Week 19

Hello Masters families,



We had a comfortable day yesterday, but accomplished alot! We started with a fun whole group fine arts program by learning the parts of the orchestra. The masters were strong "violins" during the "Orchestra Song". We followed with some fun and creative presentations. Hannah began with a demonstration of how to make butter in pioneer times. You did a good job of communicating the steps and involved your audience effectively. Mollie, your story about the "House of a Thousand Terrors" was fascinating and clearly reminded us of the sacrifice Jesus Christ paid for all of our sins. You showed strong preparation and retold the story with good tempo and expression. Ross, we enjoyed your presentation that reminded us of Dr. Seuss' birthday. I feel encouraged to pull out our Seuss books this week. We enjoyed your visual aids and how effectively you articulated the words to the story and exercised pauses and expression to share the story with us. Carlyssa, you were very creative in your method of narrating Aesop's fable of "The Fox and the Grapes". You involved your audience to add entertainment to your fable and you taught us all an important lesson. Don't give up on your goals and belittle that which seems beyond your reach. I love seeing the improvement on all of your presentation skills. You have all gained confidence and strengthened your volume and poise.



For the next two weeks there are several topics to choose from. You may recite a poem or retell an Aesop's fable. If you choose either of these topics, focus on reviewing the delivery skills you have learned about this year: confidence, eye contact, volume, articulation, poise, expression, gestures and tempo. You can also choose to prepare an expository speech with a visual aid. Prepare a keyword outline to present instead of reading your speech word for word. Practice using your visual aid when giving your presentation.



HOW DO WE MAKE THE MOST OF OUR MEMORY WORK THIS YEAR????

Even if you are not planning to do any memory testing at the end of the year, we all want to get the greatest benefit from our 24 weeks of dedication. In our class we will be tackling this by doing a focused review each week on 1 or 2 subjects.

MEMORY WORK FOCUS FOR WEEK 20 IS GEOGRAPHY AND ENGLISH!!!! Next week our review will be concentrated on our geography labeling and identifying locations. We will also have a few english grammar questions thrown in. With geography, refer to the FOUNDATIONS BLOG PAGE to find out what locations will have to label for memory testing. I will use these guidelines in class next week to review. Practice by asking the student to name locations you point to and then you say the location and have your child identify where they are. Both methods will be used in testing for the end of the year and in review next week.



MEMORY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR WEEK 19:



History Timeline: ONLY ONE MORE WEEK OF TIMELINE!!!

Reconstructing the South: Demonstrate the act of building blocks with your hands.

Black Leadership: Place hand behind your back (as you did with slavery) then "emerge" your hands from behind you and raise them above your head in triumph.

The Age of Industry: Hold up your forefinger on both hands and swirl them in a spiral. This demonstrates the smokestacks in the picture.

The Battle of Little Big Horn: Take your two forefingers and make horns.

Cowboys and the West: Pretend to spin and throw a lasso with your right hand.

The Spanish-American War: Make an "S" in air on "Spanish" then place your hand over your heart on "American".

A President Named Teddy: Clutch your hands/arms to your chest as if hugging your teddy bear.

Immigration to America: Holding up your arm to signify holding up the Statue of Liberty's torch.



History Sentence: We discussed the history of the Anasazi, their geographic location and adobe villages. SING and SAY



Latin: 3rd Declension- BINGO 3 consonants in the word BINGO reminds us of third declension.

SING. WRITE. SAY.



Science: What are the ocean zones? PHOTIC, BATHYL, ABYSSAL

We learned the Latin and Greek roots for these scientific terms to help us understand and apply them. Photos (greek)- light Bathys(greek)- Deep/Depths of the sea

a-(latin) without Byssus(latin)- bottom



Geography: New England, Middle, and Southern colonies We located and identified which colonies were in which section of the colonies.



English - should, could, would Sing the Helping verb song to practice.



Math: Sing the conversion 5280 feet = 1 mile to the tune "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow".



MATH SOUND OFF:
The end of the year is approaching and that means we need to memorize the Math Sound Off lines. I know in my house we have not devoted any time to memorizing these, but suprisingly with a quick glance, all of the students are able to quote their lines pretty well. This tells me that they will not need alot of time to master them. We will continue to practice each week through the rest of the semester, so if you have a few extra minutes, encourage them to read over their lines and the result will be great.



Classical Cash:

Science: Color and complete the "Deep Blue Sea" sheet from our science experiments for alot of cash.

Science: Volcano handout can also be colored and completed.

Learning Logs: As you practice drilling and map drawing(South America) and labeling each week record on your logs for cash. Also record all of the steps in your presentation preparations and get rewarded.



Have a great week,

Blessings,

Mrs. Gaines