Tuesday in Review and assignments for 12/15/09

Good Morning!

Only one more Trinity day in 2009. I introduced a Christmas project to the children and they will need your help.

When the Mansell family visited our class and spoke of their life in poverty in Ethiopia before being adopted, we were all touched. I brought a catalog to show my students from World Vision. It gives the opportunity to help the truly impoverished by buying seed, chicks, goats, a portion of a water well, etc. We want to each bring in a monetary donation and pool our funds and buy a gift from this catalog.

My STRONG encouragement to the children was to earn the money they bring in. We discussed ways--raking for neighbors, dog-walking, tasks over and above their usual chores. We even read about the Widow giving sacrificially in the New Testament. Jesus new her heart and recognized she gave the most because it was of great sacrifice. It would be great if the students could actually "break a sweat" and experience sacrificial giving. This would dove-tail perfectly with our discussion in lit of Teddy Roosevelt's character trait of diligence. Although he was frail, he diligently worked to improve his physical condition. Even if your child is weary of raking or whatever, remind them of the Godly character trait Teddy exhibited and to be diligent and remember the poor they are helping to care for.

Whew! All that to say please help you child to earn money this week to bring in next Tuesday and we'll select a gift from the World Vision catalog. You can go online to worldvisiongifts.org to see about this organization if you are not familiar with it.

We discussed the genre of biography. We did an exercise about interviewing famous people and then planned categories of questions. We broke into groups and formulated questions and presented them to the class. My plan is to have a person to interview next time and for the children to carry out the interview.

After neglecting them, we got out our maps and played a game to review the states and capitals. "I'm thinking of a state and ___________________is its capital" They did pretty well. The states out west need the most work, I think.

History was painfully dry and boring. Just ask Mrs. Irvine who was my most excellent helper. We skimmed the top if two long chapters via our magic carpets.

I want the children to teach again next time. We are starting WWI which will be split by the Christmas holiday--we'll learn more about it when we get. Please have the children present a report on the following topics:

Woods and Mills: Weaponry used in WWI (include all kinds: guns, planes, tanks, gas)

Spencer: Explain and make an illustration of trench warfare

Amelia: How/why did the war start and who was originally involved.

Talia: How did America get drawn in and what effect did that have.

Chloe: Woodrow Wilson during the war and the League of Nations

Again, please do not stress. If you have an old World Book set from your childhood, I think those are great sources. Your report can be as short as half a page or less. Illustrations are always helpful. The children seem to really enjoy presenting to each other and I like encouraging that.

I thought of having a Christmas party just for our class. I know there is one for all of TCA that evening but I'm not sure I'll be able to attend and I don't know if all the HHI folk will make it back. Each child could bring in a treat and we can enjoy eating together. I could think of some activities for us to do. Do we want a gift exchange? E-mail me your thoughts by tomorrow and I'll pull it together.

Enjoy this season and take good care of each other!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read ch 29 in Bible
2. We did not press on into week 13 memory work. I want the chldren to review the first 12 weeks.
3. Finish reading Teddy Roosevelt, if possible. Several moms told me the reading is difficult. If you cannot finish it, get as far as you can. You can finish it over the holiday and we'll have another book to read during that time as well.
4. read/skim ch. 20 in SOTW. Complete reports about WWI.
5. complete lesson 10 activities in Latin and on Monday, write the vocab from lesson 11 three times each.