifying contemporary, authentic Native voices, and supporting Native peoples tell their story.” (from “One World” introduction). We are going to use this song and music video to learn about Indigenous people today and to think about what it means to find “unity in diversity.”

Ask students if they know what Indigenous nations live in their region today. You can use Native-Land as a guide, as well as tribally specific websites based on where you live.

Core Instruction

Begin by showing the music video for “ One World (We Are One).” Show the video twice. Explain that the first time, students should pay close attention to clothing, dancing, jewelry, colors, shapes, and music. Invite them to share their observations. Remind them that we use “regalia” to discuss traditional dress, rather than “costumes.” (Find more information on regalia vs costumes here).

When you watch the video a second time, ask students to pay attention to any lyrics that stand out to them. They may want to write down what they hear. 

After watching the video a second time, show students these lyrics and invite them to discuss what they think each lyric means, either with a partner, small group, or the whole class. 

  1. “We’ve only got one world.”

  2. “We’ve got beautiful differences. Over 500 tribes and we’re all unique.”

  3. “We all bleed the same blood.”

  4. “We’re fighting back by learning our language, dancing our dances, saying our prayers.”

  5. “Each one, reach one, until we pull ourselves up, because we are our family.”
Wrap-up As students finish this discussion, explain that to celebrate the idea of unity in diversity and the way that music and dance bring us together, you are going to have a class dance party where each student will be invited to think of a movement that symbolizes something about themselves. For example, a student who loves to read might do a movement that looks like opening a book, and a student who loves to play hockey might do a movement that looks like ice skating. Standing in a circle, invite students to teach their movement to the rest of the class. All students can take a turn teaching the others. Depending on the energy level/volume/interest of the class, the teacher may decide to play instrumental music, favorite popular music, or continue to have the “One World (We Are One)” video playing. 
Learning Beyond Classroom Walls Mag7 also created a protest song to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, “Stand Up / Stand N Rock #NoDAPL” for which they won an MTV Music Video Award. Teachers may extend students’ learning by showing students the music video and pairing the video with
We Are Water Protectors
 by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade as part of a unit on Indigenous water rights, land rights, and environmental activism. This would be appropriate any time, but may be a way to deepen students’ understanding during/around Earth Day activities or other environmental-focused programs during the school year.
Supplementary Resources
Instructional Content Adaptations 

Mini Lesson (20 mins):

Show “One World (We Are One”) and invite students to observe different regalia and styles of dance. Ask them to work with a partner to look at these two lines from the song and discuss their meaning:

  • “We’ve only got one world.”

  • “We’ve got beautiful differences. Over 500 tribes and we’re all unique.”

  • With their partners, invite students to make Venn diagrams together of similarities and differences. 

Teachable Moment (10 mins):

  • Show “One World (We Are One”) and invite students to observe different regalia and styles of dance. Ask students to think about what it means to have “beautiful differences” and invite students to share their ideas. 

Diverse Learning Profiles

  • The music video will be accessible to different students in different ways, depending on many factors, including students’ prior knowledge of Indigenous people, both historically and present-day. As such, their observations about the video may differ. Teachers can follow students’ leads with regards to where the conversation goes. For example, some students may notice bright colors, upbeat music, and different dances. The teacher would tailor this conversation to highlight these differences and the way that they all work together to illustrate the concept of “One World.” Other students may hear lyrics such as, “We’re fighting back by learning our language, dancing our dances, saying our prayers,” and want to know more about what it means to “fight back” by learning traditional languages, dances, and prayers, and the teacher should be ready to teach students about boarding schools and erasure of Indigenous culture, or be able to direct students to resources to learn more about those topics, such as
    We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know
     by Traci Sorell and Frane Lessac, and 
    I Am Not a Number
     by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer. 

  • Students with physical differences may do modified movements for the dance portion of the lesson, or the teacher may choose to have students do this portion of the lesson sitting at desks instead of dancing, for example, based on the profiles of the students in the class.