Week 23

One more week and we are done.  Congratulations everyone... we have one more week to finish strong.  Really strong!!!

Thank you Mrs. Keeler for our review on the Orchestra and Beethoven.  For resources, see previous post.  And I believe I forgot to share one movie we watched about Beethoven, "Beethoven Lives Upstairs". I borrowed it from Dawn's choir conductor, maybe you can check if it is available in your local library.  I wanted to share this clip that we enjoyed watching while Dawn is learning to play "Moonlight Sonata".  Monika also shared this clip if anyone is interested.

Presentation today is fun though very short.  I am so glad that the children did enjoy their year in CC, It has been wonderful to see the children getting more and more comfortable speaking in front as the weeks go by.  Congratulate everyone for me. I believe I forgot to share my presentation since we lack time, maybe I'll do it next week (i.e., if we have time...hahaha). So, I guess that's it for presentation. Thank you very much for the preparation for presentation every week.

New Grammar
History: Song - CC CD
I told them how Kuwait used to be part of Iraq until they got their independence in 1932. When Saddam Hussein came to power he wanted to take Kuwait because it is an oil rich nation to pay his big debts.  President Bush (elder) then sent troops to prevent Hussein from taking over Iraq and later during President Bush's (younger) time, Hussein was eventually killed in 2006, when most of them were just born.  We sang through the song a lot of times and I do have hand motions but we did not use it in class.  See below, if you want to use it at home.

·         President Bush	B-hand. Both A-hands tap on the chest (left) and lower side of the body (right). (ASL sign for military).
·         Expel	One flat hand palm-up, while the other flat hand palm-down pushes somethingoff the other fl at hand palm-up.
·         Saddam Hussein	S-hand and H-hand.
·         War	Palm-in curved 5-hands move from side to side

Timeline: Song - CC CD
The end of timeline... we sang through the song getting faster and faster... hand motions are the ones taught in the opening ceremony which I am struggling with (hahaha).

Latin: Song - CC CD
This is a review. The hint is "Going to the future, you need an ero (arrow)."

Math: Song - NoGreaterJoy
I explained the distributive law a little bit through colors(mix red and blue, you get purple and mix red and yellow, you get orange).  I will send you the illustration via email. I used the cards to let them build the equation. This is a very challenging equation for most of the kids so you might want to work with them more at home.

Science: Song - NoGreaterJoy
I had and illustration (I will send via email) to make them understand heat flow - radiate, touch and travels.  Here is a resource on heat transfer you might want to use to know if they understand heat flow.  I enjoyed answering it. We sang through the song probably a 100 times... they are struggling with the word conduction (somehow, they are saying conjunction).  Work with them at home.

English: Song - NoGreaterJoy
This memory work is long and they are struggled through it.  We sang the song a lot of times - beginning part first and then the last part.  As before, I have to put "answers the questions" in one note to make sure they complete the whole sentence (especially for those doing memory masters).  I taught them hand motions (which they are not so eager to learn), which you'll see below. Work on this at home because it is very wordy.
   adjective  -  Left foot forward 
   noun  -  Flip right hand up
   pronoun  -  Flip left hand up
   describing  -  both hands okay sign facing down and going on opposite direction
   qualifying  -  Roll 1-10 fingers out like counting something
   limiting  -  Both hands palm down, one on top of the other with space in between
   what kind - Both letter "K" hands, one going over and the other under
   how many - Both hands close and then palms up
   which - Both hand thumbs up sign and goes up and down
   whose - Right pointer finger wiggle in front of your face and turn around to make letter "S"

Geography: Song - NoGreaterJoy
The countries' names were very challenging to say but it is not so difficult to find (we used the world map for this).  I have an illustration (will send via email) on the board to help them remember. Big K for Khazhakstan (biggest among the five countries), smaller k for Kyrgystan (smaller land area than K), Big T for Turkmenistan (bigger than the other t), small t for Tajikistan (smaller land area than T) and U for Uzbekistan. We "STANd and give the STANs an applause.

We finished the egg protector project and we will test it next week.  Let us see whose egg protector protects best... hahaha!  Oh, by the way, this week is Philadelphia Science Festival week, if the kids like science (which I believe lots of them do) you might want to check out some of the activities offered. This is the website.  We planned to go to the Astronomy night in our area last Friday, unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, the event was cancelled. I am thinking the children might enjoy the Science Carnival on Saturday, May 3 at the Franklin Institute grounds. I am actually looking for someone to cover my call for me so we can go.

Review game was fun... good thing they are not real darts (hahaha).  The kids seems really challenge without help from their peers... but I think they had fun. Keep on working hard to finish strong. 

Here are some of my book recommendation for this week...
Gulf War by Suzanne Murdico
Hairy, Scary, Ordinary What is an Adjective by Brian Cleary
Quirky, Jerky, Extra Perky More about Adjectives by Brian Cleary
Hot and Cold by Terry Jennings (there are two pages with illustrations of heat flow)
Science Alive Heat by Darlen Lauw
The Magic School Bus In the Arctic A Book About Heat by Joanna Cole

          


Announcement for next week...
1. No presentation next week.
2. We will have a review game (probably a short one), to let them earn a little more tickets.
3. Auction is next week... explain a little bit about how an auction works... Thank you very much for those who donated to the prize pool. You are still welcome to donate but not obligated.  I am a little bit scared on what will happen but really excited for the kids to get the prizes (I want to be a child again with the prizes that is available).
4. For anyone doing memory masters, the "other proof" is due next week.
5. For anyone doing subject star (I encourage everyone to at least do this - pick their favorite subject, if not, maybe they can do Latin - since we only have six memory work... I know you can do this), I believe you have to let Lori know by May 6.
6. Anyone interested in doing our Ephesians 6, deadline is also next week.
7. For the closing ceremony, May 19, your child will have half a table to display the work they've accomplished this school year. You are welcome to participate but you are not obligated.
8. Again, we want to finish strong... next week is our last week to prove we can finish well!  I find that the children had been so restless the last two to three weeks during New Grammar time.  They are very excited for the review game but end up disappointed when they cannot answer the question on the new lesson.  Thank you for not doing the new grammar in advance, it gives me a chance to surprise them and get their attention (for most of the time) and give them something to look forward to.

Okay this is way too much announcement already.  Have a wonderful week!

Zabrina