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!
- 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!
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