thoughts on 3//11/08 & assignments for 4/1/08

Greetings!

I apologize for not having this posted before now. We had a fun, exhausting, and meaningful day yesterday. Many thanks to Karen Bhoi for assisting us. Another trooper who doesn't have a child in our class, yet volunteers to help us. Wow! She was VERY complimentary of my students and their behavior. Way to go class!

We did almost get caught up on our game playing. We reviewed explorers by playing a exciting game of jeopardy. We remembered that everyone wins when we learn and I'm pleased to say we both won and lost with grace! We played Noah's game testing our knowledge of the Middle Ages and learned quite a few new things from it. We finished presenting our science lapbooks which were outstanding. The only thing we ran out of time for that I had promised is playing Emily's science game from here lapbook. She has graciously allowed me to keep up with it over the break and we will play as soon as we return after Easter.

We learned that our sweet friend, Emma, will no longer be with us. Her family's situation is best suited for her to be at St. Peter's School. We will miss her very much but want what is best for her. Many in the class have begun attending AWANA's at Community Bible Church on Sunday evenings. Emma plans to begin attending so that is a place we can keep in touch with her. If you want details, please contact me. AWANA is a great, kid-friendly, scripture-learning place to be for two hours on Sunday evenings. My husband and I use to use that as our date night. Hint. Hint.

My plan had been to study and enrich the SOTW chapter on Martin Luther and Henry VIII and then produce a Venn diagram. The point was to emphasize how little these two men have in common. I had thought to let this exercise take the place of a narration. The reality is we got the enriching done but not the diagram--alas, time is always short.

I briefly presented the story of Easter using Luke's resurrection eggs. They make a beautiful and moving presentation of what Christ did for us. Thank you, Luke. We ended with a short egg hunt with lots of goodies. This was thanks to Mrs. Owens for providing and hiding--many thanks.

I will miss my students. However, I am glad we will all have time to enjoy family, spring, and this most Holy and precious time of year. I pray that we all grasp afresh what Jesus did for us and what He provided to those that reach out to accept His gift.

All my love,
Mrs. Tkach

HISTORY:
--map and color page
--choose either to produce a regular narration on ch. 34 or to complete the Venn diagram I sent home. Compare Martin Luther and Henry VIII on the diagram. (Some students choose to do lapbooks in history for some of our chapters. This option is open to anyone.)

SCIENCE:
--enjoy and explore spring!

GRAMMAR:
--no homework. Be sure you have fully grasped all information taught through ch. 17

LITERATURE:
--complete your section of study guide
--read pgs. 42--61 in Door

Here are the answers to the study guide questions that we did for 3/11. We ran out of time to fill them all in during class.

Dictionary definitions: 1. annoyance; 2. faithful, loyal; a feudal lord; 3. decayed, rotten; 4. persuading, cajoling, coaxing; 5. food for for human consumption; 6. horse; 7. a book containing the hymns, offices and prayers for the canonical hours; 8. a light porous rock used as an abrasive and polish; 9. disrespectful, brash.
Monastery terms: b-chapel, a-refectory, e-choir, g-scriptorium, d-almonry, h-hospice, c-cell, i-cloister, f-postern.
Questions:
1. Robin spent the time in bed listening to the sounds outside and looking at the carvings on the ceiling.
2. Robin's parents thought he had gone to the castle of Sir Peter de Lindsay. He was to learn the ways of knighthood there.
3. Dame Ellen became ill with the plague.
4. A poor widow from the hospice of St. Mark's knew that Ellen had become ill and that all the servants had fled, leaving Robin alone.
5. Hundreds of travelers were at the hospice seeking rest and shelter. Many of the poor people of London were at the almonry seeking clothing and food.
6. Brother Luke gave Robin a piece of wood to carve. The days seemed to pass more quickly because, unlike while he was lying in his bed at home, Robin was keeping busy doing something he found interesting.
7. Answers will vary. Should include the idea that if one searches hard enough, one can find an answer to a problem.
8. No. Answers will vary. He may have been used to the idea, and he seemed to be able to keep up with the other boys.
9. Answers will vary. Robin may have rebelled against using crutches if told to do so.
10. Answers will vary. He is alive, he has people who care for him, his family is wealthy and influential, etc.
11. Answers will vary. Robin felt very sad, lonely, and sorry for himself at the beginning. At the monastery his feelings changed to happiness and excitement over finding the ability to carve wood. Developing this skill helped change his feelings.
12. Answers will vary. Robin realized he was capable of doing some things fro himself, which helped Robin feel better about himself.
13. Answers will vary.

assignments for 3/11/08

Dear Families,

We had a great day of learning. As always, we dealt with the frustration of having too much to do and not enough time. I've promised the children that we'll take a catch up period next week. We'll play Noah's history game, we'll play Emily's science game from her lap book, we'll play Jeopardy with our explorer knowledge, etc. etc. etc. We even ran out of time to share all our lap books, so we'll finish presenting those as well.

Mrs. Owens was our volunteer and is a great addition to our class time. Many thanks!!! Here are the books we read during class as enrichment for SOTW. Be sure to count these on your Medieval Times reading list: Koi and the Kola Nuts, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, and The Spirit of the Maasai Man.

We discussed slavery--always a difficult subject. I found it very tough to gauge how deep to go with our young students. They were very focused and interactive about this terrible "wound" to humankind and dark period of history. We discussed the facts and how we knew it hurt God. We moved into discussing how our great God can take even something as loathsome as slavery and cause some good to come from it. Ask your student about that discussion. We even touched on the good that came from the plague. I shared with them one of my favorite stories with this theme-- the story of Corrie Ten Boom and the fleas that kept guards away from her secret Bible studies. I recommended the movie "The Hiding Place" to my students if it can be found. We discussed the movie "Amazing Grace". Since its subject is slavery which is such a mature theme, I told them the movie should only be viewed if parents have pre-viewed it. On a lighter note, there is a Disney movie called "El Dorado" that is not educational at all and is a bit silly. However, it is exactly about the topic of this chapter in SOTW--Cortes conquering the Indian tribes in the new world in search of gold. Just a thought.

Report cards will be out soon. I'm not sure of the exact date--possibly after Spring Break. If you have work that needs to be turned in, I will still accept it. Points will be deducted for it being late.

A couple of items are a bit different with this week's homework. Instead of a narration in science, you have a review guide for chapter 10. Please be sure your student reads the chapter thoroughly with the guide beside them. The questions come sequentially through the chapter.

In literature, you each received a large packet. Don't let it scare you. You each have a couple of questions to answer and three "thought" questions at the end. (Luke, as the oldest, won the right to answer the longest question! :) We'll come together next week to pool our answers and discuss the selection. These questions are over the reading that was to be done for this week. After you've answered them, you can go on to read the portion for next week. I've done this because I love these Progeny Press study guides and for those who want a deeper "dig" into our literature selection, you can feel free to do as much as you want.

Grammar was intense as we began ch. 17 having to decide which pattern sentences we were classifying. We then got started learning about the quotation rules. These were confusing as first presented. We plugged away at them and, as usual, these bright children seem to get it. They also faithfully promised me to work diligently at home with you on this chapter.

HISTORY:
--produce a narration on ch. 33 using information from class as well as the chapter
--color page and map work
--read ch. 34

GRAMMAR:
--administer test on ch. 16
--complete ch. 17 from text
--complete ch. 17 vocab definitions and sentences
--(ask your student about the metaphors we found and discussed from Scripture!)

SCIENCE:
--read Lesson 10 and answer questions
--after discussing these next week, I plan to have a test over the information from the review guide and the questions at the end of the chapter

LITERATURE:
--complete your assigned questions from the study guide. (Don't miss the last three that everyone should answer)
--read pages 26--41 in The Door in the Wall

BIBLE:
--read ch. 88 and 89
--What do you learn that you will apply to your life from this passage?

Enjoy learning with your children!

Mrs. Tkach