assignments for October 2, 2007

Hello Families,

We had a great time in class on Tuesday. We got a peek at Kitty's new baby sister, and rejoiced that Jackson's family will be able to join his dad at their new home in Alabama. Selfishly, we are all sad that we won't have him learning along with us each Tuesday.

Ask your student what opulent means and why we discussed it in conjunction with the Byzantine Empire. Also, see if they can teach you the significance of the year 386. In the next few weeks I will ask for your student's notebook to be turned in to me. This will be for a notebook check that will be part of their grade. Start polishing them up in preparation for that. If you need any copies of mapwork or color sheets, let me know. There should be one for each chapter and narrations from the different sections in each chapter. Put all your grammar work in your grammar section, science in science section, etc.

Here are the assignments for next time:

History:
--produce narration sentences for Ch.4 in Story of the World
--complete map work student pg. 15
--complete color pg. 17 Hagia Sophia
(These pages were handed out on 9/11. Let me know if you need another one.)
--Read Ch. 5 in Story of the World with your family.

Grammar:
--review ch. 3 and administer test
--complete ch. 4 from the teaching text (Activity/Assignment at the bottom of pg. 55 was completed in class)
--don't forget to keep vocab section up to date. All lists through Ch. 4 should be in your notebook before coming to class on 10/2/07.

Literature:
--complete homework sheets on The Minstrel in the Tower (I may have sent home two copies of the same matching page. Sorry! Throw the one with poor copy quality away. The page about Eph 6:2 has a fuzzy line also. That line reads "was feverish and may have been imagining having a brother. Roger and") I hope you enjoy these thought-provoking pages with your child. We had a great time discussing the first of this book in class.
--read chapters 3 & 4

Science:
--read pgs. 19-27
--enter: baleen, fluke, blubber, whalers and viviparous in Science Spiral with a simple definition from the text
--use the questions on pgs. 21, 26, and 27 to produce a narration about what you've learned about whales so far in ch. 2
--Read chapter 3 and 4 in The Minstrel in the Tower

You have amazing children. I sincerely enjoy them each week--watching them interact, grow closer to each other, learn, help each other, etc. As the mom of a 20 and a 19 year old that are out of my home--listen to me! Relish these times with your little ones. Sit back, breathe deep, and enjoy them. God's true Word calls them gifts.

Contact me with any needs or concerns,

Mary Ann

Assignments for September 25, 2007

Hello Parents and Students,

We had a great day yesterday. Your students may not agree with me on that but it was good to bring some organization to our notebooks and assignments. The time spent on that precluded us from another big art project--and that's our favorite! Reassure your children that I'm working on "big" plans for next week and we will finish our Monk crosses as well.

I'm making these assignments assuming you all have received my long e-mail discussing how we were adjusting the pace of how the whole school is studying Story of the World. It also included some clarification on Shurley Grammar stating that the teaching text will be completed at home with parents. Our activities in class will be to enrich your at home studies. My grades for grammar will come exclusively from in-class work and specific homework assignments the students hand in to me.

If you haven't read that e-mail, please let me know and I will get a copy in your hands ASAP!

History Assignments for 9/25/07
--produce a narration for each of the sections in Chapter 3 of Story of the World. Most will have already completed this and even more, but this is how I want our assignment pattern to work. Students will write about what they learned in class. We are ahead of ourselves because of slowing down to keep on track with the older classes. Enjoy an easy week with your children and we will all be together throughout the school. This will also allow your whole family to read Story of the World together.

--complete Map of Saint Augustine's Route (Student Page 12) Again, they will probably already have done this.

--complete Medieval Manuscript page (student page 13)

--read Chapter 4 "The Byzantine Empire"

--illustrate your time line

--as we tried to organize and check our notebooks in class, I noticed one student had all of a chapter's narrations on one page. She had labeled the separate sections and it was clear and beautifully done. This may help all of us. I think I may have orginally asked for each section to be on a separate page but I see this is not necessary. Please have your student produce narrations according to their capabilities. A sentence or two for my second graders is plenty. My third graders can push themselves to produce up to 4 or 5 sentence

Literature Assignment for 9/25/07
--read the first two chapters of Minstrel in the Tower

Grammar Assignments for 9/25/07
--review ch.2 and administer test
--complete chapter 3 in Shurley Grammar from the teaching text
--study all vocabulary words through Chapter 3 List #2 that are in your Grammar section. We will take a quiz. We will be using memory games and fun competitions each week to be sure we are keeping up to speed with these words. A quiz will happen only occasionally.
--Tuesday I will be teaching on common or proper nouns and complete subjects and complete predicates.
--please put all activities in the grammar section of your notebooks.
--2nd grade students: please do not feel compelled to complete the writing activity at the end of ch. 3. This is a curriculum for 3rd graders and your students will be best served if they avoid frustrations that these higher level assignments may cause them. Let's just immerse them in the grammar and let them benefit from that.

Science Assignments for 9/25/07
--complete notebook activity at the end of Ch. 1
--begin ocean box

9/11 assignments--(due 9/18/07)

Grammar Homework
(TB means Teacher's Book and SB means student's Book)

--do Activity/Assignment Time on pg. 12 of TB
--everyday review and practice all jingles through #6
--vocab Ch.2, list 1 pg. 8 in SB (word, definition, sentence)
--do Activity/Assignment Time on pg. 16-17 of TB
--vocab Ch.2, list 2 pg. 8 in SB (word, definition, sentence)
--do Activity /Assignment Time on pg. 21 of TB
--personal journal entry (be sure to date it!)
--do "Sentences to Label--Homework" page
--do Practice 1& 2 on pg. 61 for Ch.2 in SB
--do Activity/Assignment Time on pg. 26 of TB
--do Activity/Assignment Time on pg. 29 of TB
--study vocab words
--SMILE!

History Homework


--Re-read and review Ch. 3 of Story of the World
--produce a dictation page and an illustration for each of the 3 sections
(2-5 sentences)
--Read and discuss Ch. 4 with your family
--produce a dictation page and an illustration for each of the sections
--do map work pg. 15
1. Color the territory Justinian inherited when he became Emperor of Byzantine on the map on the other page (this is the dotted area).
2. Locate the beautiful Constantinople on the map. Color the star your favorite color.
3. Use blue for the water and river outlines.
--do coloring page (student Page 17)

Science Homework

1. read and discuss pgs. 6-12 in text
2. enter each bold-faced word in your Science spiral with a short definition
3. answer questions on the top of pgs. 8,10, & 12 of your science textbook completely and in your own words. Do this on loose leaf paper.
4. research and explain in your own words what instinct and endangered species mean. Again, do this on loose leaf paper.
5. study terms in science notebook