Image of green monster birthday cake
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Mini History,

The Story of Birthday Cakes

What do you eat at a birthday party? A lot of kids like birthday cake. Yum! But where did this tasty tradition come from?

From the December 2023/January 2024 Issue
Lexiles: 340L
Featured Skill: Text Features, Key Details,
Topic: Social Studies,
Common Core Standards
  • RI.1.3 Describe the connection between two ideas or pieces of information in a text RI.1.5 Know and use text features to locate key facts or information in a text R1.1.6 Distinguish between information provided by pictures and the words in a text SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative discussions with peers and adults
TEKS Standards
  • Social Studies
    (1) History. The student understands the origins of customs, holidays, and celebrations. The student is expected to: (A) describe the origins of customs, holidays, and celebrations of the community, state, and nation such as Constitution Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day. (14) Culture. The student understands the importance of family and community beliefs, language, and traditions. The student is expected to: (A) describe and explain the importance of beliefs, language, and traditions of families and communities.

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Cakes for Kids 

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It all began 600 years ago in a place called Germany. People started making birthday cakes for kids. 

These cakes were not very sweet. They were more like bread. But they did have candles!

Cakes Around the World

Harold M. Lambert/Getty Images 

Later, birthday cakes came to America. By that time, people were adding sugar to the cakes. Birthday cakes became a sweet treat.

Happy Birthday

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Then, about 100 years ago, two sisters wrote a special song. Can you guess what it was? “Happy Birthday to You.” Everyone started writing “Happy Birthday” on cakes. 

Birthday Cakes Today

Now there are so many kinds of birthday cakes. Which would you want to try on your birthday?

Dorling Kindersley ltd/Alamy Stock Photo (Football Cake); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)

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Activities (3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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Skills Activities
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More About the Article

English Language Arts Focus 

Key details

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

IMPLEMENTATION

Whole Group

PAIRINGS AND TEXT CONNECTIONS

  • In this issue: “Background Builder: Wow! A Tree-Mendous Tree”
  • From the Storyworks archive: “Mini History: The True Story of Popsicles,” December/January 2023
  • Suggested books: It’s My Birthday by Helen Oxenbury 

BEFORE-READING RESOURCES

  • Video: “Traditions” (5 minutes) Activate background knowledge and  personal connections about traditions.

SUGGESTED READING FOCUS

Information from text and images (20 minutes)

  • Before reading, review the “Traditions” video. Ask the students to share with a partner or the whole group any birthday traditions they might have or know about.
  • Read the article aloud while students follow along in their magazines. Then read it again with student volunteers for  each section. 
  • Ask students to think about the birthday cakes from long ago in Germany and birthday cakes today. What is similar about  them? What is different? 

AFTER-READING SKILLS PRACTICE

Skills: Writing/labeling (15 minutes)

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

Skill: Music/songwriting (20 minutes)

Have students write their own original “Happy Birthday” song in small groups. Encourage them to take turns performing their songs or teaching them to other groups. 

Text-to-Speech