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.
Math:
Please grade the lessons together at home and discuss missed problems - what happened? What can we do differently next time? Some students make mistakes with borrowing back or skip showing their work for adding coins, which makes it harder and leads to mistakes. Have your student complete the math facts sheet of 100 problems (in the old binder or using the ones 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 give students an hour to finish the lesson at school, and then work is collected to grade, so you should be doing the same at home. We shouldn't be taking more than an hour per lesson. There is a new math activity book that has optional (but recommended) sheets for each lesson/day. It covers the math facts in different ways and helps the students become flexible with numbers.
Spelling:
We are finishing up Lesson 5 this week (test Tuesday) and moving on to Lesson 7 Thursday. There is a review lesson between the two, but the types of exercises the book uses I don't really like, so I'm going to skip it ;-) Feel free to work on it on your own if you want some extra review. Lesson 5 focuses on spelling words with two- and three-letter consonant blends. Lesson 7 works on spelling words with consonant blends in an initial, medial or final position. Same tip as last week - with consonant blends, the sounds blend together, but each sound is heard. So practice in the same way, by having students say the words aloud and listen for the blends, then identifying the individual sounds heard in the blend. Sorry if the words aren't lined up well...it seems the blogger page is a bit slim on the page formatting abilities.
Lesson 5: Lesson 7:
gloves crept
speed crunch
skill sounds
screens dusk
protect refund
front colder
craft skunk
brains unfold
scared risk
proper milk
trace halt
dream different
straight protesting
splinter twister
screech independent
spaces absent
stuff stretch
greedy printing
sprinkle blended
strict product
Latin/Grammar:
Students are doing well memorizing Latin vocabulary and Grammar forms. We have been discussing the difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person in grammar (the person speaking, the person spoken to, the person spoken about), as well as Singular and Plural, all in relation to verbs (this is English grammar too - just grammar rules). We are memorizing a new chart that will aid in coming weeks in looking at nouns and the parts of speech they can hold. 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.
agricola - farmer
femina - woman
filia - daughter
patria - fatherland, country
puella - girl
regina - queen
sella - seat
adoro - I adore
ambulo - I walk
libero - I set free
Derivatives: agriculture, female, feminine, affiliate, filial, patriarch, patriot, patriotic, adoration, ambulance, ambulate, ambulatory, perambulate, liberal, liberate, liberty
Science:
Somehow I had forgotten to teach the mammal group/type names as we've been going through the book. Oops! I'm going to go back and review the ones we've already done and introduce their group names (they already know a few): Monotremes, Marsupials, Insectivores, Chiropterans, Edantates, and the new one this week, Lagomorphs. From now on, each group will be introduced with its proper title. I know it seems "extra", as my teens would say, but I've found that students this age love picking up big, interesting sounding words.
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, but the plan is 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.
Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine,
Gestant puellae viscera.
Deum verum, genitum non factum.
Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus, Dominum.
What to bring to school:
-Soft Rain - A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears
-The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
-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
-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
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, but the plan is 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.
Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine,
Gestant puellae viscera.
Deum verum, genitum non factum.
Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus, Dominum.
What to bring to school:
-Soft Rain - A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears
-The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
-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
-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
