Yanuell chose an in depth look into South Africa as the next country of his World Cultures class. He began with the animals of the area by looking through images, printing them out, and making an animal collage page for his binder. A few of the animals were unfamiliar and we researched them further. We also worked on the flag of South Africa finding the meaning of the flags colors and the symbolism of its shapes. As we worked, we played traditional South African music on YouTube.
Charlie and I followed Studies Weekly to learn about Ancient Japan. We watched a short video about Japanese culture, architecture, writing, religion and government. We learned about shoguns, samurai, emperors, and learned about hsintoism. We learned of the name Nippon and that the landform is an archipelago. We also read about earthquakes and the lack of many resources in the country. At the end of class we watched a short video on origami and its history. Charlie attempted a peace crane.
Craig and I reviewed this morning - the long drives and settlement of the West, and inventions that modernized America during the Industrial Revolution. We looked at an illustration and reading passage from Education.com, Craig's flashcards, the U.S. Supreme Court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, and "The History of Barbed Wire" from the Farm Times website. We continued the Newsela/Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History article on "Jim Crow and the Great Migration".
Arianna and I watched BrainPop Jr. this morning to learn more about ancient Egypt and some sights that she might see in her travels. We looked at the map to discover the seas she will travel and the continent where she will find Egypt. We discussed new words - hieroglyphics, pharaoh, scribe, papyrus, and sphinx. We compared the ancient Maya civilization to see that they also built temples and pyramids. We located them on the continent of South America, in Mexico. More new words included: archaeologist and drought. We prepared to create a graphic organizer illustration using cards and Wikki Stix to show this comparison. We reviewed facts versus opinions.
Arianna and I finished learning about reporting facts as a news reporter. We began researching and learning more about Egypt today. She is very interested in this location and it is one of the stops she will make on next year's cruise.
Henry worked on learning the location of the 50 states by playing a computer game. He was given a blank map and had to drag the states to their correct location.
Arianna learned about two stops on her cruise today - Greece and Egypt. She colored a picture of Santorini and learned about the very blue waters of the Agean Sea. We reviewed the continents and she completed a matching exercise with all of the 7 continents. We discussed the landform "archipelago" and saw that Santorini is part of the ring of islands that were broken up by volcanic eruptions. She also colored a page about Egypt and learned about the sphinx, the great pyramids, the burial of pharaohs, the Sahara Desert, and the Nile River. We looked to see where Egypt was located in the world, on the continent of Africa. We looked at the flags of Greece and Egypt and their capitals. Arianna taught me about the movie "The Prince of Egypt".
