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Gauchada

Literature Based Unit Study written by: Celia Hartmann and Ami Brainerd

**NOTE: You may want to do the Language Arts – Vocabulary lesson before reading the book.**

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Social Studies:

Geography – Argentina:
Argentina is a country in southern South America.  It is the 2nd largest country in South America (the largest is Brazil); it is the 8th largest in the world. Argentina occupies a continental surface area of 2,766,890 km² (1,078,000 sq mi) between the Andes mountain range in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east and south.

It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast, and Chile in the west and south. The country claims the British controlled territories of the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.  

If you have an older student who is interested, you may want to print an outline map of South America and have him label the different countries. 

Argentina Outline Map

Argentina Flag minit book

Argentina Map from World Maps Online

Argentina Flag from abcteach.com

South America Follow the Directions Map (this is a GREAT teaching tool!) *members

South America Outline Maps (individual countries)

South America Outline Map (for younger students)

Argentina Unit Study (free from Homeschool in the Woods)--she suggests making a map of South America, gives directions for how to make the gourd to fill with Mate' tea, and so much more!
 

Gauchos (Argentine Cowboys):
Source (this information has been scaled down a bit, but you can find more by clicking the link)

In North America, they are called cowboys. In South America, gauchos. They are the people who tend and drive cattle on the open ranges, the wanderers of the Pampas. The early horsemen were skilled horsemen, loners who lived off the land and tracked down lost cattle for ranchers.  They also provided protection and military service for the ranchmen.

Their life as wanderers meant little time spent at home, which they might have shared with a wife who raised their children. Sons followed their father's traditions. Their clothing reflected their life on horseback: a wide hat, a woolen poncho, long pleated trousers, or loose baggy pants called bombachas and knee-high leather boots. They made their boots by wrapping the hide of a freshly killed calf around their legs and feet. As the hide dried, it took on the form of the foot and leg. They owned nothing of value but their horse and the long knife, the facon, that they kept sharp and ready. They had no way of preserving meat, and after butchering a cow, would cook it immediately over an open fire. Meat and maté (the tea mentioned in the story), were the mainstays of their diets; they brewed and consumed the mate' frequently throughout the day. 

At one time, they were looked down on as lower-class, but when the wars of independence against Spain began, and commanders looked for able-bodied men, the gauchos were called into service and commanded the respect of the military. Today, in Argentina, June 16 is a holiday which celebrates the gaucho contribution to the War of Independence.

Today, gauchos are still an integral part of the ranching areas of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

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Language Arts

Vocabulary:
See opening page for explanation of some of the words your child may not be  familiar with including gaucho, pampas, ombu, Mate', bombilla, quebrada, and zamba.   This may be a good time to point out to your student that you use italics when you are referring to a certain word in your writing.  Ask him to find all the italicized words in the paragraph before you even read it.

Language – Spanish:
There are Spanish words mingled throughout the text (many mentioned above).  Argentina is a Spanish speaking country.  Another phrase mentioned in the text is, "Esta completo" -- can your student figure out what this means by looking at the second word and putting the story in context? (It is complete.) Spanish Language Activities at Enchanted Learning  

          Creative Writing:
          Look at the two page spread that says, "It lives a thousand lives." 
          These six pictures are telling us stories without any words.  You student may want to narrate or write a short
          explanation about how the necklace was passed from one person to the next.

Inspiration:
The information on the author tells us that she was inspired to write this story after she was given the gift of just such a necklace. She loved the necklace, but was even more taken with its story, which became the basis for this one.  Many authors get ideas for their stories through real life-- a person they meet, a place they visit, a conversations they overhear, or even an object they are given. Is there an object at your house (maybe an heirloom) that you could tell your student a story about?  Could he then take that story and weave it into a story of his own?

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Art

Carving: If your child is interested in carving, try giving him a bar of Ivory soap and a plastic knife with which to carve (maybe a moon face).

Proportion:  Many artists use correct proportions in their work to create illusions of reality.  This ability to show objects as though they were real seems magical to many viewers.   However, some artists use exaggeration and distortion rather than real proportion to convey their ideas and feelings.  They are powerful means of expression.  Artists can lengthen, enlarge, bend, twist, or warp parts of their subject (the grass, the sky, the human body, an animal).  By making these changes, they can show moods and feelings that are easily understood by viewers.   Artists can create feelings of great stability and calm by placing a small head on a large body.  A monumental, or large and imposing, quality results.  This is due to placing a small head on a large, stable base. 

Look at the horses and cows in Mr. Negrin's illustrations.  Are they proportionally correct?  The bodies are much larger than the heads; they are boxy and exaggerated-- very long and thick.  What kind of feeling was Negrin trying to convey?  In what other ways are his illustrations exaggerated?  Discuss the possible whys as you look for other examples.   

--Source: ARTTALK 2nd edition

Artists: Explore gauchos in Argentine art: Gaucho themes and scenes of town life dominated Argentine painting in the 19th century. Prilidiano Pueyrredóón was the principal artist of the period. Artists of the 20th century included realist painter Cesareo Bernaldo de Quiróós, known for colorful canvases of gauchos and vivid folk scenes; Benito Quintela Martíín, painter of port life in Buenos Aires; and cubist painter Emilio Pettoruti. The works of sculptors Rogelio Yrurtia, Carlos Dorrien, and Alicia Penalba are widely known. Julio Le Parc experimented with movement, light, and optical effects in his sculptures. (Source:http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556250_5/Argentina.html )

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Math

Thousand: "a thousand zambas" " a thousand lives" How many is a thousand? If your child is really interested in seeing how much a thousand is, you could count out 1000 grains of rice. Or perhaps you have enough Cuisenaire Rods to show it? Or block off 1000 squares on graph paper. Can your child count by 100s (or 10s or 25s or whatever he needs to work on) to a thousand?

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Science

Silver: Like gold, silver is a valuable metallic element that comes from the earth.   Review lesson and teacher's information on Gold from The Bee Tree, FIAR Vol. 3.  If you've rowed The Bee Tree and/or Another Celebrated Dancing Bear (FIAR Vol. 2), ask your student if he remembers that Gold and Copper had special symbols.....Au (Gold) and Cu (Copper).  The symbol for Silver is Ag.  Cut pictures from a magazine of things made from silver and glue onto a page for his science notebook.

 

Pure silver is the best conductor of heat and electricity of all known metals, so it is sometimes used in making solder, electrical contacts and printed circuit boards. Silver is also the best reflector of visible light known, but silver mirrors must be given a protective coating to prevent them from tarnishing. Silver has also been used to create coins, although today other metals are typically used in its place. Sterling silver, an alloy containing 92.5% silver, is used to make silverware, jewelry and other decorative items. Source

Biomes -- Grasslands: "The pampas are flat, fertile plains. The grasses of the pampas stretch across the land like an ocean."  Grasslands are generally open and continuous, windy, and fairly flat areas of grass.  Almost one-fourth of the Earth's land area is grassland. In many areas, grasslands separate forests from deserts.  Various grasslands exist all over the world.  In North America, grasslands are called prairies.  In South America, they are known  as the pampas.  Some of the fauna that lives in the South American grasslands includes: armadillo, opossum, fox, jaguar, llama, puma, rhea, tapir, and rodents. 

Grassland Information at Enchanted Learning
Biomes- Pampas
Ombu Tree

Moon Phases (lesson from The Little House):  From Earth, we can only see one side of the moon (one side is always in shadow) because the moon rotates once on its axis every time it travels around Earth.   The side that we can see seems to change.  However, the moon doesn't really shrink and grow.  The moon reflects sunlight.  The amount of reflected sunlight we get to see in our night sky depends upon the position of the Earth, the moon, and the sun so varying portions of the moon's lighted side face Earth at different times.  The phases include the new moon, crescent moon, half moon, and full moon.   (If your student is too young to understand the above concepts, simply mention that the moon doesn't really shrink.  It appears to shrink because at different times it reflects different amounts of sunlight.)
Your young astronomer may want to watch the night sky for a month and chart the moon (on the nights he can see it) as it goes through its cycle.
Label the Moon Phases Diagram
More Moon Information   

 

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Bible / Character Development:

Gauchada: "to do something kind, something with love, without expecting anything in return. " How did God show His love for us?

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Tit 3:4
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Memory Verses (relating to silver)

Ps 12:6 -"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."

Pr 10:20 - "The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth."

Pr  25:11 -"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 
Malachi 3:3- "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."   God refines us!
 

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Just for Fun

          Drink tea!

                   Yerba Mate recipe

Dance the Zamba!

 

Plant pampas grass!

                    Chapter Book Read Aloud -- Chúcaro: Wild Pony of the Pampa

                   Experiment with Jewelry Making


 

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Devotion for Mom