Que Seurat, Seurat.

Poetry- The class is doing a fabulous job with their memorization of “A Time To Talk”! We are going to create our video the week of May 7th-11^th. If you happen to have a pair of overalls, you will need to wear them that week!

Grammar- In grammar today, the class learned a new part of speech: Interjections. Although they had already heard of interjections, they did not know how to diagram them! Interjections are separated from the rest of the sentence by either a comma or an exclamation mark. In the diagram, the interjection is separated completely from the rest of the diagram, floating above the subject!

Standardized Testing will be Tuesday and Wednesday. We will be heading to Sharpsburg to take the Stanford Test, at the Classical Conversations location.  We have been working on test practice, which will will work more with on Thursday.

Reading- We read up to page 45 in Hamlet today. The plot thickens, as Hamlet's “mousetrap” catches King Claudius! We discussed the scene in which Claudius prays for forgiveness, “Forgive me, my foul murder?” Although he speaks the words, we talked about how even Claudius recognized that you cannot speak the words and be forgiven without actually being sorry! We worked on our summaries today, which are coming together so nicely!

Math- Today was a day of repeat, repeat, repeat. We worked on long division... together and individually. The process of divide, multiply, subtract, and carry down can be tricky. We will stick here, working on mastering this skill, for as long as it takes!

Science- In science today, Ms. Caroline taught the kids about work, energy, potential energy, and kinetic energy. They also learned about the different forms of energy: Chemical, Electrical, Light, Mechanical, Thermal, and Nuclear. Needless to say, nuclear energy caused the biggest “spark” among the kids. How on Earth does splitting a tiny nucleus of an atom create so much energy?

Social Studies- Mr. Dennis lead the class through the skit, “Lewis and Clark Return”. They discussed the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Art- The topic of the day was pointillism. Ms. Nancy taught the class about Georges Seurat. The students drew an animal onto sandpaper, coloring it in very heavy crayon. Then, they ironed the image onto white paper. The result was a mirror image, created by little dots! We learned that the crayon has to be very thick for it to work, but I think they looked great!  It's a technique that I see us using in art projects at home, as well.  Sometimes it is a great lesson for this very perfectionist group of kids when a project doesn't follow the path that they have planned.  As adults, how many times do our projects or even days go as planned?  It's important not only to "go with the flow", but to embrace the beauty in the imperfection!

Music- In music today, Mrs. Beresford told a musical story, which walked the class through their packets of mini-songs. In the story, the trumpets sounded for the Middle C March, announcing a marching band! It was a brilliant way to keep learning fun and engaging. The class will be working on their packets at home, and will be tested over them a week from Tuesday.