Lydia, Carol (my fellow TGC teacher from West Virginia), Me, and the School Principal
Today was our first day at Zaporizhia Classical Lyceum! We’ll be here for the next week, hosted by our partner teacher, Lydia, and the rest of the school community. Today, we observed several classes and met with the administrative team. This school has been recently ranked in the top 25 schools in all of Ukraine! It’s a music focused specialized public school, sort of like a charter or magnet school. All students play a musical instrument!
As excited as I am to learn about their school, Classical Lyceum staff and students are interested to know about us. So, I have a challenge for any IACS students who are reading this. Today, I videotaped Ukrainian students asking questions about you. They are eagerly awaiting your answers, and there will even be a souvenir prize from Ukraine for my favorite three responses. I’ll be looking for creativity!
Your challenge: Watch this video, and reply in one of the following ways. You are most likely to get through if you complete this by Tuesday, April 24th.
- Answer one of their questions in the comments section of this post.
- Get parent help to film and post a video response.
- Email Ms. Krakauer with your answers (in writing or pictures)
- Ask your own questions of the students here.
The Classical Lyceum
We are looking forward to hearing your replies!
Categories: Ukraine
Innovation on Earth 
Hi Sara-
I’m enjoying following your trip! I’m impressed with the student’s English skills. Can you share more about the language learning? Looking forward to reading more….
Hi! My name is Anna, and I’m a 6th grader from HB Edelman!
Anne, I would say that the school I go to is pretty fun! The 6th graders have: Math, English Language Arts (ELA), Science, Social Studies, Challenge, Health, Art, Spanish or Math Enrichment. The 5th graders have the same subjects as the 6th graders, but instead of Spanish or Math Enrichment, they have Critical Reading and Thinking.
In each class, we work on Rubrics, Projects, or whatever you want to call them, every once and awhile. Our lessons are pretty educational, I would say.
In Math, we learned about Volume, Surface Area, Solids, and Congruent Figures. We just had a Math Test on them on April 13th, Friday.
In ELA, we are working on writing articles that are based on a book that our group read. We were all sorted into groups to read a book, each group reads a different book.
We just had our last class in Science recently. Now, we are already starting our last quarter in Social Studies (our school year has 4 quarters, 2 for Science, and 2 for Social Studies, they switch off)! It’s really sad, but happy because next year, 6th graders will move on to 7th grade and we will have new teachers to teach us!
During Challenge (which was two quarters ago), we exercise. This year in Health, we just learn about how to be healthy, and…..(gulp)…….you guessed it, puberty.
In Art, we are learning about the history of Art. For example, famous artists, such as: Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso. Or differnet kinds of Art, like: Pop (short for ‘Popular’) Art, Surrealism, Impressionism, and Illustration.
Now, I am a 6th grader that goes to Spanish, and not Math Enrichment. In Spanish, we are learning some Weather Vocabulary (translated into Spanish, of course). 6th graders that have Math Enrichment, pretty much just have an extra Math Class (I think).
In Critical Reading and Thinking, all the 5th graders do is, read (I think). They probably also do activities like, reading a book in groups, or listing charactistics about a book or character, also in a group.
For Free Time, we have Lunch/Recess which is when we have our lunch, and then we go outside to play sports, or just hang out with our friends! This year, we usually have it after we have Project class, which is Science, or Social Studies.
Right after that, we have Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), which is just when we go to our home room, homebase, home classroom, or whatever you want to call it, and read quietly until our next class.
Overall, the word I think describes my school best, is organized. They (the school) sorts out the classes for all of the grades very carefully. You must know, that this school is school that started not too long ago, and is still changing in many ways. Sometimes, even FUN ways! I’ve heard that the school is planning to add a bigger gym (I think)!
Sorry that my response is bit long, but I wanted to make sure you know what my school is like more.
Now here’s a question for YOU!
Do you LOVE (or at least like) animals??? If so, what is your absolute FAVORITE animal???
I’m an animal lover, and just love being around nature! My favorite animal is a probably a dolphin, they are friendly, happy, playful, curious, and smart! It’s fun to watch them jump out of the water, whether in small groups or in a giant pod!
Anna, you are doing a fabulous job following! I am very impressed. I will have to wait until Monday to pass this along to Anne, but I will definitely share it.
Hello Anne, Marina and Polina, I’m Sarah and I’m a 6th grader in Homebase Edelman with Anna, my best friend (or at least one of them).
Polina- My favorite type of music is modern, like pop. I like many different genres of music, so I don’t have a favorite. Classical music may be old, but it is traditional and beautiful, and I think this is one of my favorites.
By the way, Polina, I like your name.
Anne- Innovation Academy Charter School is a great place to be. The staff and students (ex.Anna) are very nice, and I have lots of friends there.
The classes we take are: ELA (English Language Arts), Math, Spanish/Math Enrichment (you take Math Enrichment if you are struggling with Math, and Spanish and Math Enrichment are only for the 6th graders), SSR (a time when we read), Science and Social Studies, Gym, Art, and Health. The 5th graders take CTR, which stands for Critical Thinking and Reading.
In Spanish, we learn nouns, verbs, and adjectives in Spanish. For example, SIMPATICO/A means nice. COMER means to eat. LA ALUMNA is a girl student. There are three Spanish teachers: Senora Hawthorne, Senora U (her last name is hard to spell), and Senora Schmalz. My teacher is Senora H.
I don’t take math enrichment, but I believe that they review lessons that they have already learned, and they re-do them in a way that the students understand. It is taught by Mr.O’Donnell, or Mr.O for short.
CTR is a 5th grade only subject. I believe (I’m in 6th grade, so I don’t know) that they read and they gather in bookgroups to discuss the book. I’m not sure, though. It is taught by Mrs.Orpen.
ELA is taught by Miss Anderson. Right now, we are working on bookgroups. Some of the books we read were Coraline, The Westing Game, Among the Hidden, Fantastic Mr.Fox, Shredderman. When our groups finish the book, we are to right an article about a character in the book, and describe an event they encountered. After that, we will put all our articles together to form a newspaper.
Math is taught by Miss Paquette (soon to be Mrs.Fallon). Ms.P is also my Homebase teacher. In math, we are working on the geometry unit, which is figures, volume, area, etc. Like Anna mentioned, we had our first geometry quiz on Friday the 13th of April.
Science is taught by Mr.Maier. We are done with science for the year, but in quarters 1 & 3, we had science. In Q1, Mr.M taught us about geology and topography. It was mapping, rocks, weathering and erosion. We did a lab on which rocks weather first.
In Q3, we learned about astronomy. It was the moon, the planet’s distance from the sun, and learning about planets of our choice. For the end-of-the-quarter project, I studied Saturn.
I don’t know if Ms.Krakauer told you yet, but she is our social studies teacher. She taught us in Q2 and is presently teaching us now, in Q4 with Mr.McNaughton.
In Q2, we learned about Early America, like when slaves and pilgrims existed. We had three major projects, The Christopher Columbus Trial, the Money Matters Game Board, and the Slave and Colonist Poem.
Now, in Q4, we are learning about Civilizations of the World (different cultures). It’s called the Holy C.O.W. unit. Right now, we are learning about Europe, where you live (Ukraine is in Europe, correct?). We are having a quiz on Europe’s physical features on April 26.
Art is taught by Ms.McNamara, or Miss Mac, for short. We are working on our final projects for Art. It is picking an art movement (ex.Surrealism) and creating a drawing, painting, or collage based on the Art movement. I chose surrealism, so I am creating a collage.
Gym is taught by Mr.McKinnon. We do sports and other excersises in Gym (ex. yoga).
Health is taught by Marge Marukas. She likes o be called by her first name. In Q3, we learned about healthy foods. Unfortunately, as Anna said, the next unit is puberty (oh no!). Luckily, they separate the boys and the girls.
Lunch and Recess- Since I’m on the Community Membership Team, we have lunch first, and then recess. The Effective Communication Team has recess and then lunch. At lunch you can sit anywhere, and there are 4 nut-free tables where kids allergic to nuts sit. At recess, some people just hang out, some people play soccer, football, or basketball.
SSR is in Homebase (HB) and is 20 minutes of reading.
HB is where both 5th and 6th graders in a hb work on portfolio stuff. A portfolio is a large black binder where you showcase your projects (rubrics) that are at least a Proficient. We also do other things, like decorate the HB, we occasionally play games, too.
Transportation- some kids take the bus, some kids walk, and some kids carpool. I take the bus. It is expensive-it’s $700! It picks us up after 7 AM, and drops us off at school before 8 AM, the time when school starts.
Three words I would use to describe IACS are: organized, high-expectations, and for the most part, patient. A lot of people are kind, and it’s easy to make friends here.
Marina- I do have a pet! Her name is Gracie, and she’s a cat. She has grey fur with white paws, and a white neck. She is so adorable! She has her own bed in my room, it is an American Girl Doll bed. She stays in it for hours! Gracie is 2 years old (14 in human years) and she will be 3 on August 24, 2012. She was born in 2009.
I forget who asked this question, but my favorite movie is “The Hunger Games” Staring Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss.
Now I have a few questions for you guys!
1.) If you could pick any animal to transform into, what animal would you be and why?
I would be a cat, mostly because they are my favorite animal.
2.) What is your favorite American quality that you see a lot of in Ukraine?
3.) Do you have any siblings?
I have a younger brother named Andrew who is 8.
4.) What’s one word that you would use to describe yourself?
Me: Energetic.
Sarah — this is great! I shared some of it today with Anne, and will try to share the rest tomorrow. Thanks for your response! Happy back to school!
Sorry my last comment was so long!
Ms.K, are we going to get replies from the students of Classical Lycem?
I’m working on it — yes! I hope so.
Thanks Ms. Krakauer!
🙂
Mrs.Krakauer i got a ? to ask you. I got to know how the Ukrainian food tasted like i might want to visit ukrain someday plz reply. Can’t wait to see you again.
Hi, I’m Evelyn from HB EDELMAN i am also a 5th grader at I.A.C.S &
Here are my answers to the ? some of the kids asked.
Answer-
Polina- i really like hip hop and rnb
Marina- i don’t have a pet but if i do i would want to have a Yorkshire terrier which is a dog if you dont know
Rostik- My fav video game is sing it i really love to sing so i love that game
Lera- My fav film is The Hunger Games ifthis is not a film well, sorry
Jack- My fav sport is mainly soccer i play football sometimes too
Sasha- In my free time i like to play with my younger brother or i play my Kindle fire it is really fun
Anne- Our school is awesome we have English lang. art (e.l.a for short) Before break we had spirit week if you don’t know what it is it is a week when the whole school CAN participate in anything the poster tells you. Well, this school is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you can see a pic of our school some how? But it is a huge school.
I now got a question for you how do you celebrate easter. For me my family paints eggs different spring colours and get candy mostly cjoco and we also hide and find eggs and candy hope you reply bak.
PLZ PLZ PLZ TRY TO REPLY BAK AS FAST AS YOU CAN!
Hi Evelyn,
Today a student did a presentation on Easter. I may post the video, or I may show it to you when I get back. But I think it answers your question well. Thanks for writing!
Ms. Krakauer
Thx for replying. I can’t wait for you to come back to IACS! We all miss you
I just recently watched Titanic. (Did you know it is the 100th anniversery since the boat sunk?) Even though it wasnt my favorite, it was still pretty interesting.
Hello Marina. My name is Sophia. Yes I do have pets. I have 1 parakeet, 1 cat, and a lot of guppies.
My cat is almost 2 years old and his name is Caesar. His birthday is in November. He is black and white. He was rescued from a barn with his brothers and sisters. We got him when he was only about 5 to 6 weeks old. He used to be able to fit on my hand (I have small hands).
We got our parakeet by accident. When my sister (Irena) and I were playing outside we saw something green flying, so we went to find out what it was. We saw a little green parakeet. We decided that we needed to take it home because it would die otherwise. We kept it in a box and fed it with what we could find before we could get birdfeed. We put up “FOUND” signs everywhere, but we did not get a reply. So we decided to keep him and name him “Цвик” (My family speaks Russian) or in English, Twix. Now I can hear him chirping every day.
In our Elementary school (Grades 1 through 4) everyone did a project and we inspected guppies. After the project was completed, students could take the guppies home. My sister took them home when she did this project and so that is how we got them. We couldn’t name them because we couldn’t keep track or which one was which. Some questions I have for you is
• Do you enjoy school?
• How many people are in a class? about 25
• What hobbies do you have? I like to dance and read
• What is your favorite animal? I don’t have one because I like most of them. I can’t decide.
• How old are you? I’m 11 and will turn 12 soon.
Hi Ms. Krakauer,
I posted a video reply to the questions that were asked by the Ukrainian students but it was too big to send you via email so I posted it to YouTube. I hope you like it! The link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa3zMFQzskM
Awesome, Nate! I have to figure out the technology piece tomorrow, but I hope to show it to them then. They will be excited.
Thanks, Sophia! This is great. People here speak Russian as well. You could write to them in Russian!
Polina: I really like pop music, but not current popular music. The music from past decades like the 80’s or 90’s I think are more upbeat and nicer than today’s music. You must be a really great singer! I am in the choir in my church, but I don’t sing competitively.
Marina: Yes, I have pets, Marina. I have a black cat and a lizard. You have a lot of pets!
Rostik: My favorite video games are the kind you’d play on the computer, like a website just for a game. My favorite one is Poptropica, where you can make your character solve crimes, mysteries, lives, and the whole world of Poptropica.
Lera: It is very hard to say what my favorite film is, because there are many I really like. I guess my favorite one is maybe the Truman show, because of the whole idea of the plot, but I can’t really say.
Olga: (same answer as Polina #1)
Jack: I like swimming a lot! And playing basketball and baseball sometimes with my brothers.
Veronica: I really like theater and history, too! Why do you like them? And do you also like acting or just watching theater? (are we allowed to ask questions back, Ms. K?)
Ksenija: I like do travel, yes. Where have you travelled?
Sasha: I like to draw cartoons and write stories in my free time. I also like playing outside and online.
Anne: My school is very nice. We have many different subjects like English, Math, Science and Social Studies, Art, Gym, Health, and Spanish. We do have different teachers for each subject, but some classes have the same teacher for Gym and Health classes. In my school, The 5th form and 6th form students are together in some classes. Our school goes from 5th form to 12th form, but I am in 6th. We keep our things in cubbies in the hallways. We have a break for lunch and recess at about 11:00 for students my age. What is your school like? Oh, and I also go to school with my friends who gave comments! Some of them were Anna and Sophia!
Sincerely,
Emily L
Thanks, Emily. This is fabulous. I will bring your reply to school.
I’m going to answer several questions:
Pets: Yes I do have pets, I have two cats, two dogs, one crab, two fish, three
chickens, two hamsters, and tadpoles/ baby frogs or toads
preffered music: I like classical and jazz music. I also like certain types of rock music. It all depends on the words or lyrics. Also the tune.
I don’t like anything that is really loud and hurts your eardrums. I like songs with catchy tunes that are appropriate wich is irratating because alot of popular songs here are innopropiate.
my favorite movie: My favorite movie is called Born to be Wild. It’s about a bunch of orphaned orangutangs and elephants that are being helped by two different ladies and are raised by hand until they can be set off into to a special place with other elephants and orangutangs where they will be safe.