The one and only Ivan

Ivan O Grande is the district-wide one-district-one-book reading. Except that this year the district has decided to rush through this wonderful book. Well, the district can proceed as it pleases. We know better.

First, we will be reading the book in Portuguese. We have already read it in Bulgarian a few years ago. As the children are older we will focus on the deep truths and messages embedded in the book. I will be updating this page with our progress and our discussions as they arrive.

Before we began, since we are already familiar with the story, and since the kids are already discussing the book in school I decided to start with real images:
Video of Ivan from the shopping mall and Ivan after being rescued, at the zoo

If you watch the video you will hear that Ivan was bought in the 60s from Belgium's Congo. This immediately screamed to me the three things listed below. Today I only briefly mentioned only Dian Fossey's work with gorillas in Rwanda but we will cover all three topics in the next few days.

• King Leopold of Belgium, and his reign in Congo, the Hitler you hardly hear about
• Dian Fossey and the mountain gorillas of Rwanda
  
• Current restless Congo and Crash course episode on Congo

The following are the notes from our reading and discussions on Monday, January 29, 2018:

1. We focused on the meaning of the opening quote by George Eliot: "“Nunca é tarde demais para se tornaro que você poderia ter sido.” This is the thesis of the book. It is never later, despite all suffering, despite all injustice, to turn and embrace the real you, even if you never knew him.
2. We discussed how people measure time and why they bother-we marvel at the great constructions and elaborate mazes that ancient societies have built in history class, but not in literature class. In ancient societies people measured time with respect to regularly occurring events on which their livelihood depended, similar to how animals in the wild are aware of the passage of time and the changes of seasons. I mentioned the ancient Egyptians, the Cahokia people whose life aligned with the lifecycle of corn, the Hopi whose life aligned with rain, the plain Indians whose life aligned with the the buffalo migrations, and the north-western Indians whose life aligned with the salmon and the whale migrations.
3. “Com o passar dos anos, aprendi a entender as palavras humanas, mas entender o que os humanos dizem não é a mesma coisa que entender os humanos...Precisei de algum tempo para aprender a reconhecer todos esses sons humanos, para ligar as palavras em uma coisa só. Mas fui paciente.”  We discussed how similar genetically apes are to humans, and how overtime humans have disproved much of their own misconceptions about these animals, and all living things. Since we are familiar with Jane Goodall I mentioned her pioneering observational studies with chimps in which she disproved the statement that what differentiates humans from apes is humans' ability to make and use tools. In the sentence above, Ivan makes the point that learning and understanding new tasks, and adapting are not exclusive to humans either.
4. “Todos nós somos primos distantes e desconfiados...Sei que isso é problemático." This, of course is a reference to Darwin's theory of evolution and how hard its acceptance remains within the creationist groups. Fortunately or unfortunately our DNAs differ by just a little. Imagine how much smarter than us is the live  form whose DNA is another 1% different from ours. I also brought in the inherent and wrong human assumption that humans are superior to all other life forms. As we study history we learn that throughout history europeans, in particular, have been making the assumption that "I as a member of my tribe am superior to all other tribes and their members"; this assumption grew into the exercise of genocide when unlike groups united against other unlike groups. One needs to call these events and label them properly as they are encountered in history, otherwise one can never learn to recognize them as they occur when they occur in real life.
5. So where is that shopping mall? I-95 stretches along the east coast from Canada all the way to Florida. I explained, using this map, that the east-west routes are even (I-80 is a familiar example), and now I-95 is our north-south example. But Ivan actually lived in a mall in Tacoma Washington. So, there is a discrepancy. Why?
6. Sense of humour: " Certa vez pude desfrutar de um livro que um dos meus cuidadores deixou em meu domínio. Tinha gosto de cupim.” Did we expect a sense a humour from a gorila?

The following is from the discussion on January 31, 2018

The One and Only Ivan:
Chapter: TV
Page: 50

Portuguese:
“Bob diz que os faroestes não se parecem em nada com a vida real.”

English (translation):
"Bob says that the westerns have nothing in common with real life"

Hollywood has been a very racial institution from its very start. Over the years bad guys have emerged from all areas in which the american white had to be the good guy. Critical thinking dead, the american white supreme character reigned, it was expected and it was sought. 

We started reading "Western Expansion" by Steve Sheinkin, in which it is revealed that cowboys were not white initially, they were primarily ranchers, and overall anything depicted in western films is baloney. This article helps too.

Critical Thinking. Critical Reading! Every sentence in Ivan is a bonanza to ponder and question. Think about it a dog (which is sometimes used as a derogatory term, but is also an animal humans view as their best friend) tells that to a gorilla, one of our closest relatives. This is an amazing sentence.

Random books recommendations

 In a very bad order:



This is a very good book presenting the topics in Q&A format. Each two pages has pictures and informational text addressing one specific question about the life of the Amazon people.

The story is beautifully illustrated. Each page represents one specific episode in the life of John Wesley Powell. It is a very well illustrated and narrated story which should definitely inspire you to talk about people and nature, go for walks, talk about dams, politics, bravery, settlers vs indians, and hopefully, inspire you to take a trip to this wonderful place on our planet.

Yes, this is on our February reading list. Darwin's birthday is the same date as Lincoln's-February 12. Same year too! It is a wonderful book but I strongly recommend it for kids who have read other Darwin related books. Some of our favorites are: Cool friend, You wouldn't want to be on the Beagle, Galapagos Islands, etc. The reason for my recommendation is that the book holds Darwin's words, and leads you to his final formulation of evolution and one of its mechanisms natural selection. The pictures are fabulous, the narrative is fantastic, but background knowledge is needed to fully appreciate the book.

Another February quick read. I love Freedman's books but the detail my kids can get is very small, and the purpose of opening this book is not the detail but sparking the interest. So, we will go over (maybe) the pictures pinpointing the main ideas of the text!

Great series-good pictures, good narrative. Great text for fifth graders who can read the text themselves. For us it is a quick read-looking through the pictures and walking away with the general messages. This is related to our recent trip south during which we visited a few Native American museums. (I intended to read them in January but we never got to them-either next year or after our next visit to a native american related place)

These are texts my kids can fully understand, so we will use them in parallel with the texts above. These we will read in full, and the above will be reference. (I intended to read them in January but we never got to them-either next year or after our next visit to a native american related place)

I hope to get to this book but we may skip it. It is a good description of what a scientist can do when inspired and motivated. We can related in general to the topic of water/snow which we will discuss in detail next month, or to George Washington Carver as a scientists since we visited the national monument dedicated to him in Dimond, MO. (We read this book and the kids liked it but I did not read it again. I think I will bring this book again next school year in December and we will explore more seriously snow and its properties)

I loved this book. I know most of it but make many of the mistakes that are outlined as common mistakes. I love this book and could easily use it to eventually teach grammar or at least as a reference when editing writing.

Yes, this is another February book. We already read the magic tree house books and this is just an extra we will leaf through. The book is phenomenal and we will carefully look at the pictures and recall out trip to Springfield and what we have already learned.  Just a reference though. For fifth grade and above this will be a useful resource!

We will talk about the Lewis and Clark expedition which will also begin our study of world rivers. This is an easy, elementary and decent text. I think I will try to find a more detailed picture book and use this as a supplement, independent reading material.

We will combine this with the previous book on snow but I do not put a whole lot of emphasis on this book. If we get to it, we get to it. Eventually we will study it and learn from it. If not now, there will be snow next year. The pictures are breath taking so I recommend it. I think that some knowledge of water, its cycle and properties will be needed. (We read this book and the kids liked it but I did not read it again. I think I will bring this book again next school year in December and we will explore more seriously snow and its properties)v

Speaking of water, this is very simple book, but if you handle it properly, you can teach a lot about earth science using it as a spine. I love this book, the sequence, the details I can fill in myself.

Another gem. We read a similar one already but this is so good that we are going to read it to reinforce the idea that the europeans did not discover America. America was already well known to a whole lot of locals. Setting the record straight is important to understanding the devastation that the europeans caused. I think it is fair to say that the conquistadores were on equal footing to Hitler and other dictators who had no respect whatsoever for human life and dignity. (We will read this book in October 2015)

The kids' school has a one-school-one-book program. A copy of the same book is given to each family represented in the school, and the family is asked to read aloud the book together. This year's choice is wonderful. I recommend this book. It tells you a lot about how to look on school, what to strive for, how to persevere, how to be true to yourself, not to fear and be brave and daring, and how the american society works which has always astounded me-much ado about nothing. People in this country become rich out of trinkets, unbelievable. We bulgarians do not waste money on trinkets so none of us became rich that way, but the bulgarians borns and raised here tend to fall for trinkets because it is the american trap. Wonderful book, lots to talk about and definitely will be a required reading in a few years. I like the program but I did not like the previous choices very much. The mouse and the motorcycle was ok but Humphrey was dull and boring and I refused to read it.