Greetings Families, NO SCHOOL MONDAY (9/16/2019)
I hope you are enjoying the long weekend. Remember, there is no school tomorrow for students. I, unfortunately, have to work. I'm actually kidding. Tomorrow is our Summit. I actually like attending the Summit each year. It is a time for the important people of Great Hearts to express their hopes for the network and to give us a charge for the upcoming year. It is always easy to get bogged down by the day to day teaching and lose focus of our greater purpose--to cultivate the hearts and minds of students through the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
I also want to let you know that I was out Friday, but got a good report about the students' behavior while I was gone. I heard they abused my bathroom policy while I was out, and the assistants who covered the classroom during my absence were likely too generous in letting students leave the room. However, as I told them last week, my chief concern for them while I'm absent is that they obey their teachers. I'm thankful for their effort in this respect. It can be difficult to do the right thing when things aren't as they usually are. I'm proud of them.
Let me now jump into the lessons for this short week.
Lessons
Grammar/Writing: This week, students will continue their study of grammar by learning about possessive pronoun adjectives, possessive noun adjectives, and singular vs. plural possessive nouns. On Friday, students will be completing a cumulative review to prepare for their next grammar test, which will be on Monday of next week (Week 8).
Monday: NO SCHOOL
I hope you are enjoying the long weekend. Remember, there is no school tomorrow for students. I, unfortunately, have to work. I'm actually kidding. Tomorrow is our Summit. I actually like attending the Summit each year. It is a time for the important people of Great Hearts to express their hopes for the network and to give us a charge for the upcoming year. It is always easy to get bogged down by the day to day teaching and lose focus of our greater purpose--to cultivate the hearts and minds of students through the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
I also want to let you know that I was out Friday, but got a good report about the students' behavior while I was gone. I heard they abused my bathroom policy while I was out, and the assistants who covered the classroom during my absence were likely too generous in letting students leave the room. However, as I told them last week, my chief concern for them while I'm absent is that they obey their teachers. I'm thankful for their effort in this respect. It can be difficult to do the right thing when things aren't as they usually are. I'm proud of them.
Let me now jump into the lessons for this short week.
Lessons
Grammar/Writing: This week, students will continue their study of grammar by learning about possessive pronoun adjectives, possessive noun adjectives, and singular vs. plural possessive nouns. On Friday, students will be completing a cumulative review to prepare for their next grammar test, which will be on Monday of next week (Week 8).
- Possessive Pronoun Adjectives - his, hers, theirs
- They are pronouns functioning as adjectives because they tell us whose.
- Possessive Noun Adjectives - boy's, Rick's, students'
- They are nouns functioning as adjectives because they tell us whose.
History: Students will learn about how knights would decorate their shields to represent their families. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students design shields that represent their families. I will put some examples below my signature that I will show students during class. On Thursday, students will take their next test over the Middle Ages covering chapters 5-10. The study guide in their packets is the best place to help them prepare, but here is a Quizlet for them to use. I've embedded the Quizlet below the heraldry examples.
Last week, students were also assigned their history research projects. Each student should have brought home a packet with their country's name written on the front of it. This is a large project with eight weeks to complete it. I'll be putting up an additional post about what is expected with pictures of past projects.
Literature: Last week was a little crazy with Mrs. Chilson missing three days and me missing one. The goal is for the students to read chapters 23-27 this week, but we may not be on track. However, we will ensure that students have completed the reading prior to the end of the quarter.
Math: On Friday, students took the math test on negative numbers. Having now spent a fair bit of time working on things like place value, rounding, math facts, factors, multiples, the four operations, the order of operations, and negative numbers, students will not review addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication with multiple digits. This includes things like addition with regrouping, subtraction with regrouping, multiplication with regrouping, and long division. Though long division does often give students some challenges until mastery, the most difficult part of this unit is the word problems. Below the history Quizlet, I'm going to embed a couple videos that may be helpful for your child and you. First is a video from Khan Academy on how to do long division with no remainder. Second is a video from Khan Academy on how to do long division with a remainder. I also recommend checking out these web-based games that might be helpful: addition word problems and multiplication word problems. There will be a test on Monday of week 8.
Poetry: Students will start their study of a new poem this week. The next poem for memorization is "Dreams" by Langston Hughes. This is a very short poem, so I expect the students to all do very well on it and hopefully start working more on presenting the poems with appropriate pathos.
Science: On Thursday, students started their study of life science with the six things all organisms have in common. This week, they will continue that study with a look at what all organisms need to survive (water, food, living space, homeostasis) and the classification of organisms.
Spalding: In Spalding, students will learn ten new works and continue learning the rules of English by completing the rule pages.
Last week, students were also assigned their history research projects. Each student should have brought home a packet with their country's name written on the front of it. This is a large project with eight weeks to complete it. I'll be putting up an additional post about what is expected with pictures of past projects.
Literature: Last week was a little crazy with Mrs. Chilson missing three days and me missing one. The goal is for the students to read chapters 23-27 this week, but we may not be on track. However, we will ensure that students have completed the reading prior to the end of the quarter.
Math: On Friday, students took the math test on negative numbers. Having now spent a fair bit of time working on things like place value, rounding, math facts, factors, multiples, the four operations, the order of operations, and negative numbers, students will not review addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication with multiple digits. This includes things like addition with regrouping, subtraction with regrouping, multiplication with regrouping, and long division. Though long division does often give students some challenges until mastery, the most difficult part of this unit is the word problems. Below the history Quizlet, I'm going to embed a couple videos that may be helpful for your child and you. First is a video from Khan Academy on how to do long division with no remainder. Second is a video from Khan Academy on how to do long division with a remainder. I also recommend checking out these web-based games that might be helpful: addition word problems and multiplication word problems. There will be a test on Monday of week 8.
Poetry: Students will start their study of a new poem this week. The next poem for memorization is "Dreams" by Langston Hughes. This is a very short poem, so I expect the students to all do very well on it and hopefully start working more on presenting the poems with appropriate pathos.
Dreams by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreamsGreek and Latin Roots: Students will learn roots 20-22 this week and will have a review check on 17-19 on Wednesday. Next week, week 8, students will have a review check on 1-22. The following week, week 9, students will have their only quiz on the roots, and it will be on numbers 1-25. Here is the PowerPoint for all of the roots. I will also embed the Quizlet for 1-25 below the Khan Academy videos.
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Science: On Thursday, students started their study of life science with the six things all organisms have in common. This week, they will continue that study with a look at what all organisms need to survive (water, food, living space, homeostasis) and the classification of organisms.
Spalding: In Spalding, students will learn ten new works and continue learning the rules of English by completing the rule pages.
Schedule
Monday: NO SCHOOL
Wednesday: Greek and Latin Roots Review Check (17-19)
Thursday: History Test - Middle Ages, Chapters 5-10
Thursday: Math Quiz
Friday: Spalding Test
Thursday: History Test - Middle Ages, Chapters 5-10
Thursday: Math Quiz
Friday: Spalding Test
Monday (Week 8): Grammar Test - Cumulative
Monday (Week 8): Math Test - Addition and Subtraction
I hope you have a great Monday and that the rest of your week is equally enjoyable.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren
Heraldry: the science and the art that deal with the use, display, and regulation of hereditary symbols employed to distinguish individuals, armies, institutions, and corporations (Encyclopedia Britannica).
