Week 24
Hooray! Our last day... Congratulations everyone for a wonderful school year. Everybody worked hard...so, CHEERS!
Thank you Mrs. Herson for an exciting time in Orchestra... thank you to all the tutors, too. Love the kids, I really did not know what to do but they got the answers... Talk about connections!
Our last Presentation was fun... I guess I have to share a tutor's trick (make the board fall on you). Thank you very much for all the kind words and as I've said, thank you for the wonderful opportunity of tutoring your kids. It has been a wonderful journey because I've learned so much from them, too. I am very proud of my class because as Cosmo said, "We are the best and the smartest class!" Truly, they are the best. To see them take care and love each other is very inspiring and encouraging. Thank you very much also to all the parents who never left me by myself throughout the year. It has been a pleasure working with all of you. As I said before, I do have the #bestclassparentsever.
Science with Mr. Herson is always fun. I told Mr. Herson how some of you shared how much you enjoy the science time with him. He said thank you! If you want to learn more about basic statistics for kids, you can go to this site.
New Grammar
Presidents: Song - CC CD
We sang through the song two times with two different songs. They seem to know it well....just keep on reviewing.
History: Song - CC CD
I briefly told them the story of the Bill of Rights. How some of the States refuse to sign the Constitution because it did not have the Bill of Rights. I told them it was written by James Madison and he started with 19 or 20 and when it went up to the Congress, they only approved 12 and by the time the States ratified it, 10 was left (the first 10 amendments to our Constitution). We visited the Constitution Center two weeks ago, and the original Bill of Rights is there (the one with 12). Check this site to get up to 50% discount (GROUPON) for Constitution Center entrance. We recited the Bill of Rights a few times, the number and then the bill. I also attached a summary of the Bill of Rights and some fun activities that will help them understand each bill. Have fun!
Science: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
I told them a little bit about what makes good science. I find this site very helpful. We repeated the sentence a lot of times. They did pretty well even if I tricked them.
Math: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
I have an illustration in my board that explains the Law which I will send via email. we repeated the sentence a lot of times and I even asked them last week's memory work. They were not stumped.
English: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
We recited the seven sentence patterns, I told them I won't even attempt to discuss anything with them... just told them if you remember five of the patterns just change Adjectives to both Nouns (S/V/PN to PA and S/V/DO/OCN to OCA). We recited it a lot of times and will need to keep reviewing at home. The worksheets I attached might be a good start.
Latin: Song - Opening Ceremony Song
We finished the whole passage of John 1:1-7. Yes, we did it... Latin, English and Sign Language. We use the signs for that, all, believe, through and him. Just a reminder for those doing the MM, you need to know the whole passage in Latin and English.
Geography: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
We continued with Prominent Features and was able to review last week's prominent features. Keep on reviewing.
AUCTION! I believe the kids were waiting for this the whole day. They were so excited and I was happy to see them happy and rewarded for all their hard work. Thank you to the parents who added to the prizes. Thank you Mrs. Thompson for being our auctioneer (I also have to thank her for sharing the idea). Thank you for all the parents who were there to help. My sincerest to all of your help to make this class the #bestclassever (I guess if we have the best parents ever, we will have the best class ever).
Book recommendations
The Bill of Rights by Christine Taylor-Butler
The Bill of rights by Judith Lloyd Yero
Thank you very much for a wonderful year. Enjoy your summer! Again, this whole week is the Philadelphia Science Festival. You can go to this site to check out some educational and free activities. This coming Saturday is the Science Carnival on the Parkway, there will be lots of activities for everyone in the family. We will be there, maybe we'll see some of you there.
See you all in three weeks. For the children doing Memory Masters, see you next week.
Miss Zabrina
Week 23
One more week to go... we are close to the end. And I would like to thank all of you for being the very best class ever - children and parents included. We will all finish strong!
Thank you to the Challenge kids and Mrs. Keeler for a wonderful introduction to Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring. If you want to learn more about Stravinsky, this is a good site. This is a simple and easy to read biography for kids. Have fun. Sorry, I was not able to find a worksheet on him.
I am so excited to see how the kids are confidently speaking in front of the class. Thank you for all the preparation throughout the year. It has been exciting to learn from the kids. Next week, I will veer off our campus' suggested topic. Since this is our last day, I would like the kids to share what is their favorite memory of our CC class (not the campus) this school year. I would encourage everybody to share. Parents are also welcomed to share their favorite memory of our class. Please keep the presentation between 2-3 minutes. Thank you!
Science with Mr. Herson is more on odds... what are the odds? The odds are in my favor or the odds are against me. If you are interested to learn more about odds and probabilities, you can visit this site. Have fun.
New Grammar
Timeline: Song - CC CD
We sang through the end of the Timeline doing the hand motions taught during the opening ceremony. Hooray!
History: Song - CC CD
As mentioned before, this is a long memory sentence. Most of the kids know it already. I briefly told them what a preamble is - an introduction. Also, I mentioned that the preamble has six goals (I gave them an acronym FEIPPS), to make it easier for them to remember. In the worksheets I gave you, the first page has a brief explanation of the six goals. This is a good summary for explaining the Preamble. I hope you'll find it helpful. We sang through the song a few times and I taught them some hand motions (this is the link for the hand motions) which is so cute and I feel would help in memorizing the Preamble.
Science: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
I briefly explain the theory of natural selection, which is the component of Darwin's evolution theory and your worksheet has the details... they have some questions which I tried to answer to the best of my limited knowledge. But as I mentioned to you before, we believe in God as the creator of the world. I did some hand motions but did not stress on teaching them to the kids. If you want the hand motions, you can always come see me.
Math: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
We learned about the Distributive Law, I told the kids that you distribute, hence the name. The illustration on my board is my favorite way of explaining the law. I will email the picture of the illustration.
English: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
I briefly told them a little bit about the sentence structure - simple (contains only one independent clause), compound (contains at least two independent clause joined by a coordinating conjunction -FANBOYS), complex (contains one independent clause and one subordinate clause joined by www.asia.wub) and compound-complex (contains at least two independent clause and at least one subordinate clause). I told them they will learn it in Essentials with Mrs. Thompson.
Latin: Song - Opening Ceremony
We did the hand motions for the words witness, bear and light. The sign for bear I change to give since in this context bear witness means give witness. And the sign is hand out, palm out (like when you are handing out something).
Geography: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy
We went over the first part of the prominent features. If I am not mistaken, the tricky part for today is the Grand Canyon (it is not the whole area but just the hook part) and the Olympic Rain Forest (is not the coast but the area in the middle).
Review Game was so much fun. Thank you so much for all the parents who were there to help (I was so surprise I think all the parents are in my class)... I am so happy to see the children motivated to answer the questions for every subject in the last six weeks. As I promised, I will give one ticket per hole punch they got. Please let them know that I will give them their ticket next week. Keep on reviewing. I hope if they are not doing the memory master, they can at least aim for subject star, even for just one subject. Just a reminder, we will not have a review game next week. We will have our auction instead and please be advised that we may go a little over but will try my best not to. The prizes I have right now will be my gifts for them for a wonderful year of learning. If you want to bring additional prizes, you are welcome to but are not required.
Book recommendation:
Here are some fo the books I found at the local library:
We the Kids by David Catrow (this a fun one, good for younger kids)
We the People The Story of Our Constitution by Lynne Cheney (we loved this)
We the People The Constitution of the United States of America by Peter Spier
American Documents The Constitution by Paul Finkelman
When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky by Lauren Stringer (a fun one for younger kids)
Introducing Stravinsky by Roland Vernon
Again, my sincerest gratitude to everyone for all the support and encouragement in class. Have a wonderful week! By the way this Friday, April 24 is the start of the Philadelphia Science Festival. You can go to this site to learn more about it. There are a lot of free sessions which the kids might enjoy. May 2, 2015 (Saturday) is the last day of the festival and it ends with a Science Carnival on the Parkway. We have been to the Carnival last year and it was so much fun. we will be going again this year.
Miss Zabrina
