Week 9

We changed up our schedule this week and saved review for a mega game at the end of the day - it was a lot of fun!  Here are the nuts and bolts for the coming week....

DEVOTION:

Ms. Thoma presented on self-control (Galatians 5:24-25).  When we get back, Mr. Markel will talk about discretion (Proverbs 22:3), and the following week we'll have Ms. Jones lead us on tolerance (Philippians 2:2). 

LATIN:

We're moving onto Lesson 9 - conjugating verbs!  Remember:

* VERBS CHANGE THEIR FORM TO EXPRESS DIFFERENT:
TIME (TENSE) (played = past; am playing = present; will play = future)
PERSON            (I play; he plays)
NUMBERS        (he plays; they play)

* When we study nouns, need to know the genitive case because gives us the stem for the word.  When we study verbs, we must learn the 4 PRINCIPAL PARTS OF A VERB:

1.  1st person singular present indicative active (laudō, I praise)

2.  Present infinitive active (laudāre, to praise)

3.  1st person singular perfect indicative active (laudāvī, I praised)

4.  Perfect participle passive (laudātus, having been praised)


*  The PRESENT INFINITIVE ACTIVE (laudāre) shows us which conjugation a verb belongs to.

* All verbs whose present infinitive active ends in  -ĀRE  belong to the FIRST conjugation.

* Finally, verbs must agree with subject in PERSON & NUMBER (e.g., Marīa ōrat. / Maria prays.)

Continue to work on the Mastery Review Vocabulary List for Units 1 and 2 (p. 91-98 in the purple book).  :)

LTW:

First, we have an extra week - please * USE IT *  :) to make sure you read, finish, and most importantly, ENJOY reading The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom.  This is a very powerful book that will influence and strengthen your faith and biblical worldview.  Don't rush through the book or save it to the last minute.  I think this is the most important book of the year for you to savor....Teachers, if you have not read it, you should take time to do so as well.  It's truly one of the most powerful stories I have ever read!

Now back to class...students shared their exordium, division, and proofs.  We also learned about antithesis, which they will incorporate somewhere in their essays this week, using essay template #5:

I. INTRO

A. Exordium

B. Division

1. Agreement

2.  Disagreement

a. Thesis

b. Counter-thesis

C. Distribution

1. Thesis

2. Enumeration

3. Exposition

a. Proof 1

b. Proof 2
           c. Proof 3

I look forward to listening to your essays - you have some great theses!  Don't forget to include:

- parallelism,
- amplification,
- exordium,
- division, and 
- antithesis!

You may notice the guide also tells you to include a simile.  This might be a typo, since we have not discussed similes this year yet (we will in a few weeks for our next paper!).  If you really want to impress us, you can try to fit one into next week's essay!  :)

sim·i·le -- an explicit comparison of two things different in kind but sharing a common characteristic; it uses words like "as" and "like" to make the comparison.  E.g., cute as a kitten, busy as a bee, blind as a bat, they fought like cats and dogs, watching the show was like watching grass grow.

LOGIC:

We dove into new lessons this week (#23-26), and things are getting interesting!  In lesson 24, Mr. Nance challenges the students to work through the 256 possible forms of syllogisms (appendix B) to determine which 24 are valid and which 232 are invalid. We worked through a chunk of them, testing by counterexample.  If you would like to watch Mr. Nance solve the entire challenge, he does it here: http://logiccurriculum.com/2016/10/13/challenge-accepted/

Over the next two weeks, continue to work on the new vocabulary, reread the lessons, and finish working through any exercises you didn't finish last week.

What's Ahead?  After break, we'll move on to lessons 27-29 (for only one week), then lessons 30-32 (two weeks), and finally, lessons 33-36 (for one week and then the semester ends!).

Since you have extra time before we meet again... ;) Here is a challenge for anyone interested to try - you can bring your answers to class:

Einstein's Riddle
(Supposedly, Einstein wrote this riddle and said that 98% of the world could not solve it.)

The situation:
- There are 5 houses in five different colors.
- In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
- These five owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet.
- No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.

The question is:  Who owns the fish?

Hints:
- the Brit lives in the red house
- the Swede keeps dogs as pets
- the Dane drinks tea
- the green house is on the left of the white house
- the green house's owner drinks coffee
- the person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
- the owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
- the man living in the center house drinks milk
- the Norwegian lives in the first house
- the man who smokes blends lives next to the one who keeps cats
- the man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
- the owner who smokes BlueMaster drinks beer
- the German smokes Prince
- the Norwegian lives next to the blue house
- the man who smokes blend has a neighbor who drinks water

MATH:

For our lesson review, we discussed variables and evaluating (i.e., "finding the value of") them, adding and subtracting mixed numbers, and Order of Operations:

1. Multiply in order from left to right.

2. Add and subtract in order from left to right.

Keep reviewing your multiplication facts and Basic Math Facts!

SCIENCE:

Next week - we share our Science Shoeboxes!  I brought my shoebox on Hippocrates to class this week so the students could see an example.  There are also guidelines on p. 180 of your Guide.

Remember, use the contents of your box (at least 3-5 items) as clues to a riddle that we are to solve.  You will also make a bio card for your scientist (discussed on p. 180) and place it underneath your shoebox.  We'll first see how many scientists we can figure out without reading the bio card.  I'll have a form for you to write on - think of this part as a practice quiz for your timeline....Include as much information about each scientist as you would like to show off!  :)

We are also researching our final scientist in our History of Science studies: Albert Einstein! Your specific task is to provide a simple one- or two-minute explanation of Einstein's theory of special relativity both by definition and by example.  For your presentation, you will not be reading a paper, but you are allowed to use notecards.  The process of winnowing down your notes will help ensure you understand what you are talking about.  You are studying a REALLY complex idea - it took a genius, after all, to figure it out!  There are quite a few resources online to help you - try googling "Einstein's theory of special relativity for kids".

Finally, you only have one more week after our next class to come up with an idea for your science fair project, so spend some time over our "break" looking into that, too.  :)

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students divided into two groups and outlined presentations on either side of the issue:  Should the United States allow women to serve in combat roles?  We created an ANI chart during their presentations, then continued the discussion afterwards.  You did a great job this week of expanding on your proofs.  We also reviewed a few big holes in their arguments and how they might tighten those up next time.

We'll follow the same format next week: find one affirmative article and one negative article for our premise, write a notecard for each article outlining three proofs, an exordium, and an amplification for each side, and take notes or highlight your articles to show more detail and explanation for your proofs.  

We then had a great conversation about several issues in this year's election, and spent time talking about the Electoral College.  We considered several premises for next class, including whether Christians should abstain from voting in the 2016 presidential election and whether Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton is fit to be president.  Ultimately, the class voted unanimously to research the question:  Should the president be elected by popular vote instead of the electoral college?

For class, make sure to bring:

- both articles and notecards (with exordium, 3 proofs, an amplification, and subproofs or further support for your proofs - written down or highlighted in your articles), and

- a relevant Bible verse on this topic. 

We will also introduce issues surrounding human rights issues (North Korea, China, Iran, Syria, Cuba, etc.).  Our premise the following week will be Whether the United States should financially support countries that persecute Christians?

POSTREMO:

* Don't forget - no class next Monday!  Enjoy the break, and make sure to read and ruminate on The Hiding Place!

* How many of you have been taking a Mindful Moment each week in the strand mentioned in your guide?  Page 43 explains what a Mindful Moment is, and each week your guide directs you to do this in a particular strand.  This week, it's math.  Try it!  :)

* Finally, don't forget to be praying for each other's prayer requests - and I appreciate your prayers next week while half of my family is in Juarez, Mexico, and the other half is here in Colorado!

See you on October 31!

Week 8

We had fun Saturday night (despite the lame movie!) and the fun continued through Monday....Highlights from class included stiff competition during Bluff and Around-the-World, seeing Logic "click" even more in people's minds, watching everyone's enthusiasm and persistence in math, and listening to "dahs and dots" in science - impressive!

DEVOTION:

Mr. Markel led us in a devotion on sensitivity (Romans 12:15).  Next week, Ms. Thoma will present on self-control (Galatians 5:24-25).

LATIN:

We played Around-the-World and reviewed vocabulary and declensions.  We continue in lesson 8 this week, with some added exercises.  Be sure to work on the Mastery Review Vocabulary List for Units 1 and 2 on pages 91-98 in the purple book, as well as the declensions for Jesus and gravis (masculine, feminine, and neuter).

LTW:

The students shared their issues and favorite points from their ANI charts.  For Where the Red Fern Grows, we'll be using Essay Template #5.  This week, they are to sort their ANI charts and draft their outline.  We reviewed Division, which is added to the introduction.

I. INTRO

A. Exordium

B. Division

1. Agreement

2. Disagreement

a. Thesis

b. Counter-thesis

C. Distribution

1. Thesis

2. Enumeration

3. Exposition

a. Proof 1

b. Proof 2
           c. Proof 3

You should complete the assigned worksheets and develop your own division in your outline this week, as well as an exordium and amplification.  Bring your sorted ANI chart, final outline, and completed workbook pages to class on Monday.

Heads Up:  You should be starting to read our next book, The Hiding Place, by now.  We will have an "extra" week to finish reading since we have fall break before we begin discussing it - but don't delay starting!  It's an incredible book that you don't want to rush through!  :)

LOGIC:

We love our new review game BLUFF.  This week, I use some of the Logic tests and quizzes for the game.  The students seem to have a pretty good handle on things.  Here are the key concepts they should feel VERY comfortable with by now:

- Drawing the Square of Opposition and understanding what each part means

- Identifying the following parts of a syllogism: conclusion, major term, minor term, middle term, major premise (MP), and minor premise (mP).

- Writing a syllogism in standard categorical order (i.e., MP, mp, C).

- Identifying the mood and figure of a categorical syllogism and schema.

A good exercise would be to have the student teach/demonstrate each of these concepts to their teacher.  Let me know if you have trouble with any of them.

This week we move onto lessons 23-26.  Work on all the new vocabulary, read through these new lessons, and get started on as many exercises as you are able.  We will have two weeks (three with fall break) to finish the exercises.  

MATH:

For our lesson review, we discussed finding the area of triangles, converting between improper fractions, mixed numbers, and decimal numbers, bar, broken-line, and pie graphs, adding and subtracting fractions with unequal denominators, order of operations, and variables and evaluation.  Whew!

We had TWO perfect scores on the multiplication drill - woo-hoo!  We also quizzed the Basic Math Facts.  Most students have a bit of work to do still on those.  ;)  Keep practicing!  Everything is up on Quizlet.

I also told the kids I would prepare and distribute a document with samples of all the concepts we are reviewing this semester, and that some of them will likely appear on the Bluebook exam.

SCIENCE:

Nice work on your Morse papers and Morse Code demonstrations!  This week, we're researching Marie Curie - I had A LOT of fun reading about her!  Here are some links with great information:

https://www.aip.org/history/exhibits/curie/  (this site has a TON of information!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEV4KJBJvEg (a video biography)

http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1389 (a video of Curie in her laboratory!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/curie_marie.shtml

The assignment is actually TWO papers (p. 179 in the Guide):  (1) write a brief essay (250 words) on what the Curies' Nobel Prizes were for and how they earned them; and (2) write another brief paper explaining how to use the periodic table of elements (the table was important to the Curies' research). I gave everyone a color periodic chart in class - use it here and hang onto it for second semester.  ;)

DON'T FORGET: 
* Scientist shoeboxes are due October 31 (Week 10 - see p. 180 in the Guide).
* Science Fair project ideas are due November 7 (Week 11).

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students divided into two groups and outlined presentations on either side of the issue:  Should the federal government require GMO (genetically modified organisms) labeling?  The students broke into two groups and argued their side of the issue.  We created an ANI chart during their presentations, then continued the discussion afterwards.  I encouraged them to go beyond just reading their proof - to expand on their argument, whether that's going into subproofs or explaining the proof further.  We'll continue our format next week (find one affirmative article and one negative article for our premise, and write a notecard for each article outlining three proofs, an exordium, and an amplification for each side), but students could add in some of the further details by identifying three subproofs for each proof, or highlighting further details for their proofs in their article (e.g., use a different color for each proof), etc.  One way to think of it is that they should be comfortable enough with their articles and proofs that they can talk about them and explain them without having everything written out.

Our premise this week is:  Should the United States allow women to serve in combat roles?

For class, make sure to bring:

- both articles and notecards (with exordium, 3 proofs, an amplification, and subproofs or further support for your proofs - written down or highlighted in your articles), and

- a relevant Bible verse on this topic. 

POSTREMO:

Ms. Baughman is organizing a hike at Castle Wood Canyon this Friday (10/14) at 10:00 a.m.  The plan is for everyone to pack a lunch and meet at the visitor center.  Please let your classmates know by Thursday whether you will be able to attend.  :)

Week 7

Thank you all for making my birthday so much fun on Monday!  The flowers, balloons, and cards made me feel very special and loved.  :)  I enjoyed spending the day with each of you!  It's hard to believe we are a QUARTER of the way through Challenge B already!

DEVOTION:

Ms. Baughman led us in a devotion on meekness (Psalm 62:5).  Next week, Mr. Markel has sensitivity (Romans 12:15), and the week following, Ms. Thoma has self-control (Galatians 5:24-25).

Don't forget to pray for the request you picked up today!

LATIN:

We did a mini-review of lessons 1-7 in class (boys versus girls - everyone was quite enthusiastic, and we ended in a tie at the buzzer!).  I created a document loosely summarizing those lessons that I'll circulate via email.  This week we're on lesson 8 (adjectives of the 3rd declension).

Continue to practice vocabulary on Quizlet (there is a Mastery Review Vocabulary List for Units 1 and 2 on pages 91-98 in the purple book), and take a look at the lessons summary I email, too.

LTW:

Excellent job on your final essays for Little Britches!  Everyone followed the outline for Essay #4 well - I enjoyed hearing your exordiums, amplifications, strong verbs, and parallelism.  Students are starting to expand from the outline and include dress-ups and deeper context and background in their introductions and proofs.  You are all becoming excellent writers!  :)

After sharing papers, we passed out Kleenex and discussed Where the Red Fern Grows.  ;)  This week, you are to create your own issue and an ANI chart that has THIRTY (30) items in each column (Affirmative, Negative, and Interesting).  We discussed the importance of defining our terms and considered what questions might help us create issues and ideas for the ANI chart.  Some suggestions:

- Which characters are your favorites?
- What parts of the story stood out most to you?
- Would you have made any different choices than Billy?  

LOGIC:

We've finished Units 1 AND 2 in Logic - woo-hoo!  We began class with a quiz to draw the Square of Opposition, and everyone nailed it.  Great job studying this week!

We're on lessons 19-22 for one more week.  We're learning how to identify the premises (because, since, for, and given that) and conclusion (therefore, thus, so, and in conclusion), major, minor, and middle terms, the major and minor premises (MP and mP), mood, and figure - all to be able to write a categorical syllogism and schema.  Mr. McInturff prepared a detailed summary that he emailed to everyone - thank you, Mr. McInturff!  Appendix B in the back of your workbook also lists the 256 possible forms of syllogisms.

Continue to work on all the new vocabulary, as well as finishing the lessons and exercises.  

MATH:

For our lesson review, we discussed finding the area of rectangles by difference and the perimeter of odd-shapes, and calculating the mean, median, mode, and range of sets.  Ms. Thoma also shared a great problem with us - thank you!

Everyone improved on their multiplication drill - we even had a perfect score!  Keep practicing - your hard work is producing great results!  We also reviewed our Basic Math Facts, and everyone went home with a copy of the answers for that form.  Start studying those as well.

SCIENCE:

Nice job on your Faraday papers and demonstrations!  We had magnetized nails, electromagnetic cars, and spinning copper wires.  After lunch, we showed the Foundations kids our demonstrations and they were impressed!  I also demonstrated Faraday's Cage with some aluminum foil and a couple of cell phones.  

This week, we're researching Samuel Morse - inventor of the telegraph wire and Morse Code.  We watched video footage of Jeremiah Denton, Jr., a Vietnam POW who blinked out Morse Code with his eyes during a propaganda piece the North Vietnamese forced him to do - signaling to the US that he was being tortured (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgelmcOdS38).  There is an old TV movie detailing his experiences (he later became a US Senator from Alabama) - if you want to watch the film, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh_4qUH6dHQ  (around minute 51, you can watch the Morse Code scenes).

Here are a few additional links on Morse:

http://www.history.com/news/six-things-you-may-not-know-about-samuel-morse

https://answersingenesis.org/creation-scientists/profiles/samuel-morse-the-artist-who-invented-the-morse-code/

And a few on Morse Code:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyr_C_us4vQ&feature=youtu.be 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsDk5_bktFo  (this is a longer, detailed training on how to space your dots and dahs and achieve the correct rhythm!).  :)

Students are writing a "brief" biography on Morse's life, focusing on his scientific endeavors, and they are to translate Morse's first telegraphic message ("What hath God wrought!") into Morse Code and be prepared to tap it out in class.  If anyone wants to try to rig a telegraph and bring it to class, that would be fun!  

I also let everyone know who their scientist is for the Shoebox Activity (see page 180 in the CH B guide) - you will need to bring your completed shoebox to class on October 31 (Week 10).

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students divided into two groups and outlined presentations on either side of the issue:  Should private gun ownership be restricted?  I had students argue the side they least agreed with - it was challenging but they did a great job.  We created an ANI chart from their collective arguments, then the students continued the discussion after their presentations, taking the side they actually agreed with.  It was fun to have time to talk through the issues and their arguments.  We'll continue with this format next week, in which students find one affirmative article and one negative article for our premise, and write a notecard for each article outlining three proofs, an exordium, and an amplification for each side.

Our premise this week is:  Should the federal government require GMO (genetically modified organisms) labeling?

Mrs. Thoma found a good video explaining GMOs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rixyrCNVVGA

For class, make sure to bring:

- both articles and notecards (with exordium, 3 proofs, and amplification), and

- a relevant Bible verse on this topic.

On Monday, we will also begin discussing the issues surrounding women in the military for our premise next week: Whether the United States should add women to the draft?  

POSTREMO:

I'm looking forward to seeing you all at my house for movie night THIS SATURDAY, October 8, at 7:30 p.m.  We'll start the movie (Where the Red Fern Grows) around 8 pm.  Feel free to bring a treat to share.  Moms, you are welcome to stay if you need a good cry.  ;)

Also, Ms. Baughman is organizing a hike at Castle Wood Canyon on Friday, Oct. 14, at 10:00 a.m.  Pack a lunch and meet at the visitor center.  :)

Week 6

Class was great on Monday!  I really enjoyed the Linnaeus presentations; we had a lively and well-thought discussion during current events; we're getting to some fun stuff in Logic; and I love to see you all spurring one another on in friendly competition during drills, review games, and on Quizlet!

I also enjoyed our CH B Mamas' fellowship and discussion on Tuesday night.  Thank you again, Mrs. Markel, for hosting us - wonderful drinks, delicious food, and great friends!  :)  For those who couldn't make it - we missed you! - let me know if you have any questions.  We will have another moms' get-together soon to talk about the Science Fair!

DEVOTION:

Ms. Jones led us in a devotion on attentiveness (Hebrews 2:1).  Ms. Baughman is up next Monday (meekness; Psalm 62:5).  Don't forget to be praying for the request you picked up today.

LATIN:

Last week, we finished lessons 5 and 6 and reviewed vocabulary in class.  This week, we're on Lesson 7!

LTW:

Final essays for Little Britches are due on Monday, and everyone should also be done reading Where the Red Fern Grows by then.  For your essays, use the outline for Essay #4, including exordium, amplification, parallelism, and strong and active verbs!  I asked students to bring TWO copies of their paper - one to present from and one for me with their parallelism and strong verbs highlighted.  Feel free to start incorporating other “dress ups” into your essays now.  Can’t wait to hear them on Monday!

LOGIC:

We tried a new game today (Bluff) for Logic vocab and I think it was a hit!  Keep working on flashcards, and also practice drawing the Square of Opposition.  This week we're moving on to lessons 19-22.  Make sure you work on all the new vocab from these lessons and, as you are able, go ahead and start on the lessons and exercises.  We'll be working on these same lessons next week, too.

MATH:

Keep DRILLING so we can soon be CHILLING!  ;)

For our lesson review, we discussed calculating averages, canceling common factors and multiplying more than two fractions, and reviewing the metric system.

Mr. McInturff and Ms. Dragovich also led us through two different cool problems.  Next week, Ms. Thoma volunteered to bring in a problem to explain.

SCIENCE:

The students did a great job on their taxonomy presentations!  Lots of difficult pronunciations in there...I encouraged them to practice (out loud) during the week and also to just FAKE IT when something tricky comes up while they are presenting.  ;)

This week's assignment might also be tricky....You are writing an essay (see p. 179 in the Guide for all the questions you are supposed to address) and you are also devising a presentation to demonstrate electromagnetism - some ideas include: 

(1) using a battery, magnets, and wire; 

(2) magnets and iron shavings;

(3) a magnetized battery with a nail and copper wire; 

(4) magnetized slime made with gak and iron filings;

(5) homopolar motors; and

(6) an electromagnetic train.

Bring your demonstration to class because we will be sharing them - perhaps with students from other classes, too!  Here are some links on Faraday and possible experiments that you might find helpful:

https://curiosity.com/topics/thank-physicist-michael-faraday-for-your-electronics-curiosity/ 

http://creationsafaris.com/wgcs_3.htm#faraday 

You can also search YouTube with "Faraday/electromagnetism" to find several videos.

And Ms. Jones created a Faraday quiz on Quizlet (thank you!):  https://quizlet.com/27143436/faraday-flash-cards/  

Finally, here's a link I stumbled on about the top creation scientists in history - interesting in general, and also some good stuff on Faraday:  http://creationsafaris.com/wgcs_toc.htm 

CURRENT EVENTS:

In class, students divided into two groups and outlined presentations on either side of the issue:  Whether tablets and computers should be used in classrooms.  After their presentations, the debate continued - it was fun!  To allow time for the students to discuss their own ideas after presenting their articles, we'll try a slightly different format next Monday, which I think you will all enjoy because it should open up some time for you to really discuss/debate with each other.  :)  

You will still find one affirmative and one negative article for our premise (Should private gun ownership be restricted?).  Side note:  the articles on www.procon.org are a good starting point to finding out what the arguments are, etc., but you should be trying to find articles on your own now - e.g., being able to discern whether it’s an affirmative or negative article, whether there is any bias, etc.  

For the notecards…here’s where it’s a little different.  On each notecard, instead of writing out all the information from the CE form, write out an exordium, 3 proofs, and an amplification.  The 3 proofs are just three compelling points from your article that you think you could use as proof in your presentation.  For the amplification, actually write the amplification (e.g., "All parents should be able to protect their families."), don’t just write who your audience is and what they care about (e.g., “My audience is parents and they care about protecting their families.”).  Make sense?  If you’ve already written your notecards the old way, no worries.  You can do this starting next week.  :)

For class, make sure to bring:

- both articles and notecards (with exordium, 3 proofs, and amplification), and

- a relevant Bible verse.

On Monday, we will also begin discussing the issues surrounding genetically modified foods for our premise next week: Whether the federal government should require GMO labeling?  Issues surrounding women in the military will follow in two weeks.

POSTREMO:

There are several documents I will be sending out via email tomorrow (Square of Opposition, Logic quizzes and tests schedule, etc.).  If you were hoping for something but don't see it tomorrow, let me know and I'll send it, too!

If you’re interested in checking out some of CC's webinars, here’s a list of upcoming ones: https://www.classicalconversations.com/CultivatingClassicalParents

There is even one on Monday featuring Jim Nance (he wrote our Logic curriculum), entitled Why Logic?, from 6-7 p.m.  Register at the link above.

Finally, mark your calendar for MOVIE NIGHT on Saturday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m.  We'll start the movie (Where the Red Fern Grows) around 8 pm.  Feel free to bring a treat to share.  Moms, you are welcome to stay if you need a good cry.  ;)

Week 5

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.)