Session 6 - Bottom of the World!

Today we traveled to Antarctica and learned about penguins.  We read the true story of Pierre the Penguin who lived at a museum in California.  Pierre was losing his feathers, and although his trainers tried many things to help him, nothing seemed to work. One day, a trainer suggested they make him a wet suit to keep him warm.  It worked, and Pierre started acting normal again.  After a few weeks in the suit, his feathers grew back.

We talked about the continent of Antarctica.  It made our weather not seem so bad when we learned that it can get to -94 degrees on Antarctica!  We also learned that no country "owns" Antarctica. Several countries signed a treaty promising not to exploit the land or resources there.  We talked about penguins and why they cannot fly.  Did you know that each penguin has a unique voice and that is how a mother can find her baby in a crowd?  We also learned the penguin poop is pink due to the krill they feed on, or it can be white if they are eating mostly fish.

For our last art project, we created our own penguin.  Mrs. Sears also remembered their passports and the China stamp from last week, so their passports should be up to date - except for the fact that we did not return home.  Each child should have pages left if you would like to stamp them USA for their safe return.

This was our last class.  I enjoyed meeting your children, and I hope that they continue to travel to the places of their dreams through books.  Hopefully, I will see them all in the library at Sperreng in a few years!

Session 5 - Chinese New Year

Today, we were off to China.  Mrs. Sears forgot to bring their passports, so I had to charter a plane and we snuck across the border.  We will stamp them next week.  I was happy to see that some of the children learned a little about Chinese New Year in class that day.  We talked about each year of the Chinese calendar being named for an animal.  2014 is the year of the horse.  Last year was the year of the snake. We looked up everyone's birth year to find out what animal represented the year they were born.

We talked about how people typically celebrate Chinese New Year. I was surprised to learn that on New Year's Day you are not supposed to wash - yourself or your house - because you would be washing away all the good luck that was brought to you for the new year.  The second day of the New Year, you are allowed to gamble (the only day of the year when it is not frowned upon in China).  We talked about the parades and celebrations, dragons, and lanterns.

For our art project today, we created dragon masks and performed our own parade set to music.  Some of the pics are a little blurry because our parade went around the room at lightening speed:)

Next Thursday is our last session.  Clue for where we are visiting: not many people live there, but those who do are usually "well dressed".

Session 4 - Australia

G'day mates!  Today we visited Australia.  Judging from the "oohs and aahs" from the kids, we looked at some of the most beautiful pictures we have seen thus far in our travels.  As all things in life usually do, our discussion led us back to Disney and the movie Finding Nemo.  As we looked at beautiful pictures of the Great Barrier Reef, students made the connection that this is where Nemo lives.  They recognized the Sydney Opera House from the movie, and the dentist from the movie was a scuba diver.

We also talked about the land animals in Australia.  None of the kids knew who the crocodile hunter was. It seems like only yesterday that crazy dude was jumping on crocodiles in a khaki outfit yelling "kriky"!  We talked about the fact that Kangaroos, although cute, can pack a wicked punch with their feet and claws. For our art project today we made our own kangaroos.

Since we have had all these snow days, if you are like me, you are having trouble remembering what day of the week it is, let alone if we have reading club that night. According to my records, we have 2 sessions left. We have reading club next Thursday, Jan 30, and we will have a make-up session the following week on Feb 6 (from the snow day on Jan 9).  Hopefully, there will be no more reschedules.  Thanks for hanging in there!  Enjoy the pictures.