thoughts on today & assignments for next time

Dear Families,

We had a great first day! I enjoyed being with your children and they seemed to enjoy our class as well. We made new friends, cemented existing friendships, learned and proved I'll have to be on my toes to keep ahead of these students!

A few housekeeping items: 1. Trinity will follow the public schools as regarding closing because of the storm. 2. We will have a room change by next week. This is why all the supplies your poor kids hauled in were sent back home. My plan had been to label their items and store the supplies at school. I decided that the chances of them getting lost in the move was too great so I just had them bring them back home. We'll just need their books ( including the science notebook) and their assignment folder on Friday. Please use the dividers you purchased and label a section in their biggest notebook for the following classes: Bible, Latin, Grammar, History, Science, and Literature. As we complete work in class, we will just put it into the assignment folder along with any homework pages to be done. When you and your child are going through the folder after each class, you can help them place the work behind the appropriate divider. Make sense?

Flexibility is key in my mind. I have ideas for how I think our class will run but I reserve the "right" to say, "That didn't work at all. Let's do it this way." Also, let me have input from you. If a plan I have is a hardship for your student, let me know and we'll see if an adjustment can be made.

I'm proud of my students. I worked them hard today! They were up to the challenge. Some other classes did some game playing for the first day but we dove right in (with a little simon says and stretching thrown in for fun). I taught them a few terms from my childhood. Ask them what a side-straddle-hop is. Also, we did calisthenics!

Before I launch into the assignments, let me mention my plan with integrating Grade 2 and Grade 3 grammar. Because Trinity strives to set the bar high in academics, I will be teaching the 3rd grade curriculum in class. The 2nd graders will benefit from listening and participating in this work. Under the assignments for grammar, I will split the assignments into 2nd grade and 3rd grade. The 3rd graders will follow up our classroom lessons with the matching assignments. I've gone through the second grade book and matched up the similar lesson from that book. If a topic we cover in class is not presented at all in the second grade book, I've just chosen a lesson for that assignment. Make sense? I toyed with the idea of just having everyone buy a 3rd grade book. However, there is too much valuable, foundational information in the 2nd grade book to skip it. Let's see how this plan runs. . .

Assignments:

Bible:
--read Chapter 100, Daniel. This is on pages 232 through 235 in our Children's Story Bible. It is based on Daniel 1 and 2.
--be prepared to discuss this reading in class next week. See if you can notice something new in this very familiar story.

Latin:
--review pages 6 and 7. (I am not covering the derivatives at this point)
--complete all activities on page 8. (At first, try answering the questions without looking back into the lesson)

Literature:
--finish reading ch. 1 of William Bradford: Pilgrim Boy
--on a sheet of paper, write a simple definition of: haste (pg. 14), settle (pg. 18), high back (pg. 18, ewe lamb (pg. 21)
--answer questions on chapter 1 review sheet
--on another sheet of paper, write a simple definition of: moor (pg. 26), rushes (pg. 27), bleat (pg. 28)
--read chapter 2
--answer questions on ch. 2 review sheet

History:
--color pages were sent home. These are optional--there is no need to turn them in.
--read the first section of Chapter 1 in Story of the World, "Holy Roman Empire"
--produce a narration on this section. I modeled in class what I'm looking for in a narration. It is perfectly acceptable for you to write down what your child dictates that they learned from the reading. Then they can copy what you have written down. This is the model presented in The Well-Trained Mind. If your child is ready, they can simply produce their narration independently. Second-graders--2 or 3 sentences; third-graders--4 or 5. These will get longer and "beefier" as we progress into the year.
--read the second part of chapter 1 "The Riches of Spain"
--do the word search (I hope these made it home. If not, I'll send them home Friday)

Science:
--re-read the page entitled: "Weather Changes" at the front of your book
--explain our experiment or lab to your parent. Answer questions 1, 2, and 3 at the bottom of the second page of our lab sheets
--bring a clear, plastic 2-liter bottle to class on Friday

Grammar:
3rd graders: --review Lesson 2 on page 20
--finish exercise A that we began in class (pg. 21)
--complete exercise B (pg. 21)
--review Lesson 3
--complete exercise A, B, & C on pgs. 22-23
--extra-credit, optional challenge: "Can You Do This" on pg. 21 & 23
2nd graders: --read and review Unit 6, Lesson 11 at home (pg. 320)
--on a sheet of paper, do exercise A & B on pg. 321
--read and review Unit 6, Lesson 1 (pg. 300)
--do exercise B--ODD numbers only (pg. 301)
--read and review Unit 6, Lesson 2 (pg. 302)
--do exercise A--ODD numbers only (pg. 303)

Whew! We'll get our rhythm down and these blogs won't be so daunting to read through. Remember, it is a priviledge to school our children ourselves. I know, as I'm sure many of you do, moms that ache to do what we do. Breathe deep, ask God to help and guide you, and plunge in and learn along side your children.

Until Friday. . .
love and prayers,
Mrs. Tkach

p.s. Please feel free to e-mail me or call me with anything you are unclear on.