This summer I am teaching a series of Read Around the World lessons for a group of kids ages 2.5 years to 5.5 years old. You can read an explanation of how I do the lessons and some of the materials I use here.
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For this lesson we visited Russia! We start every lesson by locating the country on our map and having one of the kids draw our flight path using a dry erase crayon. Then they glue the country’s stamp in their passport and I stamp the date on it.
The books we read throughout the lesson:
Exploring Countries: Russia by Jim Bartell
I like using this series of books to introduce the countries. We skip over some pages, but they have lots of great pictures, some phrases in the native language, and pictures of the map and money.
The Littlest Matryoshka by Corinne Demas Bliss
This one was a little bit wordy for the young kids, so I skimmed over some of the descriptions, but they loved the storyline of it and I really wanted something that showed the matryoshka doll.
The Bun: A Tale from Russia by Marcia Brown
A Russian version of the Gingerbread Man–the kids enjoyed it!
Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco
We didn’t end up getting to this one, but I like reading this book and then doing a craft of painting paper eggs .
The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers
There are many different versions of The Nutcracker, but this is one that worked well for us.
Babushka by Dawn Casey
We didn’t end up reading this one because of time, but it is a traditional Chirstmas tale with a good message.
Activities we did throughout the lesson:
Talked about the traditional clothes in Russia and tried on these hats I had been given from Russia
Coloring sheet of St Basil’s Cathedral
Played with matryoshka dolls, did a craft of making their own dolls, put together matryoshka doll 4 piece puzzles
Watched clips of the Nutcracker dance, did a Nutcracker puzzle and a Nutcracker measurement activity using first a ruler and then fruit snacks to measure.
Snack we ate:
We ate pancakes and talked about how in Russia they eat them to celebrate the end of winter and coming of the sun, because the pancake symbolizes the sun. In Russia they like to eat their pancakes with sour cream, melted butter, or jam.
That’s a farewell to Russia. Next stop is Peru!
