Happy Andalusia's Day!!

Today is the day of Andalusia, and as my first year celebrating in Sevilla it has been interesting to see how proud Sevillanos are to be "Andaluz." Throughout the week the school was decorated with green and white balloons and projects with maps of Andalucia including different information about each province. Andalusia has eight different provinces: Sevilla being the capital, Cadíz, Malaga, Jaén, Almería, Cordoba, Granada, and Huelva. Typical food included salmorejo, cheese, ham, and pescado frito (fried fish).

With 3rd grade we watched a documentary about El Rio Guadalquivir that goes through Sevilla and the National Park Doñana which includes several different types of wildlife, including the Iberian Lynx which is mostly only found here in the Iberian Peninsula.

On Friday to celebrate the school had a traditional Andalusian breakfast of toast with oil and sugar with orange juice. The younger grades read different poems about Andalusia. 5th and 6th dressed up in typical Flamenco dresses and Traje Cortos to dance Sevillanas, a typical dance usually danced during Feria in the month of April. In addition, as a school we all sang the regional anthem or Himno de Andalucía together.  

Happy Valentine's Day

Tomorrow, Sunday February 14th is Valentine's Day. While in Spain it seems it is more celebrated if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend among couples in the U.K. and the U.S. it is a celebration of love and friendship. In primary school students exchange cards among classmates often including sweets or candied hearts that say "Be Mine" or "I'm Yours."

In addition to cards, friends and couples may exchange presents such as a box of chocolates, a bouquet of roses or flowers, teddy bears, balloons or special items such as perfume or jewelry.

4B and 4C learned that nearly 480 million cards are sent around the world every year.

A little bit of history:
A man named Valentinus was martyred on February 14 late in the third century A.D.
A priest as part of the Roman Church it was during a time when marriage was illegal. This was because Romans believed that unmarried soldiers fought better than married ones. However, as a rebel St. Valentinus married them in secret against the emperor Claudius II law.
He eventually went to prison and was killed because of his breaking the law because of what he believed in: the importance of Christian marriage. From prison right before his death he wrote a letter to a girl and signed it "From your Valentine"

Today cards messages include:

"Be my Valentine"

XOXO Happy Valentine's Day

I love you or I like you for being such a great...

and poems such as the famous

Roses are Red 

Violets are Blue

Sugar is Sweet 

and so are You

Volcanic Explosions with 4A

This past Tuesday I got to assist with a science experiment about Volcanos. After learning about the different parts of a Volcano with the crater, molten lava, volcanic rock and ash the students had to make their own volcano at home using a soda can such as coca-cola or aquarius and clay on top sitting it in a tray.

Want to do your own experiment?

What you'll need:
- baking soda (make sure it is not baking powder)
- vinegar ( a lot of it)
- a spoon
- food coloring (orange or red for the coloring of the lava)
- a tray or container to hold everything to avoid a big mess
- paper towels or cloth to clean up afterwards

Instructions:

- place some of the baking soda inside the volcano (2 to 3 spoons) depending on the size
- then add the coloring
- finally pour in vinegar and watch the reaction take place

Carnival in the U.S.

We have just entered into the season of Lent, or forty days before Holy Week, but not doing so without a big party first. Carnival (which is still going on in Cadiz), lasted from February 5th to the 9th ending on "Fat Tuesday" or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Along with the information about Mardi Gras in the U.S. several classes made masks in celebration. I went to Venice for Carnival so you can see me in my Venetian Mask with the class. 

 

Landforms in the United States

During my social science classes with 3A and 3B they just finished a unit on landforms, the different continents and different oceans in the world and now have started learning about world and city maps. Vocabulary included sea, bay, headland or cape, hills, rivers, oceans, lighthouse, plateau, mountain or mountain range and island. Below is the presentation I shared with them including the Hollywood Hills, San Diego Bay, Santa Monica Beach, Grand Canyon, and Cabo da Roca in Lisbon, Portugal. Enjoy!