Lemurs and More Varenga

Every 2 years our Tuesday morning co-op does a writing unit. For the 5th and 6th graders, they write a research paper and then do an oral presentation, complete with a display board. Two years ago, Nathan did his report on Madagascar. This year the theme was "animals", and Luke picked lemurs.

Lemurs are native only to Madagascar, which turned out to be handy. For the meal afterward everyone had to bring in a dish related to their animal--either something the animal eats, something made from the animal (so hard to find a good cut of lemur though, LOL), something from the country where the animal lives, or (the cop-out last option!) something in the shape of the animal. Someone made absolutely adorable cupcakes in the shape of koala bears! We brought our old standby of varenga--the boiled, roasted shredded beef dish over rice that we also brought in for Nathan's meal. Never thought I'd use that recipe twice! It's actually pretty good.

Luke did really well on his presentation. He made eye contact and spoke slowly, covering all his points but not relying too much on his notecards. He was able to answer the questions people asked after the presentation. He looked confident up there, a far cry from a few years ago, when he would dissolve in a silent puddle of tears when in front of a group of people!

Here's a closer look at his display board. Lemurs are cute little guys, for the most part (well, not the freaky aye-aye so much). He had an interesting paper and talk! These kind of experiences are why it is nice to be in a co-op. It's so much different giving an oral report in front of 17 other classmates, plus random parents and siblings, as opposed to just one's own siblings and parents!