Week 9

DEVOTION

We still didn't have 100% Bible attendance in class. Please make sure they all come next week!  ;)

For our devotion, we took Grandpa’s observations about coons and shiny objects (Where the Red Fern Grows, pp. 64-66 - the coon trap only works because the coons won't let go of the shiny things they hold tightly in their paws) and discussed Scripture and how we are like the coon:

Luke 18:18-25
Exodus 20:1-4 
1John 2:16
Luke 12:15
Galatians 5:19-20
James 1:2-4

LATIN

We are finishing up lesson 9 this week.  I distributed our Verb Chart 1 (and emailed the entire set to everyone).  This week, you should be able to fill in from memory the entire column on the far left (first conjugation) - for the present, imperfect, and future tenses.

The students did a good job of working through and explaining the points in lesson 9.  They also played "vocabulary war" in pairs - keep drilling!  On Quizlet, we have both the Master Review list and a current list ("All Henle Latin 1 Vocab SO FAR").

This week, students will complete lesson 9, adding 2 new grammar rules to last week's long list: rules 142-164 in the blue book. 

Drill vocabulary daily!  You have 4 new vocab lists this week.

Finally, there are 13 exercises to complete - be sure to check your answers and make corrections!

MATH

Thank you, Ellie and Andrew M., for leading us in our math discussion.  We also reviewed how to use fractional exponents (numerator is the "square" and denominator is the "root").  Students then competed against each other in Board Slam using any exponents they wanted, and we had a lot of fun!

ASTRONOMY

Students presented their research on Benjamin Banneker and explained their eclipse drawings.  I wrote my assessment of their presentations in their note-taking journals, so be sure to check that out.

This week, students are researching the brother-sister duo of William and Caroline Herschel and writing a five-paragraph essay.  Use at least two sources and include a bibliography and citations.

We also looked at a sample timeline I have put together.  Students should be keeping their own timeline of astronomy this year.  You can use the folder timeline I gave you at the beginning of the year, or you can try something different.  You will be keeping a comprehensive timeline in the upper Challenge programs, so now is a good time to get this figured out.  :)

LOGIC

In logic, students continue to work on lessons 23-26.  You should have all exercises completed by next Monday.  Continue to review vocabulary flashcards daily.  Then reread each lesson and complete the exercises before moving on to the next lesson.

I briefly introduced the new lessons, and then we played a new review game in which students built syllogisms using Blurt cards as their terms when given random mood and figure combinations.  Everyone caught on quickly and did a very good job crafting their syllogisms!

I also challenged the students to see how far they could go in identifying and excluding invalid syllogisms from the very last page in their workbooks.  There are a total of 256 possible combinations - but the list of valid syllogisms is much smaller! 

LTW

Students paired up to review and critique each other's outlines, exordium, division, and amplification.

Here are the literary tools we discussed last week, with an explanation for some of them.  See if you can use any in your essay this week:

- Alliteration:  a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.  E.g., "A better butter makes a better batter."

- Asyndeton: a stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases, yet maintain grammatical accuracy. This literary tool helps in reducing the indirect meaning of the phrase, and presents it in a concise form.  E.g., “Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?”
(Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare)

(Note: Syndeton and asyndeton are opposite to one another. Syndeton includes the addition of multiple conjunctions.  E.g., “He eats and sleeps and drinks.”)

- Hyperbole:  an unreal exaggeration to emphasize the real situation. E.g., "I am dying of shame."

- Personification:  a figure of speech in which a thing – an idea or an animal – is given human attributes.  E.g., "The flowers danced in the gentle breeze."

- Onomatopoeia:  a word which imitates the natural sounds of a thing.  E.g., "the buzzing bee", "the rustling leaves".

- Simile:  a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things; using the word "like" or "as".  E.g., strong as an ox; dry as a bone.

- Synecdoche:  a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole, or it may use a whole to represent a part.  E.g., "coke" is a synecdoche for all carbonated drinks; “suit” refers to a businessman; “boots” refers to soldiers.

This week, write your essay using template #5.  Be sure to include: an exordium, division, antithesis, and amplification.  We reviewed antithesis in class: a specific type of parallelism; a scheme in which strongly contrasting or opposite ideas are expressed in parallel form.  E.g., To err is human, to forgive, divine; give me liberty or give me death; the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.

Don't forget to finish reading The Hiding Place!  We will discuss it on Monday.

CURRENT EVENTS

We again divided into two teams, and students collectively built arguments on the affirmative or negative for our issue:

Should women be restricted from serving combat duty in the military?

This was our best "debate" yet - the proofs were well-developed, the exordia and amplifications were well-crafted, and students for the most part were passionate and engaged.

This week the topic is "director's choice."  I offered a few possibilities and then had them brainstorm and propose ideas for 10 minutes.  We settled on these options: repealing the legalization of marijuana, campaign finance reform, searching for extra-terrestrial life, developing a space force, restricting minors from explicit music, building a wall along the southern border, requiring athletes to stand for the national anthem, separating children from their parents illegally crossing the border, the US pulling out of Syria, requiring evolution to be taught as a theory not fact and/or requiring creationism to be taught if evolution is, and requiring police officers to wear body cameras.  The students voted for their top three choices (in our "primary"), and then we had a final vote among the top three choices.  The winner was "Should children be separated from their parents detained at the border?" This was a lot of fun, we had great discussion, and I think the kids feel very invested in the topic this week!

Same drill as always: pull two articles - one affirmative and one negative; record the key evidence and ideas from each article onto a notecard; and find a strong and persuasive exordium for each side, in addition to a relevant Bible verse and compelling amplification.

POSTREMO

- Bring your Bible to class!

- Andrew W. is hosting book club at his house this Friday at 6:00 p.m.  Several of your classmates will be there - join us if you can!

~ Love, Mrs. D.