Dictation: Tuesday, June 4th

It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived.

General Knowledge Question of the Week

What is the Serengeti?

General Knowledge: Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar being murdered by members of the Roman Senate

Julius Caesar is one of the best known politicians and war generals history. He was born in a noble but poor Roman family, and made his fortune and reputation first as a soldier. Eventually, he became a great General in the Roman Army, conquering many lands. He was a member of the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus, and as such he was one of the most powerful men in Rome. Ultimately, he fought a great Civil War with Pompey to have complete power over Rome, and ruled for four years afterwards as Dictator. On the Ides of March (March 15th), 44 B.C., he was assassinated by a conspiracy of Senators, including Brutus, because he was a threat to the Roman Republic. A few years later the Republic ended and the Empire began, when Octavius Augustus became the first emperor of Rome.
The month "July" is named after him!

Wild Animals, the Food Chain and The Lion King

As we have been studying different animals, we have become better acquainted with the food chain.

We have shared a scene from the movie The Lion King, where Mufasa explains this to Simba.

Have a nice week end! And here are the correct lyrics from the beginning of the "Circle of life" song!

Dictation: Tuesday, May 28th

All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" 

Good luck :)

General Knowledge Challenge of the Week

Who was Julius Caesar?

General Knowledge: The Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem that tells the story of the last year of the Trojan War. Troy and Greece were at war many thousand years ago, and a poet known as Homer wrote the poem describing what happened during the last year of this war, which lasted for at least ten years. The poem specially describes many characters, heroes from both Troy and Greece. The most famous character from the Iliad is Achilles, but we can also find Hector, Paris, Aeneas or Priamus from Troy, and Agamemnon, Menelaus, Ulysses (also known as Odysseus) from Greece. Another known character is Helen of Troy.

The walls of Troy, as seen in the movie "Troy"

The war began when Paris stole Helen, Menelaus' wife, and took her to Troy. All of Greece, under the king Agamemnon (Menelaus' brother) went to war to defend the honor of the greeks. But Troy had very large walls, so they resisted the attack for ten years, until Ulysses planned for the Greeks to enter the city of Troy inside a giant horse, which was supposed to be a gift from Greece to Troy, because they were no longer at war. However, when the Trojans entered the horse into the city, Greeks attacked Troy until the city lost the war.
The episode with the giant horse, which is the end of the Trojan War, however, is not found on the Iliad! The Iliad centers on the part Achilles plays in the war, and how his anger almost made Greece lose the war. He fights with (and kills) the Trojan hero Hector.

Brad Pitt plays Achilles in "Troy"

Another poem by Homer is the Odyssey, which tells the story of how Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, returns to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan war. It took him another ten years to return to his house, because Poseidon, the God of the Sea, was angry with him!
The movie Troy, released in the year 2004, tells the story of this war.

Semana de mayo

Chicos: Les comparto algunos links para que puedan investigar en diferentes lugares lo sucedido en la semana de mayo... ¡Hagan click en los enlaces!
¡Mañana con todo el material prepararemos una linda cartelera para recordar la semana de mayo!



http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revoluci%C3%B3n_de_Mayo

http://www.me.gov.ar/efeme/25demayo/semana.html

http://www.elportaleducativo.com.ar/calendario/semanaMayo.htm

http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/articulos/independencia/semana_de_mayo.php

General Knowledge Question of the Week

What is the "Iliad"?

General Knowledge: The Moais

The Moais are statues that can be found in the Easter Island, 

in Polynesia. Easter Island is a part of Chile,although it is very far away in the Pacific Ocean. The people who were originally from the island are called Rapa Nui, and made hundreds of these statues from rock. Almost all of them have very large heads, and their faces have very enigmatic expressions. They were most likely made between the years 1250 and 1500, and represented the ancestors of the Rapa Nui.

The Rapa Nui National Park and the moai are included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites and consequently the United Nations convention concerning the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage.

General Knowledge Question of the Week

    
What are the Moais?

May 14: Dictation

Next Tuesday we will have a new Dictation:

Matilda starts school late. (Her parents forgot to send her.) Her teacher is Miss Honey, and she is the best teacher in the world. The head teacher is Miss Trunchbull. She is the worst teacher in the world and she hates children!
Miss Trunchbull frightens the children and Miss Honey. But then Matilda discovers something very unusual about herself, and everything changes.

Dictation

Next Tuesday (May 7th) we will have a Dictation.

You should be acquainted with the following text.
Good Luck!

Matilda is a very clever little girl. She reads all the books in the local library before she even starts school. She can multiply big numbers in her head quickly. But her parents aren't interested in her. They like money and TV, and they don't like books!