A Great Tuesday and assignments for 5/1/09

Dear Families,

We had a great day. Many thanks to Mrs. Kathy Heape for helping and to Mrs. Stokes for helping last week (I forgot to mention her then). Also many thanks to Mrs. Stokes for generously keeping us stocked with delicious snacks.

We did miss Chloe but know she is taking advantage of some great learning experiences. We'll be glad to have her back next Tuesday--we prayed for you today! Sarah left us early so the afternoon was "slim".

Bible was loads of fun. We acted out our story--complete with real fish cooking on the "shore", bread to eat, a fish net, boat, etc. Peter was asked by Jesus if he really loved him three times. Ask your student about our discussion of this. In Latin, I'm putting in two lessons this week so we did alot of the work in class today.

History was tough. Slavery is just painful. Please ask you student to open up about our discussion. (I was very protective of them and explained that they would learn more in depth about this difficult subject in later years.) We discussed a time when we had done something wrong and how we just don't like thinking about it. We compared this to thinking about the slavery period in American history. We read two great books: Big Jade, and Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. Both of these were recommended in SOTW. I chose not to read one recommended about Sojourner Truth because of the harshness/punishment described. We also did the mapwork in class. It's in their folder and some completed their color page.

We plowed through two grammar lessons. We will probably attack 3 a class until school ends. I promise to adjust the homework level so it shouldn't increase over what we've been doing. In Literature, it seems all are enjoying this book. We watched more of the musical Oliver. We'll finish it next time.

We relaxed during science and enjoyed a book about what's beyond Pluto. We got a little silly and practiced the song in their book to remember the order of our planets. All of them can recite them. We finished the day playing a game from SOTW about the different abolitionists. I sent home the page of game cards just FYI. We didn't have much time with the game.

Enjoy your week and let's press on and finish well. Only seven more classes. :(

love,
Mrs. Tkach

P.S. I was late posting a blog after Friday. There was a little homework assigned. If you thought there was not, please go back to that blog and complete those assignments as well as the ones below.

ASSIGNMENTS:

Grammar: 3rd: review lesson 102 on page 260
--complete ex. A
--complete ex. B orally with Mom
--review lesson 103 on page 262
--complete "Finding Words in the Dictionary"
--complete Showing Different Meanings" orally with Mom

2nd:--read lesson 16 on page 330
--complete ex. A (write letter only--not the whole definition)
--complete ex. B orally
--read lesson 20 on page 338
--complete ex. A
--read lesson 21 on page 340
--complete ex. A

Literature: --finish reading the book
--complete "Simple Suggestions" page

History: --produce a narration on ch. 36

Science: --tell you parents about the Kuiper Belt and KBOs
--Start a report that will be due May 8th. It is to be titled "What I Find Interesting and What I Learned About our Solar System". No other parameters--just the student's own thoughts. This will go in our Solar System folder that, I promise, we'll pull pages and start next time.

Latin: --review lesson 21
--complete page 104 (If you didn't finish our class work do that as well.)

Bible: --read lesson 56
--complete review questions

assignments for 4/28/09

Dear Families,

I'm so sorry to be so late posting. I hope I haven't caused any problems with your homework with your students. The good news is there is a light homework load for Tuesday. It was prom weekend and I got indoctrinated in how much more there is to a girl going to prom than when it was one of my boys! Wow! Manicures, pedicures, hairstylist, endless pictures, pinning-on-boutenier lessons. . . She had a great, safe time so I'm back to real life this afternoon.

We had a great day on Friday. Ask your child to tell you about it. Ask about our pinata, how dating starts in villages in Mexico, the first poinsettia, and the Oliver musical we're watching.

Hope your Sunday is peaceful and restful. I will see you on Tuesday!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:

Grammar: None!

Literature: --read ch. 14--19
--answer #7 on page 146 in complete sentences on a clean sheet of paper

History:--read ch. 36

Science: --tell parents anything you learned about Pluto from our lab or the book I read to you
--color Pluto pages

Latin: --None!

Bible: --have your parent go to youtube.com. Search for the Don Francisco song "He Is Alive". Watch the video as he sings the song we listened to in class. Remember the song is sung from Peter's viewpoint.
--read Lesson 54

reflections on today and assignments for 4/27/09

Whew! We had a packed day and it was great to be back with my students. Many thanks to Mrs. Tronda for being my able assistant.

We've decided to keep the same pace with Bible (3 lessons per week). Today we heard the story and did a Word Search to go along with it. In Latin, we got a good start in making our flashcards. They will finish these for homework and study for Friday's test.

In history, we had a fun competition to see who could record the most facts from a video on Simon Bolivar. We were all rewarded with chocolate (a major product of South America!) but Chloe was the grand prize winner of a huge Hershey's bar with around 30 facts. Everyone did a great job! In literature we did a fun kick-off activity in which we made up our own adventure stories using props we drew from a bag. Ask you student about it--we had a lot of fun. We tasted watered down gruel, which Riddock loved(?) and watched 30 minutes of the musical Oliver.

In science, we finally conducted our Neptune lab. I explained that we will pull all these pages together into a folder to create a Solar System Book. They will receive a grade on the book so I encouraged them to start looking over their pages. If they rushed or did some of them sloppily, I can make more copies for them to re do. I had a great project planned in which we would cook Peruvian Rice Pudding, but we ran out of time. I will probably do it on Friday even though we will have moved out of this chapter.

Lots of plans are being laid for next year. It is an exciting time for Trinity. Let us all pray for God's Wisdom over the planning and that we will know the decisions and paths He has for our school.

Much love to all. . .
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
Grammar: 3rd: Look at lesson 77 to help review the B section on Review One. Complete section C and D of Review One orally.
--Complete Review Two on page 252 to turn in. Study any difficult sections so that you will be ready for Friday's test.

2nd: --complete Review Two of Unit Four on page 236. We will test on Friday.

Literature: --make a list of names for orphans using the letters of the alphabet. I included a sheet to do this on and explained the assignment in class
--read chapter 8 through ch. 13

History:--complete map work for ch. 34
--read chapter 35
--produce a narration on one of the sections of the chapter.
--complete mapwork for ch. 35
--optional color page

Science:--show parents our lab page. Explain how for 20 or so years out of Pluto's revolution around the sun, it is closer to the sun than Neptune.
--begin looking at your pages to see if they are in good shape. I can provide you with copies of any you want to re do. (More about this project soon)

Latin:--study lessons 16--20
--complete page 100
--finish making flashcards from page 98
--choose study method that best suits you: reviewing flash cards or completing page 99
--bring flash cards to class Friday

Bible:--read chapter 53
--draw a picture about the lesson. Do good work, not fast work! (Originally, I wanted a narration so make this picture nice.)

Happy Spring Break! Happy Easter!

Dear Families,

We had a great day on Friday! We're all ready for a break. I hope you were able to see our Indian Village and that your child's pieces came home safely. So ends our Sacagawea study. Please note the notes about each subject below. Ask you student what the pivotal event of all history is. Enjoy celebrating it with your loved ones.

See you after two restful, worshipful weeks!
love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
Grammar: None. HOWEVER!!! When we return we will complete Review One (page 250 for 3rd graders and page 234 for 2nd graders). They will complete Review Two for homework and we'll have a test over Unit 4 on Friday, April 17th. Just wanted you to have a heads up in case you want to study some over the break.

Literature: Just before returning to class on 4/14, read pages 1--37 in Oliver Twist.

History: Just before returning, read ch. 34

Science: none

Latin: none

Bible: none