Co-op in Review: February 6, 2014

This week, we are in the midst of learning about the struggles this country faced in granting all of its citizens equal rights.  In the southern states, black citizens did not have equal opportunities.  They did not have the same schools as whites, could not eat at the same restaurants or use the same bathrooms or drinking fountains.  This was a sad reality, and it was going to be changing.  But, the changes wouldn't come without a fight.  This week, we learned about several parts of this fight.  We learned about the freedom rides, in which young people rode busses in order to bring the nation's attention to the problem of segregation on the interstate bus system.  And, we learned about the Little Rock 9, which were nine high school students who braved the system and enrolled in a large, white public high school in Little Rock.  They met resistance, yet made their marks on history, helping the cause of desegregation.  Also, the kids learned about the hero of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, who taught his followers to protest with non-violence.  The Dialectic kids were in their second week of their Civil Rights unit.  They continued to work on their research projects, delving deeper into these divisive, yet crucial, issues.  The Upper Grammar kids got their hands messy as they made handprint posters with quotes from Martin Luther King.  They also made MLK paper doll garlands!  The Lower Grammar class made frisbees out of card stock.  Frisbees were popular toys for kids and adults during this time in history.  The Five in a Row class continued their travels around the world.  This week they read the story, "Another Celebrated Dancing Bear".  It's the story of a bear who learns how to dance and joins the circus.  The story takes place in Russia and the kids learned about the unique and beautiful architecture of Russia, making onion top building pictures out of brightly colored paper.  They turned out beautifully!