International Fair Pictures

Some pictures from the International Fair...

Uighurs (Weegers)

If you are listening to news this summer (and of course you are!), you may have heard about the unrest in Western China -- involving the Uighur People (pronounced Weeger). This article explains who they are and what the disagreements are about...

Spirit Day -- Last Day

These aren't great pictures, but here are all the bright, shining faces waiting to head off to spirit day on the very last day of the year.

Summer Vacation

It was a wonderful year! I had a great time with my classes this year, and I hope all of you have a wonderful and relaxing summer.
I know that many of you have plans to travel, and that is great because travel is a lot of fun and provides tons of learning opportunities. I hope that you will approach each new place that you visit with great curiosity and a desire to discover the secrets of its people and geography and culture.
One of the important things to remember about summer is to try and keep learning. I understand that students are probably tired of learning, and need a break. However, kids lose much of what they have learned during the summer.
Parents, if you can’t review or add to what they have learned during the year, at least give them new learning experiences.
Experts suggest incorporating a healthy dose of fun -- and a relaxed attitude -- into any summer academics. Focus on your student’s specific interest, too. Does he like the outdoors? Plant a vegetable garden, and use that as an opening to discuss nature. Is she into music? Encourage her to write original lyrics to a song, and then videotape her performing it. It's an excellent way to practice writing.
There are lots of ideas for how to keep those bright young minds exploring and learning. Here are some Internet websites to check out:
From All Things Frugal --
-Visit the library often, and take advantage of their activities.
-Visit educational sites on the Internet.
-Buy educational software.
-Visit historical sites and monuments in your area. Teach the associated history.
-Visit Museums. Talk about what you see, whether it is aviation, natural history, or art.
-Visit a home construction site. Let your kids see for themselves what a house looks like under the sheetrock. Build something together at home.
-Go to the zoo. Learn about each animal. Talk about what countries they live in. Review and add to their knowledge of geography. -
-Put up a birdhouse, and learn what kind of birds are in your area.
-Ride horses or ponies.
-Take up a new hobby. Learn about rocks (and geography), stamps (countries and history), music, photography, scrapbook making, needlecraft, genealogy, cooking, baking, sewing or whatever resources are available to you. Share teaching skills with friends and neighbors, or take community classes.
-Check out planned arts and craft classes in your area for children.
-Go berry or fruit picking, then freeze, can or make jam.
-Make homemade ice cream.
From the Miami Herald Family Living site --
• Look for a special-interest camp that will appeal to your child.
• Plan your summer trip with an educational theme. Headed for Disney World? Stop at the Kennedy Space Center. If you've already decided on a particular town, look up national parks nearby and take the kids on a ranger-led geological or historical tour. Have them read a book about where you're going before you leave.
• From Harris Cooper, professor of psychology at Duke University: ``If you're still thinking about where to vacation, find out what your kids will be studying in the coming school year. For example, if the Constitution is in the curriculum, consider a trip to Philadelphia.''
• Recruit your child to help plan a vacation. Have her prepare a budget for spending money, and ask for help plotting the trip on a map and estimating miles using the map key. This is a built-in math lesson.
• During the trip, play ''I Spy'' to search road signs for numbers, colors and geometric shapes. For older children, estimate and calculate the travel time to your destination.
• Look for intellectually stimulating activities in your community that don't involve a classroom or workbook. Museums, zoos and other attractions usually offer educational programs as part of a tour or visit. Parks are also a great place for fun learning activities. Before spending time outdoors, a parent can encourage the family to learn about the area's wildlife. Use the Internet to look up native plants and animals, then check them off as you spot them during your visit.
• Read, read, read. While most schools have a summer-reading requirement, educators and child experts say it's better to go beyond the two or three books typically required. Stop by a bookstore during story hour. Sign up for a summer book club.
• Consider enrolling your child in an inexpensive continuing-education course at a local college.
• Teach your child how to keep statistics for summer sporting events like baseball. Kids can compute ERA, RBI and other percentages.
• Turn any activity at home into a teachable moment. For example, beading jewelry with a young child helps support pattern recognition and counting.
• Think of the kitchen as a math lab. Ask your child to help you cook and bake. The extra mess is well worth the effort of applying such math concepts as measuring and figuring out fractions. Make it a game, too, by asking: How many pints in a quart? Cinnamon is which country's major export? Kitchens are filled with real-life math story problems. If the potatoes take an hour to cook but the chicken only takes 40 minutes, at what time do we need to put each in to get them done at the same time? For extra credit, let kids use measuring cups and spoons; fill beverage glasses 3/4 of the way full; and (for better or worse) calculate the total number of calories in the meal.
• Turn your home into an international destination by using the Web. Research your family's heritage or a favorite foreign city.
• Use a trip to the store to help a young child practice counting or the recognition of shapes. Ask an older child to bake a cake and change the ratio of ingredients, then shop in the supermarket for the extras.
• Find a structured volunteer position for your older child in an area of interest. If, for instance, your high-school junior is considering law, ask an attorney friend if your teen can help out in the office (unpaid) several times a week.
• For older children, check out the free courses offered by hundreds of universities online. While you might not expect a sixth grader to understand everything, he may find some subjects very interesting. Some courses you can even download to an iPod using iTunes U.
Websites for these free courses:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
www.youtube.com/edu
http://academicearth.org/
www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/
From the Education Magazine site –

Get gaming. Remember that math is not just about numbers, especially at higher levels. Checkers promote thinking ahead and anticipating outcomes. The classic game Battleship encourages logical thinking, while Yahtzee works on grouping skills.

Make it active. Get everyone in the house a pedometer or step counter. Record totals at day's end. Let children graph everyone's progress. The person with the highest total at week's end gets to pick the DVD for movie night.

Dole out some cash. Let your child make price tags for toys to create a pretend store. Make play money and let them "shop.” Similarly, they can get more practice adding and subtracting money by playing restaurant. Have fun thinking up disgusting, overpriced items for the menu like $50 slug soup. Let your young waiter or waitress write the check and figure out a 10-20 percent tip.

Turn your car into a math-mobile. Drive exactly one mile in your car to give kids a sense of distance. Then, let them predict how many miles it is from your house to popular summer destinations, such as the pool or day camp. Show them how close they came with the starting and ending numbers on the mileage counter. Who holds the record in your house for most miles traveled over the summer? Find out by keeping a running total on a calendar.

Water Bottle Project

6th Grade is participating in the Water Bottle Project here at Nativity.

40 Fun And Interesting Water Facts --

75% of the earth is covered with water.
97% of earth's water is in the oceans. Only 3% of the earth's water can be used as drinking water. 75% of the world's fresh water is frozen in the polar ice caps.
If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon.
Although a person can live without food for more than a month, a person can only live without water for approximately one week.
The average person in the United States uses 80 to 100 gallons of water each day. During medieval times a person used only 5 gallons per day.
There is the same amount of water on Earth as there was when the Earth was formed. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank.
About 1.2 billion gallons of potable water are used in New Jersey each day.
1.2 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water.
87% of New Jersey's population obtains its drinking water from a public water system and 13% from private residential wells.
The largest body of water in New Jersey is Lake Hopatcong. The lake is 9 miles in length and 14.7 billion gallons.
The world's tallest water sphere is located in Union, New Jersey. It is 212 feet tall and holds 250,000 gallons of well water. Click here for more information on this water sphere.
It takes 2 gallons to brush your teeth.
It takes 2 to 7 gallons to flush a toilet.
It takes 25 to 50 gallons to take a shower.
It takes about 1 gallon of water to process a quarter pound of hamburger.
It takes 2,072 gallons of water to make four new tires.
Typically, households consume approximately 30% of their water for outdoor use, such as watering the lawn. Inside, toilets use the most water, with an average of 27 gallons per person per day.
You can refill an 8-oz glass of water approximately 15,000 times for the same cost as a six-pack of soda.
An automatic dishwasher uses approximately 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.
If every household in America had a faucet that dripped once each second, 928 million gallons of water a day would leak away.
A dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk. One gallon of water weighs approximately 8 ½ pounds.
300 million gallons of water are needed to produce a single day's supply of U.S. newsprint.
Sources of water pollution include; oil spills, fertilizer and agricultural run-off, sewage, stormwater, and industrial wastes.
Ancient Egyptians treated water by siphoning water out of the top of huge jars after allowing the muddy water from the Nile River to settle.
Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, directed people in Greece to boil and strain water before drinking it.
In the 1950's scientists began to suspect that water might carry diseases. Although earlier treatment of water could make the water safer, it was mainly done to improve the taste, smell or looks of the water.
The first United States water plant with filters was built in 1872 in Poughkeepsie, New York.
In Altona, Germany in 1892, the water from the Elbe River filtered before drinking. At the time, hundreds of people from nearby Hamburg (which did not filter their water) died from cholera. The citizens of Altona were untouched by this waterborne disease.
In 1908, Jersey City, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois were the first water supplies to be chlorinated in the United States.
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974 represents the first time that public drinking water supplies were protected on a federal (national) level in the United States. Amendments were made to the SDWA in 1986 and 1996.
New Jersey Legislature approved the New Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act, which authorized the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to assume primacy and enforcement responsibility for the Federal Safe Drinking Water Program.
One gallon of water is equal to 3.785 liters of water.
One cubic foot of water is equal to 7.48 gallons of water.
Water boils at 212o Fahrenheit or 100o Celsius.
Water freezes at 32o Fahrenheit or 0o Celsius.
Human brains are 75% water.
Human bones are 25% water.
Human blood is 83% water.
Water regulates the earth's temperature.
Water expands by 9% when it freezes. Frozen water (ice) is lighter than water, which is why ice floats in water.
Sources:http://www.nps.gov/rivers/waterfacts.html http://www.njawwa.org/kidsweb/waterfacts/ http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/waterfactsoflife.html

6th Grade International Fair -- May 22

– This year’s 6th grade International Fair, on May 22, will focus on nations with significantly Muslim populations. Teams of students will work together to learn about the cultures of 10 different nations around the world. Each team will then make a multi-faceted presentation of what they learn and discover together to their classmates, parents, and friends. Learning should include a variety of information about the geography, government, customs, cultural elements, and history of the assigned nation.

Student groups are expected to prepare an attractive and informative display about their assigned nation (including an area where visitors could sample four to five dishes from the culture), and to present a cultural presentation that would include elements such as appropriate costumes, music, dance, poetry, story-telling, games, etc.

Project Requirements --

1) General Poster – Map, Flag, Climate, System of government, Currency, Leader, Current events

2) Historical Timeline – Drawn to scale and illustrated. Timelines should display at least 10 important events in the history of your country. Five of these events must be illustrated.

3) Travel Guide Brochure – Places to visit, Usual weather, Tips for travelers, Special events

4) Biographical Poster of famous person from your country (required – one from each group member) Scientist, Scholar, Artist, Poet, Musician, Architect, Leader, Athlete, Author, Doctor, Explorer, Women, etc. Include – Date and place of birth, family, education, accomplishments, portrait, fun or interesting facts

5) Food Items from the culture (one required from each group member) – Your food item must serve at least 6. Bring to school the morning of the International festival in a container that is clearly marked with your name. Directions for serving the item should be attached (eg.: reheat, refrigerate, etc.) Provide recipes and required serving items (plates, bowls, cups, spoons, etc.)

6) Group Presentation – Each group will be required to make a cultural presentation about their country. Group members should dress in the caftans that we made in class. Material for the presentation may include any three of the following:

Summary and Description of Interview with Muslim Visitor

Poem

Prayer

Song

Dance

Story or Folktale

Dramatic scene

Game

Demonstration: craft, celebration, ceremony, ritual, etc.

Other (with teacher approval)

Resources –

Every effort will be made to connect students with a Muslim visitor from the country that they are studying. However, it is important to remember that these are volunteers who generously give of their time in order to facilitate this project. There is no guarantee that every group will have the opportunity to visit personally with a member of our local Muslim community.

General Information --

CIA World Factbook

Famous People by Nationality

Islamic Studies Topics

Story Garden

History for Kids

Islamic Poems for Kids

Classical Islamic Poetry

Islamic music

Links for Dances --

Traditional Syrian Dance

Traditional Iranian Dance

Traditional Ethiopian Dance

Traditional Egyptian Dance

Traditional Moroccan Dance

Traditional Bosnian Dance

Traditional South African Dance

Traditional Indian Dance

Traditional Taiwanese Dance

Traditional Palestinian Dance

International Festival Grading Criteria—

General Poster --

___ Map

___ Flag

___ Climate

___ System of government

___ Currency

___ Leader

___ Current events
___ Creative and attractive

Historical Timeline –

___ Drawn to scale

___ at least 10 important

___ Five of these events are illustrated
___ Creative and attractive

Travel Guide Brochure –

___ Places to visit

___ Usual weather

___ Tips for travelers

___ Special events
___ Creative and attractive

Biographical Poster of famous Muslim (required – one from each group member)—

___ Date and place of birth

___ Family

___ Education

___ Accomplishments

___ Portrait (picture)

___ fun or interesting facts
___ Creative and attractive

Food Items from the culture (one required from each group member) –

___ serves at least 6

___ in a container that is clearly marked with your name

___ Directions for serving the item attached

___ Provide recipe

___ required serving items supplied (plates, bowls, cups, spoons, etc.)

Group Presentation –

___ Group members should dress in the caftans that we made in class

___ Material for the presentation may include any three of the following:
· Summary and Description of Interview with Muslim Visitor

· Poem

· Prayer

· Song

· Dance

· Story or Folktale

· Dramatic scene

· Game

· Demonstration: craft, celebration, ceremony, ritual, etc.

· Other (with teacher approval)

Swine Flu

It is almost impossible to turn on the television news, or pick up a newspaper, or listen to the radio without hearing about swine flu these days. Everyone is concerned, and appropriately so. Still, it is a little scary for kids as they hear all the dire warnings and predictions about the illness.

Here's an Swine Flu Goes Global_, written for kids, that does a pretty good job of explaining the illness and how it spreads.

If you are interested in where there are ( or where there have been ) cases of swine flu, check out this interactive map.