Lessons for Life

We began class today by remembering those who lost their lives 11 years ago.  I used this time as a time to reflect and pay homage to those who lost their lives, as well as to those who protect our country and fight to keep it safe.  The reason behind the attacks of 9/11 can be difficult for children to grasp.  Honestly, it is hard to grasp, period.  Although we did briefly discuss the event, I leave further discussion up to the parents.  After our special prayer, we said the Pledge of Allegiance, paying extra attention to every word!

Spelling- The students received a new spelling list today.  Instead of providing them with the definitions, we divided into groups and used dictionaries to look up some of the words.  Although we do have Google and Dictionary.com at our fingertips, it still is very important to be able to look up information in an actual book!  To do this, whether in a dictionary, a glossary, or an index, these kids must be able to alphabetize.  Although we will work on this some in class, I highly suggest parents working with children at home.  Give them a dictionary and have them actually look words up!  Typing it in and hitting "enter" robs them of the skill of alphabetizing. 

Grammar- In grammar today, we worked on using proofreaders marks.  So far, they know three!  We worked on some practice sentences before moving on to our next lesson.  The students had their first lesson in sentence diagramming today.  So far, we are just diagramming simple sentences with only a subject and a verb.  This is a review for most of the students, and we will quickly be moving on to new material. 

Math- The 4A class is working on a week-long game which reviews what they have learned about equations!  They are putting what they have been working on at home to use as they work through equations with parenthesis and multiple operations.  The 3A class also did a review game today.  The students took times popping open plastic Easter eggs.  Inside each egg was a math problem.  For some problems, the students needed to use <, >, or =.  For some problems, they had to use subtraction or addition to complete the equation.  They were so excited to be doing math problems in a fun way... and on the patio!

Writing-  We are slowly working our way through a 5 paragraph paper!  The class read their introduction paragraphs out loud.  We discussed any major problems with the introductions so they could make changes, as needed.  I will be proofreading these and giving them back to the students on Thursday.  Those who had not finished their introduction paragraphs worked on them today.  Many of the kids were able to work on their 1st main idea paragraph, as well.  I explained to the class that I will be really pushing them to improve upon their writing this year.  I also explained that ALL authors have to write, edit, rewrite, and sometimes even rewrite more than once!  This is always a task that children hate to do, but at least these kids know that their friends are all in the same boat!

Social Studies- In social studies today, the class learned about the Compromise of 1850, the Missouri Compromise, and the Kansas Nebraska Act.  They read about each one and learned to highlight (or underline) the important information.  Mr. Dennis is trying to teach the skill of highlighting in this way, as it will help them to study and summarize.  If your child doesn't have a highlighter in their bookbag, please get one if you can!  The students used the key facts from the passage and wrote the information onto a chart.  They will work on finishing these at home tomorrow.


Art-  Ms. Nancy is helping the kids work on a puppet project.  In addition to art skills, the class is having to learn to listen and follow directions!  Each of them started out with a square sheet of paper.  After listening and following Ms. Nancy's directions, they had a little puppet!  As a momma, I love activities that teach important lessons that can be applied throughout their classes, and their life!  In the upcoming weeks, we will be working on a paper mache project!  Last year's paper mache was a huge hit.  I can't wait to see what this project is all about!