Mardi Gras: Learning From Experts!

Mrs. Yollis' class had the opportunity to learn from experts today! They Skyped with Ms. Naugle's 4th grade class in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisianans taught the class all about Mardi Gras! Over a million people descend upon New Orleans to be part of this celebration.

Alexandra and Ellie located the Pelican State in Big Blue, our class atlas. Notice that Leila brought in a Mardi Gras mask and Aidan brought in some cajun spices for the class to smell. Many students have had cajun spices on chicken and pasta.

Royce, Mia, Trey, and Sasha took notes in Word. 

Many students took notes on paper, and below is a photo of Kelly's!

We used the notes to write the following paragraph!

Mardi Gras came to America in 1699, and it is also called Fat Tuesday. There are three main colors for Mardi Gras, purple, green, and gold. Purple symbolizes justice, green symbolizes faith, and gold represents power. There are many parades during Mardi Gras. The parade workers are called krewe, and they help build the floats. There are many parades. In fact, there is one ever day during the week, and on weekends there can be two or three scheduled! Many of Ms. Naugle's student attend the Rascal's Parade which is only for children.  Mardi Gras starts Tuesday, February 21 this year.

Here are some of the the Mardi Gras souvenirs!

This student caught a  football and a leather sword at one of the parades.

At the Zulu parade, they give out coconuts! They do not throw the coconuts because that would cause a lot of injuries! Ms. Naugle is hoping to get a coconut this year!

 Many parade goers wear fantastic masks! Here are two great examples!

At the end of the presentation, they performed a dance for us! Music is a big part of Louisiana's heritage! We loved the music and the dancing!

 We also used library books to learn more about Louisiana.




Louisiana is the 18th state, and its capital is Baton Rouge. The Pelican State is home to many alligators. Some of Ms. Naugle's students have hunted alligators when it is alligator hunting season. 

We talked about  Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005. It was a deadly hurricane. The name Katrina can no longer be used in naming a hurricane. We were sadden to learn that many of Ms. Naugle's students had to evacuate. Some were out of their homes for over two years!

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Maya did a wonderful job with the photographs!

Thank you, Ms. Naugle and class,  for sharing this celebration with us. 

We loved learning about Mardi Gras from our new expert friends!

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Do you remember any other facts about Louisiana?

Have you ever been to a celebration like this?