Week Eleven - Celebration Heaven

Hello Masters families,
We had another blessed day together yesterday. It seems impossible that next Tuesday is the last week of the fall semester and yet, as evidenced in our Jeopardy review game, the students have learned and grown so much. Parents, I hope you enjoyed the apple cider on this cold, rainy Tuesday! I just wanted to thank you for your unending support each week. Congratulations to all of the students on your well deserved Memory Marble celebration! The cake, ice cream, and cheese balls were yummy and we completed a full Jeopardy game which covered all subjects and stirred our learning by focusing on the questions instead of just the answers! Parents, this is an easy variation on memory work to play at home. You quote the answers and let the students supply the questions. This method of review strengthens their recall of the history sentence prompts, names of the Latin conjugations, names of the pronoun lists, science question terminology, and geography headings. For a fun twist let your child quiz you in the same format and then they will be reciting all of the grammar answers while teaching YOU the questions. Teaching someone else the information is a fun way to learn, and I know my girls love to put mom on the spot!

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!
As time permits this week enjoy reviewing the memory work from semester one. Next week all of the classes will have an HOUR to focus on review! We will use our hour to do an in depth review of the material and follow up with a fun game called.... "Will the Winner Lose?" Parents you are invited to play with us. It should a fun way to show what we know from 12 weeks of "training our brains to retain".

Presentations!
Again, thank you parents for carrying on with presentations yesterday in my absence. I am sorry I missed out on Shawn, Caleb, and Sam's last presentation for the semester, but with the amazing poster work I was able to at least see the highlights of what their presentations were about. Colorful and creative displays guys - thank you for your hard work and effort! I look forward to more presenting adventures next semester with all of you. Zachary, we look forward to seeing and hearing "All About You" next week.

Memory Tips and Techniques for Week 11:
History Sentences - Tell me about the French Revolution...During the Reign of Terror (look scared) of the French Revolution, in the early 1790's (stretch your arms like you have just woken up), aristocrats were imprisoned in the Bastille (grab the prison bars with both hands) and had their heads removed (point to your head and nod forward) by the guillotine (use right hand as a blade and slice into left hand) while citizens fought (put up both hands in fists) for the "Declaration of the Rights of Man"(write on your hand).
History Timeline - The Magna Carta (cross forearms across chest), St. Thomas Acquinas (use right hand and left hand to form a "T"), Marco Polo (cover eyes on Marco and uncover eyes on Polo), The Hundred Years War (stab sword forward), the Black Death (place right hand around throat), and Joan of Arc (use right hand to make an arc), The Great Papal Schism (use both hands to make a pope hat and then split arms wide apart), John Wycliffe and John Huss (two hands together to the left and to the right of your body), Prince Henry the Navigator (row your boat), Fall of Constantinople to Mohammed the II (make a "C" shape with your right hand above your head, drop to your waist and then raise back above your head with 2 fingers)
Science - Name the other bodies in the solar system...
Asteroids, Meteors, Meteoroids, Meteorites, Comets
We talked about what each of these terms are and explained the order of Meteoroids (above the earth's atmosphere), Meteor (in the earth's atmosphere), meteorite (landing on earth - "rite" into the earth).
Math - Cubes 1's to 10's- We wrote out the equations on white boards and listened to the Cubes song on the CC audio CD.
English - All of the students placed a handout in their binders to drill the Indefinite Pronouns. We used the song from Mrs. Varnell to drill as well.
Latin - Present Perfect Tense - Memory Cue "In the FUTURE I'm aware o' a PERFECT heaven." We placed the final drill sheet in their binder for Latin this semester to drill at home, completed the sheet with dry erase, and listened to the audio CD from CC to master the Latin.
Geography - Eastern Europe - We pointed to and identified the following locations on their labeled map this week. Use prior geography knowledge to drill the locations:
Constantinople/Istanbul (on the SW corner of the Black Sea), Volga River (trace from the small body of water and curve right and down into the Caspian Sea), Moscow (located slightly below the top of the Volga River), Ural Mountains (dotted line through the center of USSR), Siberia (East of the Ural Mountains)

Have a blessed week, enjoy drilling your memory work, but be sure to record your drilling and European map drawing on your Learning Log to cash in next week. We will be shopping in the CC store Week 12!!! Turn in all handouts you have completed for Memory Marbles and any tin whistle practicing as well. This week try practicing your tin whistle songs with different DYNAMICS using STACCATO, LEGATO, and with a CRESCENDO to have some fun.

Have a blessed week!
Mrs. Gaines