Week 16

Hello everyone,

I am trying my best to post early for the benefit of everyone especially for those who we missed yesterday. Ellie and Nick, we miss you, a lot!  I am very proud of everyone. I can see that you are all trying your best to review your memory work.  Keep on.  I also would like to commend you for participating in class and trying your best to memorize the new grammar in a very short time.  Hooray for everyone!!! But always remember why you are doing it.  In this regard, I'd like to share this verse with everyone.  "Do you best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth". 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

Presentation yesterday was fun... I got to know everyone a little bit better. Next week's presentation topic is Show and Tell: Something found in your closet (I hope it is not a mouse!).

Science experiment was so much fun... Thank you so much Mr. Boyer!

New Grammar
History: Song - CC CD
The sentence is a little bit long so keep on practicing.  We sang through the song and did the following hand motions. 

·         World War II	ASL “W”, ASL “W”, flash 2 fingers
·         Hitler	ASL "H" on upper lip forming a moustache and raise your hand with palms out (hail sign)
·         Poland	ASL “O" hand touches left shoulder and then in a straight line move to the right shoulder
·         Two engagements	Flash 2 fingers
·         U.S.	The fingers of both hands are interlocked and move in a semi-circle from left to right in front of the body.
·         Pacific front	P-hand, 2 flat hands, palms-down, hand wave up and down away from the body. (ASL sign for ocean)
·         Battle of Midway	palm-in curved 5-hands move from side to side. (war)
·         Dropping atomic bombs	Arms raised at shoulder, elbows bent, and hands in a fist, one on top of the other. Fists open to 5-hands. (ASL for bomb)
·         Hiroshima and Nagasaki	ASL “H”, ASL “N”

Timeline: Song - CC CD
We sang through this just a couple of times and hand motions are the same as the ones taught in the opening ceremony.

Latin: Song - CC CD
Review of last week's. Again the hint is if you've done something wrong "BAM"

Science: Song - NoGreaterJoy
I drew a ball on the board and explained that the ball left there untouched will not moved on it's own.  If I push the ball or throw the ball it should move in a straight line at a constant speed but there is gravity (outside force), so it falls.
We sang through the song a lot of times but they will need more practice at home because it is quite wordy and the sentence is long.  Hand motions are...

·         Object at rest	Sign an “o” and stay in one place
·         Obj. in motion… straight line	Sign an “o,” move form right to left in a straight line at a constant speed.
·         Force acts upon it	Raise open palm left hand and hit the “o” hand.

English: Song - NoGreaterJoy
We sang through the song a lot of times and the way the sentence is written on the board is enumerating the 4 things a verb does.  Actions are as follows:
  verb - run in place
  action -run in place
  state of being - both hands palm out on either side of the face
  links 2 words - hook 2 index fingers with thumbs together
  helps - right hand holding left hand
  verb - run in place

Math: Song - NoGreaterJoy
I drew a rectangle on the board with lines inside (grid) to let them know that the area of the rectangle is not just the sides of the rectangle but all the little squares inside.  We sang through the song (just the area of the rectangle) a lot of times.  the drawing looked something like this.



Geography: Point and Say Countries in the Balkans
We reviewed the Peninsulas and focused on the Balkans and so we trace through the five countries of the Balkans.  I did mention that Yugoslavia is former.  Yugoslavia now is seven different countries (Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina). You might want to research more on it at home.  This is an easy site to read about it.

Fine Arts 
Great Artist is Monet
I shared a little bit about Claude Monet, the leader of the Impressionists. Explained a little about what Impressionists are. We painted Monet's famous "The Footbridge" using dabbing technique. It was funny because today, I did not let them paint on their own, I was painting with them (they were suppose to follow me), and they were like what??? how???, and then when they saw their finished product, they were amazed.  I am sure you saw their finished product and are very proud. Keep painting, oh I mean dabbing.
By the way, I did tell the kids to bring their art box next week but I am not sure if they really need to.  I will let you know by email again sometime this week.  They will need scissors and crayons for sure and if they have a wide, soft paintbrush that would be helpful but if not, it is totally fine.  we will work things out. I am so sorry for the bother of bringing their own stuff but with so short a time, I'd like to do everything in the class so we are not wasting precious minutes walking back and forth the class. Thank you very much for the kind consideration for me.

I am very happy with the Review game, how most of them really know their materials (I guess the tickets are working... I am excited and is starting to buy the prizes for the end of the year thing).  Most of them are having a challenge in Geography and Timeline (I am not surprised with this one because they can do the whole song with no problem but if I start my question in the middle of somewhere, they sort of are lost).  Keep working with them on this two areas. Thanks!

Here are some of my Book Recommendation
 Eyewitness Book World War II
 World War II for Kids by Richard Panchyck
 Science Discoveries Isaac Newton and Gravity by Steve Parker (pg. 17  has the Three Laws of Motion)
 To Root, to Toot, to Parachute What is a Verb? by Brian Cleary
 Sir Cumference and the First Round Table A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander (Dawn loved this book so much, we read this a lot of times last year and probably this time again.)
 Artists in Their Time Claude Monet by Susie Hodge
 Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork (Love this very much... also available in video)


        
     

And again for those who are not in CC Connected the songs for Science and English can be found in the YouTube link I sent early in the school year. Just remember it is an older version so there may be some things that are different with the revised curriculum. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YaRR3p7as

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M3_1hGwtOQ&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL746E667B3183DDF0

That's it for now... it's been a long post. Have a nice week.

Miss Zabrina

Week 15

Hello Everyone,

I am very sorry for this very late post.  Work has been sooo busy.  Anyway, let me encourage everyone to keep on practicing their memory work.  I know, there are a lot of information already and we will be adding more and more. It could be challenging at times but remember we've work so hard already... continue to press on toward your goal.  Keep on!

Before I go on with the different subjects, let me make an important announcement, especially for the parents who were not there the last meeting.  You might have observed that the children have brought home tickets.  To encourage the children to review their memory work and to encourage them to participate in class, I am giving out tickets every time they give a correct answer in class whether during new grammar or review time.  We will have a raffle drawing every week for little prizes.  I also told them to keep all their tickets for our end of the year something (I am not sure yet what I want to do, but it will involve bigger prizes).  So make sure the tickets are kept safe till the end of the year.  Thank you.

Now, for real business...

New Grammar
History: Song - CC CD - World War I Countries
 We sang through the song and for better visual I cut out map of the countries for them to remember the name and location.  This is the picture I used (I did not include italy in my cut-out).



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

Latin: Song - CC CD
 This is another review. The Hint is if you did something imperfectly, "BAM!"

Science: Song - NoGreaterJoy
 I drew a picture of the roller coaster on the board and sort of gave a short explanation that the potential energy is when the roller coaster is sitting at the top of the arch before it falls and kinetic is when the roller coaster falls.  Also gave an illustration of a person holding a bow and arrow - potential is when the archer holding the bow drawn and kinetic is the flying arrow.

English: Song - NoGreaterJoy
 We sang through the song a lot of times with the following Hand Motions.
 Declarative - right pointer finger drawing a period.
 Interrogative - right pointer finger drawing a question mark.
 Imperative - make a fist on the right hand and hit the left open palm with it.
 Exclamatory - right pointer finger drawing an exclamation point.

Math: Song - NoGreaterJoy
 I brought a ruler, tape measure and meter tape. We sang through the song a lot of times. I used an activity similar to this.  I like this site for general math drills and you will find metric measurements here. 

Geography: Point and say the countries of the Middle East
 I used the mnemonic The Cat Stopped In Kitty Place (Instantly)

Fine Arts
Great Artist is Gainsborough
I shared a little bit about Gainsborough and the part that I liked the most is when he said, "I paint portraits to live, landscape because I love them and music because I can't leave it alone."  I also brought a book with all landscape for them to choose from and because we did not have enough time, I told them to make cut-outs of people at home.
Thank you to everyone who brought their art box which made it easier for us to stay in our classroom.  We will do it again next week.

Book recommendation for this week's lesson...
History - World War I Book same as last week
Math - book same as last week
 We also enjoyed a book on metric measurements "Polly's Pen Pal" by Stuart Murphy


Reminder for next week...
Presentation - Where would you like to go for a vacation? or Where else in the world would you like to live?
Fine Arts - Please bring your art box again next week.  Thank you.

That's all for now.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Zabrina

Week 14

Hello Everyone...

JEOPARDY!!! That's all I can say (with the jeopardy tune in my head).  Congratulations everyone for getting through the game... it was fun and very nerve wrecking. Next time we have to sort of refine the rules (hahaha).

It has been a wonderful week.  I feel like the class is ending so quickly, we barely have enough time to do anything. Anyway, good job on your presentations.  Next week's presentation is favorite game and how to play it (Bring the game if you can).

Science project was great.  Thank you Mr. Herson!  If you want more experiment on surface tension... Here is something Dawn and I did a little while ago, although we use a big pyrex mixing bowl instead of a glass. Have fun!

New grammar
History:  Song - CC CD
 We sang the song over and over (on the board, the names of the leaders are on one side and the countries on the other side).

Timeline: Song- CC CD
 Hand motions are from the opening ceremony

Math: Song - NoGreaterJoy
 Linear Equivalents This is the picture I have on the board (just to keep it fun).

Latin: Song - CC CD
 Review First conjugation Present Tense and as always, the HINT is when you get a present your reaction is "Oh".

Science: Song - NoGreaterJoy
 I sort of introduce what acids (something sour and chemical compound starting with H (hydrogen atom) and bases (something bitter and chemical compound ending in OH (hydroxide) are. But I guess it just went over their head.  Oh well, it will go over my head too if I am their age.  But we work on the song and it seems like their having a struggle with so many words so we broke it down to ACID - DONATES, BASE - ACCEPTS. We reopeated the four words over and over and eventually added the hydrogen atom part.
 Hand motions are as follows:

·         Acid donates	Sign an “a” starting at your chest.  Move the “a” away from your body, then
·         Base accepts	Sign a “b” and bring your hand back to your chest.

English: Song - NoGreaterJoy
 The memory work for this week is a bit long so we started with the first part of the paragraph (we just keep repeating the first sentence and hand motions are similar to the first week's hand motion for adverbs, verbs and adjective 
   adverb  - Jump   verb -  Run in place   adjective - Stomp left foot forward   adverb - Jump In the song, after the first sentence, the transition is just one word - asks.  And as I've mentioned to the class, in memory masters, the whole sentence is needed. So we kept the song and just keep the four words in the same note (and answers the questions).  The hand motions for the questions are as follows:   how - both hands palms out   when - point right index to where your watch would be on the left forearm   where - left hand on forehead (like you are looking for something)   why - touch forehead with the fingers of the right hand then while bringing your hand forward and down, change it to the letter "y," keeping your palm facing you.
   to what extent - two index finger pointing to each other
   how often - tips of the bent right "b" hand touch the palm of the left hand (near the heel of the palm) then separate and move forward a couple inches, then make contact again.
   how much - both hands moves upward while changing a palm-up "O" into a loose - 5 hand
   under what condition - bend both knees while both open hands face down and swoop up.

Geography: Point and say the countries of Baltic Europe
 We repeated the country names a lot of times since they are struggling with the names especially Latvia and Lithuania. Hint: ELLE Please!

Fine Arts
Great Artist today is Carl Linnaeus
 I shared a little bit about the life of Linnaeus and we drew plants - flowers, fruits, branches, etc.  This would be a perfect time to go to Longwood Gardens as they are having their Orchid Extravaganza.  Have fun!

Continue reviewing the memory work and keep on having fun.

Some books we borrowed from the library for this week's lesson. I'd like to share it with everyone.  Here is the list:
Eyewitness Books World War I
Why did World War I Happen? by R.G. Grant
Acids and Bases by Chris Oxlade
If You were an Adverb by Michael Dahl
How Tall How Short How Far Away by David Adler
Carl Linnaeus Father of Classification by Margaret Anderson

   

  

And the following are websites for Rembrandt and Linnaeus
Rembrandt
Carl Linnaeus

Okay, That's it for now.
Zabrina

P.S. This coming week, we will need watercolor for our Fine Arts, would it be too much to ask the kids to bring their art box (the one they got for Christmas) so we can all use watercolor and brush at the same time? Thank you!

Happy New Year, Everyone! Week 12 & 13

It is so sad, it is the new year and I am still late with my post.  Anyway, thank you so much for bearing with me.  Also, I would like to thank all the parents who have been so encouraging the last few weeks.  Thank you very much.

Science experiment rocks Mr. Herson! Thank you so much.

For more on constellation (Week 12), I would recommend a book called "Glow in the Dark Constellation A field Guide for Young Stargazers by C. E. Thompson.  I have a copy and I will bring the book on our next meeting, feel free to look at it.

For more on sounds through vibration I'd like to share a you tube site where music is created through different sizes of wine glasses filled with different levels of water and using water as a medium (instead of vinegar) to create the sound (This is close to my heart because it was one of the many science project I did back in high school... sentimental enough!!!).  Here are some of the links of the music with wine glasses.  Have fun...

Wine Glass Music
Fur Elise
Canon in D
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

The kids are doing so well in our class presentation.  I am very proud of them.  Though I would want them to ask more questions. I believe they just want to have a longer time to eat and chat (no complaints there...haha)

New Grammar
History
 Week 12 Battle of Waterloo - we sang through the song a lot of times
 Week 13 Industrial Revolution - there are so many new vocabulary here that I showed them pictures of the steam engine, power loom and cotton gin. Then we sang the song with hand motions.












The hand motions are shown below

Week 13: Tell me about the Industrial Revolution (Timeline Card 106) Watt's steam engine, Cartwright's power loom, and Whitney's cotton gin spurred the Industrial Revolution that began in the 1760s.
·         Watt’s steam engine	W hands then Alternate moving your  fists up &  down in front of you like pistons in an engine
·         Cartwright’s power loom	C Hand Left 5-hand. Right hand palm down weaves up and down between the fingers (ASL sign for weave).
·         Whitney’s cotton gin	W Hand. Left hand rests on the side of an imaginary cotton gin.  Right hand cranks.
·         Industrial Revolution	Palm-in curved 5-hands, fingers interlock and bounce twice, representing the gears in an engine.

Timeline
 Week 12 & 13 -We sang the favorite Timeline song and followed the hand motions during the opening ceremony.

Latin
 Week 12  Future Perfect Tense - Review from Week 11.  Our hint so we will know how to start are in the previous blogs. (Future & Future Perfect - Bow and arrow)
 Week 13 Present Tense - Review from the past.  Our hint: (Present & Present Perfect - If you received a present, your reaction is either Oh! or Eeee!)

Science
 Week 12 US Space mission - song from NoGreaterJoy and hand motions are:
  Mercury - right hand letter M, fly to the left
  Gemini - left hand letter G, fly to the right
  Apollo - right hand letter A, fly to the left
  Shuttle - left hand letter S, fly to the right

Here are some pictures of Gemini, when we visited the Adler Planetarium in Chicago last November.

 Week 13 States of Matter - song from NoGreaterJoy, hand motions are shown below.

Week 13: What are the states of matter?
·         Solid	Make hands into a fist so it looks like a rock (like in “rock, paper, scissors”)
·         Liquid	“Drink” from a cup.
·         Gas	Fan hand in front of nose as if you are smelling something stinky.
·         Plasma	Open both hands at the same time

Geography
 Week 12 Eastern European Seas - Point and say the names of the five seas.
 Week 13 Northern European Countries - Point and say the names of the four countries.  We sort of have an acronym (courtesy of Monika) to remember the four countries - NSFD - No stinky feet, Dawn (we only had no stinky feet when we began and since Dawn is the only student whose name starts with a "D", I used it to complete the acronym).

English
 Week 12 & 13 Indefinite Pronoun - song from NoGreaterJoy, we reviewed the whole song beginning from all and ending in such.

Math
 Week 12 & 13 Liquid Equivalents including Teaspoon and Tablespoon - Song from NoGreaterJoy is one song with both weeks' memory work.  I brought all the spoons and bottles to give them a visual of the difference of the measurements.  For Week 13, I introduce them to a friend of mine called the GallonBot.  Here is the Link for the worksheet about the liquid equivalents because I forgot to copy it for the kids last Monday. I guarantee they'll have fun answering it.

  

Fine Arts
 Week 12 Tin whistle Final Week, I gave them a music "Three Blind Mice" (both hands).  We finished all the music theory with dynamics - forte, mezzo forte, mezzo piano and piano.  As a final project for music theory, I showed them three different music scores and allowed them to look for notations in music we've already learned (tempo, dynamics, notes, rests, bar lines, repeats, accidentals, etc.).
 Week 13 Great Artists starts with Rembrandt - I gave them a brief history of Rembrandt and we focused on light and dark.  i showed them a lot of Rembrandt's paintings from books I borrowed from the library (you'll see the list below).  Thank you to Miss Monika for being our model and for explaining to the kids more about how to do our project for the day.  These are the books I think would be interesting read for the kids:
 Rembrandt and Seventeenth Century Holland by Claudio Pescio



 World Almanac Library Lives of the Artist - Rembrandt



That's all for now, everyone.  I believe this is way too long already.  Have a fun week off from CC. Keep on doing your memory work.  Presentation next meeting is Tell us about your favorite food and how to make it.  Our Great Artist for next meeting is Linnaeus.  

Yours,
Miss Zabrina

P.S.  For those who are not subscribe to CC Connected, you are welcome to come to class during New grammar time (10:30-11:00) and learn the songs for Math, Science and English.
P.S.S. Week 18 is midway of our Second Half of CC, for the review game, I wanted to do something that will need at least five more (six is even better) parents aside from me for it to work.  I know you have nursery duties and all that but if it is not too much to ask, would five parents volunteer to be there for the review Game (11:30-12:00) on Week 18 (March 3)? Let me know, if this is not possible, it is okay, I'll think of something else. Thanks so much!





 

Merry Christmas!

Congratulations to everyone because all your hard work paid off.  You did really well on your tin whistle music "Joy to the World".  I am very impressed and am very proud of all of you. Thank you very much to all the parents for encouraging your children in practicing.  We sure missed a couple of you but we never forgot you.  Hoping that you all have a wonderful Christmas!  See you next year. 

Love from,
Miss Zabrina

Week 11

Hello everyone...

We have one more week left and we are half way through CC.  Can you believe that?  This week has been so exciting.  The rocket was a hit.  Thank you very much Mr. Herson.

I was so impressed with everyone sharing a current event.  Good Job!  Next week is Show and Tell (seems like everyone's favorite).  Bring something small enough that will fit in your pocket.

This coming week will be our last week for tin whistle. I gave out a song that we will play for the Christmas program (Joy to the World).  Your children will either have a Harmony part or a Melody part.  Please encourage them to practice (start practicing the scale for two to three minutes and the music for 7-8 minutes.  10 minutes everyday should be plenty enough).  We have two more weeks to practice (I believe it is not very difficult because the music uses mostly sliding scale up or down... yes, even the harmony part). It took me hours to write the music to make the harmony and the tin whistle chart with the music to make it easier for them to play.  I believe that if they practice they can do it.  Please, please, please encourage them to practice.  We only have very limited time to practice in class so they have to do it at home.  Thank you very much in advance.

For new grammar...

History - we march through the history sentence.
Timeline - we did the hand motions done during the opening ceremony.
Science - we sang through the other plants and did hand motions
  Asteroids - letter "a" hand floats in the air
  Meteors - letter "m" drive down
  Meteroids - letter "m" hand floats in the air
  Meteorites - letter "m" drive down and makes an impact on the open palm of your other hand
  Comets - letter "c" hand sort of making a letter C in the air
English - we sang slowly to the song of indefinite pronouns
Geography - point and say countries in Eastern Europe including Siberia in Asia
Math - skip count the cubes (repeated this over and over again)  I forgot my visual aid but I will try to bring it next time.
Latin - future perfect tense 
 Hint: like the future tense, to go to the future you use a bow (bo), we also use an arrow (ero)

That's all for now... for questions about music for the new grammar please refer to the previous post. Or see me during the lunch hour for other questions.

Thank you,
Zabrina

Children's Artwork

(as promised, the before and after drawings)

Enjoy!