Week 3

Hello everyone,

I'm loving the time we have together... something I look forward to.  I am really happy because I can actually see the kids entering into the dialectic phase.  Now, it is not only knowledge and spitting out memory work, I see them thinking and understanding more. Jacob, we miss you, but we hope you are having fun.

Presentation was really fun.  Getting to know them through their favorite Scripture passages and what they learned from God's word.  As I have shared in our family presentation, our family enjoys memorizing Scripture through songs. We use a lot of our songs from the Harrow family from Sing the Word.  If you are interested, you can check out their website. Next week's presentation is "Tell us something about a country/city in Europe". Where is it on the map? Climate? Type of Government? Official language? And anything else you want to share about the country or city. Have fun researching and using KWO in writing your presentation.

Science experiment with Mr. Reeser was new and fun as well.  We learned about why we see Saturn through its rings. Saturn's rings are made of chunk of ice and rock, but because they move so fast, our eyes blend the color making them appear to be a continous surface.  This reminded me of an experiment Dawn and I did last summer on optical illusion - the thaumatrope, you can check out a video here. We also learned a few facts about Saturn.  We will learn more about the planets later on when we study Astronomy beginning Week 7.

New Grammar
History: Song - CC CD
I told them a little bit about the Crusades and Richard the Lion-Hearted.  Maybe you can ask them what they remember. If you want to read more about the Crusades, you can check this  site or this site. If you want a few facts about King Richard, you can visit this page.

Science: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
We briefly talked about the food chain, they gave examples of the producers and consumers. They struggle with examples on the decomposers (fungi, earthworm, mushroom, bacteria). To learn more about the food chain, you can visit the site I gave you last week and this is a wonderful and simple slideshow of the food chain. It is a wonderful time to review the three types of consumers at this time. 

English:  Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
Pronoun Order... we had (sort of) a demonstration on the first, second and third person. The following few weeks will be dedicated to pronouns according to that particular order.  Keep on reviewing the memory work which will be a big help for Essentials' class.

Latin: Song - CC CD
First conjugation imperfect tense.  The clue to remember imperfect is BAM! It is not perfect...

Timeline: Song - CC CD
We reviewed Timeline from the beginning. Keep on singing!

Geography: 
We learned about the Western European countries including review of the European Seas that is close to where we are.  I also encourage them to draw the Western European countries at home. This week is the best time to start and slowly work our way in drawing Europe and finish the whole map (of Europe) by the end of the year.  This will be a great accomplishment for them. Since we are learning about England, I gave them a brief summary of the difference between England, Great Britain and United Kingdom.  They all should know the difference by now. You can test them when you're reviewing this topic. If you want to read more about it, you can check out this site.

Math: Song - CC CD if skip counting
We recited and wrote the multiplication tables of 5 and 6.  Keep on practicing saying and writing. Any suggestion of making it more exciting to memorize in class is welcome.

Scripture: Song used in Opening Ceremony
We worked on the sign language and the song for Ephesians 6:1-3.  Keep reminding them that it is our goal to do the whole Ephesians 6 by the end of the year. Keep singing!

Fine Arts
We learned upside drawing and had a lot of fun and excitement doing it.  I gave them an envelope that contained an upside down picture.  The exciting part is, they cannot take the whole picture out, but they have to slowly take out the picture a little portion at a time. The trick is to just follow the lines and draw what they see (not what they think it is). I gave them a paper with grid lines (pictures have grid lines, too) to make it easier for them.  I keep stressing that they should let the right side of their brain do the drawing - just follow the lines.  Do not even think about what the drawing is, just find the relationship in the lines. STOP THINKING for once...hahaha.  Some of the parents actually saw the transition from using the right side of their brain to the left side of their brain (when they knew what the picture was, they are drawing based on what they know, not what they see).  Finish the drawing at home and let them take their time doing it.  This type of drawing will prove helpful when we start drawing our maps.  For this exercise at home, we play audio books or music (Scripture memory for us) so our left brain can focus on the listening part and our right brain can focus on just following the lines. What a wonderful way to train both sides of your brain, right?  If you want to read more about upside down drawing, you can visit this site. Just a quick announcement, next week's art involve painting with acrylics.

Review
The kids had fun testing each other and they are doing well. I encourage them to start mastering the memory work now, while we only have 3 weeks worth of memory work.  So far, so good.  Keep on memorizing and don't forget to have fun (and sing!).

Book Recommendation 
King Richard the Lion-Hearted and the Crusades in World History by Katherine M. Doherty 
The Food Chain by Frank Staub
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
The Turn Around Upside Down Alphabet Book By Lisa Campbell Ernst (just a fun book)

      

Thank you for the help of parents who are in the class with us.  It has been wonderful working with you. When we see each other next, it is going to be October... Enjoy and have fun.

Zabrina

Week 2

Congratulations on surviving Week 2.  It has been fun working with the kids and a big encouragement for me.

Presentation was fun.  I got to know more about what happened this past summer.  I think I missed the part that the kids grew up. They all did.  I am so happy to see new faces, returning faces and "always been there" faces.  Loving it!  Next week's presentation is recite a Scripture passage and share why you like it (or you can pick what you want them to share). 

Science with Mr. Herson is always fun.  Thank you, Mr. Herson.  If you want to learn more about refraction, you can go to this site. Have fun!

New Grammar
We sing most of our memory work, but we don't do much hand motions anymore. I try as much as I can to go over the memory work at least seven times each subject, so by the time they get home, they cannot get the tune out of their head...hahaha!

History: Song - CC CD
I told them a little bit about "East-West Schism of the Church" and about how William the Conqueror became king of England. If you want to read more about him, you can go to this site.

Science: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
The types of consumers, they know really well. I just added a tidbit of information to them about primary, secondary and tertiary consumer. You can go to this site and this for more information.

Latin: Song - CC CD
We reviewed 1st conjugation present tense.

English: Song - CCC NoGreaterJoy5
We learned what a pronoun does. I just reminded them how they need to master all these English grammar to help them better in Essentials. If you want worksheets for them to do, This site might be helpful for lessons on pronoun even for the next few weeks.  Have fun!

Timeline: Song - CC CD
We reviewed what we learned during the opening ceremony.

Math
We recited and wrote down the multiplication tables 3 and 4's. Continue mastering the multiplication tables with them. I still am encouraging them to write out the tables by whole equations.

Geography: Song -  CCC NoGreaterJoy5 (did not use song in class)
We learned about the European Waters.  I encourages them to start drawing at home in preparation for Challenge in the next two/three years. At home, we use the globe a lot and different maps as well, so that we can still identify the areas we are learning even if we are not using the CC map.

Fine Arts
We learned about mirror images. They've known this for a long time.  I encouraged the kids that since they are a little bit older, they should take their time doing their work. Yes, the goal is to finish the work but we want to finish it well... the left side should look like the right side and vice versa. I was so happy to see that they did take their time to make their "lion" or "cross" really a mirror image. Please give them some time this week to finish their artwork and feel accomplished.

Review
The kids really know their material.  I would like encourage everyone to review the materials as early as now to prepare for Memory Masters if they are interested to do it (no pressures). Make sure to review the memory work even if you are not in class. We had a little bit of time and so we reviewed Ephesians 6:1-2.  Continue to review it with them at home (it is the class' goal to do the whole of Ephesians 6 this year). 

Books I found in our local library...
Leaders of the Middle Ages William the Conqueror: First Norman King of England by Paul Hilliam
What are Food Chains and Webs? by Bobbie Kalman
I and You and Don't Forget Who; What is a Pronoun? by Brian Cleary

    


Thank you so much for entrusting your children to me.  I am really honored.  I am still getting back on my feet, it is still scary for me to tutor but I am having fun. Hope you are all having fun as well.

Have a wonderful week!
Zabrina

Week 1

Hello again everyone,

My apologies for this later post.  I hope the first post helped you in some ways and allowed me to share my plan for the year. We missed you, Ruthie.

We started with Presentations.  I asked the kids to share something about themselves. It was fun getting to know them and I am excited to get to know them even more as the weeks go by. Next Monday's suggested presentation topic "What you did over the summer?" For those who already shared about their summer, you can choose your own topic.

Thank you Mr. Herson for the super fun Science Experiments.  If you want to learn more about satellites you can go to this site.

New Grammar
I am so impressed that the kids knew their materials so well, all we have to do is review most of them.  I will try my best to make class exciting and "new" for the kids. I will include suggestions for reading and worksheets on my posts, so you can access them anytime you need.

History - Song: CC CD
I briefly introduced Charlemagne and what his name means.  If you want to read more about him, you can go to this site. Worksheet here.

Latin - Song: CC CD
For the 1st conjugation present tense, I drew a present (gift) as a reminder that when you see a present, your reaction would be, "Oh, a present", which starts the first "letter" of the song.

English - Song: CCC NoGreaterJoy5
We chanted the 8 parts of speech with hand and body motions with it.  Ask the kids, they know. If you are interested in worksheets, you can try this or this.

Science - Song: CCC NoGreaterJoy5
I briefly gave them examples of each biomes. Jayven, thank you for helping me with the scrublands example. We read it a few times and we tried our best to memorize it. If you want to learn more about biomes, this seems like a good site to go to and this is a nice game to play. You can complete this worksheet when you're done with your readings.

Timeline - Song: CC CD
We did the hand motions we learned from the opening ceremony. They did really well.

Geography - Song: Continents and Oceans by Kathy Troxel
I gave them a sheet of tracing the continents while we sang through the song.  We added the Southern Ocean in the song as well.  If you are interested for them to practice more of blobbing, please go to the half a hundred acre wood site. Don't forget to label the blobs...

Math
Since most kids will be 10 by Memory Master time, we chanted through the multiplication table. I gave them a sheet of paper and told them to write while they chant.  Practice this at home and make sure they are writing it by the whole equation, i.e., 1 x 1 = 1.

Fine Arts
Today, we practiced OiLS. The kids has been doing this for a long time,but I found a wonderful project for this in this site. They called my drawing on the board a "taco" turtle. I believe this is a fun way of practicing OiLS and they came out with wonderful artwork.

Review
Since there is not much to review, we went through the memory work again and this time we included the Ephesians 6 passage.  I told them there are 24 verses in this passage, and if we do one verse every week, we will be able to memorize the whole passage.  The kids all said they want to do it.  I am very happy about this.

Some books I found in our local library...
Leaders of the Middle Ages Charlemagne: The Life and Times of an Early Medieval Emperor by Tehmina Bhote
Planet Earth by Kathleen Reilly
An Inside Look The Environment by Michael Allaby
Amazing Biome Projects by Donna Latham

       

It is going to be an exciting year for all of us.  I am a little bit scared and anxious in doing this again, but I know with God's grace and the kid's encouragement, I will be able to do this. Together, we can make this into one of the best learning opportunity of their lives. God Bless!

Sincerely,
Zabrina

Welcome to CC 2016-2017

Hello everyone,

I would like to welcome everybody to a new year of CC.  When class started, I gave the children three rules (my expectations of them). (1) To be respectful to the person talking in front whoever they may be. (2) To be kind and considerate to their fellow students, to think of others first before themselves. (3) To make the most of the two and a half hours we have every week and have fun doing it.  I also hope the parents in class can participate in the class activities as well and enjoy the year with us.  If you, as a parent, have any questions about my leadership, content or method for covering the content during the weekly time together, please feel free to approach me at lunch, but not during class time. And I would appreciate it if you do this face-to-face and not over email or phone to ensure clearer communication. Plus, English is not my first language and I don't check my email often, it will prove frustrating for you if you need something clarified. Thank you very much for understanding.

For our memory work, I use a lot of songs (and sometimes hand motions, too), because I find it makes retention better.
Here are the list of songs for your reference:
1. For Timeline, Presidents, History, Math (Weeks 1-11, if skip counting) and Latin, I will be using the songs on the Foundations Audio CD.
2. For Science, English, Geography (Weeks 2-24)(I don't use song in class), and Math (Weeks 12-24), I will be using Amy Joy Tofte's music on CC Connected (If you are a CC Connected subscriber, go to the file sharing page and search for file downloaded by NoGreaterJoy5)

I'd like to share a link where I found a lot (not all, since some of them are revised in the last few years) of AJT's songs.  The videos are helpful for visual learners and are fun to watch.

English (Weeks 1-24) (Take note that this site has the old version that is why I am not using all the songs here)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YaRR3p7as&list=UUwqYEpNo3EP70BhYPwHVtsQ&index=47

Science (Week 5-6) (I am sorry I can't find Weeks 1-4)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA0e-vNQuc0

Science (Weeks 7-24)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M3_1hGwtOQ

Math (Weeks 16-24) (I will not use all the linear equivalents in this site, it is not AJT))
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y53ytTkuG6o

Geography (Week 10-12) (For geography, I don't usually use song in class, use for home review only)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzArBvMi4bI

Geography (Week 16-18)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_NefFkDWRA

Geography (Week 19-21)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgiQtyorwtY

Geography (Week 22-24)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3H_b19QOWU

For Week 1 of Geography, I used the Kathy Troxel Continents and Oceans Song and you can listen to it in the link below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W05xku0pTWc

I will try my best to communicate with you as often as I can.  If I find additional resources that is helpful, I will share the link with you on this blog.  I pray that our time together will enrich our lives and character, as well as our intellect.  Happy Learning!

Sincerely,
Zabrina

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