Each week we are adding another small piece to our blob maps. Blob maps are called that because the continents look like a blob, not the exact shape. My hope for the students at the Journeyman level is to get the blob shape continents in the correct places based on latitude and longitude. This is a great map to let them look at while they draw freehand.
Go back to weeks 1-4 for videos of how to blob.
Geography - Eastern Asia. There are some great songs on CCC for geography for cycle one. I play all of the weeks in a row and the kids see how fast they can find the places.
Math - This week we are skip counting by 15's. There is a pattern in the ones place 5,0,5,0,5,0, etc. That pattern helps me multiply by 15!
History - Confucius. If you type Confucius into Pinterest you find all of the things he said.
You can download a FREE powerpoint with sayings by Confucius here. Then choose to write about one or illustrate one.
Latin - Keep memorizing those declensions! I printed out two of each chart for my kids. One chart I cut into pieces and they have to match it to the full page while saying them for review.
English - There are so many fun ways to work on prepositions! Go to the park and act them out, make a preposition picture book, just act them out with a chair. I think we will try a box and ball this week.
Science - Parts of a plant
We began this activity in class as a way to review new grammar, and to study flowers for science (it was raining to so week 9's nature walk got switched with week 10). You can find how to do the full activity here.
If you go ahead in new grammar you can get great information for inside the book. The CC Science cards, or the science snippets on the app or tutorials also have great information for weeks 9-11 that can help you finish this project.
Music
I adapted the Recorder Karate curriculum for D tin whistle for my class. It works really well, the only difference from soprano recorder is a few fingerings. I also created an online class to help the students out. You can get to it here.
We reviewed what a staff is, note names, and how to draw a treble clef. Then we added a 4/4 time signature and filled measures with different combinations of notes that add up to four beats together.
After that we did a quiz for fun to see how well the kids could identify B, A, and G patterns with their ears! You can get the worksheet here.
Some weeks there is just not enough time to add anything extra. The great part about CC Foundations is that if you are memorizing your CC work, and doing your math and English that is enough!
This is our second time to go through Cycle 1. The first time through we were brand new to CC and still getting a feel for homeschooling, and what we were suppose to be doing. It is a whole new world the second time through. The kids are considering working toward memory masters (memorizing all 7 subject for all 24 weeks).
How we are preparing for Memory Masters:
(We stole all of these ideas from other smart mommies!)
*We are listening to all of the weeks already. I found all of the audio I wanted on CC Connected and made my playlist by subject for all 24 weeks. We will listen to 24 weeks of one of the subjects each day. My kids favorite songs are the geography songs.
*Each of my kids has a note card box for review cards. My third grader has to copy the review cards and make her own, my second grader is using the premade cards. Cards they need to work on go in the front of a divider and cards that are mastered go behind it.
*We are tracing our maps a lot! I love the CC geography trivium tables. It's well worth your $10! You can trace on them with dry erase markers and they are easy to put in your backpack on the go. We also tape tracing paper over the maps for review.
I'm sure there are more wonderful ways to study for memory masters, but this is what we have come up with so far and I am pleased with it.
This weeks geography is the Egyptian Empire. Here is a fun way to combine art and geography!
Build the Egyptian empire out of sugar cubes, construction paper, and straws
We enjoy the Magic Treehouse books. There is a fiction and nonfiction book about Egypt
Science
I like these sorting cards. A simple sorting activity might be fun for all of the kids this week.
Science Experiment
Here is a video of this weeks science experiment. Watch it with your kids after our school day and see what they remember.
http://imaginationstationtoledo.org/content/2011/04/how-to-make-a-naked-egg/
Blobbing
It's finally time to add the continents! This week we will practice tracing North America. Next week we will add it to our blob map.
We had a great time learning about the Greek gods with some friends today. The kids are learning the names of prominent Greek and Roman gods this week for school. I found several posts about Percy Jackson books, and parties that were inspired by the books, and decided to have our own fun.
Here is what we did.
We started learning by going on a hunt for 20 different gods and goddesses. Each poster has a QR code on it. When you scan it you find out the name of the god or goddess. You can get them here.
After working hard it was time for a game. We adapted the Mr. Fox game to be a Zeus and Hera game. Whoever was Zeus or Hera went to the top of the hill and turned their back so they couldn't see everyone. They then got to tell the mortals how many steps to take. The mortals job was to go as quietly as possible so they could sneak by. When Zeus or Hera thought they were getting close they yelled, "Zeus is coming down the mountain!" and turned around and chased them. Whoever they tagged became Zeus or Hera next.
After getting some energy out it was time for a quick lesson. We used the CC timeline cards that applied to the gods. We sang the timeline song and stopped each time we got to one of the timeline cards listed and talked about it briefly. We looked at the map as we discussed Greece and Rome being established and how to gods names changed from Greek to Roman when Rome defeated Greece.
Next it was time for shield making! We used cake rounds for the shields and duck tape for the handle on the back. If you use a coupon at Michaels you can get a good deal on cake rounds.
Once the shields were made it was time to talk about the god of war and get ready for battle. Greece and Rome went war in the garage. Both sides were armed with their shields and pool noodle swords. To win the battle you had to have the least amount of balloons on your side at the end.
We enjoyed a fun review lesson yesterday about the kingdoms of living things. This collection of science lessons goes along with the Classical Conversations curriculum. Each lesson is short and ties into the Bible. Our favorite part of yesterdays lesson was drawing our own pizzas. Did you know that you can make a pizza that has four of the five kingdoms on it? Do you know what they are? What would you need on a pizza to represent four of the five kingdoms?
We are going to keep new grammar simple. The goal is to be exposed to the material, not master it. Mastering it should happen at home.
The review dice with movements and tone of voice are a great way to spice up new grammar, but still keep it simple and to the point!
https://halfahundredacrewood.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ccreviewdice.pdf
You can look back to the other weeks on the blog for ways to spice up learning prepositions, plant cells, and Latin noun endings.
We will expand on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World at home this week with some fun coloring maps and model building.
Art
Here are a few fun ideas for ways to do abstract art this week.
This week we are talking about water pollution. Be careful not to put too much food coloring in the water. It really takes a lot of water to undo to pollution (food coloring). We will go over the scientific method again. There are some great worksheets on CCC for tutors and parents.
We are still working on organizing presentations this week. Each student still gets 3 minutes to talk. They are getting better at this time frame. In addition to organization we are going to work on eye contact. Go back and watch your video from last week (I record the students each week so they can go back and watch themselves and share it with their families) did you look at your audience? Here's this weeks fun video. Kid President doesn't look at his notes on the board. He knows what he is going to say and he looks at the audience (or he has something he is reading by the camera).
Blobbing
We are reviewing for blobbing this week. Look back to week 3 for a video. We have the compass rose, Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropics, Arctic and Antarctic Circles on our blob maps now.
I'm going to start with presentation information again this week because I like fun videos. The prompt, should you choose to accept it, is heroes this week. I love Kid President.
"I think you're a hero and you don't even know it yet." What will you do to be a hero?
The Journeyman/Masters class is working on structuring a three minute presentation for whatever topic they may choose this week. I do hope to hear about some heroes though.
Art
This week we are doing upside down drawings. I've posted this video before, but it amazes me!
The Truly Happy Life is the One Filled With Honest Employment.
THE LESSON—That in childhood and youth we should train ourselves to work.
Work is the keynote of the successful life. "An idle brain is the devil's workshop." The talk is designed to catch the attention with a smile and then give an opportunity to present some valuable thoughts in the matter of diligence and the fulfillment of life's mission through honorable employment of the mind and the hands.
The Talk.
"Very often we read some very curious things. The manufacturer of one of the well-known breakfast foods, has placed this strange statement on the outside of each of the packages: 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.' It seems impossible to do this, and the writer of the words probably had an entirely different way of explaining how he would do it from the way we will demonstrate it here on the drawing paper today. Let us suppose that we make the statement that we can tell what a man is if we know what he eats. All right, then, here is a case: There is a certain man who eats three meals a day out of a dish shaped something like this: [Draw lines representing Step 1 of Fig. 37.]
"And then, let us suppose that the food he eats is heaped up like this: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 2.]
"Now, what do you think this food is? Ice cream? Ah, no, because when I tell you that this is steam rising from the food you will know it isn't ice cream: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 3.]
"But you will begin to see what it is when I tell you that these two lines represent chopsticks: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 5.] What is it? Rice? Yes, it is rice, and we will label it in this way. [Add the letters, to change the drawing to Step 5.]
"And now, having found out what the man eats, let us see if we can find out who he is. [Remove the sheet from the drawing board, hold it up and turn it over, exposing Fig. 38 to the audience. With the attention thus centered upon your work, the boys and girls will listen with eagerness to whatever else you may have for them.]
"And so, I tell you of another thing that we can do.
"Listen! Tell me what a boy thinks about, and I will tell you what kind of a man he will grow up to be.
"The man who swears, thought of bad things and used bad words when he was a boy. The man who is a thief thought about dishonest things when he was a boy. The man who is happy and who finds it his delight to do good, formed the habit of thinking and doing good things when he was a boy. The man who loves his work learned to like to work when he was a boy.
"And it is work that I want to speak about today.
"There is no place in the world for a lazy boy or girl. Nobody wants them. Boys who hate to work are the kind that loaf around poolrooms and pollute the air with vile cigarette smoke and language which bespeaks an empty mind and a corrupt heart.
"As Jesus is our great example in every way, He stands out strongly as our example of how a workman should delight in his employment. We should first find the thing which God intends that we shall do, for we are all fitted to do some things better than others, and we should then put forth our best efforts to learn to do that one thing as well as we can. We must center our thoughts upon the things we want to do. Life will then become a delight, because the world is always crying for workers who know how to do their work. The other kind is always to be found but never wanted. The demand is for the ones who know how. It is a significant fact that the first recorded words of Jesus Christ are, 'Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?' This makes of Jesus a Business boy, and it was God's work he began so soon.
"Gladstone, an inspiring example of the true workman, says, 'The thrift of time will repay in after life with usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and the waste of it will make you dwindle alike in intellectual and moral stature beyond your darkest reckoning.'
"The happiest people in the world are those who are busy at something worth while, and the most miserable are those who are in idleness for lack of ambition or else are engaged in work which they themselves loathe because of its baseness."
New Grammar
History
Greek and Roman gods
We are going to have some fun with this topic this week!
I bought Percy Jenkins Greek gods book to read with the kids. My husband and I have been amused by it. We decided we should read through each story first before sharing it with the kids.
There are some wonderful pictures that have been created to help you remember your noun endings. Here is a link to a packet for this week. You could make matching games or a book with them.
Science
Here is a fun idea for studying parts of an animal cell at home!
You can find the list of what you need to make this here
I am tutoring a Journeyman/Masters level class of kids and most of them have gone to CC since kindergarten or pre-school. They are used to giving presentations and now they are ready to refine some skills this year. This week we are going to look at this short TED Talk given by a 12 year old. He uses an outline and has clear opening and closing statements.
In class each student will get 3 minutes to talk. Since we do not need to work on eye contact, volume, or being nervous about presenting with any of them, I would like for them to work toward filling the whole 3 minutes, using at outline if needed, and developing short opening and closing statements.
Science Experiment
We have some fun experiments this week. We get to figure out how spiders use their webs and why fish float when they're dead. I'm looking forward to hearing what kind of hypotheses the kids come up with. As a musician I LOVE this spider video.
Art
We are looking at mirror images in art this week. I am trying to keep our art biology related this cycle. We will look at the mirror image/symmetry of leaves this week. Last week we designed our leaves using basic elements of art.
Blobbing/Geography
We are going to add the tropics to our geography blob maps this week! Here is exactly how to do it.
New Grammar
My favorite ideas for the week
Science
English - Prepositions
For History and Latin look back to week ones post. You can click the Classical Conversations label on the right to find posts specific to CC.
We are excited to start a new year of CC! This is the first time we are repeating a cycle. I am excited to see the new ways we learn the information now that the kids are older. I have already seen so many subjects be easy to learn because the kids memorized the material through fun songs when they were littler. Multiplication is a breeze with my oldest since she had learned skip counting through singing.
CC doesn't put counting ones to a song. But Sesame Street does and it's fun!
I LOVE Pentatonix version of the song. If you just want to hear them sing it skip to 2:05. If you want to see Cookie Monster watch the whole thing. We will revisit Pentatonix version of the song again when we study Rondo form in the Spring.
I don't have cool videos for everything. Skip counting the 2's is just sung to Jesus Loves Me. It's good to keep some things simple.
The older kids will have to say the whole math fact. I think we are going to shoot them with Nerf guns while we say them! The facts are written on a shower board. Suction Nerf bullets stick to it nicely.
We have always sung the Classifications of Living Things to the ringtone that was on my cell phone the last time we went through cycle 1. Sorry, that's not a lot of help. Just make up a little song. In class we are going to stack boxes.
Going to the zoo is a great way to look at the genus and species of animals. They are listed in Latin so you get two subjects at once while on a field trip! Homeschooling is great!
English
In English we are going to chant the definition of a Preposition. We are going to look at prepositions for 12 weeks so just get the definition down for now.
Latin
We are memorizing noun cases. This is still new to me too. Just memorize it for now. Having it memorized will make their lives easier in highschool. If you want more of an explanation of Latin Cases here's a good one.
Geography
The students are showing and telling where places in the Fertile Crescent are. Get out your Bibles and find where these places are talked about. The big job for now is that each student can show you where each location is if you ask for it by name and tell you what each location is if you point to it on the map.
We will also do blobbing for geography. If you have no idea what this is watch this short video.
Fine Art
We are talking about OiLs this week. Those are basic shapes. Circles, dots, lines, angles, and squiggles. Since science focuses on Biology this year I think we will use our art lessons to draw nature. This week students will each get a blank leaf and use OiLs to fill it in.
Here is the lesson if you would like it http://artprojectsforkids.org/patterned-leaf/
I am really excited about the final project, but you'll have to wait for that to be revealed.
Science Experiment
We are dissecting a bean. We will focus on what a hypothesis is and use this sheet to help.
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