Germany

The last stop on our study of winter Olympic countries brought us to Germany. For dinner, we dined on - what else? - Frankfurters and potatoes, a side dish staple. For dessert we made berliner krapfen, German jelly doughnuts. These were nothing short of scrumptious, a huge hit for everyone. During dinner we listened to a Beethoven CD.
Our requisite German flags and study of what the colors represent-
We read this book to learn about German geography, history, culture, leisure activities, and some German words/phrases-
in the book we learned how many fairy tales originate from Germany (the Grimm brothers), like Snow White and Rapunzel. We also learned the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

We also learned about the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born in Germany, and what songs he composed and how he started to go deaf at age 28, yet continued to compose music.
We listened to some of his works (including Fur Elise and Ode to Joy) and then found other things in our house that play Beethoven's music, like Isabel's Magic Wand Princess Laptop, which she was delighted to learn plays two of Beethoven's songs.
I showed the children some of Beethoven's sheet music and gave them a quick and basic music lesson, then had them each "compose" their own song on paper, and then sing it to me. I was quite impressed with the results! Isabel's piece:
and Connor's piece - I'm not sure why he felt he needed a clock on it...?
and we read this quirky book about Beethoven's many moves and how his 5 legless pianos were moved-

We learned about the beautiful Black Forest
and pretended to take a trip to the thermal baths at the spa town of Baden-Baden in the Black Forest. The kids changed into their swimsuits, and we made a homemade banana-oatmeal mask. I gave the kids a mini-spa treatment with the facial mask, eye pillows, and a little massage, followed by warm bubble baths - perfect for right before bed!

These country studies have been such a fantastic experience for all of us. The kids got so much more into it than I expected, and learned a lot. They keep talking about all the things we did and what they liked about each of the countries. I love how it brought things to life while we watched the Olympics. We will definitely do this again for the 2012 London Summer games.

At stake women's conference yesterday the keynote speaker talking about the importance of teaching culture to our children, and commented that children raised on burgers and fries will never learn to appreciate gourmet food. So I guess that's what I'm trying to do - give my kids "gourmet" experiences that they will remember and that will boost their desire to learn more about the world around them. It's humbling to really reflect on the huge role we play in teaching our children. Those little brains are so receptive and love being filled with knowledge. I need to always remember to fill them with good things. And in the end, they really teach me so much more than I could ever teach them.

We've had a great time watching the Olympics; Connor loved ski jumping, Isabel loved figure skating, Lucas just kept saying he wanted to do all the events. I still love Shaun White, figure skating, and that USA/Canada gold medal hockey game was awesome, despite the outcome. The kids LOVED watching the little videos of the 3 Olympics mascots on the Vancouver2010 website. They remember the names of the mascots Sumi, Quatchi and Miga and loved hearing the mascots' favorite sports, activities, foods and colors. It's been fun.

Norway and Russia

In continuing with our study of countries during the Olympics...

Norway
Our (very white) dinner consisted of Norwegian fiskeboller (boiled fish dumplings), which had a decent flavor but very unpleasant consistency. I'm glad I also made homemade fish sticks with homemade tartar sauce to supplement dinner. I also served mashed potatoes, a Norwegian meal staple. Forgot a vegetable side dish, the dinner could have used some more color. :)
For dessert I made sitronfromasj, a Norwegian lemon mousse with whipped cream. This was very tasty!
We made Norwegian flags
We read this book to learn about Norwegian culture, geography, history and people
and read this book, which is set on a Scandinavian farm
we also read these two books-
and then we made a Viking helmet
and each took turns dressing like a Viking, complete with a brooch as they liked to wear
and then we pretended to sail on a Viking ship and explore new lands (we decided to forgo the plundering and such).

We learned about the Viking runic alphabet, and each chose a runic character to script on a rock. Runes were thought to have magical properties, and when carved into small stones, they were used to tell the future, heal the sick, and bless people, places and objects. Our runes say giant, sun and water.

Russia
For dinner I made rice pilaf and chicken ptichki, which was cubed chicken marinated in pureed onion and garlic, salt and pepper, then skewered and quickly fried, then baked over a bed of carrots, celery and onions. It was actually pretty good.
and for dessert, Russian almond cookies. Mega yum. I love anything almond flavored.
I borrowed my friend's Russian matryoshka nesting dolls and we took turns playing with them
We read this book and learned about Russian geography, culture, history, people, language and customs
In the book we learned about Faberge eggs, and how a jeweler made gold and silver eggs adorned with jewels that the Russian tsars in the 1880s would give away as gifts at Easter time. We painted gold eggs and adorned them with "jewels"
These were a major hit. Connor said that making Faberge eggs was even more exciting than being a Viking.

We made the Russian flag

and read these two children's books that are set in Russia.
We all completely loved these books. They were beautiful stories with breathtaking illustrations, like this

I only have one more country planned. They kids are going to be disappointed; Connor wakes up every day excitedly asking what country we are visiting next.

First grade concert

Last night was Connor's first grade choir concert, called "Weather the Weather." It was so incredibly cute and entertaining! The kids were supposed to dress in "weather wear." Connor didn't want to dress FOR the weather, he wanted to BE the weather. He insisted on going as a thunderstorm. His teacher thought that was a cute idea, so that's what we did.
A couple of clips from some of the songs-







and him saying his part, which he was so excited about. He was a weather anchor, and his part was, "Sounds like a wet day in the Northeast. Let's see what's happening down South." He did fantastic!



I love these school years. Connor asked me after the concert if I cried some "happy tears" and of course the answer was yes. He knows me too well. I'm just a proud mama, and I can't stop the tears of joy and pride. We were happy that Brian's parents were able to attend the concert as well, and we all came back to our house for ice cream sundaes after the concert to celebrate Connor's performance.

Canada and China

In continuing with our study of different countries well-represented at the winter Olympics, here are two other countries we've studied. (France is in the previous post).

Canada
We did Canada during the opening ceremonies. Before dinner, we had a taste test with pure maple syrup versus Aunt Jemima. Everyone chose the pure maple syrup, except Lucas, who preferred the artificial stuff. Then for dinner we had pancakes with choice of syrup, and Canadian bacon.
After dinner we read a couple of books to learn about Canadian culture, people, places, animals and geography-

and we colored Canadian flags. Connor has been extremely into the flag making, it's been his favorite. Isabel opted to just color a picture of Canada, complete with mountains, fish, berries, and the words "Canada" and "Olympics."
then we made a drink called Canadian Pride, which consisted of pure maple syrup, grapefruit juice, and Canada Dry Ginger Ale. It was interesting, but the kids liked it enough to each finish their glass. We toasted the opening ceremonies (my kids are really into doing toasts and saying cheers)-

China
Our Chinese meal consisted of Asian chicken, vegetables and noodles, with egg rolls. We used my jade chopsticks that a friend had brought me from Singapore years ago. Connor is truly the chopsticks champion in our family, it's like he was born using them. Some of the others, not so much. But everyone had a blast trying.
after dinner we read this book-
and then ate fortune cookies

we made Chinese flags and learned what the colors and stars represent-
and read this book to learn a bit about Chinese history, culture, facts, and language-
and learned how to write a few words using Chinese characters. I think Connor wrote mom, sesame, horse and hello. I was rather impressed with his characters!

and we watched a video of a Chinese dragon dance

This has seriously been so much fun for everyone. It's really not been that much work, just a bit of planning. And the kids are LOVING it so much that it has totally been worth any effort I've put into it.