Co-op in Review: February 12, 2015

The last few weeks, we've learned about two powerful empires that God has raised up to punish the Israelites--the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  Now, there's a new force to be reckoned with--Persia.  The Persians take over what was Assyria and Babylonia.  In fact, their territory eventually expands from Egypt to India and all the way up to modern day Turkey and even creeps into Europe.  In addition to reading about this powerful and expanding military and political force, we learn about a Bible story that takes place in the middle of the Persian Empire--the story of Queen Esther, a Jewish girl who stands up to the wicked Hamman and boldly approaches to the king to save her people.  The Jewish people still celebrate this brave woman, Esther, today with a feast and celebration known as Purim.  The Dialectic class discussed the Persian expansion and the royal succession of Persian monarchs in great detail, while continuing to plan their Greek vase project by using balloons and recyclables to construct their vase forms.  The Upper Grammar class celebrated the joyous holiday of Purim with one of our favorite guests, Mr. Joe Simon.  Joe answered the kids questions about Purim while the class proceeded through the four parts of an authentic Purim feast.  The kids enjoyed learning about the holiday, dressing in costume and eating the traditional Purim treats--hammantashen.  They also made spoon puppets of the four main characters in the book of Esther.  The Lower Grammar class had a great time making beautiful celebratory noisemakers like those that Jewish children enjoy playing at their own Purim feasts, as Purim is one of the only Jewish holidays that is happy and even a bit rowdy at times.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "Mr. Gumpy's Outing."  It's the story of Mr. Gumpy who heads out in his boat, and is soon joined by so many others that there is no where else to go but overboard!  The kids then had fun going over board doing activities and crafts about Mr. Gumpy and his overflowing boat full!!