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!
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)
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!
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