First "Big" School Project

I have been very impressed with the use of projects at A's school to help with learning, but I have to say I was nervous when the "Cultural/ Country Project" assignment came home. Each child had to pick a country or culture and then research it. It was very clear this was to be "Student Led with only guidance from parents/ caregivers" The kids had to research 5 facts, and in A's case, write 2-3 supporting sentences (this part of the assignment varied based on the child)

A chose to do a display board, and the country of choice - RUSSIA

She got right to work picking her 5 fact - geography, animals, money, the alphabet, and the Russian ballet - she found those by going through a kid's atlas we own.

She was so funny asking for computer time once I showed her how to "google" and I loved when she was get excited from learning something new.

My role was to find "stuff" - I had a Russian hockey jersey I had gotten from a college friend, and when my uncle had travelled to St Petersburg, he had brought A back a set of nesting dolls. We also borrowed his pictures and a beautiful Fabrage egg pendant he had brought back for my aunt. Hubby talked to 2 coworkers from Russia who gave us Rubles.

As she started to work on the project, it became obvious that she understood this was "her" project. I had a hard time not making suggestions until I got "mom, who's project is this?" I was relegated to "Line drawer".

The day the project was due, I set it up carefully with all the other parents in the MPR. A came right over to get ready. She was first up and pointed out everything on her display and then some. She was most proud to have learned how to say "good by" in Russian :)

She had fun with the whole thing, and I hope that this is just the start. All the kids seemed to really enjoy this fun way of exploring other countries and they loved "teaching" us adults.