Week 13 History~Beta Year Grades 5th & 6th

Review of commercial exploration - Marco Polo and his travels

Review of the Hundred Year's War

Discussion of the role of St. Joan of Arc

Discussion in the transformation of warfare and castle building

Homework Assignment - 

Write a 2 paragraph report on the life and accomplishments of Saint Francis of Assisi.  

The report is to be turned in on Monday and must be legible.

History for the Franciscan Class - Week 5

-Joseph McCarthy gave an oral presentation on the hierarchical nature of the feudal system.
-Review of last 2 homework "Fill in the Blank" worksheets.
-Introduction of Feudalism, including general stratification of the populace and the rights and responsibilities of each class.
-Discussion of what life would generally have been like for each class of persons in the feudal system.
-Students participated in a trivia competition with question topics from the previous subjects taught in class to date.

James Cummings will give next week's oral presentation on the Crusades; what were they and why were they fought.

History - Week 4

Pre K-4th
We discussed the story of Saint Patrick and each class did a Saint Patrick coloring page. The two older classes received a map of Ireland that they may color at home, as well as a book on Saint Patrick, which can be filled in, cut out and stapled. The Benedictines completed a shamrock craft. We also reviewed the maps for CCM.

5th-6th grade
~ review of materials from previous weeks
~ introduction of Saint Benedict of Nursia
~ Discussion of the historical importance of the Rule of Saint Benedict and its lasting influence on western monasticism
~ Discussion of the importance of monasteries in preserving Christianity in Western Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire
~ Introduction to Saint Patrick of Ireland
~ Discussion of St. Patrick's life and influence in converting the people of Ireland to Christianity
~ Discussion of the use of the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity
~ Discussion of the impact of Irish monasteries on the art and culture of medieval Europe with a particular focus on the illuminated manuscripts and Book of Kells
~ Introduction to the Norse (Viking) invasions of western Europe and the advent of Western European Feudal society

HOMEWORK:
~ Each student should fill in the blank questions on page 13 of their Medieval Notebook
~ Joseph McCarthy will conduct a presentation in class on October 21. The topic will be on the "hierarchical nature of medieval social structure."

History Helps

Just a few things that I have come across and would like to share with you all.

Communion of Saints

Today just happens to be the feast of Sts. Cyprian and Justina on the old calendar. As I was reading about them during our morning prayer, the kids noticed the name Diocletian, who is mentioned in our history sentence this week. It made us interested in learning more about these uncommonly known saints. Don't you love it when the Holy Spirit times things out just like so?

Handwriting Worksheets

I typed up the CCM history sentence for my younger children to copy. I was going to link it here, but realized that I would be breaking copyright laws! So, I will just link to the website I use to create the worksheets instead. The website is called Worksheet Works.

Notebooking Pages

For the older set, you can have them copy the sentence themselves, or have them listen to the CD and write what they hear. (Great dictation practice!) You can use these free notebooking pages at Notebooking Nook.

Make A Shield

Have your industrious child make his/her own Constantine shield. Here is an example of what one looked like. You can follow these instructions on making a shield, and decorate with the Chi Rho.

Read About St. Paul 

Read Mary Fabyan Windeatt's book, Saint Paul the Apostle: The Story of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Then use this wonderful study guide to learn more! (If you've never seen this website, do your family a favor and check it out!)

Watch Ben Hur

If you allow your children to watch movies, and happen to have Amazon Prime, you can watch a cartoon version of Ben Hur for free on Amazon's Instant Video.

Happy Learning!

History - Week 2

Pre-K through 4th: We reviewed what they will be learning for geography in CCM week 2. Each class learned about the Emperor Constantine, his vision, and the significance of the Phi Rho symbol. They completed a coloring activity (the Phi Rho symbol). Grades 1-4 labeled a map of the Roman Empire. No homework.

The Franciscans:

~ Review of previous weeks assignment.  Students each explained their time-line worksheets and discussed cause and effect.  

~Review of the map of the Roman Empire (East/West) cir. 300 A.D.

~Discussion of the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western empires and the role of the emperors.

~Introduction to Emperor Constantine the Great (See page 3 of the Medieval History Workbook)

~Discussion of:

-The Battle of the Milvian Bridge

  -Constantine's vision before the battle, of a Golden Cross in the clouds and a voice exhorting "by this symbol you shall conquer".

  -Constantine painting the "Chi Rho" symbol upon his soldiers' shields and prevailing in the battle

  -Constantine's use of the "Labarum" (Chi Rho symbol) throughout his reign as emperor

        -Constantine's promulgation of the Edict of Milan

  -Declaring Christians free to worship without government interference

  -Return of confiscated church's and church property 

  -Dedication of the Vatican to the Bishop of Rome

  -The archeological mission of Constantine's mother St. Helena to the Holy Land

        -Helena's discovery of Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem, the true cross, his burial tomb, etc.

  -Constantine's commission of the first great churches and cathedrals (St. John Lateran, Rome; the Hagia Sofia, Constantinople, etc.)

-The reuniting of the Eastern and Western Empires under the sole rule of Constantine

-The calling of the Council of Nicaea

  -The suppression of the Arian heresy

-The establishment of Constantinople as the capital of the Eastern Empire (the "New Rome")

-Constantine's eventual baptism as a Christian prior to his death in 337 A.D.

"Homework" assignment for the coming week:

-color the Chi Rho on page 5 of the workbook and complete the "Fill in the Blank" questions 1-7 on page 5 of the workbook

History Overview

History Pre K through 4th:

On our first day of History class, we reviewed the CCM map work, which was to locate and name the continents (actually, we did not do this in the little tots class). Since History for this year begins with the Birth of Jesus, we read the Nativity story and followed it up with a craft. All of the younger classes made a little manger with Baby Jesus in it. The Benedictine class started a coloring page in class, and I sent home the coloring page with the other classes to work on at home if they wished to do so. There is no homework for these classes.


History for the Fransicans included:

- Overview of class topic for the coming year:

- Explanation of the 3 general historical periods; Antiquity, Medieval and Modern

- Explained that we will be focusing on major Religious, Political and cultural events and developments between the years 400 A.D. and 1500 A.D. (defined and explained the differences between the 3 different types of events and developments)

-Review of Ancient history from the time of the birth of Christ to 400s A.D. and discussed the prior expansion of the Western Roman Empire and it collapse leading into the medieval period.

- Review of how to create and read a timeline; and discussion of the importance of understanding history as a chronological chain of causes and effects.  Highlighted the importance of understanding historical events as the "causes" of our present state in the world.  Explained to the class that having a thorough understanding of the causes and effects of history, give us a better understanding of how the choices we make today may effect our future. (example used in class...we know from our own past history that if we don't thoroughly brush our teeth, we may get cavities.  Therefore, if we want to avoid cavities we can learn from past experience that we should thoroughly brush our teeth).

-Assigned "homework" - Timeline worksheet.  Student is to choose one day this week and log the days events on the timeline.

note: Mr. McCarthy sent home a brown folder for the parents to review. It also has the sheet on which they will compete their timeline

can you send me a synopsis of your class yesterday?