We focused mostly on Texas geography & history (which Elle doesn't know as well she thinks she does) and we will continue to learn/refresh throughout the year. We also completed a short CNN for Kids Current Events lesson. The issue of "Obamacare" is extremely relevant right now.

Elle and I have not seen each other in few days so we had lot of current events to catch up on and to discuss.....from hard news to pop culture. Good first period for Elle!...

The European Union (EU) was established in 1993 and is a political and economic union of 28 member countries that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 1,728,099 sq mi and an estimated population of about 513 million. Great Britain is causing quite a stir with its decision to leave the EU. Britain's people recently voted to leave the EU. It was a close vote 53% to 47%. If "Brexit" does happen, Great Britain will leave the EU at the end of March, 2019.

Elle came into school hungry and set about using the first few minutes of class placing a food delivery order from Two Jays. We worked on a CNN for Kids Current Event lesson. It focused on the current crisis in France with the the yellow vest movement. We also learned about an organization called Angels at Bat. It was started by an American teenage boy who collects baseball equipment and delivers it to teams of teenage players in need in several African nations.

As The Batt School prepares to celebrate the December holidays (Hanukkah and Christmas), Elle has agreed to be a student helper at our school Hanukkah party at lunch on Friday, 12/7/18.
We searched for some Hanukkah songs online that may be fun and appropriate to play on the TV monitor in the lunch room. We think a song by the group the "Maccabeats" may be most appropriate. We also researched the dreidel and how the game is played. We found some game rules and thought we would give a quick explanation of what each of the four sides of the dreidel means. Players use gold-wrapped chocolate coins as rewards collected, depending on which side their dreidel lands after it stops spinning. We will work more on this presentation tomorrow. It is an excellent way for Elle to use her leadership and social skills. I told her we can work on a presentation to prepare for the school Christmas party in a few weeks, too. This was also a great way for Elle to exercise her strong capacity for research and to learn something fun about another culture and how they celebrate a holiday.

Today's lesson focused on an in depth look at the Five Themes of Geography: Place, Location, Region, Movement, and Human-Environment Interaction. We concluded today's lesson with current events.

We lost 1/3 of class time this morning as Elle was 20 minutes late. We worked on a CNN for Kids Current Events lesson today. The lesson focused on the life of recently deceased 41st U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Elle had questions about Mao Tse Tung after learning about the 41st President's service as the U.S. Ambassador to China prior to his service as V.P. U.S. Pres. 41. She was horrified to discover that approx. 70 million people died during Mao's dictatorship in China during the 20th century. President Bush was brave to serve as Ambassador to China. Prior to that, he was the youngest naval pilot to serve in WWII. He was respected by presidents who both preceded and followed him in the White House, awarded the U.S. Congressional Medal by President Obama. He was the father of president 43, George W. Bush and a 2-term Gov. of FL, Jeb Bush as well as 3 other children and many grandchildren.

Today, as a result of Elle's recent request, we continued to learn more about Donald Trump's family. Trump has five children from three different wives. Elle noted that Ivanka is the most impressive child to come from Trump's first marriage. She has an MBA from Wharton, her own clothing line and is a mom to 3 children. Tiffany Trump, from Trump's second marriage, is 23 years old and attends Georgetown University Law School. She is named after the store, Tiffany's. Barron Trump is 12 years old. He is the youngest of Trump's 5 children and his only child with Melania. He is the first boy to live in the White House since JFK, Jr. He is making history by attending St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, MD. All other presidential children have attended Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Elle found this lesson interesting!

Elle is developing political interests and opinions. She would like to learn more about the Trumps. She asked to start with Melania who came here in 1996 from the former Yugoslavian area known as Slovenia. We LOVE maps in Geography and had to map Slovenia. It is just south of Austria, north of Croatia, west of Hungary and east of Italy. I am very proud of Elle because I have tasked her with requesting to learn about what interests her in Geography/Social Studies. Great and timely request/idea, Elle! We will continue to learn more about the Trumps tomorrow.

Juno Beach has the 2nd largest turtle nesting area in the world. Efforts to preserve wildlife and conservation are impressive and special in our school's town. Elle learned about the Loggerhead Marine Life Center today, too.