Week 6

Lots of activity and fun in class yesterday - hope you enjoyed it, too!

DEVOTION

2 Timothy 3:12

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

DEFINITION: what are the essential qualities of “persecution”; “light & momentary troubles”?

COMPARISON: persecution vs. eternal glory?

CIRCUMSTANCE: what makes persecution/trials “light and momentary”?

RELATIONSHIP: between a godly life and persecution?

TESTIMONY/AUTHORITY: Nigerian Christian teenager Leah Sharibu, kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram and held for over a year and a half because she is refusing to renounce Christ.

Please remember to pray for Leah Sharibu, our courageous and faithful sister in Christ!

LATIN

We played a new game, Bluff, to review 1st-5th declensions and Around the World to review vocabulary.  Lots of students are still quite shaky on this material - please work hard on memorizing the declensions and vocabulary!  Quizlet is a great resource for this! 

After all that work, we enjoyed some *amazing* Pineapple Fanta (a newfound favorite from Ethiopia) to celebrate!  ; )

We also previewed Lesson 7 for this coming week, which covers adjectives of the 1st & 2nd declension (rule 72).  Some points to remember:

• 5TH DECLENSION

rēs rēs

reī rērum

reī rēbus

rem rēs

rē rēbus

• Adjectives agree with their nouns in GENDER, NUMBER, and CASE.
• This is true for ATTRIBUTIVE adjectives (the deep river, the wet snow) and PREDICATE adjectives (linked to noun by linking verb - God is good; The law is bad.)
• Adjectives of QUANTITY generally PRECEDE their noun while adjectives of QUALITY generally FOLLOW their noun.

ASSIGNMENTS THIS WEEK:

• Read lesson 7
• Review 5 grammar rules (blue book)
• Vocabulary p. 73, 76, 78 - say, write, make flashcards - DRILL DAILY
• 11 Exercises!
• Check answers and make corrections
• Attend study hall on Thursday (10:00-11:30) if you are able

MATH

Thank you, Addie and Jake, for presenting in class.  Students also completed a Basic Math Facts drill of 49 problems (based on CC Foundations memory work).  No one got everything correct on this quiz, so keep practicing on Quizlet!  ; )

ASTRONOMY

Students shared their Kepler essay and poster of his Three Laws of Planetary Motion.  I made comments in students' note-taking journals, and each student also received a written assessment from a fellow classmate.  Everyone did well in explaining the laws in simple, layman's terms.  Some of the areas to work on include increasing eye contact, practicing presentations out loud 10 times before Monday, and using demonstratives like the poster effectively.

This week you are researching the Italian-French astronomer Giovanni Cassini.  Continue to use at least two sources, create a bibliography, and cite your work.  But you only have to write ONE paragraph!  In addition, you will create a timeline of space exploration (see the appendix for details on what you are required to include).  Be as creative as you want in making your timeline!

LOGIC

We wrapped up lessons 11-18 on the Square of Opposition.  I quizzed students on drawing the Square from a blank page, and everyone seemed to do well with it.  Then we took our review outside for some *active* quizzing as students deciphered instructions and raced to move along the "Square" and get to the correct location.

This week, we begin a new assignment - lessons 19-22.  We previewed these chapters, which address arguments, syllogisms, mood, and figure.  Read all four chapters first and make flashcards for the new vocabulary.  Drill the new vocabulary terms daily (and continue to periodically review vocabulary from lessons 1-18).  After reading all four lessons, go back to lesson 19, reread the chapter, and complete the exercises.  Over the next two weeks, you will continue this process of rereading and completing exercises for the remaining lessons, in addition to the daily vocabulary review.  Don't forget that all the vocabulary terms are on Quizlet!

LTW

Students paired up to review their outlines.  They checked form, work on smoothing out their amplifications, and made sure their proofs and subproofs logically connected.

We discussed strong verbs and parallelism, which students will be including in their essays this week.  Verbs should be active (not passive) and precise - using strong verbs and avoiding "banned" verbs like say/said, see/look, go/went, came/come, and get/got.  Students practiced rewriting sentences to make them active and replacing weak verbs with powerful, precise ones.

Parallelism is a similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.  We used parallelism in our last essays, but there it was mainly a series of words.  This time, students will craft more complex parallelism, using phrases, clauses, and sentences.  We discussed some examples from 1 Corinthians 13:

• 1 Cor. 13:11:  When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
• 1 Cor. 13:4-7:  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

This week, take your outline and write your essay using the Essay Template #4.  Don't forget your exordium and amplification.  Then you will edit your essay, paying particular attention to your verbs - make them strong, active, and powerful!  You also need to add parallelism to your essay (phrases, clauses, or sentences - not just individual words).  When you have revised and finalized your essay, highlight your strong verbs and parallelism and bring that to class on Monday.

Don't forget to finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows, too!  We will be discussing it on Monday, and you do not want to have the story ruined by spoilers if you don't finish in time!

Also...our book after Where the Red Fern Grows is The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom.  Most students find this book to take the longest to read.  It's also one of the best books you'll read, so start thinking and planning now for when you will get this done.  It's due by Week 10 (October 29).

CURRENT EVENTS

We did something new today - students took their research notecards and divided into two teams - one affirmative and one negative on our issue of whether tablets should replace textbooks in classrooms.  Each team made a basic outline of their strongest arguments:

- Introduction
- Proof 1
- Proof 2
- Proof 3
- Conclusion

Then we took turns presenting their points.  We will do this again next week with our new issue on gun control, but next time students will develop more robust introductions and conclusions, as well as three subproofs for each proof.  I really enjoyed our discussion to introduce gun control.  Students chose the issue:

Should public school employees be armed in schools?

You will again find two articles - make sure one presents arguments in favor of arming teachers/staff and one takes the negative view.  You will record the key evidence and ideas from each article onto a notecard.  Also find a Bible verse that applies to this issue.

Be on the look out for a good exordium and amplification, too, as you will need to develop one in class on Monday.

POSTREMO

- I asked students to assess themselves in the areas of preparation, participation, and presentation generally, as well as each of our six strands, and specifically to provide "a grow and a glow" for themselves in each of these 9 categories.  Please send me your thoughts this week (either text me your handwritten notes or email back the electronic document I sent earlier today).

- DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR TIMELINES NEXT WEEK!  (Actually, two!  The folder timeline we are building together, as well as your timeline of space exploration.)

- Teen Book Club is this Friday at Andrew W.'s house.  It sounds like a lot of our students will be there - we'd love to have you join us!  You can contact Mrs. W for more information.

- I'd like to plan a movie night to watch Where the Red Fern Grows.  Please let me know whether October 23 or 25 might work for you.  We will also plan a movie night for The Hiding Place in November.

- Our next community-wide Challenge Social is October 19 - movie night at Andrew M.'s house!  Watch for an evite soon!

~ Love, Mrs. D.