Our Last lessons in 2013

Week 10^th- 12^th  December

This week we went on a tour to Mount Rushmore.

It’s the mount where the heads of four famous presidents are. We listened to the guide and learnt to pronounce the names and surnames of the presidents properly (correctly).

 We also learnt that Jefferson bought the state of Louisiana from Napoleon and that he was the president who wrote the Declaration of Independence.

We reviewed adjectives to describe places.

Do you remember the opposite of these adjectives?

Exciting- dangerous – small- modern – clean –quiet- empty- narrow –low

And from the USA we travelled to Stratford upon Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born.

Did you know that “Avon” isn’t only a cosmetics firm, but also a river? That’s why this town is called like that.

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

US Symbols

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial is a huge mountain sculpture of four US Presidents, located near Keystone, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Presidents depicted are: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These four Presidents were chosen to represent the founding, growth and preservation of the United States. The work was designed by the sculptor John Gutzon Borglum (March 25, 1871- March 6, 1941). The Construction of Mt. Rushmore: The monument was sculpted by Borglum and about 400 stone workers. Construction began on August 10, 1927 (President Coolidge attended the dedication that day). Funding was provided by private donations and the Federal Government. The sculpting was done by first blasting away tons of rock with dynamite. Workers then sat in hanging "swing seats," and used jackhammers, drills, hammers, and other tools to do the finishing work. Bad weather and a lack of funding slowed work; although it took 14 years to finish the project, work was done for only about 6 of those years. After Borglum's death, soon before the sculpture was done, the completion of the giant sculpture was overseen by his son, Lincoln Borglum. The monument was completed in 1941 (after Borglum's death).

Facts and Figures about Mt. Rushmore:

Sculptor	John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum
Presidents depicted	George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
Height of the faces	60 feet from chin to forehead (as tall as a 6-floor building)
Width of an eye	11 feet
Elevation of Mt. Rushmore	5,725 feet
Dates of Construction	From 1927 to 1941
Location	The Black Hills of South Dakota (near Keystone SD)

Stratford upon Avon- images