Our Journey Through Europe
Students prepare and share a European feast!
Throughout the latter half of the second term, the LEU students enjoyed exploring the continent of
Making Icelandic bread soup.
Europe through a wide variety of projects, lessons and activities. Depending on students’ individual interests and ideas, we delved into the diverse and rich continent’s geography, history and culture through biography writing, cooking, historical research, European biome lessons, and three-dimensional topographical maps. Students initiated biographies on Henry VIII and Leonardo Da Vinci, historical reports on the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the Eiffel Tower, travel reports on Austria, Russia, Ireland and England, and country projects on Iceland, England, Luxembourg, Italy, and other European nations.
Shopping for ingredients.
Cultural studies continue to be a key means of synthesizing and applying knowledge and skills from various disciplines, including mathematics and language. In the process of preparing European recipes, for example, students had to not only utilize and apply skills in measurement, but also had to use math skills to accurately adjust recipe amounts for the class, manage the classroom budget in order to be able to purchase what was needed, and portion food equally. Students also had to manage themselves with courtesy and efficiency as they shopped in the local supermarket to find ingredients for their recipes. Staff members from Hurley’s were so impressed by how the students handled themselves that they offered the children a special treat of cookies to bring back to the class!
Preparing banoffee pie!
Finding authentic and traditional dishes from various cultures was also a challenge, and the students successfully worked in teams to find, produce and share delicious dishes from Iceland, France, England, Italy and Luxembourg. With just some rudimentary guidance, children prepared all of the dishes in class, and we all relished listening to presentations about the various dishes and then eating them!
In the process of researching and writing articles for our very first European newspaper, students had to use various resources to gather information, apply organizational skills in order to write coherent paragraphs, and paraphrase information into their own words. Complementary lessons on images and captions, mind-mapping, and facts vs. opinions all supported the complex process of writing content for this collective project. Using self-generated questions in order to create a research outline was a particular emphasis for the students, who are building essential research organization and writing skills during the elementary plane of development. By using their own lines of inquiry as a starting point, curiosity becomes the primary directive in their research, and this enables them to pursue the expansion of knowledge with independence and enthusiasm. CLICK HERE to read LEU’s very first newspaper, the Euro News!
Having Europe as a thematic touchstone also enabled us to approach lessons with a fresh and different focus. The children thoroughly enjoyed revisiting habitats and ecosystems by focusing on the different biomes in Europe, and refreshing their memories on land and water forms, mountain-building and volcanoes through an exploration of the topographical features of the continent. We were also able to review the development of early writing and number systems, and link lessons on Greek alphabets and Roman numerals to the continent’s rich civilizations. We learned a lot from our journey through Europe, and look forward to exploring the vast continent of Africa later in the third term!
We wish all families a restful and enjoyable Easter holiday, and we cannot wait to see you all back at school!
OTHER NEWS:
A scale model of a student's bedroom.
– THIRD-YEAR BEDROOM PROJECTSDuring the second term, third-year students also completed their very first bedroom project. This was a comprehensive exercise in using and applying skills in measurement, rounding numbers and scaling, as well as a way to better understand the concepts of perimeter and area. Students measured their bedrooms and their furniture at home, and recreated the bedroom to scale using foam core and other materials. This challenging, complex project stretched the students’ abilities to convert measurements and comprehend dimensions of space, and also helped build patience, perseverance and attention to detail. The results were very satisfying and fun!
– APRIL/MAY LESSON THEMES Parents can expect the April-May lesson themes to be uploaded once school resumes after the holiday break.
– PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES FOR THE SECOND TERM We would like to thank all of the parents who took the time to meet with us during the end of the second term. We welcome the chance to meet with any families who were not able to attend Parent-Teacher Conferences in the second term, once school resumes. Please feel free to contact us at leu@mbts.ky to schedule a meeting time and date.