Blog Posting for 10/17/2014
This week news4kids.org aired the following stories:
Hot Air Balloon Caving K-2
Star Spangled Banner Anniversary 3-5
Lego Art Exhibit K-2
Samurai Horseback Archery 3-5
Newscast: Hot Air Balloon Caving K-2
Essential Question: What world record did Ivan Trifonov recently set?
Vocabulary: pilot, hot air balloon, Mamet Cave, Croatia, parachute, dense, propane, envelope, feat
Learning Objectives:
– Identify Ivan Trifonov as the world-record-setting pilot who flew his hot air balloon into the Mamet Cave in Croatia.
– Explain how hot air rises, propelling the hot air balloon upward.
Summary: Usually, when you think about a hot air balloon, you probably imagine it flying up into the air, right? Well, for the first time, a hot air balloon pilot has flown his hot air balloon underground.The pilot and adventurer is Seventy-year-old Ivan Trifonov. Trifonov, successfully landed his hot air balloon inside the famous Mamet Cave in southern Croatia. The cave is 200 meters deep and its opening is about 50 meters wide at ground level.
Newscast: Star Spangled Banner Anniversary 3-5
Essential Question: What is the significance of America’s national anthem?
Vocabulary: anthem, patriotism, Francis Scott Key, War of 1812, confrontation, Revolutionary War, territorial disputes, Fort McHenry, bombardment, manuscript, indivisible
Learning Objectives:
– Identify The Star-Spangled Banner as America’s national anthem.
– Identify Francis Scott Key as the poet who authored The Star-Spangled Banner.
– Explain that the anthem was written by Key upon the conclusion of the Battle of Fort McHenry, marking the end of the War of 1812.
Summary: Americans celebrated the 200th anniversary of the writing of the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, with a weekend-long series of concerts, historical reenactments, and the largest fireworks display in the history of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Many famous singers came together to perform patriotic songs in celebration of the American flag and the anthem.
Newscast: Lego Art Exhibit K-2
Essential Question: What is so special about Nathan Sawaya’s artwork?
Vocabulary: LEGO, blueprint
Learning Objectives:
– Identify Nathan Sawaya as an artist who makes one-of-a-kind LEGO sculptures.
– Explain how Nathan plans and constructs his sculptures.
Summary: An art exhibit is taking place in London that features 80 art sculptures made of more than one million LEGO bricks. Nathan Sawaya is the artist of the one-of-a-kind LEGO sculptures, many of which represent human figures. His only materials are small LEGO plastic bricks and tubes of glue.
Newscast: Samurai Horseback Archery 3-5
Essential Question: What is the history behind samurai horseback archery?
Vocabulary: archery, ritual, Yabusame, shogun, samurai, amulet, nobility, bushido, frugality, loyalty, Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism, Shinto, legacy
Learning Objectives:
– Define Yabusame as an ancient Japanese horseback archery ritual that began 12 centuries ago to train samurai warriors.
– Define samurai as military nobility whose teachings are still a part of everyday Japanese culture.
– Define a shogun as a Japanese military general.
Summary: This week, 10,000 spectators headed to Turugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura, Japan to watch an ancient horseback archery ritual called “Yabusame”.
The ritual began 12 centuries ago when the first Shogun, or military general, of the Kamakura region of Japan, was concerned that his samurai lacked proper archery skills. 800 years ago the practice became a ritualized offering to the god of archery and war, but today it is more of a tourist attraction to the town of Kamakura.
