Activities

• We made pepperkakor (gingersnaps) and saffron buns, both traditional Swedish foods. 

France

General Topics

• Welcome to France
• Fiesta! France- by Grolier Educational

Literature

• "Puss in Boots" - Usborne's Stories from Around the World
• "Bluebeard" - Golden Treasury
• Toads and Diamonds - by Huck.  Wonderful illustrations of this traditional fairy tale.
• Madeline - by Bemelmans. 
• The Cows are Going to Paris - by Kirby.  A silly story, but a neat overview of the highlights of Paris.

Activities

• I found a website with Lego instructions for the Eiffel Tower . This worked out really well and my 5 year old daughter could follow the instructions.

The Netherlands

General Topics

• Festivals of the World: Holland - Gareth Stevens Publisher
• Welcome to Holland - Gareth Stevens Publishing

Literature

• "Brave Hendrick" - Usborne's Stories from Around the World
• Katje, the Windmill Cat - Gretchen Woelfle.  A delightful story of
  a cat saving the day when the dike breaks.
• Boxes for Katje - Candace Fleming.  Based on a true story of an exchange of boxes between young people after WWII.

Biographies

• M.C. Escher - we also did a craft on tesselations and played with
  foam tesselation lizards.

Italy

General Topics

• Fiesta! Italy - Grollier
• Welcome to Italy - Gareth Stevens Publishing

Literature

• "Buried Treasure" - Usborne's Stories from Around the World
• Clown of God - de Paola.  A talented juggler grows old and gives
  his final gift to the Virgin.
• The Wonderful Eggs of Furicchia - Anne Rockwell. 
• Days of the Blackbird - de Paola 

Spain

General Topics

• Fiesta! Spain - Grollier
• Welcome to Spain - Gareth Stevens Publishing

Activities

• We listened to classical guitar by Angel Romero  and flamenco music!

Literature

• Story of Ferdinand - by Munroe Leaf
• "The Contented Priest" - The Lion Storyteller

Science

• We read online about cork at http:www.corkqc.com/cqfrst.htm
  This was more interesting than one might expect! (As an updated note: more than three years have passed since we read this and DD - now 9yo - still remembers much of the cork information!)

Germany

General Topics

• Fiesta! Germany - Grollier
• Welcome to Germany - Gareth Stevens Publishing

Literature

• "Simple John" - The Lion Storyteller
• The Brave Little Tailor - Vivian Sathre
• The Porcelain Cat - Michael Patrick Hearn (A sorcerer's apprentice has to complete several tasks to get an ingredient - a chain story)
• Bach's Big Adventure - by Sallie Kethcam

Science

• Johannes Gutenberg - Fran Rees

Activities

• One must listen to Bach when studying Germany.  Maybe Wagner.
• Good German food - brats and kraut!

United Kingdom

General Topics

• Fiesta! Ireland  - Grollier
• Welcome to Ireland and Welcome to Scotland - Gareth Stevens Publishing
• Festivals of the World: England - Gareth Stevens Publishing

Activities

• Ahhh, the beauty of shortbread.
• Fish and chips, preferably wrapped in newspaper

Literature

• "Silly Jack", "Polly and the Frog", "The Brave Bull Calf", "The Clever Mouse", "The Clever Baker", "The Greedy Famer" - all from The Lion Storyteller
• The Ghost of Greyfriar's Bobby - Ruth Brown
• "Dick Wittington" -  Usborne's Stories from Around the World