Religion - we briefly reviewed the catechism questions and answers for Lesson 2 (on the perfections of God) in Our Holy Faith Book One.
English - our Picture Study this week was a family of rabbits. We discussed some of the characteristics of these animals and then did some written work which you will find in your child's binder. We read or recited four sentences having to do with rabbits, and traced and/or wrote a few words to complete each sentence. The children in our group are at different skill levels when it comes to reading and writing so everyone worked to the best of his or her ability.
Poetry - We worked on learning the third and final stanza of "The Swing", as per Week 4 of CCM. We also reviewed the first two stanzas, which some of the children have already memorized, and they had the opportunity to "perform" the poem for the class. Please continue to work on this at home and those interested will have a chance to present the poem in its entirety next week.
History - We read a long picture book, Joseph the Dreamer by Clyde Robert Bulla. For the most part, the children were very attentive to the story despite the length (we even read a bit more of the book at the end of the day at their request). Their coloring page of Joseph's brothers selling him as a slave (we briefly discussed the meaning of this word), should reflect Joseph's Coat of Many Colors.
History Project - you will find another packet of "History Pocket" project sheets in the front pocket of your child's binder if you wish to complete these at home. Just so you are aware for planning purposes, during our study of Egypt (next week or the following week), we will be building a model pyramid in class.
Note: we did not do Geography this week, due to a longer History and Science session and also because I made the "executive" decision that all this study of Russia in CCM is quite irrelevant to most if not all of our students at this age and therefore uninteresting. If you believe otherwise, please say so (see below).
Science - A fun lesson! We read a bit about mud wasps and paper wasps (Nature Reader #2) and then the children rotated through three stations. (1) micromount wasps - they observed a wasp body preserved in a transparent acrylic block (2) microscope viewing (3) paper wasp nest observation & discussion - I brought in a large nest we discovered late this summer in a bush near our house. I related the story of how I found the nest, hidden in the bush until I made the mistake of mowing the grass too close by :) and they were able to observe dead wasps caught emerging from the cells and see & touch the wasp "paper" - a fun comparison to make with the paper-making project they did in Art!
I completely forgot to have them do a grasshopper diagram I had prepared (an arthropod like the wasp), so I will plan on doing that next week.
Feedback Request: Now that we have been in session for four weeks of classes at Schola Rosa, please take a moment to let me know (by email) if there is something you wish the children were doing in class but have not done, or if there is something we have done that you don't care for. Positive feedback is always nice as well :) but I'm more concerned with how we can improve the children's co-op experience.
Thank you,
Kathryn Stocco
kat_stocco@yahoo.com
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI think you are doing an excellent job. It is my opinion that a biblical times map may be more relevant. I do like mine to be exposed to maps as they are dominantly visual learners. But I understand the time constraints as I taught last year. Whatever a parent would like to see taught can always be covered at home if there is not time.
Also I think any extra exposure to reading words and sounds is very helpful on any subject. Once they are reading everything is easier. I thought I heard some of this occurring today, so thank you.
And I surely focused on what I felt was relevant both to how the overall plan was laid out and how the students responded to different things. Thanks Again for all you do!