Week 8 - Russia

 I have never really known much about Russia besides knowing that it was an extremely large country with historical ties to communism. I've heard stories about Stalin, read about how many people wanted so badly to escape from the government's oppression and experienced first hand how strict their ballet style is compared to other styles I've been taught. But honestly, I have been more familiar with gymnasts and ice skaters from Russia than any of the history or culture of the country. Growing up I paid attention to the distinct look and accent that a Russian athlete possessed. In preparing for this week's lesson, I was able to learn so much and gained a much greater understanding of the people, customs and art.

There were a couple of interesting things that I learned. One is that because many of the parents both work full time, grandparents are often responsible for raising children. This is evident in many of the stories and folktales that we read and hear about as most stories feature a child and grandparent as the main characters.

Also, because there are so many people in Russia, there are parts of it that has limited housing during the cold winters. Many extended families may live together during this time of the year making them closer knit than many American families.

And as one might guess by just looking at a map, Russia is so big that just within its country there are many nationalities, languages, religions and cultures. While the east side is more European by culture, the Western side tends to have many Asian characteristics.

Morning Warm Ups

St. Basil's Cathedral

I found a couple of great coloring pages for this week's warm up options. A St. Basil's Cathedral coloring page was one of my favorites and I let B see a picture of it to see the many colors that were used in its beautiful architecture. The Kandinsky coloring sheet was one that utilized interesting shapes and colors as well. B enjoyed these as she loves coloring with a lot of different color options.

• St. Basil's Cathedral
• Kandisky Coloring Sheet
• Cursive Handwriting Sheet - I

Morning Group Time
We continued with our BKS Prep morning group time playlist from our Spain week since we are continuing to learn Spanish. 

Bible Story
Our Bible verse is John 15:4 - This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. We talked about how God wants us to love everyone and share his love with others. We reviewed lessons from the Bible on jealousy & anger vs. friendship - Cain and Abel; David & Jonathan

Vocabulary

• czar - historical Russian emperor or ruler
• cathedral - church
• emotion - feelings
• jealous - wanting what someone else has
• glum - sad
• magnificent - amazing; big
• comical - funny
• abstract - not easily understood
• matryoshka - nesting dolls
• babushka - cloth worn around Russian women's heads; also refers to grandparents in Russia

Reading
We found so many great books this week that included some of Russia's culture and language but were also very entertaining.

• Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
  Most of the blogs I found on teaching Russia used this book as the center of their studies. Our book didn't come available at our library until the end of the week so weren't able to use it too much. However, it was a great book and a fun story with a few Russian words used several times throughout the book and some cultural references. Mostly its a story about two bears and the things they do for friendship.
• The Magic Nesting Doll
  We were not able to read this book because it was checked out by someone else at our library but the reviews on it sounded lovely so I wanted to include it here for future reference.
• Babushka's Doll
  This story is about a little girl who demands that her Babushka (grandmother) be at her beckon call without delay - someone we as moms feel on a daily basis. The little girl plays with her grandmother's doll and gets a taste of her own medicine. The book has a great lesson and with a few Russian words and artwork goes perfectly with our Russia theme.
• The Littlest Matryoshka
  A tale of how the smallest doll in a set of nesting dolls gets lost and eventually finds her way back to her sisters. We read this book during our Russian tea party and then made our own set of paper nesting dolls.
• Rechenka's Eggs
  Sweet story about a woman who rescues a wounded goose and nurses it back to health. In return to goose gives her a special gift. The story shows some of the Russian culture and teaches about caring for others.
• Anastasia
  I would have loved to read the book first and then watch the movie but it didn't work out that way for us. In the future I'd like to do this again and spend more time learning about the history of the royal family and the disproven rumors about Anastasia's survival after her family's assassination.
• Count Your Way Through Russia
  Great book to introduce some Russian themes and counting in Russian.
• Look What Came From Russia
  I just discovered these books and wish I had gotten the one from Spain last week. It was great information, yet not too much to overload the kids. I picked out specific things to talk about and skipped over some parts that I thought they wouldn't care about or understand.
• Rus
  sia
  
  This book wasn't on a young child's level but it contained a lot of good information for me to be able to learn and use to teach some history and facts.
• The Mitten (not pictured)
  This is an old folktale and there is actually another book/version with the same storyline that I saw some bloggers use to compare/contrast. There were only a few references to the Russian culture in this book, but it did continue the Russian theme of a grandmother taking care of her grandson, the snowy weather of Russia and the animals that live there. Its a cute story and would make a great book to center studies around if you wanted to focus more on the animals than the cultural aspect of Russia.

Learning Topics

• Matryoshka dolls
  We learned about these Russian nesting dolls and talked about them throughout the week. During our tea party we read The Littlest Matryoshka and not long after that the mail man arrived with our very own set of dolls. I ordered them at the beginning of the week from Amazon Prime for a great price and quick, free shipping through Amazon Prime!

• St. Basil's Cathedral
  We watched a short video on YouTube and looked at pictures. We talked about how it was originally a cathedral and now is used as a museum. We found another documentary type video on YouTube in which two guys tour the cathedral so we could see what is inside.

• Faberge eggs
  After reading Renchenka's Eggs we printed some Easter egg templates I found by searching Google and colored them with crayons. Some of the websites I visited had their kids make collages with glitter and craft materials, but we weren't up for that today.
• Circus
  We talked about the history of the circus and its connection to Russia. 
• Russian Ballet
  Russia has some of the best ballet companies in the world. We talked about Russia's influence on the ballet world and let the Moscow Ballet's Nutcracker play in the background of our Russian Tea Party. 
• Wassily Kandinsky
   - Kandinsky Color Studies - Explore colors and the emotions associated with them. Then allow children to paint or color "Kandisnsky-style" with the colors they feel. Play classical music in the background for inspiration.
  - Biography of Kandinsky Video - This is a very short video biography of Kandinsky for kids.
  - Through the Ozone The Art of Kandinsky - video images of Kandinsky's work
  - The Noisy Paint Box - This book is about Kandinsky but we weren't able to get it from the library because it was "unable to be located"

Math

• Telling Time
  I downloaded this free What Time Is It Quack! game activity from TeachersPayTeachers.com
• Greater than vs. Less than printable from Teaching 1st

Art

• Kandisnksky's Circle Trees
  This was an easy, no-mess project for us to do together. I showed B how to cut out a small circle, paste it to paper and then cut a circle around it. Each circle had about 4-5 layers and the best part is that the circles don't have to be perfect. I cut out the tree shape and pasted it to poster paper for her and after the circles were all done I let her paste them on the tree.

• Nesting Dolls
  B colored the dolls and I cut them out for her and taped the bottoms. This was a cute craft that she has gone back and played with several times since we made it.

Related Media

• Anastasia on Netflix
  We watched the movie before reading the book or really learning the history because we decided to have an impromptu movie night together. This cartoon had St. Basil's cathedral, showed the czars and royal family (since Anastasia was the daughter of the czar) and had mentions of St. Petersberg and Moscow. We read the book and talked about the royal family, including the "gossip" about Anastasia being alive, and then re-watched the movie. I was then able to help point out some of the learning opportunities on the film.
• Mickey's Fun Songs Lets Go to the Circus
  I watched this on vhs as a child and just happened to find it while searching for circus themed kids shows. It highlights several parts of the circus, from the clowns, animals, trapeze, etc. and the kids love it - just like I did when I was a child. Since they've never been to a circus, this was a good way to it to them in a way that they pay attention.
• Peg + Cat has two circus themed episodes that we watched on Amazon Prime

Learning Resources & Ideas

• National Geographic Kids - Russia
  We used some of the information here but mostly used the main photos at the top to look at the different land types and a beautiful picture of St. Basil's cathedral
• Activity Village - Russia
  This site had some information about Russia but mostly had links to coloring pages (boy and girl Russian dancers, Faberge eggs, St. Basil's Cathedral, Matryoshka dolls, etc.) and crafts

See these ideas and more on my BKS Prep - Russia Pinterest Board!