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Unit Title : Russia Grade: 6th Class period length: 60 minutes Lesson Number : 1 out of 18 Objectives: TBA Materials: - PowerPoint of Russian “teaser” pictures - Large banner paper or butcher block paper (preferably in yellow or some other light, bright color) - Supply of markers - Russian folk music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxKYYK52oTI) - Laptop with internet access, projector - Maps of Russia o Paper copy of a general Russian map with Capitals identified (11x14) o GoogleEarth and satellite images of Russia o Interactive Peter’s map ([]) - Gist of Russia sign-up sheet - Website for Russian language: o ( []) Procedure 1. Have large banner paper taped to the wall with supply of markers nearby. On the paper there should be a large open space with a title at the top: Что Вы знаете о России? This translates into “What do you know about Russia?” This open space will be used for pictures and ideas. 2. As students walk in, have Russian folk music playing in the background. This can be from the internet or a personal CD. 3. Hook(10 minutes): a. Once the class is seated, pull up a PowerPoint presentation that has pictures of the extremes of Russia. Stop after each picture and ask them to guess where they think this is. At the end of the PowerPoint, take a final tally of where they think the location is. The end pictures may give away that it is near an Asian or European country. (5 minutes) b. Have students take out a sheet of paper and write down things they associate with Russia. These could be celebrities, geographic points, famous places, words they associate with Russia, historical occurrences, etc.- basically anything that comes to mind when they hear the word Russia. (1 minute) c. Next, they will work in groups of three, or the people around them, to come up with a list of maybe 3 or more things that they associate with Russia. (2 minutes) d. After working with their group, one person will come up to the board and draw or write out the ideas they had. (2 minutes) e. Highlight some of the important points on the paper 4. Activity 1- Listening to Russian Phrases (5-7 minutes) - Using the free website, have students listen to common greetings so they can get a feel for the language. Practice, as a group, saying a common phrase or two. ([]) 5. Activity 2- Maps and sense of place (25-30 minutes) a. Have one student pass out a generic paper map of Russia with the capitals marked. This should be printed on an 11 x 14 sheet of paper- they will eventually need to file this away in their notebooks but it will be useful for this activity. Ask “is there anything interesting about the shape of Russia?” “Does it remind you of anything?” b. Look at large world map. Have students pull out their textbook atlas and identify where Russia is in relation to the rest of the world. Make connections between the size and location of Russia. “Where is it in comparison to the US? NC?” c. Pull up GoogleEarth and look at satellite images of Russia. Look at urban and rural areas on the map and have students formulate ideas about the differences in the rural and urban areas. Speculate on the climate and economics of Russia based off the pictures. d. Pull up the interactive Peter’s map to scan over the countries. ([]). Ask students to speculate about the size of Russia. “It’s 1.8 United States”, etc. 6. Pass out sign-up sheet for the Gist of Russia research that will begin tomorrow. Let them know the 6 groups and the parameters for the presentation. (5 minutes) a. The five groups are: i. Geography- (mountains, rivers, oceans, and natural resources) ii. Climate- across the regions. If visiting, what would you pack? How does the weather vary across this vast country? Any big natural disasters occurred in history? iii. Religion & language- predominant ones (any major religious conflict?) iv. Government- brief look at previous forms and present day- compare present day to another country that is a different type of government v. People- main people groups and common trades/jobs of people (do they farm? Doctors?) ALSO look at population issues, life expectancy vi. Art/chitecture- art and architecture b. “In your groups tomorrow, you will research your specific category and record your information on a giant sticky-note, PowerPoint (picture slideshow), the document camera for maps, transparencies, or a combination of all. You will have all day tomorrow to research AND put together your presentation materials. You present on the following day.” 7. Closure: Debrief about the Unit goals. Let them know some of the things we will cover as well as possible projects they can expect. Assessment - Assessment for today will be based on participation in class and quality of participation. 
 * Day 1** Outline