Week 8, Kindergarden & First Grade

A message from the Music teacher - children should practice singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in a round with family members.

Religion - we reviewed and further discussed the concept of sin, reciting the question and answers from Our Holy Faith Lesson 7.  Some of the children have memorized several of the main questions regarding sin.  We also talked about the difference between mortal and venial sin, and original and actual sin.

English - our Picture Study was titled "Two Mothers" and depicted a mother cow and her calf and a human mother and her baby. We talked about some of the details we noticed in the painting and made comparisons  between the two families depicted.

Poetry - we continued to learn "The Frog" while hopping around the classroom :)  We talked about what some of the terms used to describe the frog and what they might mean: such as "slimy skin" and "billy bandy-knees".

Science - we squeezed in a little science since our regular class time would be replaced with the Park Ranger's presentation.  This week we were to discuss insect metamorphosis, so we talked about the life cycle of the beetle. We observed live beetles who had recently moved out of the pupa stage, and saw some of the "shells" they had left behind. We talked about how they began as mealworms, and saw an example of that stage amongst the adult beetles.  We compared the beetle's life cycle to that of a butterfly with a diagram. You will see a copy of that diagram in your child's binder and may choose to use it to review the stages of metaphorphosis which we recited in class: egg, larva, pupa, adult (from CCM Science Week 8).  The butterfly diagram can be labeled with these terms.

History - we briefly reviewed the story of the Fall of Jericho from last week. Several children asked if we would be parading around the school building again :)  We then read "Joshua Conquers the Land of Canaan" from the New Catholic Picture Bible.  The coloring page was of Joshua leading the Hebrews/Israelites into battle. To demonstrate the Israelites settling in the Promised Land, the class was divided into the twelve tribes of Israel, each tribe leader given their own piece of "land" in the classroom by Joshua. Then one child acted as a priest from the tribe of Levi and went around to the other tribes "blessing or ministering" to the people, and receiving food grown by the other tribes on their own land.

Geography - we tried to learn how we can focus in on a small part of the world beginning from a world map to a map showing a small section of the world (Europe and Asia), and finally telescoping into the Arabian Peninsula, to the west of which we could find the Dead Sea, the River Jordan and the former land of Canaan.  I say tried because we were expectantly awaiting the exciting Parker Ranger presentation and we were therefore a bit distracted !

We also looked at the Amphibian and Reptile posters displayed beneath the world map in preparation for the Science presentation at the end of the class day, which was greatly enjoyed by all !