Important Dates:
10/12 – No school for students due to Columbus Day and Teacher Training10/14 – Spirit Day!
10/19 – Moms in Prayer-9:00am-10:00am
10/19 – Co Teacher Training 2:00pm-3:00pm
10/22-10/24 – Fall Fortis Family Camping Trip @ Cedar Breaks Park
10/26 – Grammar Playdate @ Lion’s Park-3:00pm-4:00pm
10/28 – Spirit Day/Watch D.O.G.S./Pizza Lunch
10/28 – Historic Dress-up Day!
10/29 – Trunk or Treat event @ Fortis Academy!
Bible:
We're currently reading stories from the Children's Bible and discussing. When you read them at home, you can read it to your student or have them read portions aloud if they want. You can ask them questions about the reading if you like (e.g., "Who was the main character?" "What did God want them to do?" "Why?"). Essentially whatever you think would be interesting to talk about - I want students to learn to be comfortable asking questions about the Bible and thinking about the ideas and talking about them. Sometimes we may not know the answers to their questions, but we can model what to do in that situation (look it up, ask someone we trust, be patient with not knowing all the answers but look forward to asking God in person one day!). Use maps to find where the events are taking place. In school, we will also be practicing memorizing the books of the Bible, so you can go through them at home as well as time permits. I plan to continue sword drills at school, but using Bibles on hand so students don't have to bring two Bibles to school.
Math:
Spelling:
We're testing over Lesson 2 this week, which focuses on spelling one- and two-syllable words with short vowel sounds. The English spelling pattern being looked at this week is that when a word or syllable has one vowel and it comes at the beginning or between two consonants, it usually stands for the short vowel sound. In two-syllable words, one syllable is stronger than the other (the stressed syllable). Practice clapping with the syllables to identify how many syllables and discuss which syllable is stressed or emphasized in the two-syllable words. Ask students what the vowels are and have them say long and short vowel sounds aloud, identifying the short vowel sound in each spelling word. When writing spelling words 2x in copybook, emphasize neatness.
Please continue to make sure students copy their math work onto sheets of paper neatly. This is very important as it will help them learn how to be organized in their thinking, as well as work on correcting sloppy habits and mistakes in work. Putting in the hard work now will pay off later. The primary math goal for now is mastery of addition and subtraction facts. If you have flashcards, spend a few minutes drilling addition and subtractions facts daily. Have your student complete the math facts sheet of 100 problems (in the old binder or using the one I sent), seeing how many they can complete in 5 minutes and then finishing the rest after the 5 minutes are up. This is to be done daily. Students are working to know, without having to pause to think, what the sum and difference are for numbers 1-20. I am going to give students an hour to finish the lesson at school, and then work will be collected to grade. We shouldn't be taking more than an hour per lesson.
Spelling:
We're testing over Lesson 2 this week, which focuses on spelling one- and two-syllable words with short vowel sounds. The English spelling pattern being looked at this week is that when a word or syllable has one vowel and it comes at the beginning or between two consonants, it usually stands for the short vowel sound. In two-syllable words, one syllable is stronger than the other (the stressed syllable). Practice clapping with the syllables to identify how many syllables and discuss which syllable is stressed or emphasized in the two-syllable words. Ask students what the vowels are and have them say long and short vowel sounds aloud, identifying the short vowel sound in each spelling word. When writing spelling words 2x in copybook, emphasize neatness.
hands
dentist
lifted
crack
bumps
practice
solid
clasp
sticks
spent
locked
adopt
judge
contest
stand
shrimp
stamp
trust
fender
pencil
Latin:
Students are doing well memorizing Latin vocabulary. Continue to be on the lookout for derivatives from our Latin vocabulary in reading or in life and point them out. You will make it a regular habit that your student will emulate to notice Latin roots in English words in order to guess what they mean. When writing Latin vocabulary (and English definitions) 2x in copybook, emphasize neatness.
aqua - water
gloria - glory
Italia - Italy
memoria - memory
Roma - Rome
victoria - victory
vita - life
navigo - I sail
paro - I prepare
specto - I look at
Derivatives: aquarium, aquatic, aqueduct, glorify, glorious, memorial, memorize, victorious, vital, vitamin, navigate, navigation, navy, preparation, spectacle, spectacular, spectator, inspect
Memory Work:
Adeste Fideles (sung to the tune of O Come All Ye Faithful - the same meaning also, in fact; it's the Latin translation of the English song) - YouTube has many available recordings of this, a classic Christmas song sung in Latin. There is no hurry on this (we didn't even get to it in class this week!), just hoping to have it memorized in time for the Christmas season.
Adeste Fideles, Laeti triumphantes
Venite, Venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte Regem Angelorum
Venite adoremus, Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus, Dominum.
What to bring to school:
-Exploring Arithmetic 3
-Spelling Workout D
-Latina Christiana
-Merriam-Webster's Dictionary for Children (unless left at school)
-The World of Mammals
-The Golden Children's Bible (please leave NIV Bible at home)
-Copybooks (we have four currently)
Workload and Feedback:
If the workload or a particular activity proves too much/too confusing at home, please modify as suits your situation (and let me know so I can keep that in mind!). Please stay in communication with me about any questions you may have, as well as feedback, positive or negative, about how things are going.
Thank you again for your patience and courage and support!
Mrs. Chien
