Essentials - 9/24/09

Here is the "interjections" video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhHpJ45_zwM
I found it helpful.
Here is a video showing how to learn multiplication tables http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZlBtMPrMyk

EEL Assignment – Week 4
1. Complete Charts daily, working toward mastery:
– Phonograms (S4)
– Sentence Patterns (S1D)
2. Complete Task Sheets
– For sentences 1, 2 and 3 (pgs 62 - 64)
3. Complete Editing Exercise for Week Four daily
– (teacher-directed level of editing)

IEW Assignment – Week 4
1. Cut out and learn the vocabulary words for Lesson 4 **Quiz next week on words from weeks 1-4**

2. Complete page 22, finishing the KWO, listing 3 key words for each sentence.

3. Complete your writing assignment:
– Use your KWO only when writing
– Create a paragraph in your own words from your KWO
– Use checklist on page 23 to get all your points!
– Mark all elements of style with correct markings - check email for color codes
– Bring a copy of your final back to class next week

I look forward to reading your papers!

Mrs. Griffith

Abecidarian 2 Class, Week 3

Greetings to my awesome 5-year-olds and their parents! We had a great week 3 and seem to be settling into our routine! Mrs. Lively's class joined us this past week since we've had so many folks out on vacation. It was a pleasure having Keiran Capuano with us, and being able to co-teach with Mrs. Lively!

I've sent an email to all of you with the week's hand motions for your easy reference, so check your inboxes! I'll try to email these to you each week!

For review time, we played a rousing chutes-and-ladders-style game which enabled us to cover ALL of our past 2 weeks' memory work! Very cool! The kids did an amazing job of remembering everything they've learned, and we all had fun reciting every answer together! I know that I'm learning just as much as the kids are -- a true testimony to the power of repetition!

See you next week!

-Mrs. Blugerman

Journeymen/Masters

We had a great day 9/17. Our new history sentence introducing the Greek and Roman gods was set to fun music and the kids did a great job with it. The new Latin noun endings are set to the tune of "Rain, Rain Go Away". The CD sounds as if it makes the singular 1st declension sound as a short (a) instead of the correct short (u) sound. This tune is really catchy. It seems as though my daughter and I had a hard time not singing it over and over again Thurs. and Fri.. Our Science was the Animal Cell which we learned hand motions to and discussed their funtions. Next week we will cover the plant cell. This group will probably be able to make a rough sketch of these during review time next week. The Prepostion song on the "weekly" CD track 25 is a great tool for learning the prepostions. The Timeline Cards had a new set of hand motions, as they will each week. The kids seem to be picking these up pretty well. However, if you notice an area where your child seems to be having a tougher time learning the new material, please let me know. Our science experients were outside and we spent more time talking about the Scientific Method and different variables (such as the weather/season)affect our results. We well continue to review 6 weeks of new material each week. I passed out tickets in ziplock bags this week and hope to pass out tickets for those who have been absent as well. At least for the first half of the year these are given for as rewards for being a part of our class and to reinforce the responsibility of keeping up with them. After the first 12 weeks we may use the tickets to reward those who are applying more effort on their memory work. The children are doing terrific on their presentations. I enjoy their stories and interests. What a terrific way for them to express their different hobbies and get to know one another better. We have a really special class with a wide variety of presentation topics. This is probably my favorite part of the day. I encourage the students to continue to think about eye contact and thinking about enough things to talk about for at least 2-3 minutes. The class is truly interested and seems to really enjoy hearing what each other has to say. I am looking forward to next week and wish you all terrific memory work in the meantime!
Mrs. Murphy

Apprentice - 9/17/09

Thank you to Mrs. Griffith for substituting for me last week! :) We had a great class on Thursday. We still aren't back to our full class yet but hopefully we'll have full attendance next week. We began our class with a new seating arrangement and Classroom Rules. Also, I gave out tickets to redeem toward prizes every 6th week. Since we learned to skip count by sixes this week that would be the 6th, 12th, 18th and 24th weeks. Your child can earn one ticket each week if he/she respectfully conducts themself. Each child will have three marks beside their name each week (this is good) but if they disrupt our class a mark will be removed. If they lose all three marks they will not get a ticket to redeem toward a prize for that week and I will speak with the parent regarding their behavior. Parents feel free to stop by after class (if you are tutoring or have multiple children) and check out how your child is doing.

This week's New Grammar had lots of music from the CC Audio CD. For the parent whose child missed class this week, I've emailed you the Latin handout and hand motions that we did. We used Timeline motions for our timeline cards, and hand motions for both Science and English prepostitions (we also listened to the preposition song on the weekly CD, track 25). We used the acrostic J'S SIP for Geography. For our Science Experiment we observed why desert animals go underground and also how animals can hide from their predators by their color by blending into their surroundings. We had upside down drawings that helped us recognize the OILS when we draw. Great job on the cat and bird! If you need help remembering any of the motions, please don't hesitate to email or call me and I'll email them to you. Check your child's backpack for a helpful handout in Latin and to see their great artwork. We played Connect Four in our class for Grammar Review for Weeks 1 and 2. Sharpen your review for games next week by using the flashcards this week. It's amazing to watch as they remember from week to week. I was so pleased when everyone stood up for Presentations this week!
For His glory,
Mrs. Goad

Essentials - 9/17/09

Hope these videos help a bit with the overload of information we received today. Your students are extremely (ly- word!) impressive. They are working deligently at home and it shows!

EEL Assignment – Week 3

1.Complete Charts daily, working toward mastery:

Nouns (S3A)
Pronouns (S3B)
Helpful Pronoun Chart (S2C)

2.Complete Task Sheets

For sentences 1, 2 and 3 (pgs 50 - 52)

3.Complete Editing Exercise for Week Three daily

(teacher-directed level of editing)

IEW Assignment – Week 3

1.Cut out and learn the vocabulary words for Lesson 3

2.Read page 18 to gather insight into the Sumerian civilization

3.Complete page 16, finishing the Key Word Outline (KWO), listing 3 key words for each sentence.

4.Complete page 17 to have quality dress-ups on hand

5.Complete your writing assignment:

a.Use your KWO only

b.Create a paragraph in your own words from your KWO

c.Use checklist on page 19 – get all your points!

d.Bring a copy of your final back to class next week

Journeymen and Masters students and parents,

We had a great day September 10. We were a small group this week but we accomplished much. It will be terrific to have everyone back on the 17th! We did a science experiment that explained why dead fish float and another one that showed how spiders can feel the size of their web intruders by the vibrations on their web. If you have the "Janice Vancleave's 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre, and Incredible Experiments" these were #54 and #56. The students are bringing home their Scientific Experiment sheets so that, if they would like, they can reproduce the experiments we've done.
This is a web site that has some great drawing sheets and ideas if anyone wants some extra practice: http://donnayoung.org/art/draw1.htm.
We also did some new hand motions to the 10 commandments that may help with our memory work. These are found here: http://harvestministry.org/hand-commands-explanation.
Also there is a really catchy preposition song on the "Weekly" Cycle 1 CD track 25.
The children did a fantastic job on their presentations. We had some very interesting things shared.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week and look forward to next week. We will continue with a thorough review of the previous 2 weeks. If you have any questions please feel free to call me at 309-5620.
Mrs. Murphy

Abecedarians I - 9/10/09

I think we can all say we had a great morning in CC yesterday! Our biggest challenge is the kids' exhaustion by the time 11:30 rolls around. I will keep some flexibility as needed to adjust to everyone's needs. I am sure, in a few weeks, we will find it hard to believe this was our biggest challenge! The kids will be so used to the routine, they will energetically bounce from one thing to the next.

I am incredibly impressed with what the 4's are retaining. You all are fabulous at reciting those timeline cards and singing the history sentences. Keep working on the skip counting. The songs are really helpful. You can also color in the numbers on a 100's chart then point to the numbers as you sing the song.

I am looking forward to next Thursday! Get lots of rest between now and then!

Mrs. Lively

Essentials - 9/10/09

Today was full of vocabulary. The "big picture" will get smaller as you get to know the parts. Be sure to pull out those Mastery Charts throughout the week. I will introduce the task sheet next week!

I will be excited to see your poems next week and see how many tickets I can give you. Use the check off list to help you get everything in your poem. Space out your work. You do not need to write the whole poem in one day. Work on a few stanzas a day.

Listen to your skip counting songs if you need to brush up on some of your multiplication tables. Check out You tube for School House Rock vidoes.

I look forward to having everyone one in class next week!

Mrs. Griffith

Apprentice - 9/10/09

I had great fun in class today and was extremely impressed with what the children have accomplished in one week. Everyone will be anticipating the return of Mrs. Goad!! I tried to give number signals to help the children remember the order and number of the Ten Commandments. I left my paper at home and couldn't remember them all.

Here is the link that has the motions: http://harvestministry.org/hand-commands-explanation

We used Black Sea Baby CPR to remember the Assyrian Empire. Rearrange the order - Black Sea, Babylon, Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea.

I emailed a song to help with Latin.

Keep up the good memory at home!!



 

Abecidarians 2: 9/10/09

Hello, to all my Abecidarian kids and parents! We had another GREAT day today! I was so impressed with how well everyone did during presentation time! Kids, remember to practice the tips for good speaking: good eye contact, posture, and volume, and staying away from things like wiggling, leaning against the wall, and verbal pauses ("um...") For presentation next week, you may bring something from home again. I would love you to bring something that has a story attached to it! For example, something you found at the beach, or something you won in a contest, or something you made yourself! This makes it easier for you to talk about your object, and makes it more interesting for the listener too! Everyone loves a good story!

Everyone did a splendid job recalling their memory work from last week!! We learned a new tune to help us remember the definition of a Preposition! I hope you can recall the tune (the Merry Go Round Broke Down -- Looney Toons Song). The lyrics go, "Oh, we love prepositions, haven't you heard? They relate a noun or pronoun to another word!"

In our science experiment time, we learned how spiders use vibration to detect when something has landed in their web! If you find a spider's web this week in your yard, have your Mom or Dad examine it with you! Maybe you can see this in action!! And our "Belly Up" experiment explained why fish float to the top of the water when they die, rather than sink! If you happen to be at a swimming pool this week, practice floating on your back with your lungs full of air (by taking a deep breath and holding it). Notice how it's easier to float with full lungs than without!

See you all next week! Feel free to contact me with questions or feedback!!

~Mrs. Blugerman

Abecedarians I

We had a great time yesterday morning! I certainly didn't expect to fly through things so quickly. Now that I know what the children are capable of, I can plan much more! Thank you, moms, for your patience as I tweak and adjust our morning. I hope review will go smoothly for you this week. Please don't be concerned if you missed a hand motion or sign, at this age, we are just looking basic memory skills. My 5 year-old and I will be mainly focusing on Timeline cards, skip counting (up to x 15), and the history sentence. Your little ones will amaze you with what they can (and will) retain as my 5 year old has already! Looking forward to next week! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Lively

First Day

The Lord blessed our first day with sunshine and many smiling faces. I hope everyone left with more knowledge than when they arrived. I look forward to getting to know each person better. We have a great group of parents! Remember to review Exodus 20:1-2.

I will be leaving to go out of town tomorrow and will not be back until Monday.

To Know Him and Make Him Know,
Laura