Cycle 1, Week 11

Thank you to the moms that served within the classroom on Friday.  I had to leave early to be home with my family so that my husband could make it to a doctor appointment.  My husband, Josh, has a brake in his left foot and is on crutches and both of my children are sick as well.  Prayers are always appreciated.  Thank you to Natalie Price and Mrs. Crawford for being troopers and huge help within the classroom!  Jennifer Crawford thank you for taking the review time with the girls, gathering all my materials together and bringing everything home for me.  Heather Hoffman was so awesome as to take on the science experiment for me.  Thank you to Renee Wimberly as well for taking on the presentation time.  I was sad to have to miss out on the time with the girls but I was grateful for the opportunity to be at home to support my family.

Following is what we covered in class this past Friday:

Geography

We started our time drawing our blob maps at whatever level the girls felt comfortable working within.  See previous post for a discussion on strategies for this area.

Next, we located our map points for the Byzantine Empire repeating names several times to aid in retention.  We completed this with a little quiz to see who was able to remember the new names we learned.

History

We colored our word pictures as we listened to the history song on the CD and as we practiced by singing along.

Timeline

We practiced the hand motions as seen in this video ;).

Latin

We looked at the new pictorial explanations for the Latin pronunciations and sang along with the CD.

Math

We played "Follow the Leader" as we sang the memory work.  We did several rounds.  Some of the actions that were chosen were, marching, hopping, crawling like a baby and singing in a baby voice and spinning in circles.

Science

We talked about the parts of a flower and completed a flower diagram similar to the ones from the previous week's experiment.  We also sang the memory work to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

English

We practiced the new motions for this week as seen in this video.  We also practiced all previous weeks.

Fine Arts

We reviewed all previous theory learned. Next, we learned about rests.  I introduced quarter, half and whole rests.  We learned the difference between the notation and the number of beats each receives.  Finally we practiced our hand positions on the whistle and practiced playing Mary Had a Little Lamb. I gave each girl the opportunity to play on her own or with me if she chose.

Experiment

We revisited an experiment that we had skipped earlier in the semester in order to take advantage of good weather for one of the Nature Hikes.  We discussed water pollution.  It is a simple experiment but does not actually work if you follow the intructions in the book.  This was a great opportunity to discuss how even a tiny drop of pollution can be extremely difficult to wash away and that it has a great affect on our waterways.  A great extension opportunity is to relate this lesson to sin and God's love.  The pollution from the experiment is like sin in our lives.  Like the pollution no matter how much we try to get rid of it we are not able to wash it away.  It is only with God's grace and love that our sin can be forgiven and erased.

I look forward too seeing each of the girls next week for our last class of the semester.  Stay healthy!