Week Eleven

Hello Families,



It's hard to believe that the last week of the semester is approaching. On Tuesday we will have a full hour of review, so use some time before then to brush up and prepare! Make sure to record all of your practice sessions/map labeling so that you can get credit in the store. Hand your logs to me before opening if possible so that I can add up your cash.



Also remember that I would LOVE to hear everyone say Ephesians 6:1-12 to me if possible! There will be a prize for everyone who can do this.



We had fun this week with playing Around the World. Everyone did a fantastic job. Presentations were enjoyable to hear as well as we learned more about Gabe, Peytra and Meredith and Katie. The personal touches on each student's poster was my favorite thing to see.



Grammar-



Math: We sang the cubes to the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the kids were quick to catch on!



Science: Solar System Bodies- Asteroids, Meteors, Meteoroids, Meteorites, Comets--- Apparently this information went completely by the wayside on Tuesday, so don't be surprised if they're confused! To distinguish the 'M's', meteoroids are above the Earth's atmosphere, meteors are like shooting stars entering the atmosphere, and meteorites actually land on Earth.



Geography: I changed the order of the items in Eastern Europe to hopefully help with memorization.

Ural Mountains, Siberia, Volga River, Moscow, Constantinople/Istanbul

Ural Mountains Separate Very Many Countries (from eastern Russia)

Have a very restful weekend with much family fun!

Blessings,
Mrs. Shaw

Week 10

My apologies for posting so late, sweet people. My folks have been in town this week for Westover's Missions Week and we have been busy catching up with them. I had to come to work today to get a 'break', and now that I have caught five babies am sitting down to play computer catch up.

My favorite thing about Tuesday was watching the kids enjoy their well-deserved ice cream sundaes and rattle off weeks and weeks worth of information while playing Trivial Pursuit. We didn't have enough time to finish, but Hope and Maren filled their pie and were so close to returning to the center of the board. Great game, everyone! We missed Meredith and hope she is feeling better by now.

The presentations were a joy to watch! We learned more about Maren, Ryan, and Hope. We'll look forward to hearing from Katie, Meredith, Gabe and Peytra this week. I loved seeing each student's creativity at work on the posters.

Work from the Week:

Science- The phases of the moon are: New, Crescent, Quarter, Gibbous, Full
The students were given a handout describing the moon phases with a chart on the back for recording the moon each night. This can be turned into me on the last week for extra Classical Cash. I originally said it would count towards Memory Marbles, so clarify this if you think about it.

Cash can be redeemed in the store on Week 12. Remember to record your drilling of material as well as map practices so that you can get credit for your hard work.

There will be a prize as well on Week 12 for students who can recite Ephesians 6:1-12 to me! Most weeks we are struggling to recall this passage, so I'm hoping the extra incentive will help.

Have a fantastic rest of the weekend and I hope to see seven healthy faces on Tuesday!

Love,
Mrs. Shaw

Week Nine

Hello Journeyman Families,

So sorry for the late post; time has gotten away from me this week.

The big news of the week is the filled Memory Marbles jar resulting in a class party on Tuesday! Come ready to play Trivial Pursuit as our review game while we celebrate all that we have learned. This will take place from 11:15ish until the end of our time. I will also have the class store open on Week 11, so turn any Learning Logs that you may have filled out this Tuesday so that I can add up your cash in time to shop.

We enjoyed presentations by Peytra, Gabe and Ryan this week- great job! I am looking forward to learning more about you all next week with the All About Me posters. If it works with your schedule, I believe we talked about Ryan, Maren, and Hope presenting next week (and Meredith presenting using a different perspective) and Meredith, Katie, Gabe and Peytra presenting on Week 11. If you need to switch weeks, that's fine too.

The sun prints in science looked fantastic! I think that even the ones that didn't have as much color contrast lightened up when drying. We talked about My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos for the planet order.

We also discussed thinking about an owl when remembering the Interrogative Pronouns... who, whom, whose, which and what.

And Cowboy Joe was helpful in the Pluperfect Rodeo as we asked him about his riding attire. Put on your best southern accent and ask:
You gonna wear your spurs? Yup, ahm-a wear um!

I think getting the ahm-a wear...whatever part down is the key with this tense, but if you want the remaining directive questions they are:
What about your favorite hat, Roscoe? ahm-a wear-'ros'
What about your vest? ahm-a wear ut
You gonna wear any animals? ahm-a wear a-moose
You gonna wear anything from your wife? ahm-a wear a-tis (kiss)
You gonna wear a piece of candy? ahm-a wear runt (Runts)


We sang our geography to Aladdin's A Whole New World, substituting Southeastern Asian World as our opening line and continuing:
The Arabian Sea-
India,
Calcutta
China
Philippine Islands

Have a fantastic family weekend!

Love,
Mrs. Shaw

Week Eight- Don't be late!

Dear Families,

What a great day of learning! We started out with presentations by Hope and Maren. It was fun to hear all about Pluto's (Hope's) dismay at now being a dwarf planet. And Maren (as Barbie) gave a perspective of being dressed in an outfit she didn't like. Fantastic! We look forward to hearing from some more creative perspectives next week.

Science was great fun this week as well. Not only were the solar system depictions fun to make, but it was neat to see the size differences between the planets. Remember your opportunity to color/decorate the parts of the sun handout for extra Memory Marbles! Everyone should be stocked up with new Learning Logs; let me know on Tuesday if you need more. I will also collect them as you present next week, so have them filled out and ready to hand in for Classical Cash.

Great job in the multiplication facts game! This time we used Memory Marbles to mark our correct answers and as a result are well on our way to filling the jar! Let's try for another party in the next couple of weeks.

Also remember that in the binders under English are charts that may help with pronoun drilling as we are on our fifth week of pronoun varieties and things start getting a little tricky! There are charts on Latin conjugation as well which may be helpful.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Shaw

Week Seven

Dear Journeymen Families,

What a fun day of getting a real perspective on the structure of our planets in relation to the sun using inflatable balls. Feeling pretty hot there, Mercury & Venus, huh? We also had a fun time of shopping in the class store at the end of the day. It's interesting to discover who the spenders and who the savers are. I'm trying to give opportunities for both with the most 'expensive' prize being a lunch from either Chick-Fil-A or McDonald's being purchased by me ($60). We'll see if anyone takes me up on it! Make sure the kids fill in their Learning Logs so that the cash keeps flowing! Remember that they can fill in the blanks and the initials; parents only need to sign the bottom front. The third log sheet was due last week, but it can definitely be turned in this coming week to show practices from October 6th-18th.

Our presentations were fantastic this week! We enjoyed hearing about rip tides from Katie (everyone got to pick out a shell as well), eating Maren's scrumptious mint candies that she made for us, seeing Hope perform some gymnastics that made her seem like rubber, eating homemade butter by Peytra, hearing Gabe describe and demonstrate the four swimming strokes, and watching Ryan build a Lego speeder. Great job! Next week we will move forward with Putting it all Together and hearing about topics from a unique perspective. See your red folder for some ideas, but certainly feel free to present what works for your family. I do have one request: our presenting schedule has changed a bit due to various circumstances, which is understandable, and I do want to be flexible. However, our schedule now is Meredith one week, and everyone else the next, which makes it difficult to fit in all the material! If Ryan and Hope can join Meredith in presenting this Tuesday, that would be fantastic. Let me know if this is a problem.

Memory Tips:
Science- We sang 5 kinds of stars to Twinkle, Twinkle which may be helpful.

Twinkle, twinkle, five kinds of stars
How I wonder what they are?
Giants, Dwarfs, Variable
Novas, Neutron
A galaxy-full
Twinkle, twinkle, five kinds of stars
Now I know just what they are!

Latin- It was tough this week with the V/W! It was almost more confusing to look at the board and be tempted to pronounce the V. Next week I will bring some picture memory tools that focus on the W sound (ie. amavi= picture of a Wii remote). I think that will help the kids to get in the W groove.

Have a great week of learning!

Mrs. Shaw

Week Six

Hello Families,

We enjoyed another great week including a fun time of celebration with doughnuts for filling the Memory Marbles jar as well as a fun game of review playing Trivial Pursuit. Congratulations to Team Ryan & Gabe for filling their pie and making it to the center of the board first! Team Maren & Peytra and Team Meredith, Katie & Hope were close runner-ups. I am so impressed with the fabulous recollection the kids have with material from Weeks 1-5.

Next week will also be a special time of reward with a chance to spend the Classical Cash that has been earned from the previous two Learning Logs. I will hand out the cash and open the school store when we meet again. Get ready to shop!

We enjoyed a wonder-fall snack from Meredith during presentations. She demonstrated the making of Blessings Mix with plenty to go around. Great eye contact! Gabe recited the Lord's Prayer for us. He did well with voice control and composure. Next week we look forward to hearing from Ryan, Hope, Peytra, Maren, Katie, and Gabe, if it is in his family's plan to work on a Confidence presentation this week.

Memory Tips this week:

Geography: European Features (IS ABC)
I berian Peninsula (point to your eye, then pretend to draw with a pen)
S iberian Peninsula (shield your eyes and scan the crowd, then draw with a pen)

A pennine Peninsula (eat an apple, hold up nine fingers, then draw with a pen)
B alkan Peninsula (hold your arm in a 'stop' fashion, turn your head, then draw with a pen)
C aucasus Mountains ('Caw' like a crow while flapping arms)

Science: What are the 6 forms of pollution?
When you get to this at home, your kiddos may have a blank look on their face. That would be because I forgot to cover it! So sorry. We were in a hurry to start our party.

Don't forget your Tin Whistles on Tuesday!

Have a fantastic week of learning.

Mrs. Shaw

Week Five

Hello Journeymen families,

The kids filled my Memory Marble jar- yahoo! I think that was the highlight of the morning, as Gabe named Weeks 1-4 Geography grammar like a champ and clenched the last marble, ensuring a party for next week. The type of party will remain a surprise; the only guarantee I can make is that it will be fun! Earlier we had talked about having the school store open on Week 6, but that will be postponed to Week 7 due to our party. That will give everyone a chance to turn in Learning Logs that covered Weeks 3 & 4 material next week. Remember that the students may self-initial their drilling and geography practices on the back and parents need only sign at the bottom of the front.

Presentations this week were great! Next week we look forward to combining all the skills we've been demonstrating into one presentation. We look forward to hearing from Hope, Meredith, Ryan and Gabe.

Geography- the kids are really getting the hang of locating the European landmarks! If they are up for a challenge, there is a website where they can practice locating the European countries http://www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/europe-puzzle.html This goes beyond the five country placements we've learned up to this point, but we will eventually be labeling the remainder of Europe as the year progresses. You are 'timed' in this game, which increases their enthusiasm as they compete against their previous times or with other family members.

Wishing everyone a fantastic week of learning!

Many blessings,
Mrs. Shaw

Week 4- Ready for some more!

Journeymen Families,



We had another great day learning and reviewing our material. As someone pointed out, we're more than halfway there with filling the Memory Marble jar- way to go! Keep practicing and practicing at home. It is great fun when everyone can get a marble for each review item.



The presentations by Meredith and Hope were very well planned out with lots of exciting visuals. Great use of voice control as we heard about Baby Luke and Kenya. We're looking forward to hearing from Maren, Peytra, Gabe, Ryan and Katie next week! Make sure to give yourselves presentation practice credit on your Learning Logs. The kids can initial the practices as well as the drilling and map practice on the back of the sheets, and then parents can sign once at the bottom of the front side. Take two weeks to fill in one Learning Log and I will collect them every other week. We should be ready to spend some Classical Cash on Week 6!

I will highlight a few memory tips for this week:

Science: The natural CYCLES are the water cycle, nitrogen cycle and carbon & oxygen cycle. I had a visual with a big waterdrop riding a bicycle, a bicycle leaned up against a corn stalk, and an ox riding a bicycle with a nearby car spewing carbon.

Geography: We finished our Row, Row, Row Your Boat with the European Rivers and Cities combined.
Po, Po, Po Danube
Seine, Rhine, Elbe

London, Paris, Rome
Orleans
Barce-low-na

The kids are really understanding the river locations! Practice locating the rivers and cities in relation to each other for a more complete comprehension.

Math: We didn't have a lot of time for reviewing the 8's in class. The facts are becoming more difficult as the numbers increase! We will have another math review with candy markers in the near future!

Fine Arts: We spent time looking at abstract vs realistic elephants and the kids did well in pointing out the differences. Next they each put great effort into drawing their own abstract elephant which I will mount on black paper and return next week.

Enjoy the rest of the week! Contact me with any questions or concerns.

Blessings,
Mrs Shaw

Week Three

Hello Journeymen Students and Parents,

What a fantastic day we had yesterday! Enthusiastic learning abounded as we came one day closer to filling my Memory Marble jar. We had 117 marbles at the end of yesterday, to which I added 50 more when I got home as a reward for everyone's hard work in the 1-6 multiplication facts game. We were so busy during the game that I couldn't keep track of the exact number of facts solved, but I think 50 is a good, round number. Your diligence is paying off!

We watched some engaging presentations performed by Katie, Peytra, Maren and Gabe. Wonderful job using body language and gestures which made your scenarios fun to watch. Remember that we are focusing on voice control next week. Think about the voice inflections and character changes I used when reading The Return of the Indian (in the Cupboard) to you. See your red family folder for specific instructions and remember to record your practices on your Learning Logs. Meredith, Hope and Ryan will present next week.

Memory Tips:

History- Continue practicing your timeline cards. Most everyone had a chance to put all 24 in order- great! We listed to the CC audio of the history sentence again this week.

Geography- This was a tough week of drawing the European Rivers! We sang a little song that will complete itself next week with the European Cities; but for now we have 'Po, Po, Po, Danube, Seine (rhymes with ten, to the best of my understanding), Rhine, Elbe...' to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. I know we haven't learned the placement of Germany yet, but with three rivers crossing through it may be helpful to identify it's location for river drawing purposes. Record your map practices on your Learning Logs!

Math- Great job with our multiplication game! Keep working on those facts as it will become increasingly difficult as the numbers become larger.

Latin- Once again we listened to the CC audio and applied the same hand motions as previously.

Science- We had fun giving examples of Producers, Consumers and Decomposers as the parts of the food chain. You may still turn in your colored worksheet from last week describing the 3 types of consumers for Classical Cash!

English- Easy, breezy this week and will make more sense next week when we assign the Nominative Pronouns to the Pronoun Order.

Enjoy the rest of your week and I look forward to seeing everyone in their PJ's on Week Four!

Blessings,
Mrs. Shaw

Week Two

Hello Journeyman parents and kids,

We had a great time together yesterday! We missed Katie and hope she had a fantastic vacation. There was great evidence of the students' hard work with Week One material as shown by the collection of memory marbles in our class jar. Keep up the super effort so that we can have a class treat soon!

Enthusiastic presentations were performed by Meredith, Hope and Ryan. We had a great time guessing each one's mime as gestures were acted out with much intention. Looking forward with much anticipation to seeing Katie, Maren, Gabe and Peytra show us their best work next week! I will collect Learning Logs on Tuesday, so please remember to record your presentation topic and reviews as well as your memory and map drilling in order to receive Classical Cash at store time.

Week Two Drilling:

History
- work on all 16 timeline cards; the kids did a great job with putting these in order yesterday!

-Tell me about William the Conqueror...- we reviewed this with the CC CD and had great fun using our silly singing voices at times

Geography
- locate the European Countries on your maps at home (record your practices!)

Science
- we had fun identifying the 'Three Types of Consumers' as Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores; the kids took home a sheet with a description of these on the front as well as an opportunity to identify some animals with their favorite meals on the back- fill this out and color in the animals for some class memory marbles next week!

Latin
- we reviewed the First Conjugation Present Tense again using the CC CD as well as the hand motions located in your red family folder; the kids are really doing well with the motions

English
- introduced and practiced using Erin's song

Math
- we will be playing a multiplication game next week with the 1-4 up to 15 multiplication tables as well as the 5's after we learn them; be on your toes so that we can have a great time!

Please contact me with any questions or concerns and have a wonderful week of learning at home.

Many blessings,
Mrs. Shaw

Week One- Great Fun!

We got off to a great start on Tuesday! It was a joy to get to know your kiddos a little more. I am excited about the things that we will be studying this year and I think the students are too.

We will be using two incentives for class & home memory drilling and I would like to tell you a little about those. First there will be memory marbles which the children will obtain as a group for correct answers. The filling of my container with the marbles will signify the opportunity for a fun class treat. Keep the answers rolling! Second there are Learning Logs in the front of your child's binder which should be filled in as your student prepares for his or her presentation, practices weekly mapwork, and studies general memory week at home. I will collect the Logs every two weeks so that I can assign a Classical Cash value which will accumulate in order to make purchases from the Shaw Store periodically. Fun times!

While on the subject of practicing for presentations, the impromptu speeches that began our morning were very telling and made it abundantly clear why having some sort of organization and practice is so important! The students did a fantastic job with these, but I don't think anyone would like to repeat the awkward silences that can come with lack of preparation. For the next two weeks we are focusing on body language; the complete description of the miming presentation can be found in your red folder.
Week 2: Hope, Meredith, Ryan
Week 3: Peytra, Gabe, Maren, Katie

Some notes about New Grammar:

GENERAL: There is a fantastic copywork sheet that will help your kids work practice their memory work at home. It is under CC Connected>File Sharing>Misc/NoGreaterJoy5/Cycle 2>Copywork Pages; you can print the appropriate weekly sheet, stick it in a page protector, and your child can use a Vis a Vis to practice.

SCIENCE: As a class we drew a man's face to work on the 7 biomes. Draw a circle with two ears; as you draw tufts of hair above the ears say Grasslands, as you point to the bald top of the head say Deserts, as you draw his 5 o'clock shadow say Scrublands, his capital letter T to represent his brow/nose say Tundra, his capital D right eye say Deciduous Forests, his sideways C smile say Coniferous Forests, and his left eye T say Tropical Rain Forests. Use it if it works!

We sang in class the audios for HISTORY, LATIN and ENGLISH. Let me know if you're having trouble locating the songs. There are drill sheets in the binder for Latin and English as well.

Remember for GEOGRAPHY to practice locating the European Waters on your maps at home. Give yourself credit on your Log!

Have a super fantastic rest of the week. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns, and I will plan to see you all (except Katie) on Tuesday.

Blessings,
Kim Shaw