assignments for 9/26/08

Hello Families!

I hope you have had time to enjoy the beautiful weather Beaufort County has had the last few days. It fit in perfectly with our science lesson today. Your children learned why we have seasons. Ask them. (It's because God tilted the earth the right amount of degrees back during creation!)

We had a treat, in that one of Trinity's Board members was our helper today. Mary Sanders jumped right in and was my "right hand". Many thanks!

Your children had a day full of learning, I believe. Bible and Latin sailed smoothly. They promise me that they are using Latin at home. Encourage this. I ran into Riddock at a local restaurant and he recited the Sanctus for me. History was all about Jamestown and my students were so interested. We read a Pocahantas book and discussed which parts of the story are fact and which parts are legend. We tasted some foods (sunflower seeds, dried cherries, and hominy) that the Native Americans introduced to the settlers. We went out and played quoit. This is a game played in Jamestown that is very similar to our horseshoe game. Ask you student about the differences. (The weight of the ring, the wax, etc.)

Grammar is progressing on schedule--we discussed commands and exclamations today. Our literature selection is dove-tailing perfectly with our history lessons. It is easy for us to make connections between the two subjects. Today Sarah even connected our Bible lessons about Nebuchadnezzar with the history and literature discussion. Our hero, William, was disappointed in King James in the book. We discussed what we should and should not use to judge people. We read in the Bible in Luke 18 about the Pharisee and the tax collector and how you cannot judge by appearance. Jesus taught that the humble tax collector left church right with God and not the proud Pharisee.

Encourage your children this week to work diligently at their studies. We reflected on William Brewster's words to William Bradford on page 129. This is the time their young minds are made ready for whatever work God has designed and planned especially for them.

love to all my students. . .
Mrs. Tkach

p.s. Please contact me with any concerns you have. I want to hear from you.

ASSIGNMENTS:
Grammar:
3rd Grade: --review lesson 11 on page 37
--complete exercise A page 38 (we did exercise B in class)
--complete Review and Practice on page 39
2nd Grade: --complete handout sheet comparing commands and exclamations
--review Unit 1, Lesson 12 on page 32
--complete "More Practice and Review" on page 33

Literature:
--be polishing up memory work (Ps 23)
--read ch. 11 and 12
--do review questions
--discuss the cure at the top of page 143 with a family member. Speculate about what it means.

History:
--complete crossword puzzle
--use the reading you've done in SOTW and our class discussions to produce a narration on "King Jame's Town". NOTE: Narrations, for my younger students, can be submitted in the parent's handwriting. Let them narrate to you what they've learned about the topic. Later in the year, they can recopy what you've written down for them. Even later in the year, they will be producing narrations by themselves. This process is describe in detail in Susan Baur's book, The Well-Trained Mind. I encourage each of you to read that book. Much of how Trinity operates is based on it.
--read "The French of the New World" in Chapter 4 of SOTW

Science:
--continue generating your month-long weather journal
--NOTE: My plan had been to conduct Weather Lab #6. It became apparent to me as I showed the lab to the students that we were not grasping the concept or my lab was not adequate to show them how the tilt of the earth causes seasons. This is why their page for Weather Lab #6 is not complete. I decided that if they understood what rotation meant and that the earth rotates once per day and what orbit meant and that the earth orbits the sun once in a year, we had a successful science lab. They do know the tilt causes the seasons, I just don't think my experiment SHOWED them why this is true. I think I will leave that to the 4th/5th grade teachers. We'll study the water cycle beginning next week.

Latin:
--review vocab on page 15
--practice prayer on page 15
--complete page 16
(The cd that accompanies this course is invaluable. If you plan for your child to continue studying Latin, it might be worth the $5 investment.)

Bible:
--read the first half of ch. 104 (pg. 242 through the first paragraph on pg. 243)
--write down a "So What?" What did you learn and how can you apply this lesson to YOUR life.