The Culture of India

We had another exciting day today!  We had a guest speaker (the Dad of one of our classmates) spend most of the day teaching us about the culture of India.  We started the day with our teacher reading us the book "Elephant Dance" by Theresa Heme.  It was a good review of some of the things that we've already learned about India but also introduced us to some new information.

Photo Credit: Barefoot Books

Throughout the day, we watched a number of different Youtube videos.  You can check out this webmix to see them. 

Did you know that zero was invented in India?  So was chess and yoga.  We were led through a few different yoga poses.

While we were outside for recess, our teacher got a henna tattoo!

 

Isn't it beautiful?!?

 

She had to wait for a while and let it dry.  After, the black just rubbed off and this is what was left...



 

Our guest speaker's daughter also got a henna tatoo...

Our principal also showed up and got in on the fun!

 

 

In the afternoon we started by reading "Gandhi" by Demi.  Our teacher had told us a bit about this peacemaker and this book helped us understand more about his life and his work.  We noticed a lot of similarities between Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and Wangari Maathai--other peace makers we had learned about earlier in the year.

Photo credit: Appleby Books

 

We watched a video about how to put on a sari and then all of the girls got to try on a sari.

 

 

Then it was the boys' turn!  After watching a video on how to put on a turban, the boys got to try one.  To make them into Rajasthani men, they needed a mustache!

 

 

Wait a minute...those last two weren't Rajasthani men!

 

We learned about many different festivals -- Diwali (festival of lights); Festival of Colors and Eid.  For many of these festivals, as well as weddings, many families will create a "rangoli" on the steps of their house.  Rangoli are ancient symbols that are made of colorful patterns that are meant to be sacred welcoming areas.  We used chalk to create some at the entrance of our school to celebrate the end of the school year.

 

And with that, we have just one more thing to say...

 



 





Under the Big Top

Every June, our kindergarten to grade 4 students get to participate is a super, fun day.  Usually in the past, it's had a western theme, but this year it was changed to a circus theme, called "Under the Big Top".  Parents and grade 5 and 6 students run stations that we get to participate in.  This year there was everything from carnival type games to circus equipment to use to facepainting to a clown show.  We got to go the different stations and complete the activities.  We got our special card punched for each station that we completed and when we completed 20 stations, we could enter a draw for a prize.  The weather turned out beautiful for this event and everyone had a ton of fun.  We even got to have a picnic in our field.

These pictures will show you some of us having fun with the stations!

 Enjoying lunch together in the sun!

 

 "Pitch Burst"

We threw bean bags at the target and if we hit it,

the water balloon was popped,

soaking a grade 6 student!

 

 The face painting station was always very busy!

 

 The circus equipment really challenged us!

 

We were wondering...

What special event days do you have at your school?  (Or if you're an adult...what special event days do you remember from your school days?)
How do you celebrate the end of another school year?

Reader's Theater Skype Presentations

For the past couple of weeks, our class has been practicing "Reptile News" -- a reader's theater script.  This script fit in with our study of animal life cycles in science.  We were broken into groups of 3 or 4 as there were 4 roles -- Reporter 1, Reporter 2, Mr. (Ms.) Turtle and Mr. (Ms.) Rattlesnake. 

Then on Monday, every group performed for the class.  Two of the groups were chosen to participate in our Skype presentations on Tuesday morning.  We connected with Ms. Ariss', Ms. Holden's, Ms. Bettess', Ms. Brimacombe's and Ms. Dohn's classes to share our work.  Our two groups presented first.  Then we got to hear Ms. Holden's class do "Anansi the Spider", which is an African folktale.  We also heard two of Ms. Dohn's groups.  They did "Four Little Pigs" and "Click, Clack, Moo".  We were excited about the "Click, Clack, Moo" performance because we had read that book earlier in the year and watched the video too!

Here are a couple of pictures of the Skype call...

 

 

After listening to the performances, we went to the computer lab so that we could blog about them.  You can find our blog posts at Braybrook's Bloggers.  We'd love if you commented on them!

We were wondering...

Have you done reader's theater performances before?
Have you worked with other classes through Skype?

Geography Projects

We have learned about the land and water (the geography) of 4 different countries -- Peru, Ukraine, Tunisia and India.  After our learning, we worked with a partner to go deeper into a specific geographic feature of one of the countries.  We created a map of that country using clay.  This is called a topographical map.  We also did some more research and then worked collaboratively with our partner to write our paragraph using Google Drive.

Here are our final projects!

Peru -- Amazon Rainforest       

The Amazon rainforest is found in Peru.  The Amazon Rainforest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the tree line of the Andes.  The Amazon Rainforest is the and most varied biological reservoir. The Amazon Rainforest is the largest Rainforest in the world.  It is also home to many animals like bats,jaguars,and piranhas.  If you want to see wild nature you should visit Peru.



Ukraine Steppe region

The steppe region is found in Ukraine.  Grassy plains instead of sandy plains with rich black soil.  The forest steppe is margin to 300 mm.  Has been completely modified. Fields and fields of wheat and corn fields. Dominant On the dry pastures of the southern.  salinized soils following steppe or careless irrigation improper.  Eat bread with every me.  It is a amazing site to see.

 

Peru--Andes Mountain

The Andes Mountain are found in Peru. Mountain people make hats sweaters and gloves using wool from alpacas. People grow potatoes and vegetables.The Andes Mountains are very high.The land on the Mountains is not good for farming. It is a fun place.

 

 Peru -- Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest is the world's largest tropical rain forest. East of the mountains is the Amazon RainForest.  The world`s largest rainforest is the Amazon RainForest.  There are many river`s by the rain forest.  The rainforest has a lot of creatures and animals.  Some people live in the rain forest.They have to know what they can eat and what they can`t eat.  The people that live in the rainforest are not like other people.They dont have clothes like them.Or eat food like.  They eat Leaves, meat,fruit.  They sometimes have little family`s and big family`s. Peru is the best place you should visit.

 India -- Thar Desert

2000.000 square km territory.  2,5 metamorphic rocks formed. The grass from the main natural resources.  Cattle sheep camels.  However water is a scarce.  2000.000 square km of territory of thar deserts.

 Ukraine -- Crimea       

Crimea is in Ukraine and is hot and cold. Crimea is right beside the black sea.  Did you know that Russia and Ukraine are fighting over Crimea?  The sea of Azov cover about 10,400 square miles.

Yalta served as the scene of a historic conference of allied leaders during world war II , 1939 -1945.  Crimea food is tasty and very varied.  The population of Crimea is 2,033,1700.  It is a very nice place to visit.

 India -- Himalayan Mountains

Some of the highest mountains in the world are located in the Himalayan. It has some of the ten highest peaks. Heavy snow falls in the winter. Summers are cool. Women want to protect their trees by hugging them. You should go there because there is beautiful sights.

Ukraine--Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains range measuring some 2061 m high. They are 5%of Ukraine.  It is a wonderful habitat for animals and humans.  The carpathian mountains Lakes and rivers.  The carpathian mountains also have glaciers and waterfalls. We say its beautiful.

 India -- Ganges River

The Ganges River is found in India. It is 1560 miles long. It starts at the Himalah and empties at the bay of bengal.
 

India -- Thar Desert

The Thar Desert is located in India.  The Thar Desert is also known as the great Indian Desert. Few people lived there for there was very little water. 77,000 square miles thats how much room the Thar Desert takes up. The Thar Desert has power plants. The Thar Desert precious minerals. Some women in the Thar Desert have to walk for water and walk for miles. There they get 10 inches of rain annually. The Thar Desert does spread over four states. There are camels cool. There are sheep there are sheep. There are ancient stone buildings. India Thar desert is a relaxing place, hot place.

Peru-- Amazon Rainforest

It has the largest tropical rainforest in the world.  Half is in Brazil.  It has 10% of the animals.  It has 40000 million plants.  There are dangerous animals. It is a very nice place to visit.

 

India -- Himalayan Mountains   

The Himalayan Mountains are found in India.  They don't just go through India but also Nepal.  The tallest mountain in the Himalayan Mountains is Mt. Everest, It is in Nepal. It is 8,848 m tall.  The tallest mountain in the Himalayan Mountains in India is Mt .Kanchanjunga. It is 8,598 m tall.

The Himalayan Mountains have big forests.  They are a really cool place to explore!



India Ganges River

India has the largest river. It is 1560 miles (2510)km. The Ganges starts at the Arabian Sea and ends at the Bay of Bengal. They welcome the rain in the monsoon season. The Ganges is very large.

 

 

We were wondering...

Have you ever visited any of these places?

Which place would you like to visit?