Today we started to learn new vocabulary about Camping. We watched a video of how they go camping in Argentina and then we did a reading exercise to practice pronunciation.

Today's lesson focused on the Korean War. Historians have written that the Korean War was a ''civil war,'' a war between Koreans over what kind of government and society they would have. However, neither the USSR or the US saw the Korean War in those terms. For the USSR, the civil war in Korea between the communist North and the capitalist South was a "proxy war" in which the superpowers could demonstrate their status. Immediately after the end of World War II, the US considered the economic and social rebuilding of Europe and Japan as allies against the USSR as the most important aspect of their policy of the containment of communism.

Jaydn was absent today.

The Cold War was a period of time between the end of WWII and the fall of the Soviet Union in which the US and the USSR rivaled each other as world powers. The date range is approximately from 1945-1991. Why was the Cold War called the Cold War? Though there was never any direct military action taken between the two nations, conflict arose abroad in smaller regions where political disagreements and armed coalitions formed as a result of the tension. The longstanding rivalry took place through the use of political and military propaganda, as well as direct political campaigns targeting the other nation as to not be fully trusted. The Cold War influenced the ways of life in the two nations directly, including the nuclear arms race, the race to launch a human into space, as well as wars in Korea & Vietnam, where America became heavily involved. This lesson will explain how the Cold War began, We discussed that events through the decades and how the lasting impact of the Cold War has impacted the world today - especially with he crisis in Ukraine and Europe happening right now.

Jaydn reviewed SAT vocabulary studied before spring break. She then took a review quiz on the words to assess her memory and understand of the words. She then reviewed and discussed the chapters read before vacation in the novel The Great Alone. We discussed the characters, their traits, and the situations they are facing in the story. Jaydn then read and analyzed chapter 5. From the description of the setting, she made predictions for the protagonists and antagonist.

I worked with Jaydn to develop formulas for the total areas of cubes, rectangular solids, and cylinders. I gave her several examples and problems for each type of geometric figure. She was able to follow my instructions and succeeded in finding the correct areas. There was no assignment.

Vladimir Putin has been in power for 22 years. While some think he has always been dangerous and crazy, others think he is suddenly becoming psychologically declining and becoming crazy. Jaydn is of the opinion that Putin is crazy. According to expert Dr. Sam Greene, Vladimir Putin appears increasingly isolated and enigmatic, and wasn't always "this way." We viewed a speech Putin gave at a Russian football stadium in 2012. In that speech, Putin said that Russians are special because of their genes and "genetic code." Jaydyn immediately identified that kind of thinking and rhetoric as similar to Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. Perhaps the more important question: why is Putin opting to be this kind of leader on the world stage right now - at this point in time?

She took her test today and then we read about the next chapter that we are going to learn after spring break.

Today we read an open letter from Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska (Zelenska is the feminine version of the name, Zelenskyy) that was published Tuesday night. Zelenska wrote out what she calls "my testimony from Ukraine," after being flooded with requests for interviews in the two weeks since Russia invaded her country with tanks, warplanes and other forces — a turn of events that she said was "impossible to believe." Olena Zelenska is an accomplished writer and architect in addition to being a wife, mother and First Lady of Ukraine.

Yesterday was International Women's Day, and because of that, we watched a video about Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist, and then she answered some questions about the video. Then we practiced for her quiz on Friday.