Friday, October 31, 2014

Religion Week 5

What a great day for the saints!  We had so many wonderful costumes, and thank you to all the students and parents for such a nice day, and lovely gifts :)



Aside from the students presenting their saints and passing out their gifts, we talked about the communion of saints: the Church Triumphant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Militant.  We are reminded to pray especially for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Lastly, the next line of the Creed is "His Only Son, Our Lord"-- and the 1st through 4th drew shamrocks like the Trinity.  In 5th and 6th, we went over the homework about Fr. Knox's image of the iceberg describing creation.  We decided that we will start going over the homework for the week that I will hand back to them, so they have a better understanding.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Art~ Week 4

This week we continues our lesson about Fra Angelico.

The Virgin of the Annunciation


He was a famous artist, who was also a monk! He got his start by drawing the illuminations for books.

San Marco Altarpiece


His work was so well-loved that he was asked to paint by various wealthy men. He was given patronage by many wealthy and influential men. You can learn more about this talented monk here.


So this week the Franciscans worked with gold leaf! They added the gold leaf to the drawing they had begun the week before.



We learned that it isn't as easy as it looks. All the students did an amazing job!







Wednesday, October 29, 2014

1st-2nd grade art~ Week 4

This week in art the Carmelites created fall trees.


The students used brown paint to make their tree trunks. They created the leaves by using red and yellow paint. The students dipped q-tips into the paint and dotted their tree. As the red and yellow mixed, they created orange leaves too!



This is a wonderful project for fall and is a great way to teach Pointillism.

Materials Needed
Brown paint
Red paint
Yellow Paint
Paper plates for mixing
White mixed media paper
Q-tips
Paintbrushes to paint the tree trunks

Preschool and Kindergarten Art~ Week 4

This week, we were a bunch of monkeys!




We made monkeys in art this week. The kids had so much fun creating these little guys...actually they weren't so little.





We had boy monkeys and girl monkeys.





Material Used
Brown construction paper
Cream construction paper
Black and White construction paper
Pink construction paper
Yellow construction paper
Googly eyes

It was super easy and the kids loved it!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

HIstory - Week 5

In celebration of All Saints Day coming up, the 1st-4th graders discussed saints of the 16th century (in the form of a game). They learned about Saints Thomas More, John Fisher, Teresa of Avila, Francis Xavier, Ignatius Loyola, Philip Neri, Juan Diego, and Charles Borromeo.


The Franciscans received back their tests and for homework, they are to review the questions they missed. They also continued their discussion about King Henry VIII and the Council of Trent.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

History - Week 4

I am so sorry I forgot to post this!


The 1st-4th graders focused on the CCM history sentence for the week by playing a fun game in order to help them memorize it.


Last week the Franciscans did the following:

-History test
-Discussion of the Protestant Revolution, Martin Luther, heresy, Pope Leo X, excommunication as a pastoral remedy to heresy, Transubstantiation v. Consubstantiation (Heresy), the need to pray for those outside the Church (especially family and friends).  Book reports will be due next week.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Language Arts- Week 4

Grammar:
We reviewed the eight parts of speech, proper and common nouns, and possessive nouns. Then we discussed this week's grammar memorization sentence. 
What is a pronoun?
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.
I gave them some examples by saying sentences without pronouns, and then saying the sentence again with pronouns. The children notice a huge difference right away, and they all agreed that pronouns are very helpful. They copied a sentence about a man named Jim who goes to the store to buy cheese that they will use for homework.
For homework:
Carmelites and Dominicans(1st-4th grade): Re-write the sentence about Jim, replacing two of the "Jim"s for pronouns. 

Great Words 1:
We started a new poem this week. We did the following movements for the first four lines:
1. Using your finger, trace a circle around your face.
2. Hold both hands up next to your face with your fingers spread out to look like it's "shining".
3. Use your hand to move up and down in a wave pattern to remind kids what a harbour is.
4. Make a beak with your fingers for the birdies, and then rest your head on your hands to sleep.


Writing:
The Franciscans turned in their papers and I returned their Week 2 papers and their vocabulary quiz from last week.
We played a game to help the children learn our newest "dress up". Five-senses words. The children took turns describing nouns by using words that we would know through our 5 senses. The rest of the class had to try and guess what the noun was. Most of the children automatically used sight, because describing the way something looks is much easier than describing the way it tastes! :)
We made another keyword outline based on a short story about the Mayflower, this time a two paragraph story. Their papers should also contain two paragraphs. We also learned 4 new vocabulary words.

For homework:
Study your vocabulary words.
Write a two paragraph paper using your Key Word Outline. Follow the checklist just like last week. The newest item listed is to add a five-senses word and to practice showing emotion. Two more weeks of Key Word Outlines, and then we'll be learning Narrative stories! Your children are writing better stories each week. They're doing a wonderful job.

Science- Week 4

Topic: Endothermic vs. Exothermic


Before discussing what endothermic and exothermic is, I talked a little bit about chemical reactions and ways to classify them. We also discussed, with examples, the difference between a physical change and a change of substance. Thinking back to our gumdrop molecules, I reminded the children of how the toothpicks represented the binds that are formed to create a molecule. When a chemical reaction happens, and a new substance if created, these binds are created or destroyed, and the atoms that were initially present are rearranged and form new molecules. 

The four signs of a chemical reaction that we talked about in class were:
*change of color
*formation of gas
*formation of a precipitate
*change of temperature

The change of temperature is where endothermic and exothermic came in. Since an endothermic reaction happens when the reaction absorbs energy, I told the kids to think of the energy going "indoors" since it also sounds like "endo". If the reaction gives off energy, and send the heat out, I told the children to think of "exit" for "exo". 

The children were then able to conduct three different experiments of mixing things together and watching for a chemical reaction. We mixed baking soda and vinegar, damprid and baking soda water, and then epson salt with water. 1st-4th grade had a worksheet to fill out and keep track of the reactions. We did not have time to answer the questions on the bottom, so please have your child complete that portion at home.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Religion Week 4

Thank you to Father Beres for coming to talk to our classes!  Father spoke about the four Gospels, and I also gave a handout of pictures of the 4 symbols of the Evangelists and also some differences in each.  We also talked about infallibility.  In 1st through 4th, we did a Christ the King craft found here because this Sunday is the feast day, and in 5th and 6th, we did a Christ the King word search contest found here.  Our winner got an extra homework buck!



And don't forget to dress as your patron or favorite saint on Monday!  1st through 6th are also invited to share a symbol of their saint as a gift for their classmates.  Example:  St. Therese can give paper roses.  Keep your gifts simple and inexpensive!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Language Arts- Week 3

Grammar:
We reviewed the eight parts of speech and proper and common nouns from last week. Then we discussed this week's grammar memorization sentence. 
What is a possessive noun?
A possessive noun shows that someone (or something) owns an item and is made by adding an apostrophe s.
I showed them some examples on the board, and also taught them a little trick of how you can check to make sure you put the apostrophe in the correct spot. 
Example: 
The boy's room. (Ask yourself, Who's room? The boy. so if you cover up the apostrophe s, you should only see the boy.)
The Shaffers' house. (Who's house? The Shaffers.)
For homework:
Carmelites and Dominicans(1st-4th grade): Write a sentence using a possessive noun. Draw a picture to go with it.
Franciscans (5th-6th grade): We did not have time to go over grammar in class this week. Hopefully we can go over it next week along with Week 4's grammar. 

Great Words 1:
We learned one more motion for each line. 
1. Make a fist with one hand, and pound it on the palm of the other, to show something "hard".
2. Move your hand from left to right, ina  rainbow motion to show the clear, blue sky.
3. Put your hands together like you're begging.
4. Put your hands on your hips in disbelief over having to go to bed while it's still light out. :)

That's the last stanza! The children should be able to recite the entire poem now. 

Writing:
The Franciscans turned in their papers and I returned their papers from last week. Please have your child write their final draft, adding any corrections I made to their papers. They have been instructed to keep all their final drafts in a notebook or folder, and to add a picture to each one. At the end of the year, their book will be on display for parents to see. :) 
Next, the children took a Vocabulary quiz. I took these home to grade. Your child will get them back next week.
Then I taught them a new "dress up". The who-which clause. See your child's notebook for examples.
We made another keyword outline based on a short story about Jamestown and learned 4 new vocabulary words

For homework:
Study your vocabulary words.
Write a paragraph using your Key Word Outline. Follow the checklist just like last week. The newest item listed is to add a who-which clause, and to come up with a more creative title by using the keywords from your last sentence.

Science: Week 3

 Topic: Periodic Table, Atomic Number, Atomic Weight

This week in Science, I introduced the Periodic Table. The Franciscans searched the Periodic Table to letters in their name and made a small picture of it. After learning about the elements Atomic Number and Atomic Weight, we practiced figuring out how many protons, neutrons, and electrons are in an element by using those numbers. We did a few together, and then each child picked an element to recreate at home for homework. If you have a Franciscan, they may use whatever they want to create their atom on the black piece of paper that was sent home with them. Stickers or pom-poms are some examples of what they could use. If you do not have these items at home, I can give some pom-poms to them during Week 4. Remember that the Atomic Number is the number of protons, and that the number of protons and electrons are always the same. Then, to find the number of neutrons, subtract the number of protons from the Atomic Weight.

We did the same thing with the Carmelites and Dominicans, except they did not have time to do their Element name in class. Instead, we made our elements together in class using black construction paper, colored dot stickers, and a white colored pencil.

 

We also discussed how there are only a certain number of electrons allowed within each shell.
1st shell: 2
2nd shell: 8
3rd shell: 18
4th shell: 32
 I did not make the younger kids do this with their elements, but I would like the Franciscans to make sure they follow this when they make theirs.