Iguazu FallsWe started the year off with the DVD of the TV series 'The Mysterious cities of Gold'. It is set in the 1530's and tells the story of an orphan boy Esteban from Spain and his voyage to the New World in search for the lost cities of gold. The girls loved it and learnt heaps about the Mayans, Incans, Aztecs, Olmecs and Toltecs.We also watched the Disney version of 'Pocahontas', it's not the historical version hut it does have a lot of historical figures as it's based around Captain John Smith's discovery and exploration of Jamestown in Virginia and the impending war, between settlers and Indians being averted because of her intervention.
We read 'Squanto' and "North American Indians' which provided heaps of info about native Americans and a first hand account of what it was like for the Indians when Europeans first settled America.
"Sign of the Beaver' was a brilliant story of a young boy who survives in the wilderness with the help of an old Indian and his grandson who befriend him.
The "Thanksgiving Story" tells the story of the Pilgrims arrival and setting up Plymouth Plantation.
"The Lion that Guards Us" tells the story of the second wave of settlers who are shipwrecked in the Caribbean before they are able to rebuild their ship and travel on to Plymouth Plantation.
'The Mayflower Secret" tells the story of the death of William Bradford's wife, the first Governor of Plymouth Plantation.We also read:
The Corn Grows Ripe' a modern day tale of a Mayan boy who had to take on the responsibility of providing for his family when his father has an accident.
'The Secret of the Andes' tells of the adventure of an Incan boy and his pet Llama as they travel through the snow covered Andes.We took a virtual tour of South Americahttp://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/southamerica/a/TravVirtualTour.htm'
Aztecs, Mayans and Incans' is a text book which was incredibly interesting. According to it the Mayans thought being cross eyed was beautiful as were long shaped faces and to make their noses look longer they stuck clay in the ends of them, they filed their teeth to points and covered them with jade or gold. The Incan High Priests had ear lobes that had been stretched till they touched their shoulders and they mummified their High Priests in the same way as the Egyptians and everything, even the gardening utensils of their temples, were made of solid gold or silver.
Horrible Geographies 'Bloomin Rainforest' full of weird and wonderful facts about the animals and plants there.
Simon Bolivar the story of South Americas liberation from the different countries that ruled over each of the individual countries.Brucho the unbelievable true story of a 19 yr old farm boy who works in Venezuela and Columbia with the Motalone Indians there and his incredible adventures.
We took a virtual tour from the Andes to the Amazon, absolutely spectacular! And looked at some of the wildlife .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mH5NaPOShYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta35C488dnE
The girls have done flax weaving, written a secret code using the Mayan alphabet, made their birth date in Quipu the Incan numbering system, made pyramids like the Aztecs, watched YouTube footage of jaguars, panthers, piranhas, sloths, boa constrictors and llamas and each of the famous landmarks such as Lake Titicaca, Angel Falls Iguazu Falls, the Andes and Amazon River and the ruins of the Incans and Mayans
They have read the 'Shining Path' about modern day Communism in South America and the Guerrilla groups. The Jaguar Swamp about the work of Barbrook Grubb and Flight of the Bumble Bee which the movie 'Tip of the Spear' was based on.
They have been learning Spanish this term, highly motivated so that they have a secret language the other can't understand.
