Week 8 was great!

Research - Glass frogs, giant salamanders, sea wasps, and a beautiful bird - this week's presentations were a highlight! Remember what your personal growth area is, and work on it this week. 3 rubber bands for working on your 'need to improve' area. We only have 2 more weeks of these research papers...then it's on to Science Fair!

Next week's research topic: Reptiles
Epic Reptiles
Facts about Reptiles

Grammar (Latin) - This week was just review games! Super fun and you all did awesome. The workload is pretty light for Grammar this week, so it's a great week to get caught up on your exercises and drill your vocabulary! Remember to use google hangout for any questions! Here is a fun Latin Word Search if you want to mix things up this week:

Latin Vocab Word Search!

Exposition/Composition (LTW) - I introduced Exordiums, and did a big sweeping overview of everything we've covered so far (developing a thesis, ANI chart, 5 Common Topics, Comparison, Parallelism, sorting, outlining). Always check your guide, but this week make sure you:

Watch LTW Video (Essay 3, Arrangement)

Complete 5 Common Topic Worksheet and Comparison Sheet (then transfer any info to your ANI chart!)

Sort your ANI Chart (follow process from Essay Two!)

Pick a side! (affirmative/negative)

Select 3 proofs, and 3 sub proofs for each proof!

Now you can do this week's worksheets:

'A Guide to Exordium'

and

'Basic Persuasive Essay with Exordium'

Debate (Cartography) - Y'all drew South America and then labeled all the features! Next week is our blank paper assessment of South America! Check and follow the guide as per usual, but this week make sure you:

Draw and Label South America (include features) every day!

Work on your Geography Dictionary

DRAW (at least) ONE CUMULATIVE MAP!

Backpacking South America!

Math - Emma and Dylan did a fabulous job guiding our math discussion today. Please select a math problem this week and come prepared to lead a discussion. Not everyone will be able to lead, but I MAY select you, so be ready! 3 rubber bands for coming to class with a problem prepared.

Rhetoric - Fun review games (loved the dramatized catechisms!), and a pretty great discussion of It Couldn't Just Happen. Keep reading, highlighting, doing Just 4 Funs, and memorizing! 

Other Stuff:

- You all earned a happy hour treat for next week. Nice work! Parents, I will be asking permission to take the students off campus for a reward!

- I will be sending out your first Progress Report this week (there will be a total of 4 progress reports given this year). Teacher and student should chat about them, and of course ask me questions if you have any!

- I'm sorry I didn't get a class wrap up done last week. The weather knocked out our power and our internet was out for two days. Enough to throw me off my game I guess :).

1st Semester Week 6

Week 6 Run-Down:

Research:

Loved the presentations (as per usual). This week's research topic is birds! Have fun researching and preparing your presentation. Remember your personal challenge...each of you have an individual goal for next week's presentation. I will reward those who show up prepared in their area!

Latin: 

I introduced 4th declension nouns, and there is not much to it.  Have fun with the exercises this week!

Latin Tips: If you are in a latin groove, and feel like your latin work schedule is going well - awesome! Keep it up, and continue to tweak here and there as you go along.

BUT, IF YOU ARE FEELING OVERWHELMED IN LATIN:
1. Take a deep breath. It's just latin. It will be ok. I promise. Do not throw in the towel. Do not think that "it's too hard" or "I'm too behind and won't be able to catch up", or any variations of these!
2. If you stick with CC, you will be going through this book TWO MORE TIMES. Now, this doesn't mean you don't need to work hard 😏. But it should give you some perspective.
3. Keeping the above fact in mind, here are your top latin priorities for NOUNS:

MEMORIZE THE 5 NOUN DECLENSIONS 

(flashcards, quizlet, cc songs, copywork)

You can drill these every single day!

MEMORIZE THE VOCABULARY

(flashcards, quizlet, drill, drill, drill)

Commit as many of the words to memory as possible.

Make sure you work on these things first everyday. It's just memory work! Now, with the rest of your latin time (ideally 1 hr total a day), do some exercises. If these are slow going for you, that is ok. Set the timer and do what you can do. This may mean that we are on 4th Declension this week, but you are plugging away at 2nd Declension exercises. THAT IS OK! Especially if you prioritize memorizing the declensions and vocab. This kind of daily work, even if it is slower going than the CC guide, will add up to a lot of foundational latin knowledge by the end of the year. And you will be setting yourself up for success in Challenge B.

Remember to watch any and all latin videos available to you! 

LTW:

I introduced Parallelism. Watch the LTW video for a more thorough explanation. Your assignment is to do the parallelism worksheet, and then write your second essay from your outline. As you write your essay, you will need to refer to the lesson's checklist. Check the back of your book for the checklist and for example essays for this assignment. I've also included a link below for the LTW outlines and checklists for each essay, as well as some hot tips for parallelism.

Parallelism - Hot Tips

LTW - Outlines and Checklists

Math:

Keep up your daily math work, and remember that your challenge is to truly prepare a math problem for next week's class. Write it on your math worksheet and think through which questions you will ask to guide us through the problem. 

Here is a math worksheet in case you need to print it off:

Math Worksheet with 5 Common Topics

Debate (Cartography):

The challenge this week is to do your daily cartography work, and complete at least ONE cumulative map with Canada, USA, and Central America/Caribbean. Let me know by Saturday night that you've completed these two things, and I will make brownies for Monday!

Devote some time to drilling states/provinces/territories and capitals! We will be playing review games. And don't forget your geography notebook!

Next week is our blank paper assessment of Central America/Caribbean!

Rhetoric:

Of course you will read the assigned chapter, right? This week your challenge is to add another highlighting color, and to review those catechism questions so that we can play a game!

Remember, you can email me, google hangout message me and your classmates, or have your mom text me if you have any questions at all.

Have fun learning this week. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we can't wait to have Emma back with us again!

1st Semester Week 5!

Week 5 was rather quiet...we missed our Emma and Ryan! It was a packed day nonetheless, and the highlights for me included:

- USA blank paper assessment
- Research papers (as always) - starfish, tardigrades, praying mantis, oh my!
- Latin! I think we can really have some fun with 3rd Declensions, so I'm excited for this week's exercises

Here is what you need to know for this week (in addition to following your guide):

Cartography challenge: Ok, now is the time to start practicing cumulative drawings AT LEAST once a week. To motivate you all, I proposed a CHALLENGE:

-Diligently do your cartography work 4 days this week, and include at least one drawing of Canada, USA, and Central America.

- By Sunday, let me know via email or google hangout that you've done the above.

- If I hear from EVERYONE (except Emma 😀), I will make homemade brownies with whipped cream for class on Monday! Woohoo!

One more cartography note: Don't feel discouraged if you are not where you want to be with your map copying! It is not too late to really rock this strand, I promise! But, you must devote time to map copying every. single. day. So let's say you feel a bit behind with both Canada and the USA. Well, you need to work them into your map practice each week. Think about it. If you just work some review time into your week, and truly stick with it, you will have many more opportunities to improve on those maps that you feel you're lacking in. So:

- Spend 20-30 minutes on the newly introduced map, then spend 20 minutes each day drawing a cumulative map. yep, every day! Listen to some peaceful music, sit outside in the sunshine, and just. do. it. 10-15 minutes on drilling/quizlet/geography notebook!

-Another option would be to devote one day a week to review in cartography. Work your new map 3 days, and then spend the 4th day doing cumulative drawing and drilling of locations.

Math: Make sure to bring at least one problem to walk through with the class!

Rhetoric: We will stick with blue and pink highlighting, and MEMORIZE THOSE CATECHISMS (check quizlet link for catechism review). We will eventually have time for a game :).

Exposition/Composition: Complete the Arrangement outline for Essay 2. Make sure your ANI chart has 15 items in the A and N columns! WATCH THE LTW VIDEO ON SORTING if you have any questions at all!

Latin: 3rd declension. Fun!

-I urge you to watch the Visual Latin videos on CC Connected (login, go to 'Classical Learning Center' under the Challenge tier, then hover over 'Learning Center' at the top of the page and click on 'Grammar (Latin)', then 'Latin Nouns', and watch the 3rd declension videos).

- Then click on the 'quizlet and stuff' link and watch the different latin resource videos there. There is so much help available to you, but you must put in the work and seek that information out. Then you have take the info and put in the hard work of memorizing and doing the exercises. I believe in you and know you can do it!

- Feel free to send me questions via google hangout or email, or have your teacher mom text me. I want you to succeed and soar!

Research: Work on improving in the areas you've assessed yourself as 'needing to do better next time'. Practice? Longer, more organized papers? Drawing a picture? Hand motions and eye contact?

Can't wait to hear those 'fish' related presentations next week.

I will liberally distribute rubber bands for all signs of 'stretching' yourself this week. This will look different for each of you, but I will be looking closely for signs of individual successes. You've got this!