Craig and I read a Newsela article taken from Public Radio International today about Star Wars and how the costume designer was inspired by history - Nazi uniforms, medieval knights, Tibetan monks, etc. We also read about the cycle of poverty and sharecropping via a PowerPoint presentation taken from www.civicssites.unc.edu. We looked at primary sources from BrainPop and compared two contracts between newly freed slaves and former plantation owners. Craig answered questions. We also read about John Wilkes Booth. We again discussed the Reconstruction Amendments.

Eecho and I progressed further on the research project, and ended the night with almost 1100 of the required 1500 words. Eecho knows what he needs to do to finish. I have asked Eecho at every meeting whether he was directed to cite his sources and he insists that he was not. I remain skeptical

Arianna and I continued our lesson that required her to choose a host city for the Olympics. We reviewed the continents in determing where each candidate city was located. We also discussed fact versus opinion. We began a project today that allows Arianna to create a colorful book about Christmas and holidays around the world.

In social studies, we continued our Holidays Around the World project. We read portions of a nonfiction book, Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Christmas, with Carols, Presents, and Peace by Deborah Heiligman. We read about Christmas traditions in America and some ways other places welcome Santa and decorate. We talked about Christmas carols and Danny selected one to sing. We used a karaoke formatted video on You Tube and sang, We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Danny did a nice job! We discussed the meaning of the line, “Good tidings we bring to you and your kin.” We also talked about the meaning of peace. On the page of Danny’s book that we are making, where he assembled a Christmas tree yesterday, he added the following sentence: People decorate a Christmas tree with lights and ornaments. We then read, Arthur’s Perfect Christmas by Marc Brown. In this fiction story, Arthur’s vision of perfect Christmas starts to unravel as things don’t go quite as he expected. He envies how things still seem perfect for his friends. But in the end, he discovers a perfect Christmas can be experienced in different ways! We continued our reading of The Magic Tree House, Vacation Under the Volcano. In chapters 3 and 4, we read about Jack and Annie meeting the soothsayer who warned them to leave. She shares with them that the streams have dried up, the birds have left, the Earth has been shaking, and the cows have been making strange noises. These facts are all indicating that the end is near! The children explain their mission as secret librarians to retrieve a book. She directs them to the house of Brutus to find it. Along the way, they run into guards and gladiators. We can’t wait to read what happens next! After we read, we completed comprehension checks to reinforce understanding of this historical fiction piece. To wrap up our session, we reviewed the winter season with a Brain Pop Jr. learning video. We saw that people wear layers of clothes in winter and that it’s often dry and mild in Florida for the season. People enjoy sledding, ice skating, skiing, and snowboarding. We experience shorter days and fewer hours of sunlight. Finally, we saw how plants and animals survive winter by dormancy, hibernation, migration, or growing thick fur and more body fat.

Charlie and I finished our study of the Middle Ages today and read through the unit in the textbook. We watched BrainPop on The Middle Ages and reviewed - the timeline, the importance of land ownership to the feudal system, control of the King by the Church, The Crusades, and the Magna Carta. We also researched how Ireland celebrates Christmas. At the end of our class, Charlie began construction of a shield, sword and frog mouth helmet, armour we saw while exploring medieval armour on Pinterest. He will make the helmet with paper mache.

Craig and I continued preparing flashcards for Reconstruction. We discussed the concepts of sharecropping, black codes and Jim Crow laws, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, carpetbaggers and scalawags and the Freedmen's Bureau. We watched BrainPop on Reconstruction and looked to History.com for more information and images.

Henry has been studying the first Americans and their cultures. Today he watched a movie on the First Americans( Anasazi, Mayans, and Aztecs) and how they compared to Europeans at the same time before Columbus discovered America. The movie detailed the differences in how the two cultures lived and the reasons why Columbus set out to find new land. He will finish watching the movie tomorrow.

Today we began a Holidays Around the World project. We first read the nonfiction book, Christmas, by Mary Lindeen as well as an informational sheet about Christmas from our work study packet. Both showed us ways that we celebrate Christmas in America. Danny then completed a four-part anchor chart to capture recalled information from the readings. Danny was unable to produce responses independently, therefore he used the book to help him generate ideas, he wrote: December 25, put up lights inside and outside, write letters to Santa, and Santa brings presents. He then cut, colored, and assembled four pieces to build a Christmas tree for his informational holiday book that we are creating. We then read, Arthur’s Christmas, by Marc Brown. In this fun book, Arthur is very focused on finding the perfect gift for Santa! It was sweet to read about how a child wants to give a gift to Santa and we discussed Arthur’s thoughtfulness. We talked about how Danny is thoughtful too, by leaving out cookies and milk for Santa as well as carrots for the reindeer! Additionally, from the book, we discussed the Christmas tradition of caroling. After lunch, we continued our latest Magic Tree House book, Vacation Under the Volcano. In chapter 2, the children travel back 2,000 years ago to August 24 AD 79. They arrive in the seaside town of Pompeii where people vacation and see Mount Vesuvius. We discussed the concept of “blend in” and looked at the clothes the children were given to wear (tunics, belts, and laced up sandals). We talked about how this was long ago and a child in Pompeii, 2,000 years ago wouldn’t have a backpack. Additionally, we went over the vocabulary: grove of olive trees, cackled, and forum (center of town). We looked on Danny’s world map to find Italy. We reviewed where we are as well as Columbus’ and the Pilgrims’ voyages. Finally, as we have been comparing long ago and today, we read, My First Little House books: Winter Days in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We read about Laura and her family living in the woods in Wisconsin in their log cabin. The whole family worked around the home each day. In our comparison, we saw that they churned butter and couldn’t just go to Publix to get their food. They played with paper dolls and weren’t entertained with t.v. or technology like iPads. We used the illustrations to discuss their clothes and appearance vs. what we see today.

Craig made flashcards today. He also simulated the cartographer's dilemma by peeling an orange with continents drawn on the skin. He saw firsthand the problem in mapmaking, going from a 3D sphere to a 2D flat map. We watched two short mini-documentaries on Marshall Twitchell on PBS to learn more about conditions in the South and the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Yanuell and I finished working on the research aspect of Puerto Rico. We listened to traditional salsa music as we found information to add to his world cultures binder. Yanuell printed out then pasted pictures of maps, traditional clothing, food, and the landscape. He also looked up interesting facts on the history, government, climate, and holidays. He found a traditional Puerto Rican dish "Arroz Con Gandules" that we will attempt to make next week. Yanuell will also take a quiz next week on the facts of Puerto Rico.