Assignments for November 13th

Hello Families,

Sorry to not have the blog up last night or earlier this morning. We had an amazing day yesterday, in my opinion anyway. Adam has captured all our hearts and we spent a good deal of time discussing him and his perils. We even sampled bread and herring like the shepherd fed him in the story. My little thespians want a play each week so we acted out ch. 14 and 15. We are pulling spiritual truths and discussing them. You have amazing children!

In History we camped out on the Battle of Hastings. We saw pictures of the Bayeaux tapestry and talked about the Nazis examining it to learn battle tactics. This diversion to WW II had me feeling guilty for being off subject until we turned the discussion to the Battle of all Battles. The one that took place on the cross over 2000 years ago. The one where God, through Christ, conquered death and sin once for all. Our spirits were lifted when we remembered we are on the winning side. Your children seem to have a great thirst for spiritual discussions. They are knowledgeable, and many are firm in their beliefs. I encourage you to draw them out on Spiritual matters. Don't fool yourselves that they are not old enough. I know I'm redundant, but they are amazing!!!

In Science, we suffered a casualty. I brought in two tadpoles so we could conduct the experiment from the text. One died as soon as we put the light on it. This was upsetting but having Emily's turtle was a diversion and very appropriate for our current study. Thank you, Emily!

Grammar:
--I'm making an executive decision and taking another one of our weeks off in Shurley. Several students and one Mother told me they are behind. A lot of new skills were introduced in chapter 8. Let's take another week on that chapter and review and firm up ALL skills introduced up through ch. 8. There was a mix up with volunteers, and I didn't have one which slowed me down a little. We didn't even get to Shurley in class. ( I found no one in a corner pouting because of this!!) Also, with the feast looming so close, we all have extra responsibilities right now. I encourage you to not just skip English this week, though. Really review and spend time on ch. 8.

A note on writing. There has been some hesitancy with the method taught in Shurley by some. It was evident to me after doing the notebook check that writing is a skill that needs attention. Soon, I plan to spend an extended period of time in class modeling writing techniques. This may not happen until after the holidays because I want to "do it right" and make it productive. Practice the grammar skills in Shurley. Also, encourage your student in all their narrations to put their thoughts in their own words--don't just copy a sentence from the book.

History:
--produce narrations on what you learned from chapter 15. Draw from our classroom discussions as well as SOTW.
--color pages
--mapwork
--read chapter 16

Literature:
--answer review questions for ch. 11-15
--complete vocab exercise passed out on 10/30 (it is handwritten)
--read ch. 16--19 "News of Roger"
--optional: vocab matching for ch. 16--19 (if you choose not to do this exercise this week, it will be due on 11/27.)

Science:
--read pgs. 67--71
--produce a narration about your reading to turn in
--enter estivation and diffusion in science spiral
--update ocean box

Your children can sing in Latin! Ask for a performance of "Are you Sleeping?" Have them practice all week with the pronunciation guide I sent home last week. I plan for them to perform it at the feast. Mrs. Esther's little ones will be joining us and they'll need us to sing out strong. We'll have volunteers to recite Roger's quote next week in class and we'll polish that up for performing at the feast as well.

Enjoy your week with your children. They are your first mission field!
love,
Mrs. Tkach