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.)
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