Week 11

Hello to everyone... we are back and we had a wonderful time away (I would say it was much needed for me especially for my heart issues...hahaha). Thank you so much for being so well behaved for Mrs. Fawthorp.  I am very proud of all of you. Just a quick observation for this week, the kids are somewhat distracted, I am not sure if it is the holidays and/or the long weekend. Next week will be another challenge because it is the last class of the semester so I would really need all of you to help me with calming them down (hahaha). If it is at all possible to refrain from coming in and going out of the classroom multiple times so that the kids can stay focus in what they are doing, I would really appreciate it.  Thank you so much for your support this past semester.  I am so blest to have all of you walking along side me to help the kids learn and have fun at the same time.  

Presentation was so much fun and I am very glad to see how comfortable the kids are in doing their presentations.  I can't even share my presentation anymore because we always are out of time. But I am happy to listen to the presentations and see how they formulate their questions. Congratulations! Next week's presentation - "Narrate one or two Aesop's Fables enhancing the presentation with expression, gesture and props. Have fun preparing!

Science experiment for body parts is finally over.  We finished off with drawing their faces. Next week, we will put together all of the body parts on the traced body.  I am already overwhelmed thinking about it... if it is possible for you to be there to help your kids during the time (10:00-10:30), I would really appreciate it.  We will be doing it in the lunch area at that time.  If it is possible, please let them bring glue sticks so they can have their own and we can save some time. Thank you so much!

New grammar
Timeline: Song - CC CD
We sang through the timeline and did the hand motions taught during the opening ceremony.  We started with 1000 AD, just to have a better starting point.

History: Song - CC CD
Please take note that the song three years ago is slightly different from the song this year.  I will send the music via email.  I briefly went over the reason the Civil war started and next week will be the end of the Civil War.  We went over the song a lot of times and did the following hand motions:
 war - palm-in curved hands move from side to side
 Lincoln - right "L" hand
 Southern states - right "S" hand moves from shoulder height down to the waist
 seceded - both palms down hand draws close to the body and closes into a fist (withdraw)
Please continue to work on the memory sentence at home.

Math: Song - CC CD
Finally, this is the last of the skip counting.  Hooray for everyone.  I feel like they are somewhat confused with the squares and the cubes.  Please continue to work with them on that.

Science: Song - CCC  NoGreaterJoy
The endocrine system is a very challenging system because it is not straight forward.  I briefly told them that the nervous system is the main communication system within the body (like a telephone - direct one on one communication), while the endocrine system is also used for communication throughout the body (more like a radio broadcast - one message to multiple receiver) through hormones that travels through the bloodstream to the cells within the body.  The handouts I gave you has more details on the different glands if you want to go on more detail. I made an illustration on the board with arrows for easy memorization.  I will send the illustration via email. We did the memory work a lot of times (feels like a hundred of times), but they are still stumbling through the words.  Work on that at home. This is a good site to read more on the endocrine system.

Latin: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
We did not use the song a lot in class but I would encourage it at home.  It just happen that the two rules I work with them have very similar sentence structure, so we did not have a hard time. The song helped us so much at home especially for the rules on articles which is wordy and long.

English: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
The verb this week is "set", which I believe is the easiest because everything is the same except the present participle.  This will be differentiated with next week's "sit".  And here is a link for learning set and sit.

Geography: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
We started with the physical features of the US.  And this week is the beginning of the Appalachian Mountains.  The handouts I gave you might be a good reading and fun activity.

Fine Arts
We went over some music theory focusing on dynamics and rests.  I gave out some Christmas music for them to learn and have fun at home.  We tried "Away in a Manger", which is a little bit high but sounded okay.  We also worked on "Joy to the World" which they decided they want o do for the Christmas program.  We divided the class into two - five people on melody (Cosmo, Elle, Caroline, Seth and Jason) and four on harmony (Nick, Dawn, Ruthie and Nolan).  Please work with them at home because every individual count (since we are doing melody and harmony). Practice even just for 10 minutes a day. Remember our three P's - posture, position and placement (see details in previous post). Please make sure they bring their music and tin whistle next week so we can practice.

Review Game was short but it was so much fun.  I observed that a lot of them are stumbling through Geography and interestingly, history... their dates are getting mixed up.  Continue to practice the memory work (I know, it is getting to be a lot), and for those interested in doing memory masters please let Lori know sooner than later.

Book Recommendations
Here are some of the books that are available in the local library. I am also adding the book recommendations for week 10 since I was not able to post on the blog for Week 10. Sorry, I can't quite find books on the Manifest Destiny, but the handouts I gave you should be a good start.
The Respiratory System by Judith Jango-Cohen
You Breathe In, You Breath Out by David Adler
Our Body respiratory System by Cheryl Jakab
The Endocrine and reproductive system by Melissa Kim (for adults)
Secession The Southern States Leave the Union by Judith Peacock
Hold the Flag High By Catherine Clinton (for younger kids)
The Causes of the Civil War by Dale Anderson
Growing up in the Civil War by Duane Damon

               

Have a wonderful week.  See you next week.

Miss Zabrina