correction!

The information on what is required for the science report or lapbook is in my blog from last week not two weeks ago!

Sorry! More info/thoughts/reminders still to come.

assignments for 1/29/08

Greetings!

I'm exhausted, as usual, after a day of learning with your children! Here are the assignments. Please check this blog in the next day or two for more updates, thoughts, and reminders.

Mary Ann

SCIENCE:
--lapbook or report on lesson 7 is due. Be ready to present yours to the class. Refer to the blog two weeks ago for info on what is required.

GRAMMAR:
--review ch. 12 and administer test
--complete ch. 13 from text. I taught direct objects and pattern 2 sentences but they will need your re-inforcement this week.
--complete ch. 13 vocab definitions and sentences

HISTORY:
--using what we discussed in class (please!) and your SOTW reading, produce a narration on ch. 24
--map 100
--color pg. 101
--read ch. 25

LITERATURE:
--review questions for pg. 70--106 (the extra credit is really hard--can you do it?!?!?!)
--finish reading the book
--be ready to recite the knights oath by yourself to me

additional thoughts and reminders for Jan 22

Hello!

We had a great day this week. Mrs. McBreen (Ayla's mom) was a tremendous help. She stayed busy helping us blow eggs and experiment on a fish, etc. Many thanks!

I attended a 3-day conference here at Trinity that was helpful, inspiring, intimidating, and mind-stretching. I hope to implement some of the things I learned to be a better teacher to your children. It did, however, take from my preparation time. I was at Wal-mart buying a goldfish and other supplies around midnight Monday night! I still think we had a good day and the children seemed engaged and they encouraged me throughout the day.

My odd last name comes from Ukraine so the lesson we talked about was of a personal nature to me and I was able to share a few family possessions and traditions that originated in the Russian/Ukraine area. Your student was greeted with bread and salt as is traditional. We discussed how precious salt was at times and was even used for trade. We blew our own eggs and decorated them after studying the pisanky that are so important to Ukrainians. We looked at and read an opera from the Bat Theatre in Moscow called Katinka. I had hoped to move to a room with a piano and pick out the tune for them but time ran out.

Also in History, a huge chunk of time was devoted to updating our time-lines. At the beginning of the year we aspired to memorizing these dates and events. At times it has been difficult to "mesh" this information with SOTW. Take a look at the timeline with your child and discuss it. Mrs. Esther and I are working on coming up with an abbreviated chart that should be easier to memorize.

In science we conducted the experiment from the end of lesson 6. We concluded we need to improve our scientific method because we did not have an adequate procedure for measuring the effect of the changing temperature on our fish. We did discuss the scientific method a bit. It is okay if your hypothesis is wrong. You have still gained valuable information. My competitive students seem to think you've "lost" if you hypothesized wrongly!

We labelled a few sentences in Grammar and then I decided to take a week off in hopes that you can bring your students up to date and polish up what we've learned so far. I myself need to refresh my memory after the Christmas break. We'll start off next time with new, big concepts.
(direct objects and pattern 2 sentences)

I estimate next week and one more in King Arthur then we'll begin a Robin Hood book.

Report cards will be ready next week. This is my plan (which I haven't gotten approved by Nicole yet): If your student has everything turned in to me through last week (week 16) their report card will be ready for distribution on Tuesday. If there are items you're planning to turn in on Tuesday, I'll need to check those and will have your report cards ready for pick up on Thursday of next week. I know this may present a problem for families that don't come to Trinity on Thursday with an older sibling. I think you could choose to either stop by around 1:45 on Thursday the 24th to get them from Nicole or just wait until next class period and receive your child's report card then. I wanted to offer one last chance to those who still have work from this grading period to turn in.

Thank you for the time you gave to reading the Bible lesson. I had lots of participation. I let them tell me the "so what" of the lesson. If you haven't picked up on our discussion method yet, here is how we do it. After spending time in God's Word and reviewing it, we ask ourselves--"So what?" We then try to apply the passage to our present day life. What can we do differently or how are we effected because we spent time in God's scripture? I encourage them to do this anytime they study the Bible.

I love your children and look forward to next Tuesday!

Mrs. Tkach

assignments for Jan 22, 2008

Grammar:
--no homework; review and take a week to get caught up

History:
--produce a narration on ch. 23 with your SOTW reading and our class activities
--map pg. 95
--color pages 96 & 97
--read ch. 24 in SOTW

Literature:
--complete review questions
--read through pg. 106

Science:
--begin a lapbook or a report on lesson 7. These will be presented in class on Jan 29.
Include:1. illustrations with labels (see pg. 104)
2. a comparison of a typical shark with a typical ray (similarities and differences)
A Venn diagram would be great!
3. The goal is to show your mastery of ALL the information in the lesson. Your
lapbook will probably have to be an extended, fold-out kind.

I'll have additional thoughts to add with reminders by tomorrow, so re-check the blog then.

Mrs. Tkach

assignments for January 15, 2008

Hello Families,

I apologize that my blog was not posted before now. I pledge to do better so that you can have the assignments for your Wednesday school day.

We had a great day yesterday. I didn't realize how much I missed my students until I had them around me again. It was great to be learning together again. Many thanks to Michelle Owens, Luke's mom, for assisting me. She worked hard and made the first school day of 2008 run a lot smoother.

A few notes/reminders:
--Report cards are coming out soon. I will send each of you an e-mail about missing work in the next day or two. I can make copies of anything you need. As we adjusted from homeshooling solely to a "school environment," I decided not to penalize for late work this quarter. If you get the work into me it gets full credit.
--Please read the Bible lessons with your family. This curriculum was chosen by the board of TCA. I dedicate at least 20 minutes at the first of each class discussing it. Sometimes I'm the only one who's read and it's not much of a discussion. I enclosed a new copy of the curriculum in case your old one is misplaced.
--With the papers your student brought home yesterday there is a handout about a reading program Trinity is participating in. The handout should be fairly self-explanatory. Any questions can be forwarded to Nicole.

History:
--Re-read ch. 19 in SOTW and produce a narration ( we studied this before Christmas)
--Using our classroom reading and discussion about The Diaspora (ch. 20 in SOTW), produce a narration showing all you learned. (We read this chapter in class as well as enriched it with activities so your student shouldn't need to read it again for homework.)
--Mapwork pg. 84
--Color page pg. 85
--Read ch. 23, The First Russians, for next week (NOTE!!! we're skipping a few chapters to stay on schedule)

Literature:
--Read through pg. 70 in King Arthur. If your child has finished the book but it's been a while,
have them refresh their memory by skimming or re-reading these pages.
--Begin memorizing the Knight's oath on pg. 70 We'll take two weeks to accomplish this but if anyone is ready by next week--great!!!

Grammar:
--Review ch. 11 and administer test.
--Complete ch. 12 from the teaching text this week.
--Have ch. 12 vocab with definitions AND SENTENCES ready to turn in next week.

Science:
--Read pg. 96--101.
--Produce a narration on this reading.
--Enter fusiform, nares, monocular vision, lateral line, hermaphrodites in science spiral.
--Bring science spiral to show you've kept it up to date with our vocab words.

Highlights and My Thoughts on our School Day--January 8, 2008

I had a "surprise" root canal on Monday morning so I called Mrs. Esther and bowed out of Latin for yesterday to lighten my load. We will be back "at it" next week.

I know I'm asking for two narrations in history in one week, but I also know my students can do it. This will help us stay on track with our SOTW schedule. We enjoyed our in-class study of The Diaspora. "The Clever Rabbi" story included in the chapter was very enjoyable and your student brought home the makings of finger puppets to act the story out for your family. If anyone wants to bring theirs back in next week, I'll try to make time for us to act it out in class.
After sitting still and listening to the chapter we got the wiggles out by going outside and taking turns pretending the be Yohanan ben Zakkai being smuggled out of Jerusalem in a coffin. It was a lot of fun.

Mrs. Michelle read the students a version of Esther recommended by SOTW author, Susan Bauer. They enjoyed it but several noted differences between it and the story from scripture. An excellent exercise this week would be to read the book in the Bible and have your student note differences and similarities.

We celebrated and discussed a Passover meal together (complete with candles for mood!) This was to enrich our knowledge of Jewish rituals. Ask your child about it and what they learned. I had a blast myself. Questions for you to ask: 1. Why a lamb bone? 2. How many cups of wine? 3. What did the apple/nuts mixture represent? 4. Why salt water? 5. What did the boiled egg represent? How about the bitter herbs? greens? I sent you a copy of the activity to look over.

Grammar was a bit dry. They were amazing, though, as we classified sentences, sang jingles, and reviewed all the different parts of speech we've learned. Luke earned a reward for "stumping Mrs. Tkach". I owe him a candy bar!!!

I didn't have a very exciting science lesson but your children were "tuned in" and I think we learned a lot. We produced a narration together in class. Look for it and be sure it gets into the science section of their big binders.

We tried to find common ground for where we had all gotten in our reading of King Arthur. We discussed Arthur's innocence which turned into a discussion of how we can be made innocent, no matter how sinful we've been, by accepting Christ as our savior. We researched and discussed the characteristics outlined in the knight's oath and how each of them can be traced back to Holy Scripture.

My college son is laughing over my shoulder at the size of my blog and the fact that such a technologically handicapped person even has one so I'll close and remind you that I love my students and will be praying for each them this week. I always covet your prayers as I prepare each week.

Until the 15th,
Mrs. Tkach

assignments for December 11, 2007

Hello Families,

Yesterday went by in a rush. Again, my struggle is within myself. All I would love to accomplish with your children to enrich their education is just not possible. I'd have to move them all in with me and spend our days researching, discussing then acting out this intriguing period in history. We'd sprinkle some grammar and science here and there then I'd send them back to you for a little math each week. Any takers? :)

I would like to strongly encourage you each week to ask you child about our discussions in history and/or literature. I pray over this time in particular during my preparations and ask God what he would have me talk to my students about. Please draw them out about our discussions and use the time to push the pencils and papers aside and build into their spiritual foundation by just listening. It can be a great time to correct any errors in their thinking, learn their hearts and train them as God would have them go.

We had a particularly difficult subject to discuss this week--the Crusades. I told them it was a difficult topic even for adults to ponder. We discussed it, read about it, acted out a play I wrote about it and settled on this lesson to take away from the subject: We are blessed to live in a country and time period where God's Word is easily available to each of us. I encouraged each of them to establish, now, the habit of getting to know God through time in his Word each day. If they know God's Word, which will never fail them, then they will not be led astray by false teachers as was the fate of the medieval people who tried to win entrance into heaven through crusading.

For next week (my last time with your children until next year)

History:
-produce narrations about the Age of Crusades. Use info from SOTW and from class time
-map pg. 77
-color pg. 78
-read ch. 19 in SOTW

Grammar:
-administer ch. 10 test after reviewing for it
-complete ch. 11 from the teaching text
-have ch. 11 vocab ready to turn in
-study vocab from ch 9--11 for a quiz

Literature:
-read through pg. 28 in The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. After working our way through Adam of the Road we have the vocab down and probably won't have any with this book.

Science:
-read pages 87--the middle of pg. 91
-produce a narration on what you learned in reading this section and draw from our class discussion as well.
-add circula & operculum to your science spiral
NOTE: Please bring your science spiral next week. We will do work in them in class.

We are going to work hard in class next week doing assignments that I usually have you complete at home. My aim is to keep us on schedule but have no homework over the holidays other than reading King Arthur.

Until the 11th,

Mrs. Tkach

p.s. Another huge Thank-You to Mrs. Dominique for assisting me. She steps easily into any of my "gaps" and helps things sail smoothly. We were like a well-oiled machine as we signed cards for her to send our troops. This activity spurred another quick discussion of self-sacrifice. We had to give up recess time to do this which, when we thought about it, is a small sacrifice to help the guys who are sacrificing to keep us free.

p.s.s. FLASH!!! Parents of third graders: let me know if you have an interest in having your student participate in standardized testing in the spring. If we have an interest, we must begin planning for it now.

Assignments for December 4th

Hello!

It was nice to see all "my kids" after the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a busy and fruitful day. I hope our large Venn diagram comparing Knights with Samurai made it home and you were able to admire/review it with your student. I "Venn diagrammed" them to pieces! Besides this large one, we did another in science comparing the leviathan mentioned in Job with a whale.

Latin was a bit sketchy--however they should be able to tell you the word for red (trill the r!)

Many thanks to Mrs. McBreen. She was called into constant duty and never failed me throughout the day. We started the science project described in the book and will observe results next week. I encouraged the students to perform the "Try this" in the book at home. These are usually easy but enhance the text reading greatly.

Another big thank you to Mrs. Esther from the K-1 class. After dismissing her students at 12:30, she came over and presented a lesson/exercise on haiku to my students. It was well done and she got our minds jogged into action to produce these poems. It was a launch into a discussion of "power under control" that these samurai exhibited--the strongest, fiercest of society that still produced tender poems. We compared this to Christ-- the creator of the universe, calmer of the seas that submissively took the abuse of the crucifixion in order to reconcile us to Himself. I should have done another Venn diagram!!!:)

REMINDER: please have your student bring five unsigned Christmas cards with envelopes next week. We are participating in a school-wide project to send cards to our servicemen.

Here is this week's assignments:

History:
--produce narrations on ch. 17 using information we learned in class as well as the chapter in the book.
--map pg. 72
--color pg. 73
--Knight Word Search pg. 75
--read chapter 18 in SOTW

Grammar:
--administer ch. 9 test after a review
--complete ch. 10 from the teacher's text
--have ch. 10 vocab work complete (word, definition, sentence) and ready to turn in
--we learned about conjunctions, compound parts and interjections

Science:
--polish up your lapbook or report on Lesson 5 to turn in
--be sure to have your science spirals up to date with vocabulary words defined. You can look through my old blogs to see which words you should have in there. We will have a quiz over these words next week. The quiz will only be over the words assigned and due on October 30th up to the present.

Literature:
--review questions for chapter 21-24 in Adam
--bring your copy of our next literature selection, King Arthur... to show me or I'll hand you one in class. We'll have a reading assignment from it next week.

Bible:
--we received new assignments yesterday so I hope your family will enjoy reading them together
--I'm re-stocking on treats to reward those that answer my review questions!

Enjoy this brisk, fall weather with your children. Hey, maybe try producing a haiku about it!

love,
Mrs. Tkach