Week 14

Hello Masters families,
Thank you for another learning-packed day at CC. What a wonderful opportunity we have each week to learn together. Thank you to Mrs. Varnell for a great art and science day. The art projects you all created were beautiful and fun examples of "Florentine Relief" inspired by Ghiberti. The science activities were also a variety of fun and understanding more about God's creation. I believe the conglomerate rock will win as our favorite and without a doubt we will remember the demonstration on how this sedimentary rock is formed. Great detective work students on your igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks as well. You may complete coloring your "Rock Cycle" handout and turn it in next week for Classical Cash!

******The CC Store will be opened on Week 16 so that all students will have an opportunity to turn in a Learning Log. We are all getting back into the routine and completing your first presentations for the semester. This will help everyone get a nice amount of cash to spend and it will hopefully encourage everyone to get their logs filled out recording all of the hard work you are doing at home.*****

What a great beginning to presentations this semester. We enjoyed demonstrations of physical feats, technology talents, and science spectrums. Carlyssa, it was inspiring to hear about your interests as you have grown up from photos to crafts and your amazing flexibility. Keep working toward that goal of becoming a doctor, all of the dedication and hard work will be blessed. Addie, what a great idea to create fun movies with your camera and computer technology. You have already inspired some picture taking at our house. If anyone would like to view Addie's creative work just ask your parent's permission and go on You Tube under "purple turtle 101". Thanks for the fun inspiration. Elizabeth, we all enjoyed our field trip to learn more about rainbows and the spectrum of light. You used great enthusiam demonstrating a rainbow for all of us. I am looking forward to next week's presentations. The topic is to prepare a presentation demonstrating how to do something. Remember to keep your poise and continue calmly and confidently even if something goes wrong. Your presentation should last for 2-3 minutes.

The topic idea for weeks 16 and 17 is " A Biography and a Famous Speech". For one minute, introduce the person whose speech you are giving. You may pretend to be the historical character or simply tell about him/her. Then for 2 minutes, recite (if possible) a famous speech that your character gave. The presentation technique we are focusing on is EXPRESSION. Make your voice interesting by varying your tone and volume using pauses to enhance your presentation.

Memory Tips and Techniques for Week 14:
Timeline: Pilgrims- saw back and forth to "build Plymouth Colony"
Mass. Bay Colony- make an "L" shape with your thumb and pointer finger to represent the shape of the colony Roger Williams- open arms, Salem Witch Trials- make a scary witch hands or pointy witch hat with your hands, 13 colonies Formed- hold up a 1 and a 3, First Great Awakening- hold up #1 finger and then use hand to widely open one eye, Colonial Trading- use right hand and place goods into left hand, French and Indain War- make a right fist, then a left fist and hit them together
History Sentence: In the 1400's, the Songhai ruled Timbuktu. The Zanj were skilled craftsmen and traders. The Zimbabweans were wealthy, skilled stone craftsmen.
Songhai - use two hands to direct music, Timbuktu - 2 fingers
Craftsmen and Traders- put one hand out to the right and one out to the left
wealthy- rub two fingers together for $$$$
stone- pound one fist into other palm(like rock, paper, scissors)
Latin: Noun Endings(SlapXClap) - Repeat, Say, Hear and Write as you listen to the audio CD and review all 5 declensions as well.
English: Helping Verbs- Do, Does, Did Use the handout I provided last week in their take-home folder to practice all of the Helping and Linking Verbs for the semester. Helping Verbs are to "Do You Know the Muffin Man" and Linking Verbs are to "The Ants Go Marching One by One".
Science: What are the three kinds of rock? The three kinds of rocks are sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. We learned the Greek and Latin roots for these science terms, ask your child if they can recall any of the roots. (sedere-Latin root meaning "to settle", meta- Greek root meaning "over", morphe- Greek root meaning "shape", ignis- Latin root meaning "fire)
Math- Area of a square=length of its side squared
We began the morning with a run through of our MATH SOUND OFF. Please practice memorizing your line and try to master the lines for everyone else this week as well. These are simple math facts so just concentrate on the order they are presented. GREAT WORK ON THESE THIS WEEK! Next week we will add new lines.
Geography: Northern Africa locate, trace, then label on blank map
Here is a history sentence teaching the significance of these Northern Africa locations:
Trans-Saharan trade of gold and salt passed through the region of WESTERN SUDAN--which was controlled by the medieval empires of MALI, GHANA,and Songhai--on its way to Northern African cities such as FEZ and TANGIER(remember T for TANGIER because it is on TOP).

CLASSICAL CASH:
Learning Logs: Turn in your logs recording your drilling, map labeling/tracing of Africa, and presentation preparation.
Science Sheet: Finish coloring your "Rock Cycle" sheet and turn it in next week for CASH!
Art: Memorize the Giotto and/or Ghiberti artist poems and recite to Mrs. Gaines or to a parent during class and recieve cash!

THE CC STORE WILL OPEN ON WEEK 16, SO GET YOUR PAPERS IN ORDER AND TURN THEM IN NEXT WEEK (WEEK 15) TO EARN YOUR CLASSICAL CASH!!!

Have a blessed week,
Mrs. Gaines