1st Semester Week 4

Week 4 is complete! Three things for you:

1. WE WILL MISS YOU, EMMA! HAVE AN AWESOME TRIP!

2. Check the 'quizlet' label on the right! I will be updating the links on a regular basis, and you should take advantage of the great resources and help available to you!

3. Be diligent and consistent with your work (REMEMBER THE ANT!):

- Do math every day.

- Copy maps and drill geography locations and terms every day. We'll be doing a blank paper assessment of the USA next week.

- Do your latin every day (limit to an hour a day). We are getting into 3rd Declension Nouns now. 3rd declension is very fun and uniquely challenging, and now is not the time to slack in your latin studies (although honestly, when IS a good time to slack? 😋).

- Research an interesting invertebrate. Ideally, you will use at least 2 sources and write at least 1 paragraph. Practice your presentation. Draw a picture! (p.s. I LOVE your presentations!)

- Make an ANI chart for Carry On, Mr. Bowtich, and do the worksheet for Essay Two Arrangement, working through the 5 common topics.

- Read It Couldn't Just Happen, chapter 4 and highlight blues and pinks. Drill those catechism questions so that we can play a fun game next week!

-Read your bible. Look around at the beautiful fall colors beginning to appear. Marvel at God's handiwork. Thank Him for your brain, for the ability to learn new things, for your family.

1st Semester Week 3

Week 3 is in the books. First week in our awesome classroom! Many of us were tired and/or not on our 'A' game, but I'd say we managed to have a pretty successful day! Highlights for me were the Cartography blank paper assessments of Canada (wow!), and the presentation of research papers. Keep up the good work this week, everyone! I'll be contacting parents about a Latin study day, so stay tuned!

Helpful Links (weeks 1-6)

Here you will find many helpful links...lots of quizlet lists, but lots of non quizlet stuff, too. I will update these throughout the year, so check back from time to time. Enjoy!

Remember ladies and gents, you can always search quizlet for yourselves (i.e. 'challenge A geography terms', 'challenge A catechism', etc.). These are only a tiny sample of what's available.

Cartography:

Overview:
Modern Day Cartography (This is a cool video showing modern day globe makers, and reinforcing the benefits of map copying!)
Geography Quizes! (This is actually not quizlet, but a very helpful geography site!)
Nations of the World! By Animaniacs

Canada: 
Canada
Catchy Canada Tune!
Life in Iqaluit Nunavut
Catchy Canada Song

Canada & USA: Canada/USA Border
USA:
Tour the U.S.
States and Capitals - cheesy song

Central and South America:
Backpacking South America
Central America Mnemonics!

Latin, Geo, LTW on Quizlet

Geography Terms, 1st Semester:
Geography Terms

Rhetoric:

Catechism!

Latin:

Awesome Collection of Latin Tutorials

Latin Pronunciation 
Challenge A Latin on Quizlet (one of many options if you search for 'Challenge A Latin' or 'Henle Latin lesson one', etc.)
Another Challenge A Latin Vocab on Quizlet
Latin, Geo, LTW on Quizlet

3rd Declension Flow Chart
Helpful 3rd Declension Explanation!

Overall Quizlet User to check out (they've uploaded flashcards for many different subjects):
Lots of Quizlet Choices

Research

Mud Fish!

Rhetoric - Week 2

We had a nice discussion about chapter 1, and then made bookmarks that go through the highlighting process. The students agreed that next week they will work to highlight blues and pinks (although those who so desire should tackle as many highlighting colors as they want).

The guide refers to the It Couldn't Just Happen study guide - this is printed in the back of the the Ch A guide and can be used in addition to - or in lieu of - highlighting. It's up to you! Both are helpful ways to summarize important information from the book and both with help prepare students to discuss the chapter in class.

Read/highlight chapter 2 for next week. Rubber bands for each Just 4 Fun completed. 

Drill those catechism questions! Ch A Catechism

Here is the video I showed at the end of class yesterday. Stars and Whales

Highlighting bookmark: Bookmark

Grammar - Week 2

Most of the students are beginning to grasp Latin, but all agree that the sheer amount of exercises is a source of overwhelm. This year's main focus should be: memorizing vocabulary and declensions.

Encouragement: Latin should be limited to 1 hour per day! You need to divide your latin time wisely. Experiment with different schedules. 20/20/20: 20 minutes drilling vocabulary, 20 minutes grammar/reading/copying rules, 20 minutes exercises. Move to the next exercise on the next day (even if previous day's exercise is not complete!). Try doing just evens or odds. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish if you just work hard at this subject an hour a day (and stop when you've reached an hour!).

Challenge: While tailoring is encouraged, don't sell yourself short. If you have the time and are capable, do as many exercises as you can! The exercises are so plentiful because working them will really solidify your latin knowledge.

Assignment: Look to your Guide (Week 3) to see what you need to have completed for next week!

Research - Week 2

First week of presentations were awesome!

Remember that the goals for this strand are research and presentation. Have fun researching your topic of interest, taking notes, and outlining your discoveries. Mom decides how long the paper will be and if a drawing is required. The goal is at least one paragraph, but the teacher is the boss!

The presentation can be read from the paper, presented from an outline (Ethan modeled this yesterday), or even memorized! Showing a simple sketch or some other art medium would be fun.

Each student will assess themselves each week after they present. What was one thing they did well? What is one thing they can improve on for next time? I will also assess them, as will their classmates on occasion.

This week's recommended research topic: ROCKS

Here are a couple of Francis Chan videos that I showed the kids, tying together the astronomy research theme with the It Couldn't Just Happen universe discussion.

Crazy Big God 1

Crazy Big God 2

Debate - Week 2

I am pretty impressed with this process after just one week of map copying. Each student whipped out a decent version of Canada within about 10 minutes, all while chatting about provinces/territories that they'd only first heard of a week ago.

This will be another week of copying Canada/Greenland, adding in the list of features found in the back of your Challenge A guide in the Debate section. Thankfully there are only a handful of rivers (those are difficult little lines to remember).

Next week the students will get a blank paper and will be drawing Canada from memory.

Remember:

Do your best. Copy maps every day. Enjoy the process :).

Don't forget your geography dictionary. See your guide for the terms to add this week.  Geography Terms (1st 6 weeks)

Drill those locations! Canada Geography