Religion~ We started discussing The 10 Commandments God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. We focused on the first commandment this week. After talking about it, the children drew a picture to reinforce the lesson.
Geography~ We went over the map sections for week 7. It was great to see the kids remember where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were located from our previous lessons!
History~We learned about Hammurabi and his laws. We went over a few of the laws and discussed whether or not they were fair. We did some make work locating where Hammurabi's kingdom was.
Music~ The children enjoyed signing rounds with the music teacher.
English~ We did lesson 34 about a cat and a mouse. The children listened to the sentences and tried to write them down from memory.
Poetry~ We started discussing The Frog by Hilaire Belloc. We learned that the poem was writing in a style that allowed the reader to hear/picture the frog hopping about.
Science~ We had a fun presentation from K. Schwartzmiller. She brought in a black and brown fuzzy caterpillar named Mr. Blacky Pants. She did a excellent job of telling us about him and brought in pictures of what type of moth he would turn into. All the children were very excited to hold and touch the fuzzy little creepy crawler. Even the teachers held him!
For the rest of science class, we looked at the Darkling beetles that have emerged from their pupa stage. We showed the Hercules beetle to the students that were absent the previous week.
The end of class was filled with a review of the characteristics of an insect!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Art, Year I, Week 7: Pottery
Clay is always enjoyed by students! They were instructed, however, to make pots with thick, strong walls without holes. If there were a hole or a crack, then the pot would not achieve its purpose "in life" -- to hold water. Please see your art handouts for more details and explanation as well as tips on how to paint the pots during the break.
See you next week for mosaic planning!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Week 7: 4-6 grade
Thank you to our presenters: M. Gilkison, and A. Durgin!!!! Mr. Gilkison gave a very informative presentation on the Hercules Beetle and displayed him for all to see (and pet!). Thank you!! Mr. Durgin obviously spent a great deal of time on his presentation of at least three pages!! We were all well informed about Gaius Marcius Coriolanus and how his mother saved Rome! Thank you for your time and preparation!!!
We look forward to presentations by Z. Durgin, D. Echaniz, and J. Grajeda.
With the change of seasons and long, hurricane filled break, I think it was a bit difficult for all to remain steadfastly focused on lessons. We made it and all did well! Again, all homework will be notated with bold lettering.
Science: We began with the presentation of the Hercules Beetle and then moved to our diagram of a grasshopper. This ties into our study of the class of insects within the phyla arthropoda. We labeled the major body portions and specific parts. Please review the CCM section for science.
English: We covered lesson 86 in ILL which retold the story of the Queen of Sheba coming to test King Solomon. The students may or may not have filled out the first four questions from their papers/books. They do not need to do this at home; we did complete them verbally. The homework assignment was to do #5 & 6. Please have the students rewrite the story. They should be retelling it in their own manner, yet including the vocabulary words noted in #5. The students do NOT need to include a direct quote, but should have multiple paragraphs (at least 2) with proper notation (indent!). Students should be ready to hand in these papers for grading (to be returned in Dec). If co-op is not primary focus for your family, please have a parent's note informing me that you have excused them from the assignment!Thanks!
Poetry: We recited The Village Blacksmith mostly together. Many of the students spontaneously chimed in as I was reading, and so, the class recited the poem together. The students were asked to write a poem of their own containing at least one stanza composed of four verses with two rhyming.
Religion: We reviewed the liturgical calendar with multiple handouts. We discussed the similarities between the old and current church calendars, noting how similar they are. The novena for holy souls in purgatory was explained to the students: visit a graveyard each day for the first nine days of November and say the prayers for the Pope (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be) to gain a plenary indulgence for a particular soul in Purgatory. Reception of Confession and Communion must be completed as well. We also read an excerpt from St. Gertrude of her vision of Purgatory in which she says how grateful those released to heaven would be for our prayers/alms/sacrifices. We spoke of our requirement to pray daily for the pope, our families, and ourselves, and added that during November it would be good to include those in Purgatory.No homework.
Geography: We colored a basic map of Egypt which includes Greece and Rome and will be used later in conjunction with History. We covered the CCM map work very briefly. No homework.
History:From English we discussed a bit about King Solomon and then backed up to the ark from last week to get to Moses and Egypt. As we began our discussion of Egypt and Thutmoses III's battle from page 100-105 in Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, I dropped my book and then gave the synopsis version of the story. Unfortunately, I could not reclaim my place in the book. Then we discussed the biblical scholar theory that Thutmoses I-III were involved in the Moses and Exodus events. Hatshepsut would be the pharaoh's daughter who was prominent enough to adopt a boy as heir to the throne without question. Thutmoses III was known for his military expeditions for 17 years prior to the time of the Exodus and was greatly feared by all nations. His military force ended at exactly the time when they would have been at the bottom of the Red Sea. We covered the reasoning and explanations in greater detail and I thought it acceptable with the CCM dating of the Exodus at 1400bc. I did inform the students that this was a possibility and not something that they had to accept. I had not meant to teach it, but the historic reasoning is quite compelling for me, personally. Again, I think it is important that students understand that history is the retelling of lives, thus a story and a personal one. So, one must always evaluate the version of the story being told for veracity and outside points of verification. No homework.
Latin: We had little time for Latin as I went overboard with History, and we had a full 15 minute music session. We quickly read out the information on page 11, but left questions 1-6 for homework. Students should review page 11 and finish page 12. Answers: 1A 2A 3A 4A 1no 2yes 3no 4yes 5no 6no 7no 8yes.
Thanks to Stoccos and C. Powell for completing and having homework assignments with them!!
I look forward to seeing all students next week and as always thanks to Mrs. Pullen for her help with class!!
We look forward to presentations by Z. Durgin, D. Echaniz, and J. Grajeda.
With the change of seasons and long, hurricane filled break, I think it was a bit difficult for all to remain steadfastly focused on lessons. We made it and all did well! Again, all homework will be notated with bold lettering.
Science: We began with the presentation of the Hercules Beetle and then moved to our diagram of a grasshopper. This ties into our study of the class of insects within the phyla arthropoda. We labeled the major body portions and specific parts. Please review the CCM section for science.
English: We covered lesson 86 in ILL which retold the story of the Queen of Sheba coming to test King Solomon. The students may or may not have filled out the first four questions from their papers/books. They do not need to do this at home; we did complete them verbally. The homework assignment was to do #5 & 6. Please have the students rewrite the story. They should be retelling it in their own manner, yet including the vocabulary words noted in #5. The students do NOT need to include a direct quote, but should have multiple paragraphs (at least 2) with proper notation (indent!). Students should be ready to hand in these papers for grading (to be returned in Dec). If co-op is not primary focus for your family, please have a parent's note informing me that you have excused them from the assignment!Thanks!
Poetry: We recited The Village Blacksmith mostly together. Many of the students spontaneously chimed in as I was reading, and so, the class recited the poem together. The students were asked to write a poem of their own containing at least one stanza composed of four verses with two rhyming.
Religion: We reviewed the liturgical calendar with multiple handouts. We discussed the similarities between the old and current church calendars, noting how similar they are. The novena for holy souls in purgatory was explained to the students: visit a graveyard each day for the first nine days of November and say the prayers for the Pope (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be) to gain a plenary indulgence for a particular soul in Purgatory. Reception of Confession and Communion must be completed as well. We also read an excerpt from St. Gertrude of her vision of Purgatory in which she says how grateful those released to heaven would be for our prayers/alms/sacrifices. We spoke of our requirement to pray daily for the pope, our families, and ourselves, and added that during November it would be good to include those in Purgatory.No homework.
Geography: We colored a basic map of Egypt which includes Greece and Rome and will be used later in conjunction with History. We covered the CCM map work very briefly. No homework.
History:From English we discussed a bit about King Solomon and then backed up to the ark from last week to get to Moses and Egypt. As we began our discussion of Egypt and Thutmoses III's battle from page 100-105 in Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, I dropped my book and then gave the synopsis version of the story. Unfortunately, I could not reclaim my place in the book. Then we discussed the biblical scholar theory that Thutmoses I-III were involved in the Moses and Exodus events. Hatshepsut would be the pharaoh's daughter who was prominent enough to adopt a boy as heir to the throne without question. Thutmoses III was known for his military expeditions for 17 years prior to the time of the Exodus and was greatly feared by all nations. His military force ended at exactly the time when they would have been at the bottom of the Red Sea. We covered the reasoning and explanations in greater detail and I thought it acceptable with the CCM dating of the Exodus at 1400bc. I did inform the students that this was a possibility and not something that they had to accept. I had not meant to teach it, but the historic reasoning is quite compelling for me, personally. Again, I think it is important that students understand that history is the retelling of lives, thus a story and a personal one. So, one must always evaluate the version of the story being told for veracity and outside points of verification. No homework.
Latin: We had little time for Latin as I went overboard with History, and we had a full 15 minute music session. We quickly read out the information on page 11, but left questions 1-6 for homework. Students should review page 11 and finish page 12. Answers: 1A 2A 3A 4A 1no 2yes 3no 4yes 5no 6no 7no 8yes.
Thanks to Stoccos and C. Powell for completing and having homework assignments with them!!
I look forward to seeing all students next week and as always thanks to Mrs. Pullen for her help with class!!
Kindergarden - First Grade, Week 7
Religion - we read, recited, and discussed the catechism questions for Lesson 6 in Our Holy Faith, which tied in nicely with our CCM Religion since they are all about the concept of sin.
English - our Picture Study was of a lion family, and the kids had lots of excited input to share about what they saw in the painting. We discussed differences observed between some male and female animals. We then read the Aesop's Fable, "The Lion and the Mouse" and did a copywork exercise, copying the moral of the story -"Sometimes the weak are able to help the strong" - from large "sentence strips" in the middle of each table onto handwriting paper. Children who are able to form letters on their own did an admirable job with this exercise. For some, we wrote the phrase in light pencil for them to trace the letters.
Poetry - we reviewed "The Wind" and began learning "The Frog".
History - We began with a review of what we've been learning these past few weeks: Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt, Moses and the Crossing of the Red Sea, and then talked about the Israelites wandering in the dessert, receiving the Ten Commandments and finally reaching the Promised Land. We read a section from Old Testatment Days: An Activity Guide on the Sabbath and talked about how the Israelites observed the Sabbath in many of the same ways that we now observe Sunday. We then read the story of "The Fall of Jericho" from the Children's Bible.
Project: we made paper trumpets (these were also used to alert the Israelites to the start and end of the Sabbath) and acted out the story, processing around the VA Hills church building (i.e. the "walls" of the city) and waiting for Joshua, our leader, to tell us when to shout and blast our trumpets, at which the walls fell down. Coloring page depicts this event, but it was sent home for "homework".
Geography - We were running out of time at this point, but we briefly looked at the CCM map for Week 7 and found the Dead Sea, near which would be the city of Jericho.
oral presentation - we saw a spider's nest; great segue to our discovery outside.............
Science - I had planned to do the project described below in class, but obviously was trying to fit in too much in one day! We did a demonstration of supermarket classification to show how scientists classify insects, animals, etc. The project was to do an "insect collage". Inside the front pocket of your child's folder you'll find a folded piece of sketching paper, and a few sheets of colored images of insects. The idea being to cut and paste the images they choose to one side of the sheet of paper and label it "insects", and then draw or find pictures of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks) for the other half of the paper. An additional idea would be to write or draw the different characteristics of these two classes in the phylum arthropoda, which we have been studying these past several weeks.
Insect hunting! - we didn't expect to find much - given the cold weather -but the students did find a few crickets and .....a black widow spider ! - already dead, gratefully as it was presented to me on a leaf (by my own daughter :) This finding presented a great opportunity for everyone to observe it carefully and therefore be able to avoid it in the future.
Happy Birthday to our two students celebrating birthdays this week! (and thanks to mom P.Q. for the cupcakes)
English - our Picture Study was of a lion family, and the kids had lots of excited input to share about what they saw in the painting. We discussed differences observed between some male and female animals. We then read the Aesop's Fable, "The Lion and the Mouse" and did a copywork exercise, copying the moral of the story -"Sometimes the weak are able to help the strong" - from large "sentence strips" in the middle of each table onto handwriting paper. Children who are able to form letters on their own did an admirable job with this exercise. For some, we wrote the phrase in light pencil for them to trace the letters.
Poetry - we reviewed "The Wind" and began learning "The Frog".
History - We began with a review of what we've been learning these past few weeks: Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt, Moses and the Crossing of the Red Sea, and then talked about the Israelites wandering in the dessert, receiving the Ten Commandments and finally reaching the Promised Land. We read a section from Old Testatment Days: An Activity Guide on the Sabbath and talked about how the Israelites observed the Sabbath in many of the same ways that we now observe Sunday. We then read the story of "The Fall of Jericho" from the Children's Bible.
Project: we made paper trumpets (these were also used to alert the Israelites to the start and end of the Sabbath) and acted out the story, processing around the VA Hills church building (i.e. the "walls" of the city) and waiting for Joshua, our leader, to tell us when to shout and blast our trumpets, at which the walls fell down. Coloring page depicts this event, but it was sent home for "homework".
Geography - We were running out of time at this point, but we briefly looked at the CCM map for Week 7 and found the Dead Sea, near which would be the city of Jericho.
oral presentation - we saw a spider's nest; great segue to our discovery outside.............
Science - I had planned to do the project described below in class, but obviously was trying to fit in too much in one day! We did a demonstration of supermarket classification to show how scientists classify insects, animals, etc. The project was to do an "insect collage". Inside the front pocket of your child's folder you'll find a folded piece of sketching paper, and a few sheets of colored images of insects. The idea being to cut and paste the images they choose to one side of the sheet of paper and label it "insects", and then draw or find pictures of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks) for the other half of the paper. An additional idea would be to write or draw the different characteristics of these two classes in the phylum arthropoda, which we have been studying these past several weeks.
Insect hunting! - we didn't expect to find much - given the cold weather -but the students did find a few crickets and .....a black widow spider ! - already dead, gratefully as it was presented to me on a leaf (by my own daughter :) This finding presented a great opportunity for everyone to observe it carefully and therefore be able to avoid it in the future.
Happy Birthday to our two students celebrating birthdays this week! (and thanks to mom P.Q. for the cupcakes)
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Virtue- Week Seven (Responsibility)
Week 7- Responsibility
Responsibility: an obligation; being reliable
Synonym: dependability Antonym: irresponsibility
"If
you are wise, then know that you have been created for the glory of God
and your own eternal salvation. This is your goal; this is the center
of your life; this is the treasure of your heart.”
-St. Robert Bellarmine
How to Practice This Virtue:
Try to be on time for all activities this week. Then try to do it again next week.
Be sure to clean up after yourself and put things back where they belong when you are finished using them.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Important Information for Co-op Day, Week 7
Greetings in Christ! With Hurricane Sandy behind us and with a nice week off in spite of her, we begin another co-op week! We pray you all made it through the storm in peace, and we wish you all a blessed All Saints and All Souls days.
Announcements:
- Field Trip #2 has been rescheduled for November 12th during the co-op meeting.
- 4th-6th Graders will remain in Morning Assembly. 75% of parents of these students wished to have them do the Memory Work.
- Beginning this week, in an effort to save money in the general supplies fund, weekly summaries can be printed from the online suite: http://www.
therollingacresfarm.com/ Courses/course/category.php? id=52 IF you need your login name and password again or IF you have trouble logging in, please contact Alecia Rolling. - Internet Voting and surveys will close this week on November 3rd. We are looking forward to releasing the stats! Thank you for taking the time to let us know what you think!
- If you have any outstanding field trip 1 fees, please bring payment in cash (This includes families who signed up, but did not attend).
- SAINTS' COSTUMES may be worn this week to continue the celebration of ALL SAINTS as a group.
- Father Carr plans to visit any Monday! Please welcome him with open arms and friendly faces when he decides to come!
- The St. Nick's Party is December 6th. Please let us know if you have any ideas about WHERE to have the party and HOW to have it! We already have musicians in the group who have volunteered their talents for a performance. The music teachers are putting together a nice repertoire.
How to prepare?
- K-6th Students need the map for Week 7 (Classically Catholic Memory); children can share.
- 4th-6th graders also need Puella Romana and CCM book (if possible).
- Student binders!
- ART: Bring finished art projects to share! We will be doing pottery this week, so dress appropriately.
Please email with any questions between now and Monday! Either Christina Durgin or Alecia Rolling will return your email. If you have specific questions for a teacher, please contact the teacher.
November 5th is the Feast of the Holy Relics!
All you Holy Saints and Angels, ora pro nobis!
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