Happy Peace Day

While the International day of peace is celebrated in September, Peace Day for schools is celebrated on January 30th in Spain and in schools around the world in remembrance of the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandi. January also happens to be the month with Martin Luther King Day so both icons for peace were discussed in class.

In preparation the entire school learned the song "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan.

You can listen to the lyrics with some powerful images about a vision for world peace and social justice here:

Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan 

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man ?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand ?

Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned ?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist

Before it's washed to the sea ?

Yes, how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free ?

Yes, how many times can a man turn his head

Pretending he just doesn't see ?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky ?

Yes, how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry ?

Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died ?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Younger courses also learned the "famous song" What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong.

What a Wonderful World - Playing for Change  

I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do

But they're really saying I love you.

I hear baby's cry, and I watched them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll ever know 

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Yes, I think to myself what a wonderful world.

In addition to learning songs several works of art were completed during the month of January to decorate the school for Friday's peace day celebrations.

This craft done with 4B and 4C included a pair of hands for a different flag of each country. With over fifty countries represented can you find Spain? The U.S.? England? What others can you see? Want to complete the craft for next year or at home?

You can find the project here: Peace around the World

A trip to the garden with 5B

On Wednesday, January 27th after finishing up a unit in natural science about parts of the plant, photosynthesis, angiosperms and gymnosperms the class got to visit the school garden that has been growing over the past three years thanks to José Antonio, who has been in charge of the vision the school has for a community garden from the beginning.

Crops that are currently in the garden for the winter season include:

- brussel sprouts

- onion

- lettuce

- cauliflower

- beans

- artichokes

- lima beans

- carrots

- basil

- mint and much more. YUM!! 

Climate in North Carolina

Currently most of the east coast has been snowed in for the past few days because of a blizzard called Jonas. 85 million people were told to stay inside throughout Washington D.C., Boston and New York and at least 10 people have already died because of the storm. My university, Elon University is located in a small town in North Carolina and class has been canceled for the past couple of days due to the snow. In the south, when it snows the city usually shuts down.

Click to see Photos of Snow Storm Jonas

This past week we talked about climate with 5B and 6A. North Carolina is categorized as a humid subtropical climate. This means it has hot, humid summer and mild to cool winters, so it is a big deal when it snows. San Diego, CA where my father lives has a mediterranean climate much like Southern Spain. 

Wildlife in North Carolina includes deer, squirrels, alligators, bears, foxes and snakes. There are a variety of trees including red maple, red spruce, sugar spruce, cherry tree and oak.  

Climate Change has caused problems with air pollution, floods, droughts, tornados, cyclones, and extreme heat. Here are two videos we showed in class to discuss what we can do about it. 

Climate Change (according to a kid)

Climate Change for Kids

For the full presentation you can see pictures of my university here:

Climate in North Carolina

The Empire State Building

Today with 5C we talked about a famous building located in New York City. Last week they learned about the Taj Mahal in India.

Click on the link to see the presentation: 

The Empire State Building Presentation 

The Empire State Building has 102 stories or floors.

It is located in Manhattan, New York City on 5th avenue. 

It is 381 m tall, 443 m tall to the last tip. 

™Construction started March 17, 1930 and I opened May 1, 1931.

™It was the tallest building until the One World Trade Center which recently opened in 2014. 

™It was built by the architect William F. Lamb.

Here are some links to where it is located on google maps and the website where you can explore the amazing views from the top floor, take a virtual tour, view the films that the Empire State Building has appeared in and see what celebrities have visited there. In the presentation you can also see a clip from the famous film in King Kong where he climbs the building. 

™https://www.google.es/maps/place/Empire+State+Building/@40.7484405,-73.9856644,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xd134e199a405a163™http://www.esbnyc.com/™http://www.esbnyc.com/explore™http://www.esbnyc.com/explore/top-deck-102nd-floor™http://www.esbnyc.com/pr-pop-culture/celebrity-visitors?title=Taylor

Getting Around Town

In 4th grade the past week we have been talking about places and public transportation. Vocabulary includes: hospital, train station, café, police station, museum, supermarket, newagents, bus stop, cinema and shops.

Transportation vocabulary includes: car, double-decker buses, water boats, gondalas, bicycle, underground/tube, tram, road, canal, village, town, city, and taxi.

Here are some pictures I shared with the class as we talked about transportation in London, Venice and Amsterdam. Where would you like to travel and how?

A traditional tramway in Lisbon, Portugal

In Amsterdam there are more bicycles than people.

Did you know in London they also call the Underground the Tube. In the U.S. we call it the Subway.

A double-decker bus in London

Did you know there are no roads or cars in Venice: Looks like a gondala or water boat is your only option.

At the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Did I fool you? 

The tramway in Istanbul, Turkey 

While I have never been to Venice (yet), I have been to The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Inside it looks like it is day during the day with the ceiling painted like the sky, and at night it changes to dark blue with stars and a plaza much like the St. Marcos Square in Venice. Can you see the Gondola in my picture?

Examples of an activity in class was:

I would like to travel to ____________ by __________. If you would like to travel to Las Vegas by plane here is more about the Venetian Hotel: http://www.venetian.com/

Merry Christmas v. Feliz Navidad

Throughout the month of December Maestra Isabel Alvarez has been preparing several lessons in anticipation of Christmas Vacations. As a result, I thought I should share some of the differences I have learned between Spain and the United States over the past two years.

Decorations 
To begin with the decorations are pretty different. In the United States almost everyone has a large Christmas tree with a star at the top similar to some families in Spain. However, the biggest difference is that we don't typically put a nativity scene "portal de Belen" in our homes with a Virgin Mary, Baby Jesus in a manger, Joseph and the three wise men. We do however decorate the outside of our homes with lots of lights and different colors, more so than I would say in Spain.

A house decorated with Christmas lights 

Nativity Scene in Seville 

Food
Also, this year with some of my private classes I got to make Christmas cookies a great tradition I have at home with my family. We made sugar cookies and decorated them with a present, stocking, reindeer, wreath etc. Generally my family has a big Christmas dinner with turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, cakes and vegetables similar to Thanksgiving.

In Spain I got to try polvorones, a cookie generally with almonds inside and turron, a hard or soft nougat with almonds and honey on the inside and can be chocolate or many different kinds. Another speciality is the King's cake which I have yet to try.

Polvorones 

Turrón

The Three Magic Kings
The correct name in English is actually the three wise men (los reyes magos), but everyone in Spain knows they are the ones to bring the presents on the three kings day. However, in the United States we receive presents from Santa and open them on Christmas morning December 25th. Some children make lists for him of the presents they want him to bring and make sure to stay on the "nice" list instead of the naughty list.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

5B and The Spread of Disease

This past unit in Natural Science has been about infectious and non-infectious diseases and how to stay healthy which is perfect for this time of year when the weather is getting colder and people are getting sick with fevers and colds. 5th grade learned about antibiotics, bacteria, viruses, diseases such as cancer and diabetes as well as how to stay healthy from these illnesses. Staying healthy included eating fruits and vegetables, doing exercise, getting eight hours of sleep and keeping clean by washing our hands and brushing our teeth.

On the last class before the holidays we performed an experiment to show the spread of disease.

The Spread of Disease Activity

To do the experiment we used plastic cups in groups of two and three. The students poured water into other cups in different groups to represent "coughing or sneezing" on another student. One group's cup was infected with a mixture of baking soda. After, I poured a few drops of homeade phenolphthalein solution (indicator for basic solutions) and the water turned a light green. The darker the green the more infected the group was.

The class then had to determine which group was originally the "infected" one and how now other groups had been contaminated.

Pouring water to spread disease 

Recording the results 

Sharing the infection: "coughing or sneezing" 

They are not infected!