Week 6

Class was great on Monday!  I really enjoyed the Linnaeus presentations; we had a lively and well-thought discussion during current events; we're getting to some fun stuff in Logic; and I love to see you all spurring one another on in friendly competition during drills, review games, and on Quizlet!

I also enjoyed our CH B Mamas' fellowship and discussion on Tuesday night.  Thank you again, Mrs. Markel, for hosting us - wonderful drinks, delicious food, and great friends!  :)  For those who couldn't make it - we missed you! - let me know if you have any questions.  We will have another moms' get-together soon to talk about the Science Fair!

DEVOTION:

Ms. Jones led us in a devotion on attentiveness (Hebrews 2:1).  Ms. Baughman is up next Monday (meekness; Psalm 62:5).  Don't forget to be praying for the request you picked up today.

LATIN:

Last week, we finished lessons 5 and 6 and reviewed vocabulary in class.  This week, we're on Lesson 7!

LTW:

Final essays for Little Britches are due on Monday, and everyone should also be done reading Where the Red Fern Grows by then.  For your essays, use the outline for Essay #4, including exordium, amplification, parallelism, and strong and active verbs!  I asked students to bring TWO copies of their paper - one to present from and one for me with their parallelism and strong verbs highlighted.  Feel free to start incorporating other “dress ups” into your essays now.  Can’t wait to hear them on Monday!

LOGIC:

We tried a new game today (Bluff) for Logic vocab and I think it was a hit!  Keep working on flashcards, and also practice drawing the Square of Opposition.  This week we're moving on to lessons 19-22.  Make sure you work on all the new vocab from these lessons and, as you are able, go ahead and start on the lessons and exercises.  We'll be working on these same lessons next week, too.

MATH:

Keep DRILLING so we can soon be CHILLING!  ;)

For our lesson review, we discussed calculating averages, canceling common factors and multiplying more than two fractions, and reviewing the metric system.

Mr. McInturff and Ms. Dragovich also led us through two different cool problems.  Next week, Ms. Thoma volunteered to bring in a problem to explain.

SCIENCE:

The students did a great job on their taxonomy presentations!  Lots of difficult pronunciations in there...I encouraged them to practice (out loud) during the week and also to just FAKE IT when something tricky comes up while they are presenting.  ;)

This week's assignment might also be tricky....You are writing an essay (see p. 179 in the Guide for all the questions you are supposed to address) and you are also devising a presentation to demonstrate electromagnetism - some ideas include: 

(1) using a battery, magnets, and wire; 

(2) magnets and iron shavings;

(3) a magnetized battery with a nail and copper wire; 

(4) magnetized slime made with gak and iron filings;

(5) homopolar motors; and

(6) an electromagnetic train.

Bring your demonstration to class because we will be sharing them - perhaps with students from other classes, too!  Here are some links on Faraday and possible experiments that you might find helpful:

https://curiosity.com/topics/thank-physicist-michael-faraday-for-your-electronics-curiosity/ 

http://creationsafaris.com/wgcs_3.htm#faraday 

You can also search YouTube with "Faraday/electromagnetism" to find several videos.

And Ms. Jones created a Faraday quiz on Quizlet (thank you!):  https://quizlet.com/27143436/faraday-flash-cards/  

Finally, here's a link I stumbled on about the top creation scientists in history - interesting in general, and also some good stuff on Faraday:  http://creationsafaris.com/wgcs_toc.htm 

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students divided into two groups and outlined presentations on either side of the issue:  Whether tablets and computers should be used in classrooms.  After their presentations, the debate continued - it was fun!  To allow time for the students to discuss their own ideas after presenting their articles, we'll try a slightly different format next Monday, which I think you will all enjoy because it should open up some time for you to really discuss/debate with each other.  :)  

You will still find one affirmative and one negative article for our premise (Should private gun ownership be restricted?).  Side note:  the articles on www.procon.org are a good starting point to finding out what the arguments are, etc., but you should be trying to find articles on your own now - e.g., being able to discern whether it’s an affirmative or negative article, whether there is any bias, etc.  

For the notecards…here’s where it’s a little different.  On each notecard, instead of writing out all the information from the CE form, write out an exordium, 3 proofs, and an amplification.  The 3 proofs are just three compelling points from your article that you think you could use as proof in your presentation.  For the amplification, actually write the amplification (e.g., "All parents should be able to protect their families."), don’t just write who your audience is and what they care about (e.g., “My audience is parents and they care about protecting their families.”).  Make sense?  If you’ve already written your notecards the old way, no worries.  You can do this starting next week.  :)

For class, make sure to bring:

- both articles and notecards (with exordium, 3 proofs, and amplification), and

- a relevant Bible verse.

On Monday, we will also begin discussing the issues surrounding genetically modified foods for our premise next week: Whether the federal government should require GMO labeling?  Issues surrounding women in the military will follow in two weeks.

POSTREMO:

There are several documents I will be sending out via email tomorrow (Square of Opposition, Logic quizzes and tests schedule, etc.).  If you were hoping for something but don't see it tomorrow, let me know and I'll send it, too!

If you’re interested in checking out some of CC's webinars, here’s a list of upcoming ones: https://www.classicalconversations.com/CultivatingClassicalParents

There is even one on Monday featuring Jim Nance (he wrote our Logic curriculum), entitled Why Logic?, from 6-7 p.m.  Register at the link above.

Finally, mark your calendar for MOVIE NIGHT on Saturday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m.  We'll start the movie (Where the Red Fern Grows) around 8 pm.  Feel free to bring a treat to share.  Moms, you are welcome to stay if you need a good cry.  ;)

Week 5

International Talk Like a Pirate Day was great fun!  Original pirate names, some awesome costumes, fun new games, good food - thanks for making it such a enjoyable day!

NEWSFLASH:  

The first Monday that we have snow on the ground (or falling from the sky) will be pajama day!  

DEVOTION:

Mr. Markel led us in a devotion on punctuality (Ecclesiastes 3:1).  Next week, Ms. Jones will teach about attentiveness (Hebrews 2:1).  Don't forget to be praying for the request you picked up today.

LATIN:

We focused on lesson 4 vocabulary in class, and we attempted to translate a paragraph from Latin into English.  We actually did a FANTASTIC job on the translations!  You guys know a lot of Latin!  :)  This week at home, we're completing lessons 5 and 6 - both are fairly short.  Don't forget to bring your Latin homework to class next week.

Note to teachers:  If you are looking for a way to assess your student's Latin work so far, Exercise 83 can be used as a Unit One Review.

LTW:

We reviewed our ANI charts - students are supposed to have 25 items in each column.  I think we only had one student who was successful with that.  ;)  Remember, the more ideas you can generate for the ANI chart, the greater your selection for quality proofs, and the better your final essay will be!  

We also reviewed developing an exordium (the attention-grabber in the introduction that convinces your reader to keep reading) and amplification (the statement in the conclusion that answers the questions "who cares?" and "why?").  I have just realized a mistake in the guide....it tells students to complete the amplification worksheet, but omits the exordium worksheet.  Both an exordium and amplification should be in the students' outlines and essays, so add that worksheet in this week.  Also, for their final essay (in two weeks), students are told to follow the template and checklist for Essay #4 (p. 291 in the TG).    The template, however, is incorrect in my view.  It excludes amplification and adds in Division, which we aren't covering until the next essay.  I think a better example of what their outline should look like is Essay 3 (p. 290 in the TG), but add in the amplification found in Essay 5 (p. 292 in the TG) - II.C.)  So like this:

I.  Introduction

     A.  Exordium

     B. Thesis

     C. Enumeration

     D. Exposition

          1.  Proof I

          2.  Proof 2

          3.  Proof 3

II.  Proof

     A.  Proof I

          1. Sub-proof 1

          2. Sub-proof 2

          3. Sub-proof 3

     B.  Proof II

          1. Sub-proof 1

          2. Sub-proof 2

          3. Sub-proof 3

     C.  Proof III

          1. Sub-proof 1

          2. Sub-proof 2

          3. Sub-proof 3

III.  Conclusion

     A.  Thesis

     B. Summary of Proof

          1. Proof I

          2. Proof II

          3. Proof III

     C.  Amplification

          1.  To Whom It Matters

          2.  Why It Matters to that Person or Group

This week, sort your ANI charts, complete the worksheets, draft your outline (see sample above), and  bring your completed work to class.  D  on't forget to be reading Where the Red Fern Grows.  We will be discussing it in two weeks.

LOGIC:

We focused on vocabulary from lessons 11-18 in class.  The students definitely have some work to do - we had fun, though!  We're continuing with these same lessons (11-18) this week.  Check out Quizlet for flashcard review.

These lessons introduce us to the Square of Opposition, which is a big deal in Logic.  Students and teachers should both be very familiar with this.  I'd like to have a SQUARE PARTY with CH B mamas so we can make sure we all understand this - I'll send an email with details.

So our work this week....Drill vocabulary daily! (Quizlet!)  Complete all the exercises for lessons 11-18, and come to community next week ready to discuss anything that was confusing or difficult for you.

Note to parents:  I found a decent schedule outlining when to do each lesson, exercise, quiz, and test. I will email that to you.

MATH:

We drilled our multiplication facts again, and students continue to improve.  We now have some quizzes up on Quizlet, so check those out.  Keep practicing so we can reach our DRILL TO CHILL party! 

For our lesson review, we discussed repetends, finding the area of odd-shaped rectangular figures,  converting decimals to fractions, exponents, canceling when multiplying fractions, dividing fractions,  and finding the least common multiple.

Mr. Markel and Ms. Jones also led us through two different cool problems.  Next week, Mr. McInturff and Ms. Dragovich will each bring a problem to explain.

SCIENCE:

The students got into groups and arranged their collective notecards into an outline for a presentation on Newton in class.  Then they each presented part of their group's "speech" from the outline in front of everyone extemporaneously.  They did a fabulous job!  We talked about avoiding fillers like "um" and other stylistic points.

This week, students will be creating a presentation on Carl Linnaeus's classification of living things (binomial nomenclature), including the taxonomy of one animal and one plant of their choice.  There are probably over 20 options for every single level after Kingdom, so you can take this as far and wide as you want (following just one strand at each level, or including several).  I sent you some sample displays from previous CH B classes via email, in case that helps give you ideas or narrow your focus.

Note that traditionally in botany the term “division" was used instead of "phylum", so you might come across that in your research (although since 1993, the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants has accepted the designation "phylum").

The key with this assignment is to find a good balance between too much information and not enough.  Remember you need to present the information, not just show your chart (e.g., “This animal is part of the Chorata Phylum because it is characterized by a central spinal cord.  It is part of the Class…).   You will be using Latin terms, but you also need to make sure your presentation is understandable to a layman.  This will be a great exercise to continue improving on simplifying scientific or expert language and ideas into layman's terms (which we struggled with a bit during the presentations on Kepler).

Here's a basic explanation of Linnaeus's system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqxomJIBGcY&list=PLkKj_xNV2Z72Dn_i_V99-PAkhxZnvpEDv&index=2  

And here is a link to a document with hundreds of Greek and Latin roots that students might find helpful while doing their project.  It's also kind of fun to look at and see all of the connections that we can make from those roots.  ;)

http://www.oakton.edu/user/3/gherrera/Greek%20and%20Latin%20Roots%20in%20English/greek_and_latin_roots.pdf  

Also...in 5 weeks, we will have our Shoebox Presentations.  See page 180 in the guide for a description.  I will have students sign up for their scientist in the next week or so (they choose from the 10 scientists we are studying this semester).

TIMELINE:

Adding Linnaeus....

b.460 BC  -  Hippocrates (Greece):  Hippocratic Oath, medical ethics

(Do no harm.  Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.)

b.287 BC  -  Archimedes (Sicily - Greek):  Greatest mathematician & inventor of Antiquity

(Eureka!, hydrostatic principle, levers & pulleys, Archimedes' screw, claw, & heat rays)

b.1473  -  Copernicus (Poland):  heliocentric view of the solar system

(first to conclusively refute Ptolemy's geocentric view; also suggested earth rotates on its axis, giving us a 24-hour day)

b.1571  -  Kepler (Germany):  Three Laws of Planetary Motion

(1. the law of orbits: orbits are elliptical; 2. the law of areas: all sections of the orbit with the same area take an equal amount of time; 3. the law of periods: gives an equation to show that planets in large orbits take much longer to orbit the sun than do planets in small orbits.)

b.1643  -  Sir Isaac Newton (England):  laws of universal gravitation and motion

(Three Laws of Motion, Theory of Universal Gravitational, Three Laws of Thermodynamics, Calculus, reflecting telescope, and optics)

b.1707  -  Carl Linnaeus (Sweden):  the classification of living things and binomial nomenclature

(botanist, physician, and zoologist; Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and species; God created plants and animals "according their various kinds", Genesis 1)

1906  -  Little Britches by Ralph Moody (ranching in Denver, Colorado)

1961  -  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (fantasy adventure in an imaginary land)

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students discussed their articles on the issue of whether the federal government should require all individuals to purchase health insurance.  We used their affirmative and negative arguments to draft an ANI chart on the issue.

This week, students will research:  Whether tablets and computers should be used in classrooms.  Students need to find one AFFIRMATIVE article and one NEGATIVE article.  For each article, write ONE notecard summarizing the arguments (using the CE form as a guide for deciding what information to include).

Students are also to form an Amplification for our premise (what we reviewed this week in LTW), and find a Bible verse that speaks to this issue.  Bring to class:

- both articles and notecards summarizing key thoughts and ideas,

- your Amplification, and

- a relevant Bible verse.

In class, students will explain their articles and tell which position each supports.  We will also divide into two groups to form an outline for each side, and then the groups will present their arguments to the class.  

Remember to be watching for bias as you research!

The following week, students will research gun control.  We will begin discussing the issues surrounding gun control in class on Monday.  

POSTREMO:

Watch for my email about a Square Night Out next week for CH B Mamas.  And maybe we can organize a movie night for the students to watch Where the Red Fern Grows sometime in the next few weeks!  (We are discussing the book during Weeks 7, 8, and 9.)

Week 4

Great day in class yesterday!  I am really enjoying our time together - especially watching the students grapple with big ideas, brainstorm and discuss, and laugh a lot! We'll continue that next week...it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so everyone is supposed to come with their pirate name figured out.  ;)

Here's what we did and what's ahead for the coming week...

DEVOTION:

Ms. Dragovich led us in a devotion on initiative.  We talked about standing up to peer pressure and making right decisions.  I challenged the students to find a way to take initiative at home this week and help their parents without being asked, so hopefully parents will be blessed by that!

Mr. Markel will lead the devotion next week on punctuality (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

LATIN:

We played a vocabulary game, reviewed 1st-3rd declensions, and discussed their work over the past week.  Going forward, I asked the students to bring their Latin homework to class so we can discuss and review it more intelligently.

LTW:

The students' essays were spot-on!  I encouraged them to be sure to check their final essay against the applicable Essay Checklist each time (it was #2 this past week) - the checklists are in the back of the workbook.

Then we discussed Little Britches and developed an ANI chart for the issue:  Should Ralph have ridden the horse?  This week, students will be creating their own issue and ANI chart (with 25 items per column), and practicing Comparison 1: Similarities and Comparison II: Differences.  There are workbook pages to complete (p. 23 and 35-36). Not everyone completed their workbook pages for the last assignment.  ;)

LOGIC:

The students had a lot of fun with our review games.  We tested vocabulary and also built three different charts for various types/strands of logic.  Everyone expressed that they have a good handle on lessons 6-10.

This coming week, we move into lessons 11-18 for two weeks.  Drill vocabulary daily! We have some great quizzes in our Quizlet classroom (thank you, Ms. Jones and Mr. McInturff!) - join in the fun and compete against your classmates there.  The Square of Opposition will be introduced in lesson 13 - students are advised to read/learn lessons 13 and 14 in one day and then spend the following day on the exercises for those two lessons.

I am in the process of trying to develop a good schedule for my own student for lessons, reviews, quizzes, and tests.  The quizzes and tests are entirely optional.  I will circulate the schedule I come up with in case it's helpful for you, too (because fitting it in does not appear to be a simple exercise!).  :)

MATH:

We drilled multiplication facts 2-15 this week - 108 problems in 8 minutes.  Most students did not finish all 108, so we have a lot of room for improvement.  Based on the progress they made the first 3 weeks, I have no doubt we'll see even better scores next week!  I'll try to get something up on Quizlet for this strand, too.  Soon we'll add in the Foundations math memory work, too.  The students are going to DRILL TO CHILL.  When they all ace the facts through 15's as well as the memory work, we'll celebrate with an ice cream party!

For our lesson review, the students led discussions on greatest common factors, multiplication word problems, and expanding and reducing fractions.

Next week, Mr. Markel and Ms. Jones will each bring in a pre-algebra problem. Possible topics include: converting fractions to decimals, exponents, the area of rectangles, multiplying fractions and whole numbers, or multiplying/dividing fractions.

SCIENCE:

I think I finally understand Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion!  This was a tough week, and the students did well with their research, drawings, and trying to figure out how to explain difficult concepts to an audience.

This week we are studying Sir Isaac Newton.  Instead of an essay, students will compile all of their research onto 20 notecards.  For this task, assume you are assigned to follow this outline:

I.  Introduction
II.  Family Life
III.  Scientific/Mathematical Achievements
IV.  How Discoveries Are Still Used Today
V.  Conclusion

You do NOT have to write an outline - the given outline just guides you on what topics you should research.  In class, we went over how to write notecards for information and quotations (students should create both), as well as bibliography cards (see page 183 of the guide for notecard formats).  Students need to use 2-3 sources for this assignment.  Be sure to bring your 20 notecards plus bibliography cards to class next week!

Newton (1643-1727) is best known for the Three Laws of Motion, Three Laws of Thermodynamics, Theory of Universal Gravitation, Calculus, the reflecting telescope, and optics.  Have fun!

TIMELINE:

We are compiling a timeline of our scientists and the literature in CH B.  Here is where we are so far - the unitalicized information is the basic stuff that could be blue book material in December.  The italicized information is extra - consider it bonus material to really stand out and shine.  ;)  Students can come up with their own information to include instead of what is listed below, but here are our collective suggestions:

b.460 BC  -  Hippocrates (Greece):  Hippocratic Oath, medical ethics
(Do no harm.  Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.)

b.287 BC  -  Archimedes (Sicily - Greek):  Greatest mathematician & inventor of Antiquity
(Eureka!, hydrostatic principle, levers & pulleys, Archimedes' screw, claw, & heat rays)

b.1473  -  Copernicus (Poland):  heliocentric view of the solar system
(first to conclusively refute Ptolemy's geocentric view; also suggested earth rotates on its axis, giving us a 24-hour day)

b.1571  -  Kepler (Germany):  Three Laws of Planetary Motion
(1. the law of orbits: orbits are elliptical; 2. the law of areas: all sections of the orbit with the same area take an equal amount of time; 3. the law of periods: gives an equation to show that planets in large orbits take much longer to orbit the sun than do planets in small orbits.)

b.1643  -  Sir Isaac Newton (England):  laws of universal gravitation and motion
(Three Laws of Motion, Theory of Universal Gravitational, Three Laws of Thermodynamics, Calculus, reflecting telescope, and optics)

1906  -  Little Britches by Ralph Moody (ranching in Denver, Colorado)

1961  -  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (fantasy adventure in an imaginary land)

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students discussed their articles on the issues of whether the federal Department of Education should be abolished and whether states should provide school vouchers to families.  We then drafted two ANI charts on these issues.

This week, students will research:  Whether the federal government should require all citizens to purchase health insurance.  If students have a good handle on completing the CE form and understanding the research component of this strand, then they can start to bring in their research on a 3" x 5" notecard (instead of the CE form).  Write key thoughts and ideas on the card - note the same information as what is asked on the CE form.  You should have one notecard per article, and you need to find and report on two articles this week.  Bring to class your (1) two notecards (or CE forms), (2) two articles, and (3) the applicable Bible verses you found.  You should be able to report on your research from your notecards.

PRESENTATIONS:

We could benefit from some increased confidence in our presentations.  ;)  Lots of students want to apologize for their work before they even get out of their seat!  (E.g., "this is going to be really bad," "I didn't do well this week," "I couldn't spend a lot of time on this," etc.)  I'm stressing to them the truth that confidence (even feigned) greatly improves an audience's impressions, while apologies diminish an audience's view of a speaker.

POSTREMO:

Don't forget to be thinking about our SCIENCE FAIR and what you would like to do for your project.  We need to figure out a good time for a parent meeting soon to talk about the Science Fair and a few other things - maybe combined with a B-mamas night out.  ;)

I'd also like to get the students together for a fun time outside of class soon.  There are several ideas tied to some upcoming novels (e.g., movie nights), etc., but if you have a suggestion for the next week or so, let us know!

Some crazy competition is happening in our Quizlet classroom - check it out if you haven't already, and get in on the fun!

And remember:  Hard is not bad!

Logic Vocabulary

It's a little tricky to figure out all the vocabulary needed for our Logic lessons.  CC Connected has a great set of flashcards ready to print out double-sided.  Search under "Challenge" --- "Apologetics-Phil-Logic" --- uploaded by "aletiabrown" --- level "B".  She has two items that apply to us right now:  Intro Logic "Concept" Flashcards and Introductory Logic Vocab Flashcards.

I will also have flashcards available in class if any students want to compare their list against them.  And don't forget to check out our quizzes on Quizlet!

Week 3

We had a fun class this week!  The kids are improving their presentation skills already, they knew a lot more Logic vocab than the week before, and they have progressed considerably with their math drills - a great week! Now we can all enjoy a breather - two weeks off until our next class....With this extra time, you could:

- practice Logic and Latin vocab,

- work on math drills (multiplication 2-15, also the Foundations math facts),

- not stress about science (it's tricky this week - relax and work through it since you have extra time!),

- make sure you are all caught up on assignments from the Guide, and 

- do something fun for Labor Day weekend!  :)

Now for each strand....

SCIENCE:

Students are researching Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion this week.  The key component is that they really understand these laws and are prepared to explain/teach them during our presentation time.  Be sure to read the assignment description/parameters on page 177 of the Guide.  Here are some resources that might help you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TGCPXhMLtU

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/K/Keplers_laws.html

http://thesimplephysicist.com/?page_id=59

This link has simple images describing the laws that could help make sense of things:  http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Satellites/Sci-Media/Images/Kepler-s-laws

You might also think about trying to get some books from the library now for our upcoming scientists, since it's sometimes hard to find them the week of the assignment.  And I found this link today, which briefly talks about the faith of many of the scientists we are studying - the bibliography of where the information came from is at the bottom of the page:  http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/sciencefaith.html.

LTW:

We are using our outlines from last week to write our rudimentary persuasive essay this week.  Students are also to incorporate parallelism, which we discussed in class (see page 81, LTW teacher guide).  Their essay should incorporate everything on the checklist for Essay 2 (page 109 in their LTW workbook).

We also discussed the LTW process in general.  Many of us (students and parents) might view these assignments as simple and even tedious.  As the LTW teacher guide explains, the structure we are learning can be the foundation for every persuasive essay they will write in the future.  Thus, it is important for the students (and teachers) to see that foundation clearly, with its most essential and fundamental parts.  Hence, our assignments might not seem "sophisticated" right now or "dressed up" enough (for those who have experience with IEW curriculum), but remember:  This is just a rudimentary persuasive essay.  The students' writing will become more detailed and complex in time...and this is possible because of the strength of the structure they are learning right now.  :)


In our next class, students will share their essays and we will begin discussing Little Britches and creating an ANI chart, so make sure you finish reading the book next week!  :)

TIMELINE:

We are creating a timeline in class that includes all the scientists we are studying and the novels we are reading.  {Think Blue Book}  ;)  There is an optional resource I will email to you that you can use if you would like to carry this project further in your home studies.  For the blue book exam, we will be developing in class (and in their note-taking journals) the information the students will need to know.

MATH:

Continue working through your math curriculum at home.  We will have a new drill in class next time - multiplication problems of 2-15!  The students have made amazing progress over the past three weeks in their speed and accuracy of multiplication drills 2-12.  My goal is that they are all rock stars this year with all of the math facts from Foundations.  They are having fun competing against themselves and each other.  ;)

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, we completed an ANI chart from the students' articles on the issue of whether there should be limitations on euthanasia.  I've explained to the kids that even though this is the "debate" strand, we are not looking here to debate our issues, but to uncover affirmative and negative arguments for each premise, to identify bias, and prepare for upper Challenge levels when formal debate begins.

It is fun to watch them uncover arguments through their research, discuss ideas with one another, and then come up with their own rationale.  The Current Events form is not always easy to complete - I've explained to the students that if a question really doesn't seem to fit their article, they should try to think of it from a different angle or rewrite the question so that it uncovers something useful.  Please remember to bring the CE forms and articles to class.

This week, the students settled on two different premises for our topic on education - so you can choose one, or if you're feeling really ambitious, both.  ;)  Here they are:

1.  The federal Department of Education should be abolished.

2.  States should provide school vouchers to families.

Some people have asked for suggestions on where to find articles.  Here are a few you might try:

- World, National Review, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The American Conservative, The Federalist

- http://www.procon.org

- www.worldmag.com

- www.breakpoint.org

- TV political commentary programs (i.e., Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, etc. - instead of bringing in an article, students should bring in their notes and the completed CE form)

In our next class students will come up with a premise on federal healthcare to research.  

LOGIC:

You have another week (two with Labor Day!) to finish lessons 6-10.  We will work through any trouble spots in those lessons during class next time.  Then, students will have the following two weeks to work through lessons 11-18.  Keep working on vocab!

LATIN:

We played a new vocab game to see how far each student could make it through all the vocab we've covered so far this year.  We're a bit rusty.  ;)  We also went over masculine and feminine nouns in the 3rd declension, and discussed appositives, predicate nominatives/adjectives, and expletives.  (Yes, I'm teaching kids about expletives - you can ask them about that one and see if they remember!)

PRESENTATIONS:

Following each presentation in class (Science, LTW, etc.), students take turns sharing what they thought the speaker did well and what they can work on for next time.  Between weeks 2 and 3, it was apparent the kids did work on the issues we discussed - great job!  Two tips for this week:

- Practice your presentation several times before class to work through any difficult pronunciations, etc.

- Try to find at least 2 places in each paragraph to look at your audience.  We all need to work on eye contact.  One suggestion I gave them was to format their paper differently for the presentation.  I.e., print your paper normally for your notebook, but for the copy you use in your presentation, highlight, insert a line space, or otherwise mark where you will look up so that your eye can easily find its place again when you look back down.

ALSO...

If you need help with citations, check out www.easybib.com (thank you, Ms. Jones!).

Don't forget to check out our Quizlet classroom where you can test yourself on Latin, Logic, and lots of other subjects.  Thank you, Mr. McInturff and Ms. Jones for creating quizzes for us!

Enjoy the extra time you have this week, and let me know if you have any questions!

Week 2

Well, as is probably true for most of us, the beginning of each new school year brings new schedules, new classes, and new responsibilities that sometimes take a few weeks to sort out....So this posting is tardy, and I apologize for that!  In the future, I will try to post for the upcoming week prior to our community day and then just edit that posting after class as needed.  Thank you for bearing with me as I get used to all of this.  :)

SCIENCE:

Several people asked if the science cards are okay to use as sources.  This is entirely up to the parent-teacher.  If you do use the cards as a source, here is a way you can cite them in your bibliography:

“Card title.” Card #45. Classical Acts & Facts Science Cards. Set 1: Biology/Geology. West End, NC: Classical Conversations MultiMedia, 2010.

Here are some links you might find helpful on Copernicus - students and teachers should view these together because there are pop-up ads and other such stuff I can't always foresee.  ;)

http://www.space.com/15684-nicolaus-copernicus.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus

http://www.universetoday.com/36487/difference-between-geocentric-and-heliocentric/

http://www.biography.com/people/nicolaus-copernicus-9256984#heliocentric-solar-system

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtOEnTiAZlU  (good description of geo-centric vs. heliocentric models, and also previews some of our other scientists like Kepler and Newton)

Remember, page 177 of the Guide lists the upcoming scientists we are studying, as well as the specific assignment for each week.

CURRENT EVENTS:

Our current events topics are listed very generally in the CH B Handbook (p. 9 - e.g., "euthanasia"). During class, I would like for the students to develop the specific premise they will each research that week (e.g., "Should euthanasia be legal in all 50 states?").  If you need to complete your research early for a given week (e.g., because of travel plans), then feel free to develop a premise on your own.

We continued to discuss note-taking.  If you subscribe to CC Connected, there are some webinars on note-taking and the highlighting method there.  Search for "How to Research Well: Notetaking and Highlighting" and "The Highlighting System."

LOGIC:

Make sure you are staying on track for this strand - it will feel like we are progressing quickly!  The kids struggled a bit with vocab, so for lessons 6-10, make your flashcards, check out Quizlet, and practice, practice, practice!

MATH:

We are having fun working through problems together each week, with the kids taking turns at the whiteboard.  As the concepts transition from review/basic stuff to more challenging topics, we may re-evaluate how we approach this strand in class, but the kids seem to be enjoying how we're doing it for now.

At the beginning of each class day, we are competing against the clock and ourselves on math drills.  So far it has been multiplication facts 2-12.  The kids are improving their accuracy each week - it's fun to see their progress.  :)  I have encouraged them to do some practice drills at home, if that fits into your schedule.  You can find drills online for free (http://www.math-drills.com/).

LTW:

Students are sorting their ANI charts this week and drafting their outline.

LATIN:

Complete the assigned lessons and review vocab.

Enjoy your week!  Remember: hard is not bad!  :)