Week 11

Hello to everyone!  I am always amazed at how the kids take care and love each other.  I am doubly blest with their love for me.  Thank you, girls for the card and the drawing on the board.  It is a wonderful encouragement to me. Nolan, we missed you.

Presentation was exciting.  I am very impressed with the books the kids are reading. We had books written by great authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis , etc.  The amazing thing is the kids are able to talk about most of the books that was shared.  Presentation was more of a book discussion, which is so awesome.  Treasure this wonderful time of reading. Next week's presentation - "Tell us about your favorite family tradition for Christmas."

I can only say one word for the Science experiment - ROCKETS!  We had a marvelous time launching the rockets and comparing them.  However, we did not know what was the final verdict on which rocket flew higher.  A question for Mr. Herson next week, kids.

New Grammar
Timeline: Song - CC CD
We reviewed the timeline section taught during the opening ceremony.  The kids had more fun finding out what was before a certain time period.  This is a great exercise and challenge for the kids who had memorize the Timeline song for many years.

History: Song - CC CD
I briefly talked to them about the French Revolution.  I guess I was mixing my words at that time because the kids were so quiet, or maybe they are just really paying attention.  To read more on the French revolution, look at this site or this site. 

English: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
We started with the first of the three groups of indefinite pronouns. We will be going over this list for the next three weeks, with different focus every week.

Latin: Song - CC CD
First conjugation future perfect tense... When we were learning future tense, our hint was a bow (bo).  Now with future perfect, our hint is an arrow (ero). We even had an opportunity to review all of the Latin conjugation.

Math: Song - CC CD
We learned about the cubes.  They are really good with skip counting, so to challenge them, I asked them about cubes out of order (e.g. 7 cubes, 9 cubes).  they struggled, but I believed they had fun.

Science: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
I briefly explained to them the other bodies in our solar system.  The kids struggled with the pronunciation of the meteoroids and meteorites, but they know their materials. If you want to learn more about the other bodies in our solar system, check out this site (Scroll doen to the lowest section to find asteroids, comets, and meteorites).

Geography: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
We were in Eastern Europe and we learned that Istanbul used to be named Constantinople. This is a good reading site about Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire.  I also mentioned to the kids that part of Turkey is located in Europe and part of Turkey is in Asia. Check out this site for more on Turkey... and yes, I remembered the body of water - Bosporus strait. 

The water behind us is the Bosporus strait.  We were in Istanbul (Europe part of Turkey), and the land behind the water is the part of Turkey in Asia.  We also learned that Russia used to be USSR.  I asked the kids to check out what independent countries now, used to be part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This is their homework (if they remember), and we might talk about it next week. Have fun researching.  I will send a good site to check out about USSR next week (just in case the kids are reading this blog).

Fine Arts
We reviewed a little bit of our theory.  I introduced new grammar (mostly Italian words), piano, forte, mezzo, crescendo, diminuendo, legato and staccato. Next week will be our last week in music theory, it would be great if you can review what we learned the past six weeks. We will be looking at real music and see how we can read the music score.  We also practiced our "Silent Night".  The kids are doing great.  I heard most of them. I just need to hear from a few of them so we can balance the sound of the melody and harmony part. Please remind them to keep practicing both melody and harmony. I will send the music via email attachment just in case some of them lose the copy of the music. Awesome job, Jacob for finishing the assignment on "We Three Kings".  We will play this music again next week.  I gave them a copy of "Ode to Joy" for tin whistle without the finger holes.  My goal for them is to be able to play music just by looking at any piece of music (in the key of D, of course) without depending on the finger hole chart.  It would be great and the kids will surely feel accomplished. Remember to bring your tin whistle next week.  I really hope that everyone can play the tin whistle next week.  It will be our last rehearsal for our Christmas program. If siblings are sharing the tin whistle, please take note that our schedule for tin whistle is 11:00 am - 11;30 am (more or less).  Thank you very much!

Review
We practiced our verse, Ephesians 6:1-9, the song (acapella) and the sign language.  The kids did great.  I have decided that we will not use any background music, because the kids sang it perfectly.  Review game today was Math only.  The kids did wonderfully with tables from 1 to 10, they started to struggle a little bit in the 11's and 12's, but they really struggled in the 13's, 14's and 15's. Keep on practicing the tables... challenge them by making it a game. I am sure they will enjoy it.

I almost forgot... we should be finished with our moon calendar this coming weekend (Dec. 12 is 29 days from Nov. 14).  If they can bring their calendar with them, it would be a wonderful discussion topic.

Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone!

Sincerely,
Zabrina