APPENDIX XVI

What is Ukraine Like?

The following books, all available in paperback, tell lovely stories and provide very rich details about economy, customs, markets, goods produced, clothing, and food of people in the Ukraine.

Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk. Enough, 2000, 1550415093. This spirited Ukrainian story is set during the famine of the 1930s. Marusia’s ingenuity gives her the opportunity to go on a magical journey to find more food for her village. Generosity triumphs over greed.

Polacco, Patricia. Luba and the Wren. 1999, 0698119223. Luba lives happily in her dacha in the country with her mama and papa – until she helps a frightened wren. She only means to help the wren, as she would any creature, but when the wren returns the favor, Luba’s life changes! “Ask for anything you wish,” the wren says. Luba wants nothing, but her mama and papa want many things.

Kimmel, Eric. The Bird’s Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story, 1999, 0823413845. Villagers take in a flock of golden birds nearly frozen by an early snow and are rewarded with beautifully-decorated eggs the next spring: pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs).

These books are rich in new vocabulary. Below are lists of terms likely unfamiliar to many students. Only words likely to be unfamiliar to students need to be covered. A vocabulary anticipation guide is provided, as well as a Vocabulary Analysis page. The Vocabulary Analysis page provides opportunity for students to infer meaning from the context.

A retrieval chart, What is Ukraine Like? Is designed to assist students in analyzing and categorizing the information available in the stories. Students should gather information from both the story and the pictures. In the process of analyzing the illustrations, a blank grid placed over each page helps students to isolate ideas and assists in the development of geographical thinking. Use the blank grid provided to make an overhead for each student. Students will use these overheads many times in the process of analyzing pictures. Also ask students to identify things that are the same in all the stories.

EnoughVocabulary:

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babushka

dictator

grain

harvest

hope chest

porridge

starve

stork

tato

village

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Luba and the Wren Vocabulary:

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acre

chancellors

dacha

dome

enchanted

estate

fertile

festooned

fowler

humble

majestic

manor

meagre

orchard

sacrifice

sacrilege

silo

Tzar

Tzarina

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The Bird’s Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story Vocabulary:

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bitter

braided

buckwheat

choir

congregation

coral

creatures

crocuses

decorated

designs

embroidered

emerged

gleamed

heartbreaking

hustka

hymns

intricate

intricate

kasha

linen

miracle

mustache

perched

pitifully

plucked

polished

porridge

preached

precious

pysanky

release

sermon

sheaves

symbol

trilled

triumph

unique

village

worship

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Vocabulary: Before Reading / Vocabulary: After Reading
Vocabulary or Statement / What I think it means / Yes/No / Why my choice was correct /

Why my choice was incorrect

□ □
Y N
□ □
Y N
□ □
Y N
□ □
Y N
□ □
Y N

Name: ______Date: ______

Vocabulary Analysis

Background Knowledge Context Clues Glossary
Term: / I think it means… / I think this because… / I now think it means… / I found out that it actually means…

Name: ______Date: ______

1A / B / C / D / E
2
3

Retrieval Chart: What is Ukraine Like?

Clothing / Food / Pets and Animals that Help / Work / Homes / Geography, Climate / Customs
Enough
Luba and the Wren
The Bird’s Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story

Name: ______Date: ______

Sample Retrieval Chart: What is Ukraine Like?

Clothing / Food / Pets and Animals that Help / Work / Homes / Geography, Climate / Customs
Enough / Babushkas (scarves)
Long dresses
Fancy blouses / Wheat
Home-canned foods, such as pickles
Onions
Porridge
Not enough food
Water from a well / Stork
Horses
Dogs
Chickens / Farming with hand tools
Planting wheat
Horses haul wagon loads
Store grain in silos / Power comes from a windmill / Winters are hard
Luba and the Wren / Babushkas
Long dresses
Spinning wheel for make yarn / Mushrooms
Pot over an open fire
Eggs
Fruit from trees
Chicken
Grapes
Water from a well / Geese
Goats
Cows
Chickens
Swans / Farming
Fence mending
Roof repair
Looking for food such as mushrooms
Chopping firewood
Mending clothes
Wood carving / Light by candle
Transportation by horse-drawn cart
The Bird’s Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story / Woolen socks
Hustka – colourful scarf
Boots
Hats
Coats
Mittens
Embroidered blouses, shirts
Gold earrings, coral beads
Aprons
Braid hair and tie with ribbons / Kasha - buckwheat porridge / Birds / Warm homes
Thatched roofs
Made from wood and logs
Barns / Cold, snowy winters
Green grass and crocuses in spring / Have churches, priests, sermons, worship God, go to church on Sunday
Intricately-designed Easter eggs - pysanky

Name: ______Date: ______