Crimean Peninsula

With Crimea's decision to join the Russian Federation, we have spent some time discussing border changes in class.  The other day, I stood in front of the map, during period 6, and colored it yellow (Russia).  Students asked about the dark line between the Czech Republic and Slovakia...and I explained the Velvet revolution.

Then they asked about the dark line at the bottom of Yugoslavia...again I explained about Kosovo's independence.  Now I just placed a line at the top of the Crimean Peninsula.  At Sprague, we have quite a few Ukrainian and Russian students...one of my students was even born in Yalta...the site of the 1945 conference. 

This is an exciting time for Russia, not so much for the Ukraine.  Students will be learning about other border changes---as we move in the annexations of Germany during the 1930's.  Catherine the Great was thrilled to finally get her port on the Black Sea....and I have always thought that Crimea should be a part of Russia.  Still, it is interesting to see these historic changes come about....

Faberge and the lost world of the Russian Romanov family...

Students in 9th grade history are learning about World War I and the Russian Revolution.  We spend a slide show learning about the Romanovs, the last royal family of Russia.  They will also see in afilm, Rasputin, how the Tsars' bad decisions let to the downfall of the dynasty...and some brutal deaths.

Peter Carl Faberge was the court jeweler to the Romanov family.  Faberge was originally from Baltic Germany, and the Faberge firm was known for their use of precious and semi-precious gemstones, often in whimsical ways.  Since Easter was a major holiday in the Russian Orthodox calendar, eggs were made from precious materials, with different themes, and given to various members of the royal family.

Those are some fancy Easter eggs...most of the eggs are now in the Russian state museums, but Queen Elizabeth of England also owns the greatest number outside of Russia.

The Russian Royal eggs are tinged with sadness....a time when Russia oppressed its poor and communist cells plotted to take over the government. It all came tumbling down into a chaotic revolution that took hundreds of thousands of lives.

Olympics and Sports Nationalism

Ninth grade students are learning about the America's new frontiers in their Imperialism unit.  After the Wild West was tamed, America needed a new frontier.  Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines were areas where America expanded in territory and influence.

Sports supported this idea of competition.  They evolved into national events such as the Olympics and the Tour de France. Since that time, many Olympics have been held.  Some have been tainted (such as the Berlin 1936 Olympics), others have been subject to terrorist attacks (Munich Olympics), while others have been boycotted...Moscow and Los Angeles.   This year the Olympics are going to be held in Sochi, Russia.  This is a fantastic opportunity for Russia to host an Olympics since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the communist regimes of Eastern Europe.  Students in ninth grade will be receiving a mini-lesson on the Olympics when they begin in February. 
The first modern day Olympics was held in Athens, Greece in 1896.  It was based on Baron de Coubertin's own philosophy:

The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.



 

Buffalo in Oregon

Students in 9th grade have been learning about the settling of the west.  They have learned about how the Indians were forced to assimilate.  They have read quotes about "soddies" and "rattlesnake dens."   They have also learned about how the buffalo were exterminated by the advance of manifest destiny.

The history of the buffalo also includes part of the boundaries of the state of Oregon.  The lower southeast corner of the state once had numerous herds of  plains bison.  By 1887, these buffalo were eliminated from Oregon.  Now, students eagerly shared their experiences of seeing buffalo in farms throughout the Willamette Valley.  There is even a rare herd of white buffalo in Oregon.  Students also learned that the handiest way to kill the buffalo was to herd them over cliffs, where they were easier to slaughter after their limbs were broken.

Rat Kings and the Bishop of Hatto

Students in Reading Your Way through History, my fifth period class have moved into the middle ages where they are reading various novels that take place during this time.  They learned about King Canute, King Alfred, and more recently the Pied Pier of Hamelin.  We had a discussion about rats and their own role in folk history and fears.  The rats that we have in Salem are the descendants of the Norwegian plague rats that came across on ships.  These rats do not carry the bubonic plague any more...but they are still a nuisance. Bishop Hatto, who lived during the 8th century, had a reputation as a cruel and heartless man who locked up his peasants, but was latter devoured by rats when his deed was uncovered.

But what is really startling are the very rare discoveries of rat kings---when rats become stuck in small places, their tales become tangled and they cannot escape.  There are rat kings that have been discovered and preserved.

Rat kings, and the idea of a king rat are usually signs of bad omens in stories and legends.   They have mostly been found in medieval houses in Germany, but others have been found outside of Europe.  Pretty creepy, huh?

Salem's Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The history of the bridges over the Willamette River begins in December 1886 with the opening of the first Center Street Bridge. It was felt necessary to tie Salem and West Salem together. Before that time the only river crossing was by ferry. This was the first bridge over the Willamette anywhere in Oregon, the Morrison Street Bridge in Portland not opening until April of 1887. That first bridge cost $49,901 and was constructed mostly of wood. It was located in the wrong position in relation to river currents and collapsed with a crash on February 3, 1890 during a flood...
Seven years earlier, across the country, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened after years of hard work and for the time, the latest technological advances.  It became the first bridge to be "lit" with electricity, and for New Yorkers it remains an icon of achievement and the industrial age.

Welcome Back---Fall 2013

Greetings to my new students--especially to the "new" 9th graders.  Mrs. Olsen spent the most of the summer in Oregon, but she was down in California learning about the Transcontinental Railroad.  She even got a private tour of tunnels 6 and 7--where the railroad workers bored down through granite to open the route through the Sierra Mountains of California.

However, the real highlight for her was a visit to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento where she saw Patty Reed's tiny doll that she carried with her through the Donner Party ordeal of 1846.  The Donner Party was trapped in the mountains of the Sierra for months after they fell behind in the Nevada Desert.  While traveling through the desert, the party was forced to leave their supplies behind and travel light in an effort to make a dash across the mountains before the winter snow hit.  They didn't make it...and the Donner Party's resort to cannibalism has made it one of the most infamous stories in the Old West.

However, Patty Reed was only eight....and she kept one little belonging hidden from her family...a small doll only 3 1/2 inches high.  She tucked it into her underskirt's pocket and kept it there.  Imagine this little girl, in such terrible circumstances, patting her little doll in the pocket, like a small friend, during the endless days of cold and hunger.