Craig and I continued to read about Jim Crow and the Great Migration from the Gilder Lehrman Institute. We discussed emancipation, reconstruction, military enforcement, and the redemption period. We discussed push and pull factors, or reasons and motivations for African Americans to move to northern cities, and the resultant effect of the black culture on these big cities. We also discussed lynching and the new popularity of the Ku Klux Klan. We added to flashcards. We will continue in our next class. Merry Christmas!

Henry worked on memorizing the location of the 50 states by completing a puzzle and placing the states in the correct location on the map.

Charlie finished watching "Mr. Peabody and Sherman". We stopped to discuss historical events and people during the movie. Afterwards, Charlie worked on his medieval helmet and participated in a game with Ms. Teresa and Craig, quizzing him on his knowledge of clouds. HOMEWORK: Continue reading "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table".

Today we finished reviewing Saint Lucia's Day. Danny copied the sentence: Children wear white and a lighted wreath on Saint Lucia's Day. He colored a girl dressed as Saint Lucia to add to his project. We watched a short video online about the holiday to help us see it better. This holiday represents a wish for hope and light in the world and we discussed how that means people getting along, being kind to one another, and peace across the world. Our final holiday was Diwali. We read an information sheet about the holiday and watched a video online. We discussed facts about it and Danny wrote on his bubble map: five days (length of celebration), October or November (when it's celebrated), Hindu holiday (we looked at India on the map and discussed that it is just a different belief system than Christmas), and it is a festival of lights (which celebrates the triumph of good over evil). Danny traced for his book: Small oil lamps light up homes and float down rivers during Diwali. Danny colored an oil lamp for the final addition to his project. He also worked on a Holidays Around the World word search.

Craig and I discussed economics and why we limit monopolies. We also discussed how we define the "turn of the century". Craig completed several printable practice problems that I downloaded from MathSeeds in order to learn to read analog time on a clock. We began an iCivics lesson about Plessy vs. Ferguson and discussed the concept of "separate but equal". We compared this case to the Dred Scott decision 40 years earlier and discussed the way that black people were judged in the South, to determine what percentage of "black blood" they contained. In our second session today we continued reading about Plessy vs. Ferguson and analyzing the Supreme Court decision and its effect. We compared it to the decision of Brown vs. Board of Education. Afterwards, we began reading a Newsela article from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of U.S. History about Jim Crow and The Great Migration. We will continue in our next class. Craig was very attentive today in our second class and participated and asked some great questions!

Today we began with a review of the Holidays Around the World that we have covered so far: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Las Posadas. Danny colored the menorah on the cover of his book. Next, we read about Kwanzaa. We wrote on Danny’s bubble map to recap the holiday: 1. seven days; 2. red, black, and green; 3. eat fruit, nuts, and vegetables; and 4. have a feast on December 31st. Danny cut out and colored a fruit bowl to represent the holiday and he copied: Some people eat fruit, vegetables and nuts during Kwanzaa to add on his page for our project booklet. After lunch, we continued on with the holiday, Saint Lucia’s Day. We read a fact page about the holiday and Danny wrote items we discussed on his bubble map. These included: Sweden, December 13, and move through the streets singing songs. Danny also began working on a word search to review the holidays we’ve covered and words such as celebrate and traditions. Danny needed more prompting to complete work in the afternoon portion of our session. He was asked if the work was too hard for him, and he responded “no”. He was displaying quite a bit of energy and could not give me a verbal reason for needing more redirections and encouragement.

Henry continued learning about the first Americans today. He completed a crossword puzzle where he answered questions about the articles he has read so far. He also watched a video on mound builders and their culture.

Craig and I spent a lot of time this morning reviewing. I quizzed him with flashcards he made and reviewed my notes to provide a clear sequential understanding of historical events from after the Civil War, reconstruction, to the new industrial revolution and closing of the frontier. We discussed immigration, nativism, and The Great Migration and looked at the textbook for illustrations and facts. In our second class today, we revisited Plessy vs. Ferguson and the doctrine of "separate but equal". We discussed happenings at the turn of the century, immigrants, problems with urbanization, continued segregation and discrimination. We visited the Mathseeds website to practice reading analog time on a clock.

Henry read two current event articles today. The first one he picked was about the Pentagon and their UFO department. It described how the Pentagon has been studying UFO's and gave examples of what they have seen. Henry and I had a discussion on his opinion on if he is a "believer" as they called them in the article. The next article he chose was about a fossil named "Little Foot" that was found in Africa and is 3.6 million years old. The interesting thing about Little Foot was it is the first fossil where the entire skeleton has been found. The article described the process in finding and excavating Little Foot. Henry answered comprehension questions after the article.

Our World Cultures lesson today looked into holidays and their traditions around the world. We researched Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, and Saint Lucia. Then, we played the game of dreidel together which was new to us both. Finally, Yanuell and I continued working on the clay project that we began last week. He carefully painted the clay which is now drying. Next week we will wrap it so it is ready to take home for Mom and Dad.