Week 1

It was an exciting first day of CC.  It has been fun getting to know everyone.  We missed you Cosmo, Nolan and Ruthie.  Cosmo, we hope you are feeling better, get well soon!

We started our day with expectations, announcements (Would someone remind me to go over fire drill next time?) and presentation. Since, it was our first day, we got to know each other through a panel interview on a TV show during the presentation. The skill we learned today is getting to know your audience and learning how to sit properly (especially girls) when being interviewed.

Thank you Mr. Herson for a very interesting Science experiment - persistence of vision. Being a Disney fan, I can't think of a better example than cartoon animation, so I'd like to share this with you. Have fun.  By the way, this past summer, Dawn and I made a thaumatrope which has the same concept as our experiment - persistence of vision. Here is a link you might enjoy watching and maybe doing at home.

New grammar
Timeline: Song - CC CD
We sang through the song and did the hand motions taught during the opening ceremony.

History: Song - CC CD
We sang through the song plenty of times. Somehow, we are stumbling through "made the first of four trips", so please work on that at home.  Just a quick info that I gave the kids - Columbus was on the Santa Maria.

Science: Song - NoGreaterJoy
We repeated the words a lot (esp. epithelial) and sang through the song plenty of times. I gave them quick examples of each type of tissue. The hand motions are as follows:
 connective - clasp hands together
 epithelial - touch the skin of your forearm
 muscle - flex both biceps
 nerve - snap fingers

Math: Song - CC CD
This is an easy one.  One thing I mentioned to the kids, I am writing down the multiplication table on the board for them to get use to it, (even if they can still skip count for memory masters) because most of them will have to do the tables next school year.  Plus, I am thinking most of them are working on the multiplication table at home anyway, right? I did asked them to come up and write (skip count) on the board.

English: Song - NoGreaterJoy
We chanted through this a lot of times and we did the following hand motions (based on parts of speech motion last year):
 "to" - two pointer fingers pointing at each other
 verb - run in place
 noun - flip right hand
 adjective - stomp left foot
 adverb - jump

Latin: Song - NoGreaterJoy
Love this because the song gave a review of what a preposition is before moving on to Latin prepositions.  The hand motions are as follows (if you need me to demo this for you, let me know):
 in - close fingers on right hand and place them into the "c" hand on the left
 apud - form "a" with both hands and place it together.
 per - close fingers on right hand and pass through the middle and ring finger of the left hand
 sine - starts as the sign for with then open both hands loose with palms facing down

Geography: Song - CC CD
We sang through the song a lot. Point, say and trace the five states and their capitals.  I tested them also by asking them to name the capital of the states.

Fine Arts
We reviewed the elements of Drawing - OiLS.  And using the shapes, we drew a ship. I reminded them to make sure they always warm up first before drawing anything.  Here is a good site to watch to reiterate that any drawings can be made just out of basic shapes (I would prefer the use of paper and pencil instead of technology, that is just me).

Review
We reviewed what we learned in New grammar and since we have enough time, we reviewed some of the memory work from cycle 2.  I am very impressed with the kids still remembering a lot of their memory work from Cycle 2.  Good Job!

Here are some of my book recommendations:
Where do you think you're going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz
Christopher Columbus Famous Explorer by Arlene Bourgeois Molzahn 
Follow the Dream The Story of Christopher Columbus by Peter Sis (for younger kids) 
I, Columbus My Journal Edited by Peter & Connie Roop
Don't Know Much About the 50 States by Kenneth Davis
Ultra-organized Cell Systems by Rebecca Johnson

          

In our curriculum this year, we are using the Peter Marshall's books on American History, so I'm including it as a recommendation because we are enjoying it a lot (very interesting and very different from a regular history book).
The Light and the Glory, From Sea to Shining Seas and Sounding Forth the Trumpet for Young Readers by Peter Marshall and David Manuel

  

That's all for now (although it seems like a lot).  Have a wonderful week.  By the way, we will not be there next week, Karrie Kershner will be subbing for me. I will see all of you in two weeks, Lord willing.

Sincerely,
Miss Zabrina

P.S. Presentation for next week - Show and Tell a story.