Happy Memorial Day, Decathletes! Amidst all the celebrating, here are some announcements and your weekly assignment for this first week of summer!
Announcements: Beginning NEXT WEEK, we will have a weekly reading assignment from Dr. Zhivago, as well as a weekly quiz based primarily upon the reading. Beginning next week, we will also be taking virtual attendance--that is, noting who is posting and taking quizzes each week. Let me remind you briefly of your responsibilities to this team:
1. Complete the weekly assignment & post it as a comment to the assignment itself.
2. Complete the weekly quiz--remember, it's perfectly wonderful to use the internet or other resources to help you--it's about learning, not about already knowing.
3. Comment meaningfully back to another team member's post.
An habitual lack of posts and quizzes from you will result in your being cut from the team.
If you are unable to post, post as soon as you can and then check the Excuses section beginning next week for the excuse form you will need to fill out and give to one of the coaches (via e-mail over the summer) whenever you miss a week's assignments.
Ok, now that that's out of the way...your weekly assignment! No quiz this week, that will begin next week. In preparation for reading Dr. Zhivago, do the following:
1. Research the Russian naming system--I promise this will help you understand and keep track of who the characters are! After doing this, you should understand and be able to identify patronymics and diminuatives. Post what you learned about the Russian naming system as well as what your name would be using the Russian name formulation. For example, my Russian name would be Elizavieta Royovna. Figure out what yours would be!
2. Look at a map of Russia--just play around with Google Maps and Google Earth for example. Get some kind of idea about:
a. where Moscow and St. Petersburg are
b. what part of Russia is European and what part is Asian
c. how big Russia is
Post your impressions and some interesting way in which we could understand how vast Russia is. For example, it would take x number of days to walk/ride a bike/ride a horse/ride a unicycle/train, etc across the country. Or maybe how many marbles it would take to cover the surface of Russia., something like that...be creative!
It appears that if you are given a name at birth such as dimitri, your name would rarely be used, say dimitri's father is named Ivan, Dimitri would be addressed as "Dimirti Ivanovich" witch roughly translates to "Dimitri, son of Ivan." there is more than one ending, for a male their is ovich, yevich, and yich. There are also female endings, they are yevna, ovna and ichna.
ReplyDeletenow for these questions
A.Moscow is in the midwest, St. Petersburg is in the northwest
B.European Russia extends from the western border to the city of Ural, the rest is Asian Russia
C.6,592,849 square miles
If you were to park every car on earth on Russia you would still need 2267131555556 more cars to cover Russia, don't be mad if this is off, i took the average square feet of cars, divided the miles square footage by it than multiplied it by the square miles of Russia, the important thing is that i did math on summer brake.
Nicely done, Allen.
DeleteWow. That is A LOT OF CARS. Also, you did more math than I have this summer, so don't feel bad if the math is off. I'm guessing the main point is that Russia is a massive country!
Delete1. Russian names are made up of three parts: the given name, the patronymic, and the last or family name. The patryonymic is created by taking the given name of a person's father and adding a suffix to it. The most common men's suffixes are -ovich or -evich and for a woman they are -ovna or -evna.
ReplyDeleteMy Russian name would be Anna Garyovna.
2.aMoscow is located in the west of Russia and St. Petersburg is in the northwest.
b.The eastern part of Russia is in Asia; the western part is in Europe.
c.6,592,800 sq mi
Russia covers more than a ninth of the Earths land area.
Good research, Anna!
DeleteRussians are generally addressed by their first name followed by their patronymic, whether formally or informally. The patronymic is the father's first name with the ending -ovich or -evich attached to it (for males), and -ovna or -evna (for females). If you're like me and your father's name ends with a vowel, the ending would be -ich or -inichna. My Russian name would be Mariya Pedrinichna. My diminutive would be just Masha. Both are awesome.
ReplyDeleteFirst impressions on Russia's geography: Wow. Big. Spans 9 time zones?! Wow! BIG!
If you were to walk from one end of Russia to the other, at a pace of 3 mph nonstop, it would take you a little over 2 months to make the journey. Although I, too, am uncertain about my math, it sounds fairly reasonable!
As I said, I'm bad at math, but that math sounds right...good way of expressing the size of Russia, Maria!
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ReplyDeleteIn Russia a person's middle name (a patronymic) is constructed from their father's first name. The patronymic is only used in formal situations. The patronymic is constructed by using the following endings: ovich, yevich, yich (male endings) and yevna, ovna and ichna (female endings). For example, if a baby boy is born with a father named 'Aleksandr', then the baby boy, we'll call him 'Albert', will be named Albert Aleksandrovich which translates to 'Albert son of Aleksandr'. My Russian name would be Razvedchik Kitovna (Scout daughter of Keith). My name "Scout" is a noun and this is the translation I got of it. I'm pretty sure I prefer my English name.......
ReplyDeleteFrom looking at Russia on Google Maps I can gather that firstly it's HUGE and secondly, Moscow is located in the West of Russia, St. Petersburg in the North West, European Russia's Eastern border is defined by the Ural mountains and Asian Russia is located in the subregion of asia, Northern Asia.
I am also uncertain of my math and am sorry if it is incorrect but according to my calculations it would take 10,796,482,814,361 copies of Doctor Zhivago to cover the surface of Russia. Now that is 10,796,482,814,361 copies of my copy of the book. They may range in size. Again, I am very sorry if my math is off but like Allen said, the most important thing is that we are doing math over the summer.
I love that you chose copies of Dr. Zhivago as your unit of measurement! Good job!
DeleteLol, your Russian name sounds so complicated...Well, for us Americans anyway!
DeleteThe Russian naming system has diminutives, which are pretty much nicknames. A patronymic is a name based on your father's name. Then, there is the family name. The order of the three names doesn't matter as much as it does in English. My name would be Amadeus Richovich Wing. :)
ReplyDeleteRussia is large. It's about 6,592,800 miles. That means that it would take about 9,493,632,000 Casey Sims heads to cover all of Russia. That math is dead on, right Casey?
Hmmmm...I wasn't sure that the Casey Sims head was a standard unit of measuremeent, Wing! Nice work though.
DeleteThe Russians use nicknames that often have nothing to do with the original name, like Sasha in place of Alexandra. They also use suffixes on the end of last names, according to gender.
ReplyDeleteRussia is 1.8 times the size of the US.
True, the diminuatives used often don't sound like they have much to do with the original name. Good work, Aubie!
Delete1) Russian names are made up of three parts: the given name, the patronymic, and the last or family name. To make the patronymic, you take the name of your/someones father and add one of the suffixes to it. The most common men's suffixes are -ovich or -evich and for a woman they are -ovna or -evna.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure mine would be Jordan Jamesevna!
2)A) St. Petersburg is in the midwestern area, and Moscow is located in the western area.
B) The eastern part of Russia is in Asia; And the western part of Russia is in Europe.
C) Russia is about 6,592,800 square miles.
3) If you wer to cover Russia in Manga books, You would need about 1,022,721,363,219 (one trillion twenty-two billion seven hundred twenty-one million three hundred sixty-three thousand two hundred nineteen) Manga books... I think... Anyway, alll that matters is that I did math during summer break!