Week 7

Hello everyone.  Thank you so much for a wonderful morning.  I really appreciated everyone's enthusiasm in class... literally, I mean everyone.  Thank you so much for all your help... It has been a really busy week last week and I know it is going to be even busier this week. Caroline, we miss you today! Hope you are feeling better.

Congratulations to those who did their presentation.  It was so much fun to learn from the kids... I'd like to do this again next time.  Mr. Boyer, I think you're covered for crafts for the next month.  Next week, the following students will do their presentation - Caroline, Cosmo, Dawn, Jason and Nick.  Have fun preparing, if it is possible to stay within 5-6 minutes, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

For science experiment, we started coloring our body parts. Next week we will continue to color other parts of the body and we will be staying in our classroom so we can save time. Make sure to bring the coloring supplies and scissors. Thank you!

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

History: Song - CC CD
I told them a little bit about the war being the war between Britain and the US and how during this time Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem as he saw the bombarding of Fort McHenry.  And after winning the war, the U.S. became more confident to not let anyone colonize the country. We sang through the song and did the following hand motions:
 War of 1812 - palm-in curved hands move from side-to-side (war). Both "S" hands facing each other in front of your body then pull apart while raising up and opening (like bursting) 
 confidence - right index finger pointing to the right temple and moves down the waist while making a fist on both hands 
 U.S. - fingers of both hands are interlocked and move in a semi-circle from left to right in front of the body
 Monroe Doctrine - both "A" hands facing each other in front of your body then pull apart and opens (like expanding)  
 Europeans - "E" hand circles near the right temple
 colonize - right palm-down flat hands moves diagonally under left palm-down flat hand as if entering (immigrate)
 U.S. - fingers of both hands are interlocked and move in a semi-circle from left to right in front of the body
*This is a cute powerpoint of the War of 1812 that you might enjoy. You might also enjoy this site's info on the War of 1812.  I am sorry I cannot find worksheets on the War of 1812 that is age appropriate. For more info on our national anthem, here is the Star-Spangled Banner. I actually found a tin whistle music on the National Anthem which might be really good for us to learn.

Science: Song - NoGreaterJoy
I went over the excretory system with them briefly, telling them that the excretory system comprises different organs of different systems - urinary system, respiratory system, epithelial system and digestive system.  You excrete out waste you don't need (keep what is good and excrete what is bad). The hand motions are as follows:
 urinary tract - pretend to turn on water faucet
 lungs - palms open, breath out and make a fist while moving to the midline of the body
 skin - touch your forearm
 intestines - thumbs up and move both thumbs to the side (like saying you're out)
*This  seems to be a good site for the excretory system, but this is a more straightforward site on the excretory system. The worksheet seems to be a good one.

Latin: Song - NoGreaterJoy
We continued the series of nouns and the hand motions are as follows:
 vita - both hands sideway "L" start on the waist and moves up 
 lux - move right hand downward a bit as it opens up
 homo/hominum - open palm right hand on forehead (sign for father) and move down to chest.
 nomen - "H" hand on both hands, right hand tap the left hand twice
  
Math: Song - CC CD
We work through the 13's and we need more practice especially 78, 91, 104, 117, 130.  Keep on working.

English: Song - NoGreaterJoy
We worked on the verb "rise" and reviewed "do" and "be".  If I remember right, a lot of them are struggling with the past tense - rose and past participle - risen.

Geography: Song - CC CD
Trace, point and say the five states.  For me, this is when things get a little blurry... somewhere in the middle of the U.S., so keep on practicing.  See last week blogs for game suggestion at home.

Fine Arts
We started with the tin whistle and a little basic of music theory.  A lot of them are playing another instrument, but for the benefit of those not playing another instrument, I am going really basic on theory.  For review, see Foundations Guide for playing the tin whistle. I have a few worksheets that i would love to share, I am so sorry I was not able to give it to you, I will include it in next week's worksheets. We started with just the left hand B, A, G, I am very impressed with the result.  Everybody was able to play the music "Hot Cross Buns".  Work on the scale focusing only on the left hand notes.  Make sure the holes are covered well so you'll get the right sound. Just focus on B, one hole covered, A, two holes and G, three holes. My goal is for them to be able to read music without the tin whistle table (am I too ambitious?), so they can just pick up any music (music in the key of D) and play.

Book Recommendation
Here are some of the books I found at the local library:
Battles of the War of 1812 by Diane and Henry Smolinski
The War of 1812: A Primary Source History of America's Second War with Britain by Liz Sonneborn
The War of 1812 by Carl Green
The Star-Spangled Banner: The Story Behind Our National Anthem by Liz Sonneborn
The Star-Spangled Banner by Peter Spier (picture book)
The Excretory System by Alvin Silverstein
The Excretory System How living Creatures get Rid of wastes by Alvin Silverstein
Excretory System by Lorrie Klosterman

                 


Have a nice week... Keep us in your prayers, this will be a very challenging week for me personally - with work (end of the month deadline), preparation for next week and David's surgery. Stay safe!

Miss Zabrina