Unit Celebration ~ South America!

Last Friday we had our Tapestry of Grace unit celebration (year 3, unit 1).  We had covered the first 25 years of the 1800's, with a three week mini unit on South American independence, so we decided to have a South American fiesta!  This was not completely authentic to the time period ~ for fun we threw in a pinata, which I could find no reference to in the early 1800's, but which is something South American children enjoy today.

We ate "Pabellon Criollo" for dinner, which is a traditional Venezuelan dish of rice, steak, and beans.  "Pabellon" means "flag", and the three different foods are arranged in stripes on a plate, to loosely picture the Venezuelan flag.  I showed the children how to arrange their food, but did not require them to do it this way or to eat food they didn't want to. :-)

Hanging on the walls were the writing assignments/posters the children had each made about different South American countries.  Only two of them were completely done, including our daughter's poster on Brazil...

..and son C's poster on Venezuela.

Son G's poster on Peru.  The paragraphs were the main thing (that was their writing assignment for two weeks) but each of the children did have to finish putting on their pictures after our unit celebration was over.

After eating, each of the children read a report on something they learned about during this unit.  Son C portrayed a young Simon Bolivar, and told how he was inspired to lead revolutions in several south American countries, freeing them from Spanish rule.

Sons G and L portrayed Lewis and Clark.  They told about their expedition to explore and map the western territories.  It was funny and very well done!

Daughter G reprised her role as a reporter for Christian Historical News, and reported on the passage of a bill in British Parliament that made the trading of slaves illegal.  This occurred in February, 1807, hence her scarf and gloves!  She adapted this from the report she had written earlier on William Wilberforce's life.

All of the children present.  What a great looking bunch of kids!

And finally.... the moment the children were all waiting for.... the striking of the pinata!

Even the moms got in on the action!  That alpaca was a tough nut to crack!

It was a fun evening, and I love that it marks the END of that period of study, and now we are mentally moving on to the next 25 years of the 1800's!