Week 15 Seminar Recap & Notes

Week 15 - what an awesome day of games, eating and sugar overload!!  Did anyone else but me feel sick Tuesday night???  Thank you to everyone for bringing in treats & making our last day together so much fun.  I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Also, I want to say thank you so much for all the gifts!!  They were all so thoughtful!!  I appreciate your thinking of me!

REMINDERS FOR SPRING SEMESTER:
-Students will be leading rhetoric discussions.  I will email out ahead of time when you child will lead so they can prepare
-Students will begin to track their own points (with your supervision).  They will need to keep a detailed "log" and turn that in to me at the end of the year (wk 14) for the awards.

Here's the recap (still feel sugar overloaded - hope I don't forget anything!).....  (PLEASE SEE THE GUIDE FOR HOMEWORK DUE FOR SPRING SEMINAR - WEEK 1 )
   
Logic/Math
Quite a few terms this week - thank goodness we have a good long break! 

Each week we will continue to review previous week's concepts through dialectic discussion with the problems the students bring in.  In each problem we work we will ask the same questions (based on the common topics) - see previous blog for detail on questions.

We played a game to review math terms, did a little mental math & covered the concept of adding signed numbers, symbols of inclusion (brackets, braces), and algebraic addition.

POINTS: Bring in a math problem from their homework to explain to the class -  5 points.

Be sure the students bring in the completed lessons you assign to class (even if they are not doing Saxon).

**Students should bring in a problem from their math lesson to share (can be one they struggled with; one they think will stump the class or anything they found interesting & would like to share & explain)  This will help them be rhetorical!!

Grammar/Latin
The students took their mid-terms.  I have started to grade those and will email the results to you as soon as I finish.  We played games to review vocab.

Over break the students should skip ahead to "Review of Unit One" p 70-71 & complete exercise #81-83.  We previewed these in class.  Continue to review declension endings, vocab and all grammar rules, working towards memorizing them.

****It is important that the students parse/label each sentence so that they can clearly identify the parts of speech in order to translate it properly.   I will be awarding candy for those who do!!! :)

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Make sure you and your student preview the next week's lesson as stated in the guide so that they are prepared to discuss it in class. Drill student on vocabulary & grammar rules.  Check daily assignments (or have students check).  Continue to have students focus on memorizing endings for the declensions - sing the songs & work those charts, as well as memorize vocab & rules.  It's a good idea to write the endings out - like copying mastery charts in Essentials.

Research
Today the students presented on sharks.  I love that many of the students read from note cards today!!!!  Much better eye contact!!  Continue to have them practice their presentation skills at home - especially eye contact and "voice volume".  

Continue to look for interesting, unknown facts about the topic and put those IEW tools to work.  Again, they should develop a good paragraph with interesting facts - min 5-7.  The skills we are working on are research as well as good presentation skills.  **They can bring in a "sample/example" of the topic.

Our next topic for Spring Semester Week 1 will be marsupials so look ahead for topics & sources.

Here are some possible helpful websites:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/wombat/?source=A-to-Z 

http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/Science/Animals/Marsupials.htm 
http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/marsupials.htm 

http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/marsupialhttp://www.theanimalspot.com/koala.htm 

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Help students locate sources from Internet or library.  Assist in editing rough draft; listen & provide feedback for oral report (eye contact, etc). & check drawing.  Have them practice reading their report for you or even the whole family!

Expo/Comp

In class I asked for the students to volunteer to share their outlines.  Using the outlines we looked at each proof & sub-proof, learning to discern if we have 3 main proofs that are separate ideas and if the words we have chosen encompass the sub-proofs.  The class participated & helped with wording & ideas etc.  I want to thank the students for sharing their outlines - I feel we all learned so much from "refining" those!!

Over break the students will review all the elocution elements we've learned so far (parallelism p.19-24; basic editing verbs p.33-40; basic editing subjects p.50-58; 63).  Then- using their outlines - they will draft their papers.  I suggested that after they draft their papers, they should review it with you to evaluate their proofs & subproofs.  After any corrections, begin highlighting all the verbs - replace "to be" & "weak" verbs with strong action verbs (many students still have too many "to be" verbs in their papers).  Next look for word repetition - get that thesaurus out!!  Next - add those dress-ups, transition words etc.  Get out the SRN - it's a great tool.  Then give the edited version to you for review.  Remind students that writing is a process - these steps aren't meant to be done in one day.

Read The Secret Garden

Suggestions for parents @ home:    Assist/guide student with their drafts and editing process.     Review draft looking for 3 separate clear ideas for the main & sub-proofs. Be sure they are editing weak verbs and using those fabulous dress-ups.

Debate/Geography

Today was the big Europe quiz.  Once I have them graded, I will forward results to you.

We played games to review geography terms.  I will be emailing out a geography terms quiz they should take over break.

Over break, students need to draw maps of each area learned in detail - meaning draw all countries, capitals & features.  Once a week draw 1 map of all areas (detail included) as practice for the final.  Continue to drill countries & capital flashcards as well as geography terms.  Per guide, memorize earth's diameter & circumference.

Students should bring in maps that they've drawn.  They'll show the class their best map.  

DRAW FOR POINTS!!! Over break - Students will earn 5 points for each map drawn each week (after they draw 8 which would be 2 per day for 4 days)  

20 points for each map that contains all areas learned with all the detail (countries, capitals & features

Bring to class your best map (with all areas learned & detail) - SWEET REWARD

****Remember that at the end of the year we will be drawing the world - states, countries features - everything from memory.  Students need to continue to draw areas they've been tested on.   (They can draw on the large laminated maps I gave them at the beginning of the year).  The more they draw the better they'll get - the more they will be able to remember.

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Drill student on provinces & capitals as well as geography terms.  Check daily drawings for accuracy & labeling.  Be sure students continue to draw previous geographic areas - adding them to new areas.  Continue to drill previous states & capitals and/or countries & capitals.

Rhetoric

Students took the catechism mid-term and I will forward results once I have them graded.

We reviewed our ICJH summaries and answered questions based on on the Chapter.   We read over DCYB and discussed the related bible verses.  

In the 2nd semester students will begin to lead class discussions for ICJH & DCYB, so begin talking about & practicing that at home.

Over break students should continue to review catechism flashcards (adding 43-45). 

Suggestions for parents @ home:  Discuss chapter 15 in each book.  Check that student is filling out study guide for ICJH & answering questions for DCYB.  Drill catechism questions 1-45 (remember they must be able to state word for word).