The countdown has begun! Just three short weeks of Challenge A left this year. I'm so proud of what every student has accomplished this year, and I am equally as proud of every parent that has diligently shepherded their child through this year. We have much to celebrate and be thankful for!
BIBLE
2 Corinthians 5:11
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
1 Corinthians 2: 4
My message and preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power.
Colossians 2: 4
I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
Galatians 5:8
You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.
LATIN
I'm so thankful that we had an extra week over Easter Break to get my mind wrapped around the 3rd conjugation verbs! This week's new topic is: 3RD CONJUGATION VERBS in the FUTURE tense.
The Future tense differs significantly from what we have seen in the first and second conjugations. There the characteristic symbol was -bi-, inserted before the personal ending. For the Third Conjugation the characteristic vowel is -e- (with -am in the first personal singular): petam
petemus
petes
petetis
petet
petent
As with all the verbs that we have have previously learned, it is VERY important to memorize all four principal parts of each new verb. Unlike the 1st and 2nd conjugation, the principal parts of the 3rd conjugation do not have any easy-to-follow pattern. You simply have to memorize them. Thankfully, our book lists these very clearly. But, looking at all the 3rd conjugation principal parts did make me wonder: How can you tell these apart from the 2nd conjugation verbs? They look almost identical! The answer is: MACRONS. In the 2nd conjugation, there is a macron over the "-ere" in the second principal part (highlighted in green below.) In the 3rd conjugation, there is NO macron over the "-ere" in the second principal part (highlighted in blue below.) Also notice that the first principal part of each conjugation is different. That's why we have to memorize the principal parts!!
1st: -o, -āre | 2nd: -eo, -ēre | 3rd: -o, -ere / -io, -ere | 4th: -io, īre
Once you memorize the principal parts, all you need to do is conjugate! Mercifully, this is quite simple, since it DOES follow a pattern....a pattern we have already learned!
2nd Principal Part - Present Stem + Conjugation Identifier + Personal Ending = CONJUGATED VERB
We learned that in the 1st conjugation, the identifying letter was an "-a." In the 2nd conjugation, the identifying letter was an "-e." In the 3rd conjugation, the identifying letter in the present tense is an "-i" except in 3rd person plural present tense...then the "i" changes to a "-u." I highlighted the change in pink on the chart below. THEN FOR THE FIRST TIME, we see that the identifying letter switches back to an "-e" in the imperfect tense (highlighted in red.) Why? I wish I had the answer...it's just another thing we need to memorize. Let's looks at how you would conjugate the verb "gero, " which means "to manage."
First, the 4 principal parts are gero, gerere, gessi, gestus.
Present Tense
| Person | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| 1 | gero | gerimus |
| 2 | geris | geritis |
| 3 | gerit | gerunt |
Imperfect Tense
| Person | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| 1 | gerebam | gerebamus |
| 2 | gerebas | gerebatis |
| 3 | gerebat | gerebant |
Future Tense
| Person | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| 1 | geram | geremus |
| 2 | geres | geretis |
| 3 | geret | gerent |
So, this week at home, be sure to make a new flashcard for each new vocabulary word, conjugate all new verbs in the future tense, and complete all 4 Latin exercises listed in the guide. Also, memorize, memorize, memorize!! I promise it will help! :)
Suggestions for parents at home: Don't forget about Quizlet! If you would like to find a an online study tool for the 3rd conjugation, there are over 500 to choose from here:
Third Conjugation Study Helps
BONUS POINT: Find one English word derived from a Latin stem and bring it to share with the class.
·
Index: For
example, the index of the square root of 64 is 3, because 43=64.
(This word was highlighted as a term in the text but was not included in the
glossary.)
·
Slope: the number
that represents the slant of the graph of a linear equation. Slope = rise/run
I introduced each of the new terms very briefly and showed an example of each term using a math problem.
Each week we will continue to review the previous weeks' concepts through dialectic discussion with the problems brought in by each student. In each problem we work through, we will ask the same questions (based on the 5 common topics.) The students are beginning to lead the discussions.
Again, we focused on showing our work - talking about "math sentences" and each individual step in solving/evaluating a problem.
BONUS POINT: Bring in a math problem from their homework to explain to the class.
**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!!
Suggestions for parents at home: If you or your child would like some additional help understanding and visualizing our math vocabulary, check out the illustrated dictionary at MATH IS FUN. The definitions are written in a simple, easy-to-understand way and the illustrations are charming.
LTW
This week marks the Elocution portion of our ninth essay in LTW. The students shared with me their completed ANI charts, their sorted information, and their completed outlines. This week's seminar FINALLY brought the FINAL piece of new information to add to our persuasive essay: ASSONANCE. Assonance is similar to alliteration because it uses a repeated phonetic sound. However, instead of using a repeating consonant sound, assonance uses a repeating VOWEL sound. For example:
Have you seen the clean machine?
As we learned before, alliteration is the basis for every tongue twister (or nursery rhyme) ever written. But, assonance, is the basis for poetry! When you use a repeated vowel sound, you create rhyming words in your writing.
I reminded the students that assonance, like alliteration, is a decoration, and therefore must be used sparingly. In their essay, both assonance and alliteration should only be used one time each. To make the schemes of assonance and alliteration easy to identify, use 3 words to repeat the pattern:
Billy bought a piece of bubble gum. -OR- The dance stirred romance in Mrs. Hanson's heart.
For a subtle, less obvious way to add them to your essay, you can simply use 2 words to repeat the pattern:
Billy paid for his bubble gum. - OR- The dance stirred romance in her heart.
Here is a quick video with an example of how to incorporate this in your next essay:
Throughout this week, your student should use their outline to complete their essay on Crispin: The Cross of Lead. There is just one new worksheet to utilize in their student workbooks, so in addition to completing that, they will need to use the seven other Elocution elements that they have already learned this year to help transform their outline into a persuasive essay:
- Parallel Words
- Strong Verbs
- Parallel Phrases
- Antithesis
- Similie
- Metaphor
- Alliteration
- Assonance
Suggestions for parents at home: If you need clarification on the topic of Assonance, don't forget to watch your LTW Parent Video on the Circe website!
BONUS POINT: Find one example of assonance in a book that you are currently reading and bring that book to share with the class.
GEOGRAPHY
This week was our quiz on the entire continent of Australia. The students were given adequate time to draw and label Australia from memory, complete with 31 individual pieces of information to identify on their maps, including country names, capital cities, bodies of water, and other features.
I introduced our next map: Oceania. We discovered that Oceania has 47 items to memorize and label...a few more than Australia, but nothing that is too difficult. However, we have only ONE WEEK to learn everything! We wrote yet another silly sentence to help us remember and identify all the feature and bodies of water in Oceania:
I was able to show everyone a super simplified map of Oceania that should make it easier to draw and memorize:
So your student will still need to practice, practice, practice this week at home. Students should bring in the maps that they've drawn. They'll show their best map to the class.
In addition to drawing their maps and drilling their memory work, your child should define and illustrate the new geography vocabulary words this week:
VALE
VALLEY
VEGETATION
VOLCANO
WATERFALL
DRAW FOR POINTS!!! Students will earn 1 point for each map drawn each week, up to 8 points.
****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 at 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 (it is suggested that they make flashcards for review).
This week, due to some family limitations, Mrs. Watson stepped up to substitute for me and teach both science and rhetoric. This week, we started with a quiz on the neuron. Mrs. Watson sent those home with your students. Everyone then shared their research presentations.
Our new topic of study this week is the ear. The new definitions were discussed during class and Mrs. Watson shared with them how to draw the ear.. At home, students will need to memorize the new terms, and DRAW, DRAW, DRAW!! They need to be drawing the system every day - at least twice per day - and labeling it. The **** is one of the more simple body systems to draw this year, so I think that there may be some temptation to not work as diligently on the drawings this week. Please use the extra time that you have to practice drawing and labeling the eyeball. After the first few days of drawing, they need to "test" themselves by drawing & labeling it from memory. In addition to drawing the ear, students will need to continue to draw the eyeball in preparation for the quiz next week. Try drawing from memory only as if testing to see what's missing. The quiz on the ear will be next week.
STUDENTS SHOULD BRING IN THEIR DRAWINGS TO CLASS.
I have truly enjoyed listening (and answering) the questions that your students have created based on the 5 Common Topics. In an effort to continue strengthening this skill, each student will be assigned one of the 5 Common Topics per week. Their task is to create one question based on their assigned Common Topic that pertains to the subject we are researching in science for the given week. This week they will need to create a question that pertains to the ear. Here are a few examples: What is the ear lobe? (definition), How is the ear similar to the eye? (comparison), What happens when the water flows into the ear and cannot drain? (circumstance), How are the ear and your balance related? (relationship), What does God say about our ears? (testimony). As a reminder, here are the assigned topics:
DEFINITION :: BEANA
COMPARISON :: FAITH
CIRCUMSTANCE :: MYKAELA
RELATIONSHIP :: EMILY
TESTIMONY :: JACKSON
And finally, to help ensure that everyone chooses a different structure in the ear to research this week, please let everyone know which topic you plan on presenting in class and let us know! You can either:
1) Comment on this post at the bottom of the page in the "Post a Comment" box -OR-
2) Send us a group text with your chosen topic!
RHETORIC
In class this week, Mrs. Watson discussed chapters 17 and 19 from The Fallacy Detective, which discussed Loaded Questions and Part-to-Whole Fallacies.
A loaded question or complex question fallacy is a question that contains a controversial or unjustified assumption (e.g., a presumption of guilt). For example, the question, " Have you stopped lying to your parents about the broken window?" implies guilt, with little room for the person answering the question to state an answer without incriminating themselves.
A part-to-whole fallacy is when someone states that when a PART of something is true, then it must be true for the WHOLE thing. For example:
Standing up at a football game allows me to see better, therefore if everyone stands at a football game, we will all be able to see better. (wrong)
Next week, we will continue with our Catechism Jeopardy Review Game, so be sure to STUDY THOSE CATECHISM QUESTIONS!!!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
It's time to start preparing for our Blue Book Final Exams. I will be sending an email out later this weekend with more details on the process and questions. We will also spend a more focused amount of seminar time during the next few weeks preparing for our final exams.
Our End-of-the-Year Celebration and Awards Ceremony was originally scheduled for Wednesday, April the 27th. HOWEVER, due to my family's rapidly changing circumstances, we are going to join forces with the Foundations and Essentials families in our community and have ONE ceremony on Saturday, April the 16th.This is not a required event, but it is a chance to recognize each child in our Challenge A class, to acknowledge all their hard work, and to publicly praise our Heavenly Father for His graciousness to us throughout this year. I will include more specific details in the email I send out later this weekend.
And finally...
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