Co-op in Review: September 24, 2015

This week, our Dialectic and Grammar students learned about the Mongols.  The mongols were a cruel and savage warrior race that carved out the largest land empire of all time.  The two most famous Mongol leaders were Genghis Kahn and his grandson, Kublai Kahn.  In order to link our studies of Europe to this ancient Asian culture, the kids traced the exciting travels of Marco Polo and his father from Europe, through the lands of the Mongols to China.  The Rhetoric class remained focused on western Europe this week, following the development of trade and towns.  They discussed the development of guilds and analyzed how the establishment of towns weakened feudal relationships.  The Dialectic class made awesome Samurai hats, in celebration of their studies of ancient Japan.  The Upper Grammar class made salt maps of Marco Polo's journeys.  They will paint the maps next week in class.  The Lower Grammar class made paper!  They followed ancient methods of drying and straining pulp into sheets that can be written on.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "Chanticleer and the Fox."  It's the adapted (from Geoffrey Chaucer) story of a rooster who struts around all day, but when a fox bursts onto the scene, the boastful rooster must do some quick thinking to save the barnyard.  The kids made adorable, colorful cone-shaped roosters.