In social studies today, we began with a wrap-up of the Winter Olympics. We updated the final medal counts of the ten countries we’ve been following. We worked on adding three numbers to total those with lower values. We determined who won the most and the least of each medal type. Of our ten countries, Norway had the most medals at 39 and Finland had the least at 6. We reviewed the four vocabulary words for this unit with fun puzzle cut outs. Finally, we reviewed the Olympics overall with a word search. We discussed each of the nine words of the puzzle and their relevance to the topic.
Next, we read George Washington by Wil Mara. We also watched a Brain Pop Jr. learning video about him. In these two resources, we learned the basic facts about Washington. Danny then began to work on creating an informational pamphlet using these resources. He wrote that Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Virginia. Danny colored a picture and wrote George Washington’s name and labeled him as the first president. Danny wrote that his favorite subject was math and that he worked as a surveyor.
We started the lesson with a final look at the Winter Olympics. I showed Jayne a short video of Jason Brown's figure skating competition dance - River Dance. Jayne had mentioned how much she enjoyed that sport so I thought she would really enjoy it. She was enthralled by the performance! We then had a short discussion about the games before moving on to our new topic- American Symbols. We explored American symbols and their meaning. The symbols we covered included: the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, American Flag, Bald Eagle Uncle Sam, and Independence Day. Jayne successfully completed a short assessment about the symbol and was able to explain the importance of freedom. She has a strong sense of fairness and equality!
Yanuell began his studies on a new country today, choosing China. The symbolism and colors of the flag was his first focus. Yanuell printed out a picture along with a short, informative description of the flag and glued them into his binder. After reading that the five points of the star could symbolize the Chinese five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, we read a little about Feng Shui. Finally, Yanuell had fun using the Chinese Zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao, to find his families animal signs. This is based on a twelve-year cycle with each year in that cycle related to an animal sign. These signs are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
Charlie and I began reading Greek myths. Today we read plays - Hades and Poseidon, Demeter and Persephone, Arachne and Medusa, Hera and Zeus. We learned that the ancient Greeks devised mythological stories to explain the gods' role in the universe, that the gods lived on Mt. Olympus and controlled the seas, heavens, and the underworld. We watched two short videos "Who Were the Greek Gods" and an explanation of mythology on History.com. We read about the Titans and the Trojan War. Charlie is to read and annotate a Newsela article for HOMEWORK. He turned in his written assignment about the Exxon Valdeze oil spill. He did a great job on that!
Henry did a lesson today on how to make a new friend. He has been discussing with me how he wants to make friends at school so we went over strategies for making friends such as finding something in common, being kind, respectful, and saying you're sorry. We discussed appropriate ways to act around others.
Arianna and I reviewed what we learned last week - the three branches of government, the pledge of allegiance - and we added new related words to her word wall. Afterwards, we discussed geography and identified oceans and seas in the Mediterranean, locating the Red Sea, and also noting nearby places - Egypt and Israel, stops on Arianna's upcoming cruise. She expressed a desire to teach me about "SuperBook." These are online adventures/episodes that teach about religious history and events. We began with the episode "Let My People Go!" because it is set near the Red Sea. We learned about the history of the Jews, as slaves in Egypt, and how Moses was preparing to lead them out of Egypt, freeing them from slavery. We will continue in our next class. Arianna learned the word "pharaoh" and understood that it was the equivalent of a King in ancient Egypt.
Arianna and I reviewed "Me on the Map" and learned how to match landmass to the size of the word to remember continent, country, state and city. She needs to practice this! We discussed capitals, of the state and country, and discussed new words that will be added to the word wall while reviewing - the three branches of government and the pledge. Arianna finished her research on President Theodore Roosevelt and wrote about his pets on a 3D White House. We read all about the United States today, reviewing ideas we've talked about in the past. We also moved on to learn about recycling natural resources and discussing how we can conserve. Finally, Arianna completed several activities based on George Washington.
Craig and I discussed the TedEd video we watched in our last class and the graphic organizer we will work on after each TedEd video in the future, asking for ethos and pathos and adjectives after viewing. We added "containment" to the word wall. We studied MLK Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. We marked up and analyzed it together. We looked at the text together to read about the "boom" after World War II and the cultural changes. At the end of class, we played an online trivia game with Charlie via Skype!
