Market Day: A Morning in Europe

A picture is worth a thousand words.  What a fabulous adventure we had in Europe.  Passports were stamped.  Flags were colored.  Suitcases were filled.  Exotic foods were tasted.  Stories were told about the countries.  Languages were spoken and books were read.  There was a waiting period during adventures with fabulous things to color and puzzle.  All in all it was a grand adventure!

I might be a little biased but I thought the students who presented Russia were just the best of the best!  Everything was student led and student made.  The Kalinsky trees were masterpieces.  The Nutcracker drawings divine.  The Faberge eggs were glowing.  The research boards were creative, informative and well organized.  The opening video had great personalities.  So proud to share Russia with you.  

See you at the edge!

Let Your Creative Juices Flow...

This semester, we have studied and written about many famous people and events.  What if you could give them a gift?

Work with your partner and write a paragraph in Google Docs to answer the following question.  You may post as many times as you like as long as your paragraph is creative and strong.

You could give a gift to ...

• the immigrants from Ellis Island
• the Aborigines
• Dian Fossey
• Francis Scott Key
• Susan B. Anthony
• Nancy Ward
• The Founding Fathers
• Africans who live on the banks of the Nile River

What would you give them and why?  Your starting sentences could be... If I could give a gift to _______________, I would give him a __________.

Write your paragraph and then post it to the blog below!  Good luck!  See you at the edge!

Market Day: We drew Russia!

Privyet (pree-vyet)!  Hello, in Russian.

Market Day is fast approaching.  December 17th, Thursday!  We are super excited about applying for our passports and then visiting Germany, Spain, Italy, England and France.  We are using our credits that we have earned this 9 weeks to pay for the passports as well as entrance to the countries, food and other items.

We will be tour guides through Russia.  We are so excited to learn about the largest country in the world.  Russia is almost twice as big as the United States of America.  Russia is a country in both Europe and Asia.  There are some interesting things in Russia.

• The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway line in the world.  It goes from one side of Russia to the other - 5,772 miles!
• St. Basil's Cathedral was built from 1555-1561.  The building is supposed to look like flames in a bonfire reaching towards the sky.
• The cathedral was built for the Tsar of Russia named Ivan the Terrible.
• The Nutcracker is a ballet that opened in Russia in 1892.  It is performed to music by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  
• The Russians were pioneers in space exploration.  In 1961, the first human trip into space was successfully made by Yuri Gagarin, a Russian.
• Matryoshka Dolls are sets of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other.  
• Faberge Eggs were created by Peter Carl Faberge from 1885-1917 for the Tsars of Russia.
• Wassily Kandinsky lived from 1866-1944.  He was the first artist to make abstract art. 
• Lake Baikal is the deepest and oldest freshwater lake in the world.  It is located in Siberia.

Please read our comments below to see what we learn about Russia during the next few weeks of school.  Paka (see you later)!

Social Studies Writing: What do you know about what you see?

After looking at the pictures, answer the following question:  Who are Aborigines?  This is an explanatory paragraph.  Just as a reminder, here is a document about what an explanatory paragraph should include.  Make a plan before you begin.  Use your informational text.  Pre-write by adding a Google Doc to your folder in our Google Drive.

We look forward to reading your thoughts.  See you at the edge!