Current Event: Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam

This week's current event in Social Studies is to pick an article about the one of the three Eastern religions we are studying in class: Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam

The current event summary and opinion is due Friday, April 27th.  It can be handwritten, typed or submitted electronically in the comments section of this blog.

Here are some great links to articles.


Time for Kids

Scholastic News for Kids

The Buddhist Channel

Hinduism in the news

The Islam Tribune

Juneau Empire World News

Social Studies extra credit opportunity: Follow the links to the descriptions of one of the three religions and write a summary of what you read.  For more extra credit you can present what you learned in class.  You can also read and summarize about two smaller and not as well known religions from Asia: Sikhism or Jainism.

Social Studies: Alexander Archipelago

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY!

What are the different straits in the Alexander Archipelago?  Today we already talked about Icy Straits near Glacier Bay and Lisianki Strait by Pelican.  What are some others?

Social Studies: Weekly Current Events Assignment

CNN: Asia Index

Time For Kids

Current Events Template

Name __________________
Teacher  ________________
Class ___________________
Due Date ________________
(1pt)

Topic required:____________________________________________________
Source required: __________________________________________________
My source: ___________________________________________________(1pt)
Title of article/news: ____________________________________________(1pt)

Summary of article (must be 5-10 sentences long and in your own words):  (12pt)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is your opinion or reaction to the news? (must be at least 3 sentences and give specific examples from the article): (5pt)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Must be in complete sentences with proper punctuation, spelling and nice handwriting.

Social Studies: Geography of Asia Worksheet

Name ______________________________  Ms. Gifford/LA/April 5, 2012

GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA

LOCATION: USE YOUR MAPS OF ASIA TO HELP YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

1. List the oceans that surround Asia. _________________________________________________________________

2. What mountain chains separate Asia from Europe?  What man-made waterway separates Asia from Africa? _________________________________________________________________

3. Identify six large peninsulas in Asia.  Name Southeast Asia’s two archipelagos.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.What mountain range divides Southern Asia from the Far East? _________________

5. List the nations of Asia that share a border with India. ____________________________________________________________________

6. How many countries are landlocked (have no access to the ocean)? Name them. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

REGIONS: USE YOUR MAPS OF ASIA TO HELP YOU ANSWER THE FOLLWOING QUESTIONS.

THE MIDDLE EAST

1. What Middle Easter countries border the Caspian Sea? The Black Sea? The Mediterranean Sea? _________________________________________________________________

2. What island nation lies in the easter Mediterrranean Sea? The Persian Gulf?_________________________________________________________________

3. Identify the strategic straits that divide Turkey between Europe and Asia?_________________________________________________________________

4. What six countries occupy the Arabian Peninsula?  Which is the largest country? the smallest?_________________________________________________________________

5. In what country do the Tigris and Euphrates rivers begin?  Where do they meet?_________________________________________________________________

CENTRAL ASIA

1. What sea is completely enclosed by Central Asia? _________________________________________________________________

2. Which Central Asian republic extends into Eastern Europe?_________________________________________________________________

3. Which republic(s) in Central Asia border Russia?  China?  Iran?_________________________________________________________________

1. Do any Central Asian countries have access to the ocean? _____________

SOUTHERN ASIA

1. List the three major bodies of water that border the Indian subcontinent. _________________________________________________________________

2. What four mainland Southern Asian countries include territory in the Himalayas?_________________________________________________________________

3. Name the capital of the island off the southeast coast of India.

_________________________________________________________________

1. Into what bodies of water do the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra empty?_________________________________________________________________
2. Name the countries that border Nepal and Bhutan. _________________________________________________________________

THE FAR EAST

1. Which six Far Eastern countries are located mainly on islands? ________________________________________________________________
2. Name the countries that border the Yellow Sea. _________________________________________________________________
3. Identify the main river that flows through Indochina. _________________________________________________________________
4. What Far Eastern countries border China? India? _________________________________________________________________
5. Which countries occupy Borneo? _________________________________________________________________

Asian Vocabulary Word Search

Social Studies: Asia: The Physical Land

Tonight's homework in Social Studies is to finish coloring in the map titled, Asia: The Physical Land.  We learned today that the continent of Asia has the tallest mountains, the largest and highest plateaus, the largest deserts, most of the longest rivers, the deepest lake, the largest forest region, the largest flat plains, the most active volcanoes, the most earthquakes, and the hottest, coldest, driest, and wettest climates.

For extra credit, on Thursday, tell me something interesting you learned about the Dead Sea or the Himalayas.  

SBA Prep: Analogies and Stanzas in Poems

Today we practiced analogies.  An analogy is a comparison between two words or ideas.  A colon is used to symbolize words in the analogy.

For example.....

In:Out::Up:Down
If you were to say that out loud it would be: In is to Out as Up is to Down.

Here is the worksheet that p.5 must do for homework for Wednesday night: Analogy Worksheet. P.1 can choose to do it for extra credit and because it is good to practice analogies.

Here is a fun game you can play about analogies.

We also learned that a stanza is a collection of lines in a poem.  How many stanzas are in the following poem by Shel Silverstein?

Where the Sidewalk Ends
from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974)

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
and before the street begins,
and there the grass grows soft and white,
and there the sun burns crimson bright,
and there the moon-bird rests from his flight
to cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
and the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow
and watch where the chalk-white arrows go
to the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
and we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
for the children, they mark, and the children, they know,
the place where the sidewalk ends.

SBA Prep: Define Synonyms, Antonyms and Homonyms

This week in LA we are preparing for the big week of SBA testing(April 10, 11, 12).  Just like you go to volleyball practice or run laps at the track before a big race, we are warming up our brains for the big test. We have talked about the importance of filling in the circles in your answer book completely (full moons, no half moons, scrambled eggs or donut holes).  We also have talked about following directions completely and how to take words from a question and use those words in your answer.  It is also important to always make an educated guess on a question and never leave an answer blank.

Another thing that is important to know is the difference between synonym, antonym and homonym.


A synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language, for example shut is a synonym of close.


An antonym is a word opposite in meaning to another (e.g., bad and good).


A homonym is when each of two words have the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling (e.g., to, too, and two).

A fun game to play that helps you practice the difference between the three is Word Frog.

Have fun playing and remember to start getting lots of sleep so you are well rested for the upcoming week.

Leaving Kwethluk :(

We are all exhausted after a late night student mentor party! However, we are very sad to be leaving Kwethluk, as we have made new friends and have grown to love the village. At the same time we are happy to be going home because we miss our homes in  Juneau.

We finished our exchange with a closing circle, where we all shared something we were thankful for and something that we learned.  It was nice to hear what everyone had to say about their week.  I was thankful for how nice everyone was in Kwethluk.  

We departed the school at 11:30.  Our plane however did not make it to Kwethluk until 12:30.  As we flew over Kwethluk we could look down and see the whole village and the ice road to Bethel.  We arrived to Bethel and quickly jumped on our next flight to Anchorage.  We were all excited to go to Anchorage to eat yummy airport food.  We thought a lot about McDonald's, Quiznos Cinnabon all week long.  It already feels weird to be out of the village.  Everything seemed more calm there.  Life was simple staying in the school and going to classes and hanging out with our new friends.

Eating our awesome frozen yogurt artistic creations!

After hanging out for four hours in the Anchorage airport and stuffing ourselves, we are now on the plane home.  It will be good to share stories from the week in person with our families and to tell of the kids at Dryden about how awesome Kwethluk is.

Thanks for a great week RURE program!

Kristin

Saturday in Kwethluk

Modeling our kuspuks with Cindy, one of the wonderful women that helped us.

Today is our last full day in Kwethluk:( We slept in till about 10 am and then ate a GIGANTIC brunch consisting of pancakes, sausage, cinnamon rolls and orange juice fresh from powder. Oh YUM!!!

We all had some last minute school work for our classes back in Juneau so we worked on math, L.A, and social studies. Kristin was done with her homework so she worked on putting together our Area of Exploration videos.  We choose to do Yupik dance, Ice Fishing and Water and Sewer.  We all learned a ton about each area and everyone we interviewed about the areas was super nice.  Cindy and Mrs. Hinkey stopped by and helped us with the finishing touches on our kuspuks.  We could never have done them without their help.  They all look great and we are excited to wear them for kuspuk Wednesday in Juneau.

The basketball tournament that started on Friday night was continuing all day today.  I played in the games and represented Juneau while my fellow companions finished up on their homework.  My team of 6th graders lost every game we played but it was to raise money for the school so it was still worth it to play in three games.

Kyong and Amber at Birch Hill.

Kyong and Kristen in the back of the sled.

Transportation to the sliding hill.

Ms. G brought her cross country skis.

Juneau and Kwethluk hanging out with our new snow buddy.

After my last game it was time to go sledding.  We made it to Birch Hill on a snow machine that was pulled 5 of us in a hard, wooden sled.  My butt still hurts from all the bumps from the sleds. The snow was much faster and felt icier today.  Franklin and I had some huge crashes.  It was fun to hang out with the Kwethluk kids outside.

Very few trees grow out here.

The sparse tundra.

Ptarmigan hunting from the back of a snow machine.

When we were done sledding Frankllin, Ms. G and I tagged along with the ptarmigan hunters. The surroundings were amazing with the sun shining brightly on the snow.  We snow machined out onto the tundra and looked for the birds in the brown patches of melting snow, or along sloughs with alder trees.  You could snow machine right up to the ptarmigan and shoot them.  Then you drive right up to them and pick them up and through them in your sled.  You never even had to get off of the snow machine.  One person shot 10 birds and another person shot 5 birds.  They wanted to keep going but we had already been out for three hours and when the sun goes down it gets really cold.  It was the best way to spend our last night in Kwethluk. When we were heading back to town Franklin and his driver's snow machine flipped over and landed on them.  They were both fine because the soft snow cushioned the fall but it was scary to watch.  They were quickly able to flip the snow machine back up and get going again.

When we got to the school the student/mentor party had already started.  The students who brought a mentor to school that week, like someone who has a job they are interested in or an elder, could come to the party.  It was from 6 to midnight and there was pizza, Pepsi and ice cream sundaes.  You could play Just Dance 3 on the xbox 360, and play basketball or volleyball.  There was also some Yupik dancing with electric guitar.  A bunch of us end up watching Glee until it was time for bed.  It was a super fun night hanging out with all of the friends we made over the week.

last log from Zeke byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!