This week, Kindergarten and First Grade students flew away from South America and headed to a new continent: Europe!
Our first stop: ITALY.
Who better to make us appreciate the lovely Italian folklore than Strega Nona and her sidekicks, Big Anthony and Bambolona? Since Tomie DePaola’s characters are so well-known, we looked at a variety of their stories and voted on which one to share as a group.
Then we got to take a quick video detour to the wonderful city of Venice to see how glass sculpture is made. Check it out for yourself by clicking on the picture below:
And the Amharic Word of the Week is: Bye! (pronounced “chow”)
Our last stop in South America? PERU!
This week Kindergarten read a fun folktale from Peru: Moon Rope by Lois Ehlert.
We had a great laugh as this story tried to explain why moles live underground. Quite an imaginative story!
And the Amharic Word of the Week is: OK (pronounced “ish-ee”).
This week Kindergarten is staying in South America with a counting tale from Chile!
A Hen, a Chick and a String Guitar by Margaret Read MacDonald is a fun old tale about a young boy who keeps receiving pets as gifts. Students love the rhythmic pace of the words as each animal has a baby and the boy’s number of pets keeps growing! A great way to practice counting by twos and remembering the names of baby animals.
And the Amharic Word of the Week is BOOK:
This week Kindergarten and 1st Grade made major moves to a new continent: South America! First stop? BRAZIL!
How Night Came from the Sea is a classic Brazilian folktale, retold by Mary-Joan Gerson and Carla Golembe (the same pair who brought us the Nigerian tale, Why the Sky is Far Away!). It’s a fantastic way to imagine how night came to exist.
We also started talking more about our video project for Ethiopia Reads. One of our first steps before teaching the English alphabet is to learn a bit more about the Amharic alphabet. So this week we began doing the Amharic Word of the Week to see how words are formed using the different symbols.
First word? Hello! (pronounced “seu-lam” in Amharic) Here’s what it looks like if you’d like to practice at home:
Most Kindergarten classes stayed in Ethiopia this week and enjoyed Trouble, a folktale retold by Jane Kurtz.
Students loved hearing about Tekleh, a young goat herder who always seems to find himself in – you guessed it – trouble.
It was also a great opportunity for all of us to start getting familiar with another alphabet; the book is written in both English and Amharic! We can’t wait to start learning the different symbols of the language while we work on a video project teaching our alphabet to friends in Ethiopia. Stay tuned!
On Monday, January 31st, a few library classes had the pleasure of meeting author James Otis Thach. He talked about the process of writing his latest book, The Seal Pup.
It was fascinating to hear how one idea for a story led to the creation of an amazing picture book. Be sure to visit the website to learn more about it!
This week, Kindergarten and First Grade students took a little video detour during our travels through Africa in order to see footage of what real life is like in two countries: Madagascar and Ethiopia.
Our peek at Madagascar was through a wonderful short film: The Big Race.
As the official film synopsis explains: “What do two boys in Madagascar do with a free day? Tulch and Noel, best friends with a day off from school, successfully illustrate that you don’t need fancy toys or the latest technology to have some fun on a beautiful summer afternoon. Maybe all you need is a tin can and a little imagination.”
For the next part of our video journey, we hopped over to Ethiopia by watching a news clip about Yohannes Gebregeorgis and his phenomenal organization, Ethiopia Reads. (click the logo to see the video)
We know his mission is so worthwhile, and we’ve decided to work together in the Dalton community to help. Keep your eye on this blog for more details to come very soon!
This week Kindergarten’s travels took us to Nigeria.
Why the Sky is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale, retold by Mary-Joan Gerson, is an engaging story about how the greed of people pushed the generous sky away from us forever. The hidden message of not wasting nature’s gifts is a timeless lesson.
This week Kindergarten students continued to trek around Africa with a story from South Africa.
Gift of the Sun: A Tale from South Africa, by Dianne Stewart, is an amusing story of a farmer who will do anything to make his wife happy… but never gets her wishes quite right.
Upon returning from winter break, Kindergarten students took off across the Atlantic Ocean to start a journey through a different continent: Africa!
In honor of the upcoming announcement of Caldecott Award winners, we shared Jerry Pinkney’s The Lion and the Mouse – last year’s winner. Pinkney decided to set his version of this classic fable in the Serengeti Plains of Kenya, so this book was a great choice to start our travels beyond North America.
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