Co-op in Review: April 18, 2013

This week, our students read about a Captain of Industry--Andrew Carnegie.  They also learned about the Oklahoma land rush and life on the frontier and some levels continued to study the great waves of immigrants that came to the US during this period in history.  The Dialectic class is in the middle of a three week unit on Immigration.  This week, they each brought in a suitcase filled with items they would take with them if they were to leave their homes forever.  Some of the kids also dressed like immigrants.  They then did a simulation of Ellis Island, where the kids had to go through stations, being questioned in languages that they did not understand!  At the end, they learned whether they would be allowed to stay in America or not!  The Upper Grammar class made wallets!  They studied a rich, rich man this week, Andrew Carnegie, and rich people need a place to put all that money.  The wallets were made out of tetra pack boxes and duct tape.  The boys did a great job!  In Lower Grammar, the kids were given a variety of materials and asked to make items to sell in a store, much like the stores on the frontier of Oklahoma.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "The Big Green Pocketbook".  It's the story of a little girl who fills her pocketbook with mementos of the places she goes with her mother.  The kids then made their own big, green pocketbooks!