Africa

The Pre-Test

When I was earning a teaching credential at UCLA (this would be during the bronze age), esteemed professor of education, Dr. P., stressed the importance of THE PRE-TEST.  How could one possibly know what to teach without evidence of a student’s grasp of particular subject matter? 

Thus, from a recent “Around the World” unit PRE-TEST: 

1)  If given a blank map of Africa (with border outlines), how many countries can you identify?
– My son could color in Egypt and Algeria (we have studied both)
– Me?  Oh my gosh, this is so unacceptable:  I could correctly label Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Madagascar.  The end.  There are 54 countries and 4 territories in Africa and I could identify 5.  Yikes.  

2)  List everything you know about Africa:
– Both my son and I:  the pyramids, the Sahara Desert, Victoria Falls, Nelson Mandela.  The end.  

Pre-test results are in –  the students pretty much need to know EVERYTHING:

So, Africa.  Only half way through this unit, we are alternately perplexed and fascinated, as we become more aware citizens of the world –

– Two different countries: Niger and Nigeria
– Two different countries: the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Like the Euro, several African countries use the same currency:
          West African CFA Franc: 8 countries
          Central African CFA Franc:  6 countries
– Newest country:  South Sudan (established 2011)
– Côte d’Ivoire’s Basilica of our Lady of Peace is the largest church in the world
– The territory of Western Sahara confuses us.  Why is this a territory?
– We found out where Timbuktu is (Mali).  We didn’t know Timbuktu was a real place
– There are 2,000 distinct languages spoken in Africa

(pre-test and African countries studied so far)

Our “Around the World” Unit – We are augmenting our Lonely Planet Kids book, “The Travel Book – a journey through every country in the world”, with two atlases and we love them both:  

–  “Maps”, by Alessandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski.  We refer to this most enchanting atlas nightly.
–  “The Hammond World Atlas – Super Edition”, printed in 1966.  We love comparing the new with the way out-of-date.  Always a discussion starter.

Even More Maps? –  my son is also learning the location of states in the USA.  We locate few states at a time, each night a new theme.  So far: 

– States we have lived in:  California, Georgia, Idaho, Maryland, and Texas
– Fun shaped states:  the “L”-shaped Louisiana, and the mitten-shaped Michigan, the square states Wyoming and Colorado
– The four “corners” of continental USA:  California (again), Washington, Maine, and Florida
– States of the “Four Corners” region:  Utah, Colorado (again), Arizona, and New Mexico
– “Compass” states:  North and South Dakota,  North and South Carolina, West Virginia
– “New” states:  New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and New Mexico
– Dream destination states:  Hawaii and Alaska

Story Problem Time (YAY!):

Pickle Day at Farmer Brown’s Roadside Stand – There’s an excited buzz around Hankville:  it’s almost Pickle Day at Farmer Brown’s Roadside Stand!  Pickle Day is held every spring and features Farmer Brown’s favorite cousin, Miss Kate (state fair champion in both sweet pickle AND dill pickle divisions!) giving a pickling demonstration.  

– After the demonstration, Miss Kate autographs her pickling instruction booklet (which sells for $10).  
– Jars of her dill pickles sell for $5.  
– Jars of her sweet pickles sell for $6.  
– Also for sale:  a festive basket, suitable for gift giving, containing the booklet PLUS a jar of each pickle style, priced at $18.

If the roadside stand receives 10% of Miss Kate’s sales, how much money will the stand realize if 400 booklets, 100 jars of dill pickles, 120 jars of sweet pickles, and 20 gift-giving baskets are sold?
a)  $64     b)  $225     c)  $360     d)  $558 
(answer at bottom of post)

Finding the original A.A. Milne, “The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh” (“Winnie-the-Pooh” and “The House at Pooh Corner”) on our bookshelf, enrobed in a thin (it wasn’t really thin) layer of dust, was like finding buried treasure (literally, a treasure buried in dust).  Would it be just as good a read as it was 25 years ago?  YES!

– Milne’s refreshing manner with words –
– unpretentious poems (hums) that beg to be read out loud over and over –
– the capital letters strewn about –
– perceptively defined characters who assist each other in and out of situations –
–  the winsome illustrations of Ernest Shephard – 

What a most pleasant way to conclude each night’s studies.  (I just came across an A.A. Milne quote that has apparently been taped to my office wall since 2009:  “One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”.  This speaks to me.  Maybe this is how we rediscovered our dust covered book.)

Classical Music, The Pre-Test –

The majority of my acquaintances seem to have limited knowledge regarding classical music:
–  I was jolted into reality when one of my more educated friends asked what a symphony “movement” was.  
– When another acquaintance asked me what type of music I would like to listen to, I responded, “how about anything recorded by the New York Philharmonic?”  Acquaintance squinted his eyes and said, “hmmmm, I’ve never heard of that band.”  

Whoa. OK, that is what I am here for.  Anyway, if my son and I were giving an introductory class in orchestral music, we might pre-test by asking –
– What distinguishes music from the classical and romantic eras?
– Traditionally, how many movements in a concerto?
– Can you put these composers in order, according to when they composed:  Bach, Beethoven, Brahms?
– Can you tell the difference between a viola and a clarinet? (Please, can you at least get this right?)

Here is a micro-sampler of what we think everyone should have a chance to listen to. My son and I have renamed these pieces to reflect what we can hear in the music.  There’s no law that says we can’t.

– The Goat Symphony – really, Alexander Glazunov’s, Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, movement II, composed in 1893.  It is so easy to visualize a team of goats on meadow clearing detail, pouncing about in the fresh air.

– Popcorn Pizzicato – really, Leroy Anderson’s Jazz Pizzicato, composed in 1939.  Before we changed the name, we had listened to the piece about 3 times and thought it was sort of OK.  Then, we matched the music up with a popcorn cart story problem.  Game changer!  This piece has become one of my son’s favorite evening selections.  Every pluck of the violin strings tells us popcorn is popping.

– Elephants! – really, Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome, movement I (Villa Borghese), composed in 1924.  We can hear elephants trumpeting throughout the piece.  We know Respighi was capturing children pretending to be soldiers in battle (and we do hear that), but darn it, we cannot ignore the elephants!

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  d).  $558)

Doc and Bach

front desk book

Last week’s stories and studies agenda:
–  become informed about world ecosystems via Rachel Ignotofsky’s superb book, “The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth”:  CHECK
–  cheer for everything protagonist Mia Tang stands for in Kelly Yang’s important fiction read, “Front Desk”:  CHECK
But really, the past week has been dominated by Albert Schweitzer and Johann Sebastian Bach.

schweitzer at organ face right    bach organ

Scholarly, Spiritual, Musical – Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) – doctorates in theology (vocab), philosophy, and medicine.  Pipe organ virtuoso.  Authority on the works of JS Bach (and 4 published papers to prove it).  Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1952.  Whoa.

We are leaning forward as we read through Ken Gire’s bio of Dr. Schweitzer, “Answering the Call”.  The book begins as Schweitzer and his wife, Helene, make their way to Lambaréné, Gabon (Africa) where they set up the area’s first hospital.  The past few evenings we have been learning about how WWI – so very far away in Europe (globe out) – drastically affected the economy in Gabon.  And FOR HEAVENS SAKES Albert and Helene were sent back to France to be imprisoned during the war, leaving the people of Lambaréné with no medical care. (Discussion topic with my son:  is this right?  what would we have done?)  What next?  We’re riveted.

albert and bach books

Schweitzer’s interest is our interest – Because of Schweitzer’s fascination with all things Bach, we are darting around David Gordon’s “The Little Bach Book” learning lots about Bach’s world (1685-1750).  This neat little reference is packed with well researched information, delivered with sly humor (pretty much an A+ sort of book): 

  • quotes about Bach by other composers (superlative after superlative) (vocab) 
  • feather pens; until 1820 (when metal ink pens debuted), composers used feather quills to write their music.  We found out that one could write/compose for about 5 minutes with a particular feather before it had to firm up, be cleaned or recut
  • men’s hair fashion (wigs)  
  • dental care in the 1700’s (yeeks)

violin outdoors

Meanwhile, BACH at the ranch (a Farmer Brown story problem) – This summer, Farmer Brown’s ranch will be the site of a series of 3 outdoor symphony concerts featuring 30 Bach compositions, which may sound like a lot of Bach, but when the BWV (which my son and I learned was the official Bach Works Collection listing) was last tallied in 1998, the list of compositions attributed to this musical genius totaled over 1,100 pieces.   Approximately what percentage of Bach’s total output will be performed during the ranch concert series?
A.   1%     B.   3%     C.   15%     D.   30%     (answer at bottom of post)

More and More Bach – Over the years my son and I have downloaded several (32 to be exact) Bach compositions onto our iPod and this week we listened thoughtfully to each one.  My son “reviewed” each piece, and we listened again to his favorites:

bach quiz

  • Sheep May Safely Graze, composed in 1713.  Calming perfection:

  • Invention No. 13 in A minor, composed about 1720.  A super short jewel played skillfully on the harpsichord by a 9 year old!

  • Finally, we listened to THE GRAND, THE MIGHTY, THE REPETITIVE Symphony No. 5 in F minor, movement 5 (the toccata) (1879) composed by Charles-Marie Widor, recognized Bach scholar AND Schweitzer’s organ professor at the Paris Conservatory.  A high energy performance by virtuoso Frederick Hohman:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  B.  3%)

The Last Dog’s Tail

dog tail

– Our final post for 2017 –

Ben best of blog 2017

– Here is what my son and I learned a LOT about in 2017 –
Africa – bees – Buffalo Bill – Canada – Cixi – crime science – grammar – Greek mythology – Jim Thorpe – maps – Native North Americans – Roy Lichtenstein – Royal Canadian Mounted Police – salients – South America – the Loch Ness Monster – the NATO phonetic alphabet – whale fall

My son’s favorite topic?  WHALE FALL, from the July 21st post, “Whale Fall and other Water Wonders”

– Our most memorable story problem themes for 2017 –
an outdoor deck renovation – box lunches – Canadian geese – cider – doilies at the diner – donating books – donuts – frying pans – live music at the diner – macaroni – nail polish – painting Farmer Brown’s roadside stand – radishes – the diner’s summer give-away – work gloves

My son’s favorite story problem?  FARMER BROWN AND THE CANADIAN GEESE, from the April 24th post, “Looking North”

– Our coolest music themes for 2017 –
circus classics – Dvorak’s birthday – minuets – music for the Narcisse Snake Pits – rootin’ tootin’ music – suite music – the Brandenburg Concertos – the crescendo – the fugue and canon controversy – the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – the saxophone – the snare drum – the tango

My son’s favorite music theme?  MUSIC FOR THE NARCISSE SNAKE PITS, from the April 24th post, “Looking North”.  I have to agree, the music selections for the Narcisse Snake Pits, are hilarious.  A definite favorite theme for me.

christmas tree

So that brings us to December (so difficult to post a blog when one is a mom in charge of Christmas) – our engineering unit!

engineering books

Seriously, I can’t believe that we are loving three books ABOUT ENGINEERING!  But, now it is sort of like, if we cannot be an engineer (thanx to our DNA), at least we can be thrilled and inspired by the awesome achievements of engineers.

– “The Erie Canal” – oh my gosh, this resource by Martha E. Kendall is SUPERB.
– “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” – authors William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer have captivated our hearts.
– “Engineered! Engineering Design at Work” – by Shannon Hunt and James Gulliver Hancock – we’ve just started this. So far, “YAY!”.

grimms book

And a classical music theme focus for December – Fairy Tales:

– “The Sleeping Beauty Waltz”, from The Sleeping Beauty Ballet (1889) by Tchaikovsky, played by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, featuring the largest bass drum I have ever seen.  Just a perfect performance.

-“Cinderella’s Waltz”, from the Cinderella Ballet (1944) by Sergei Prokofiev – with a darkness and edge so typical of Prokofiev.  The Dutch National Ballet brings a superbly choreographed performance, full of bounce and humor (bounce and humor marrying well with the Prokofiev music?  YES!).

– “The Children’s Prayer” (or Evening Prayer), from the Hansel and Gretel opera (1892), by Engelbert Humperdinck (not the pop star from the 1970’s).  Very soothing, somber, hopeful.  Beautifully played by Leipzig’s very famous Gewandhausorchester, conducted by a very thoughtful, if not super confident, Bobby McFerrin.  Interesting note:  the idea AND libretto (vocab) for this opera came from the composer’s sister, Adelheid Wette. YOU GO GIRL!

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
P.S. Most of my blog writing has been done at my local Starbucks, where they start preparing my “grande peppermint hot chocolate made with soy no whip” as I walk through their door.  Thank you Starbucks!  Au revoir Starbucks!  Beginning in just a few days (January 2018) I get to work in a real office.  It is teeny, but it has a window and I am très excited!

The Sweet Life

honeycomb

Sweeter than honey – I think this is our fourth bee study unit – we must be so close to earning some sort of bee scholarship certificate – but who could resist the utterly giant, INYOURFACE “Bees – A Honeyed History” by Piotr Socha – AND – the book is even better than I anticipated.  We’re only half way through, but we’ve learned more than we knew previously about

swarming – bees and bears – bees and Napoleon – the waggle dance (!!!)
honey as a preservative – St. Ambrose (patron saint of bees) – pollination

Tonight: how to construct a beehive!  Clever graphics compliment the broad spectrum of bee topics addressed.  We just love this book. There is no other choice but to give it an A+.

bee book

“Wonder” IS wonderful – If you walk into any major book store you cannot miss R.J. Palacio’s prominently displayed book, “Wonder”.  The hype is not overdone.  This is a deeply thought-provoking read, with short chapters that grab your heart.  The author tackles several different points of view with authentic insight.  What a story.  What a privilege to work through this book with my son. (We know the “Wonder” movie is premiering this month.  Alas, our movie theater experiences have not been too positive, so thank heavens we have the book.)

AfricaCountriesMap

Africa Calls – We have the most interesting and inspirational friend (yes, you, SLC) who serves as a school director in Guinea, Africa.  Lucky, lucky school.  (Sidebar – if I lived anywhere near and had school-age children, they would be enrolled in that school SO FAST).

But to the point:
Here is what my son and I know about Guinea: NOTHING.
Here is what we know about Africa: VERY LITTLE.
– the atrocities of the Congo Free State (late 1800’s) under the shameful King Leopold II of Belgium
– a bit about ancient Egypt
– Dr. Livingston’s travels and his meeting up with Henry Morton Stanley on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in 1871

Shouldn’t we know a LOT more about Africa?

  • We are starting with another “Lonely Planet – Not for Parents” book, this one, “Africa – Everything you wanted to know”.  Already we’ve discussed the ridiculously huge Sahara Desert (and compared it to the size of the Amazon rain forest), wildebeest migration patterns, cannibals (!), African colonization, insects as snacks (we are so not eating bugs as snacks), cheetahs, and the very first heart transplant.
  • We have compared a currant African country map with an African country map from 60 years ago.
  • We have just begun reading “I Will Always Write Back” (this title makes me burst into tears), by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda with Liz Welch.  This is a story about pen pals (vocab), one in Pennsylvania and one is Zimbabwe, who began their correspondence in 1997.

We now know where Guinea and Zimbabwe are.  Let the Africa unit begin!

donuts

Sweet Students for Sweet Seniors (a Local Diner story problem) – The local junior high is hosting a “Design your own Donut” breakfast at Le Fictitious Local Diner, to raise funds for a Thanksgiving party they are planning for the senior citizens center.  It will cost the diner $750 to serve 1,000 donuts with 15 topping choices. Once costs are met, the diner will give all remaining money taken in to the school.  If a “donut and topping experience” will be priced at $3, and all donuts are sold, how much money will the junior high have raised for their Senior Citizen Center Thanksgiving party?
A)  $750    B) $1,000    C) $2,250    D) $3,000

If everyone purchases two donuts each, and half of these people order up a cup of hot chocolate (priced at $2) to enhance the sugar high, how much money will the diner gross from hot chocolate sales?
A)  $200    B) $500    C) $750    D) $2,000

Gli_uccelli_score_respighi

Suite Music – I wanted to solidify in my son’s mind the concept of an orchestral suite and how it differs from a symphony or concerto.  If you are like my son’s grandmother, The Peach, and you have no idea what a suite is, we like to compare a suite to a book of short stories by a single author – each story stands alone, yet the entire collection resonates with the author’s style.  What composer better to turn to than Ottorino Respighi – really such a suite master:

“Pines of Rome” – “The Birds” – “The Fountains of Rome”
“Church Windows” – “Brazilian Impressions” – “Ancient Airs and Dances”

My son and I happen to like “The Cuckoo” from his “The Birds” suite (composed in 1928), so instead of listening to one movement from several suites, I decided we should listen to 3 of the 5 movements from this one work – so we could hear how each movement is complete in itself, yet all three have the Respighi touch (a very clean sound, exquisite attention to his subject matter).

“The Dove”, movement 2 from Respighi’s “The Birds”.  We listened for the cooing of the dove and the magical ending.  The music starts after about a minute-long introduction from the conductor:

“The Hen”, movement 3.  Nailed it:

“The Cuckoo”, movement 5 (We like to count the “cuckoo” sounds – SO many crammed into this 4 minute piece.)  Such a sparkling performance by the youth orchestra from the Bachmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv (and yet check out the bored stiff audience – how could this happen?):

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

(story problem answers:  C) $2,250;  B) $500)

Talking in Circles

magician-with-rings

Circles Circles Circles:  geometry review – my son knows the vocabulary of circles (radius, diameter, circumference and the concept of π) and can now find the circumference and area of a circle if given the measurement of the radius.  We are able to work in the abstract, but we’ve done our share of figuring circumference and area of of pizzas, pies, and crop circles.

crop-circle-star     crop-circle

Crop Circles!  Inspired by the “intergalactics” in “Gabby Duran and the Unsittables” – a clever, original, great read for us by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners (and now we are reading “Gabby Duran – Troll Control” – get this!  A GIFT FROM ONE OF THE AUTHORS!!!! ), we wondered if there was proof of space aliens visiting planet Earth, so we took a bit of time to read up on crop circles (yay Wikipedia!) and view an array of photos.  Well, my son learned the definition of “HOAX”, but rather than be disappointed that the crop circles were not evidence of visitors from the far beyond, we decided to be mightily impressed by the precision artistry yielded by the wide brush of a tractor.  Wow.

crop-circle-simple

Farmer Brown’s Crop Circle (story problem) – Farmer Brown has revved up the John Deere tractor and crafted a crop circle in the middle of his wheat field as a fun destination for his Halloween hay-rides.  If the radius of his crop circle measures 100 feet, is the area of the circle larger or smaller than one acre (43,560 square feet)?   If the horses pull the hay-ride wagon along the entire edge of the crop circle, how many feet will they cover?  If Farmer Brown takes a photo of everybody in the center of his crop circle wearing alien masks will this be awesome? (answers at bottom of post)

hannibal-coins

Circling Back – We finished our Hannibal unit and here is what it boiled down to:  in 218 BC, from Carthage (the northern-most tip of Africa), Hannibal led his soldiers, horses, and elephants northwest to the Iberian peninsula, east over the Alps, south to Rome, and finally ended up, full circle, back in Carthage and guess what?  After 17 years of fighting, ravaging countless villages, and 720,000 soldiers dead: nothing gained.  NOTHING.

We needed music that reflected despair and regret for the families ruined by Hannibal’s insane drive to obliterate the Roman Republic.

  • “Adagio in G minor for Strings and Organ” by Tomaso Albinoni.  MUSIC CONTROVERSY:  although the piece is attributed to Albinoni, who wrote fragments of the composition in the early 1700s, apparently Remo Giazotto actually pulled the piece together in 1958.  This funereal work has been used in over 25 movies;  sort of the go-to music for weepiness.  This performance is outstanding:

  • “Serenade” by Franz Schubert, finished in 1828, just one month before Schubert passed away (SYPHILIS) (OH DEAR).  No one can be cheered by this somber waltz of death – and take a gander at this semi-creepy, gloom-filled film clip:

  • “Symphony No. 3 in F major”, movement III, by Johannas Brahms, composed in 1883. Searingly sad.  Monumentally beautiful.  (Insider note:  this movement served as inspiration for Carlos Santana’s 1999 piece, “Love of My Life”):

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: smaller, 628 feet, YES this will be the highlight of the evening)