Welcome to CC 2014-2015

When class started, I introduced myself as "Miss Zabrina" (Mrs. Ong sounds old and is more for my mother-in-law).  I told the children my expectations of them.  I only have three - (1) To be respectful to the person talking in front whoever they may be. (2) To be kind and considerate to their fellow student, to think of others first before themselves. (3) To make the most of the two and a half hours we have every week and have fun doing it.  I also hope the parents in class can join in the class activities and enjoy the year with us.  If you, as a parent, have any questions about my leadership, content or my method for covering the content during the weekly time together, please feel free to approach me at lunch, but not during class time.  And I would appreciate it if you do this face-to-face and not over email or phone to ensure clearer communication.  Plus, English is not my first language and I don't check and reply to my email as often as I should, which will prove frustrating for you if you need something clarified.  Thank you very much for understanding.

For memory work, I use a lot of songs and hand motions because I find it makes retention better and with the catchy tunes the children enjoy their memory work better.  Here are the list of songs for your reference:
1. For Timeline, Presidents, History, Geography (Weeks 1-10) and Math (Weeks 1-11), I will be using the songs on the Foundations Audio CD.
2. For Science, English, Latin (Weeks 1-11),Geography (Weeks 11-24) and Math (Weeks 12-24), I will be using Amy Joy Tofte's music on CC Connected (if you are a CC Connected subscriber, in the file sharing page, search for cycle 3, all weeks, all category, file type mp3 downloaded by NoGreaterJoy).
3. For Latin (Weeks 12-24) and Memory Verse (John 1:1-7), I will be using the music we use in our opening ceremony.

As I have told the children, if you are not very fond of songs, you will love singing at the end of the year (We have a song for that...).

I'd like to share a link where I found a lot (almost all) of AJT's songs (I am only giving you the link for English and Science for now and will continue to add the link as we progress to the particular weeks). The videos are very helpful for visual learners and they are fun to watch. 

English (Weeks 1-12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaPbQggHLFg&list=UUwqYEpNo3EP70BhYPwHVtsQ&index=55

Science (Weeks 1-12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUZvCpniK2I&index=61&list=UUwqYEpNo3EP70BhYPwHVtsQ

I will try my best to keep in touch with all of you as often as I can.  If I stumble into some resources that will be helpful, I will make sure to share it with you.  And if you find any other resources, be sure to let me know, as I am excited to learn from you as well.  This is going to be an exciting year for all of us (especially me, this is my first time doing American History... ever).  I pray that our time together will enrich our lives and character, as well as our intellect (ha!ha!).  Happy Learning!

Sincerely,
Zabrina