Kindergarteners Go Around The World: Week 10 – Russia
This post is part of the series “Around the World in 28 Weeks: Art, Literature & Geography Lessons for Kindergarten.” For an introduction, overview of the entire course, and links to more lesson plans, please click here. Thank you for visiting Cotton Ridge Homeschool!
Introduction to Week 10
This week you will be returning with the children in your class to the continent of Europe and introducing them to the country of Russia. You can do the lesson plan activities in the order that you prefer.
For a Printable Lesson Plan Schedule for the entire 28 weeks, please see the Around the World introductory post. Below is a free printable lesson plan for week 10 in PDF format. Just click on the thumbnail below to open and view. For best results, download to your computer or open in Adobe Reader before printing.
Prep Work
- Gather books and supplies (see list below)
- Paint wooden eggs or prepare raw eggs and/or
- Buy heavy cream and prepare jars for butter
- Print out handouts and 3-hole punch them for notebooks (see below)
Check back during the year, as I will be adding pictures of completed projects and let you know if the kids enjoyed the lesson and any changes I would make for next time. Thanks for joining us!
Disclosure: The books and supply links below lead to products on Amazon. I am an affiliate and will receive a small commission if these links are used to make a purchase.
Week 10 Lesson Plan
Date and Destination
Date: First Week of November**
Continent: Europe
Country: Russia
Pretend Passport: Please see Week 2 for suggestions on how to use the Play Passports
Reading (10 – 15 minutes)
Story: The Determined Frog, The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book
Discussion: Ask questions to determine reading comprehension; tailor these to your children’s ages and abilities. Depending on the size of your class and as time permits, try to allow each child to participate. Don’t drag this part on too long or your kids will lose interest. Here are a few to get you started:
- Did you like the story? Why or why not?
- What was your favorite part?
- Questions based on the Who?, What?, Why?, When?, and How? of a story are great for getting kids thinking.
Geography (5 – 15 minutes)
Globe or Wall Map Activity: With your class,
- find the Continent of Europe
- point out the different countries on the continent, including Russia
- find the capitol of Russia: Moscow.
Russia Map Handout*: Pass out the Map Handout to your class and allow them to color the page as time permits. You may want this to be the last activity of your class so they can be kept busy until the next class starts or until their parents pick them up. Have the kids place their handouts in their World Traveler Notebook (3-ring binder) before they leave.
Below is a free printable Russia Map Handout in PDF format. Just click on the thumbnail below to open and view. For best results, download to your computer or open in Adobe Reader before printing.
Art (20 – 30 minutes)
Jeweled Eggs from Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World
Instead of making Jeweled Eggs, you can make butter (see below).
Other Activities (15 – 30 minutes)
Make Butter: Provide each child with a pint jelly jar with lid, half-filled with heavy cream. (Note: carton must be labeled “Heavy Cream.” You can find this in a grocery store near the milk.) To save time in class, write each child’s name on a lid beforehand.
Tell the kids to shake their jar vigorously until lumps start to form in the jar. Depending on the temperature in your room, this could take from 5 to 15 minutes. The lumps are butter, and the remaining liquid is buttermilk.
There is an additional step of “cleaning” the butter that our class is not going to do. For a wonderful history of butter and detailed instructions on how to make and clean butter, please see this post from The Old Fashioned Way.
This activity can double as a snack: you can drink the buttermilk (or at least taste it), and the butter may be spread on crackers right out of the jar. If you don’t want the kids to open their jars – to prevent a potential mess – make another jar of butter while the kids are making theirs. This way you only have to open one jar for the snack. Store the kids’ jars in a cooler until time to go home.
Russia Facts & Flag Handout*: Pass out and read this handout to your class and allow them to color the page as time permits. You may want this to be the last activity of your class so they can be kept busy until the next class starts or until their parents pick them up. Have the kids place their handouts in their World Traveler Notebook (3-ring binder) before they leave.
Following is a free printable Facts & Flag Handout in PDF format. Just click on the thumbnail below to open and view. For best results, download to your computer before printing.
*If there is not time in class, provide these as handouts for the kids to do at home. The pages can go in their World Traveler Notebooks as a record of their journeys.
**Our homeschool coop begins during the last week of August, but the Around the World course can be started at any time of year. Some re-arranging of the weekly plans may be necessary due to holidays, but with a little planning ahead of time, this should be very manageable.
Supply Lists
General Supply List
- Globe
or large World Wall Map
- 3-Ring Binder
for each child for handouts, 1-1/2″ size
- 3-Hole Punch
- Date Stamp
- Markers, crayons, and/or colored pencils
- Roll of paper towels
- Computer and Printer (color printer
Week 10 Supply List
- Book: The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book
- Book: Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World
- Passports and World Traveler Notebooks for each child from Week 1
- Printables from this post: Lesson Plan, Travel Tickets, Passport Stamps, Map Handout, and Facts & Flag Handout
Week 10 Art and Other Activities Supply List
Jeweled Eggs
- Wooden eggs and White paint (instead of raw eggs)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Decorations (sequins, beads, metallic glitter glue, gold and silver rickrack, faux jewels, etc.
- Clay
If making Jeweled Eggs from raw eggs:
- Raw eggs (instead of wooden eggs)
- Darning needle
- Bowl
- Paper towels
- Scissors
- Glue
- Decorations (sequins, beads, metallic glitter glue, gold and silver rickrack, faux jewels, etc.
- Clay
Making Butter
- Heavy cream (near milk in grocery store refrigerator)
- Pint jars with lids
- Crackers (if serving butter on crackers for snack)
- Napkins (if serving butter on crackers for snack)
Copyright 2014 Kathryn Depew
Image of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg from flickr.com used under the Creative Commons license. Image credit: Dennis Jarvis.
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