Poland+Activities


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Student Activities

Early Elementary
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Poland Salt Dough Map
1. First, students need an outline map of Poland. Here are two great online map sources: 2. The students will put the outline onto a sturdy base of cardboard. They may also cut out their map and affix it directly to the cardboard. They could draw an outline onto the cardboard, or use carbon paper to trace the outline on from a printed map. 3. Besides an outline map, they will also need a physical map of Poland for forming mountain ranges, rivers, and other landforms. 4. Next, the students make a batch of salt dough: 4 cups flour, 2 cups water, 2 cups salt, and 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar. (The cream of tartar is optional, but it does make the dough smooth and less likely to crack.) Click here for salt dough recipe cards. (If time is short, then the teacher can make the salt dough prior to the activity.) 5. Then the students should start applying a layer of dough in the outline of Poland. They need to layer it evenly and be sure to cover the entire inside outline of Poland. 6. After this, the students then need to study the physical map of Poland and start building up mountains or other land forms. For rivers, the students need to use a thin tool, like a plastic knife or a play-doh straight edge tool, that ca n help carve out the rivers. 7. Next, the students need to use toothpicks to poke holes where they want to place flags for labeling the map. 8. After the maps have dried overnight (not completely dry), the students can start painting. They can paint the rivers blue, the land green, the mountains gray or purple with white. The area outside of Poland can also be painted if the students want to. 9. Then, the students have to make flags in order to label the rivers, mountains, cities, landforms, etc... The best way to do this is to use adhesive(label) paper. However, regular paper can also be used and then this can be glued to the toothpicks. 10. This flag template is very useful for this part. Simply put the adhesive paper in the printer and these flags will print on it. After this, the students need to write rivers, cities, mountains, etc... on the flags. Cut out the flags from the paper and take the adhesive backing off. Put a toothpick in the middle of the flag and wrap the flag around the toothpick so it looks like this:
 * Education Place Outline Maps
 * World Atlas Maps

11. After the flags are made, the students should place these in their respective areas on the map. Their finished product will look a little bit like this:

The above activity came from Squidoo.

The Old Bear- A Polish Play for Christmas
//Title:// **The Old Bear //(Stary niedzwiedz)//** //(Polish text is marked in italic)// Children choose one person as a bear. The bear is sitting in the middle of the circle pretending to be asleep and is snoring loudly; the other children all stand in a circle around the bear. __Song__ (children are walking in the circle and sing) Old bear is sleeping deeply, //Stary niedzwiedz mocno spi,// Old bear is sleeping deeply, //Stary niedzwiedz mocno spi,// We walked on our tiptoes as we're afraid of him, //Na palcach chodzimy, bo sie go boimy// When he'd wake up he would eat us! //Jak sie zbudzi to nas zje,// When he'd wake up he would eat us. //Jak sie zbudzi to nas zje.// __Recitation__ (children are standing around in the circle and recite) The first hour (passed) - the bear sleeps //Pierwsza godzina - niedzwiedz spi,// The second hour (passed)- the bear snores //Druga godzina - niedzwiedz chrapie,// The third hour - the bear wakes up and he's catching us!!!! //Trzecia godzina - niedzwiedz budzi sie i lapie!!!!!!!!// Then the person in the middle pretending to be a bear stands up and tries to catch somebody while children break from the circle and run away trying to escape; the child who gets caught is the new bear and the play repeats.

The above activity came from Polish Culture/Activities.

Upper Elementary
Glogster Students will create something called a glogster, which is an interactive poster that is created online. They will click on the following link to get started. Each student will have a different topic regarding Poland that they will make their glogster based on. Here are the following topics they can choose from:

 Famous People
 * Frederic Chopin
 * Nicolaus Copernicus
 * Maria Sklodowska Curie
 * Tadeusz Kosciuszko
 * Casimir Pulaski
 * Roman Polanski

(Above famous people came from WGBY Local Polish Heritage Celebration)

 Polish Holidays
 * Easter Sunday (Spring)
 * Constitution Day (May 3)
 * All Saint's Day (Nov. 1)
 * Independence Day (Nov. 11)
 * Christmas Day (Dec 25)

(Above holidays came from Wikipedia)

 Other Important Poland Information
 * Language
 * Religion
 * Food
 * Clothing
 * Winter Sports
 * Summer Sports
 * Geography
 * Important Dates/Events in History
 * General Information (national anthem, flag, flower, etc...)

When all students have completed the project, they will give a class presentation of their findings. These glogster's will also be available for parents and visitors to see on the class website.

Fine-art Activity
Stuffed Corn Flower Finger Paint Craft The corn flower or corn poppy is Poland's national flower. Materials:
 * paper
 * scissors
 * stapler
 * finger paint (or tempra paint and brush) in red (and green if you have it)
 * cotton balls or shredded newspaper
 * Corn Poppy template
 * IF HANGING: short piece of string, wool or ribbon

Directions:
 * 1) print two copies of the template (or just draw two poppies freehand but make them the same size). Do not cut out yet.
 * 2) Let the children paint the templates with finger paints or a brush and tempra paint
 * 3) Allow to dry.
 * 4) Cut out the poppies
 * 5) Staple all the way around the edge of the poppies, leaving an opening at the top
 * 6) Stuff the poppy with shredded paper.
 * 7) Finish stapling the poppy closed
 * 8) staple a short piece of string to the top to hang from the ceiling

The above fine-arts activity came from DLTK's Crafts for Kids

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Created by: Whitney Davis- wldavis@ilstu.edu  Created: 11/29/2010 Last Modified: 12/14/2010  © 2010 Illinois State University