assignments for our last day

Good Evening, Families!

We had a good day of learning together. We had an amazing treat when Mrs. Beth joined us and shared some amazing family mementos. We saw pictures of the Berlin Wall, Berlin, Viet Nam, Woods and Mills' grandfather's medals, a hunk of schrapnel.etc. WOW! It was very educational. Many thanks! And thanks to Mrs. Irvine for being our helper.

The children read about the influenza epidemic of 1918--1919. They were very attentive to this topic. (Ask them why they paid such close attention.) We listened to a poem that Ronald Reagan memorized as a child called "Dangerous Dan McGrew". For history we made replicas of China's coat-of-arms and listened to a great library book about a boy's life during the Cultural Revolution. Both were enjoyable. Spencer wowed us with his memory of the presidents and EVERY science fact (even the elements of the periodic table!) All the kids that had a chance to recite did well. However, Spence must have put in alot of time. Bravo! to all of you.

Monument Projects are due next week. However, Talia had hers ready today and it was outstanding. A Harriet Tubman Monument that is "UNDERGROUND". Very clever! We will have show-and-tell next week just for the heck of it! We will have learning--I promise. However, it will be a relaxed and fun day. I hope you can all make it to the sock hop Tuesday evening. It will be a lot of fun.

Students, please work hard for your parents this last week of Trinity. I love you each very much and am "shamefully" proud of you!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Memorize your favorite Bible passage. Be ready to recite it to your class and tell why it is your favorite.
2. Review Week 12--24 in Math and be ready to recite. Watch the hand motion videos on youtube for the Veritas cards. I plan for us to challenge each other in class to recite the cards.
3. Finish the Ronald Reagan book.
4. Read chapter 42 in SOTW.
5. Complete lesson 27 latin work. Answers will be e-mailed.

assignments for 5/18/10

Dear Families,

We had a good day yesterday. As I reflect on the year, I am very proud of the literature selections the board approved for us. It is not easy to find books from this recent time period that have proven themselves and are on our level. The children took a minute to reminisce and reflect and they have the same opinion as I do.

We learned about a Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah celebration. We listened and watched people dancing to "Hava Nagila" and did a little dancing ourselves. We, also, took turns lifting each student up in a chair, as is done at a Bar Mitzvah.

We continue to press on in Latin and I'm VERY proud of the children's translating capabilities. We reviewed memory work (Presidents and science) and had a probability lab about odds and ratios in science. Geography shows the children are coming along nicely in memorizing and locating features across our country.

We joined Mrs. Fowler's class as they presented projects they've been working on. It was so impressive that I have decided to have my class do the same project--see below.

Enjoy your week of learning and teaching your children.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read the second half of ch. 64 in Bible. (We began this book my first year at Trinity. For Woods and I, we have been through every story.)
2. If you have not mastered the presidents and the science facts, please have them ready to recite to the class next time. If you have, work on the math facts for weeks 12--24. We will begin reviewing the Veritas Cards in class next time.
3. Read chapters 1--6 in Ronald Reagan.
4. Read Chapter 41 in SOTW.
5. Please complete a monument project. Drawings are acceptable but models are encouraged. I will e-mail you the details of this assignment. This will be due the last day of class.
6. Complete lesson 26 in Latin. On Monday, write the words and translations from lesson 27 three times each.
7. Review states and capitals, and continue memorizing the names and LOCATIONS of our countries features from Classical Conversation Weeks 11-24.

assignments for 5/11/10

Dear Families,

We had an action packed class day. After learning about the Sikhs in India we led the whole school in a small worship service and served them aN Indian meal called Aloo goobi. We spent the morning preparing the meal. Your children are ready to peel all your potatoes for you.

The majority of us are enjoying "The Dog of Knots". We discussed it and looked at a map of Israel to see the localities mentioned in it. We also looked at some pictures of Eliat stones that Uri was buying for his mom. I encouraged the children to make use of the glossary in the back of the book as they read.

We had a good latin lesson and broke into pairs to review our memory work.

Enjoy your week of learning!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

p.s. We had fun celebrating Talia's birthday with some yummy treats that Mrs. Irvine provided.

p.s.s. SHOW AND TELL IS NEXT WEEK!!!!!

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read ch. 63 in Bible
2. Work on memorizing the presidents. If you have that down, work on the 24 science facts.
3. Finish reading The Dog of Knots
4. Read ch. 40 in SOTW
5. Complete lesson 25 in latin. On Monday, write the ch. 26 words and meanings 3 times each.
6. Continue working on memorizing the names and locations of the features of the US geography map.

reflections and assignments for 5/4/10

Dear Families,

This was a Tuesday I am glad to have behind me. I am sad to say that behavior was not satisfactory. I seemed to constantly have to tell the children to stop talking. There were way too many private conversations while learning and listening should have been happening. There were a few bright spots of undivided attention, but very few. Please tell your children to keep all attention on the subject at hand, to not speak out without raising hands to be recognized and, most importantly, to obey my directions promptly. I am most mindful of the teaching time we lose when those three courtesies are not followed. I want all of us to work hard and finish the year well. No coasting!

We missed Talia and Spencer and prayed for your safe return next week. I taught about the Vietnam War--a most difficult topic to summarize to a third and fourth grade level. Your student has a sheet we completed in class that I want them to go over with you. I did my best to explain why there were, and are, two views of that war and what an unsettling time that period was for our country. Mrs. Beach was my helper and had valuable input as her Dad was deployed three times to Vietnam.

We studied the Tet celebrations in Vietnam and your child should have some mementos to share with you. We cleaned our room as is done in preparation for Tet and made an interesting Apricot, coconut rice cake.

Latin had some difficult new concepts and really needs to be gone over well this week at home. We acted out the Bible story complete with palm trees and tent stakes! We broke into two groups and learned part of MLK's speech. Have your child recite their portion to you.

I look forward to seeing my students in May and having a most productive learning day.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read ch. 61 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Memorize Week 24 memory work.
3. Finish memorizing your part of the MLK speech and recite it for your family.
4. Read chapters 1--10 of THE DOG OF KNOTS.
5. Discuss the Vietnam War with your parents. Read chapter 39 in SOTW.
6. Complete Lesson 24 in Latin.

Reflections on Yesterday and Assignments for 4/27/10

Hello Families,

I hope the children enjoyed yesterday just half as much as I did. Then I know they will have had a great time. Our tour guide at Penn Center was amazing. He graduated from the Penn School in the late 1940s. He walked our legs off and I imagine him to be 70 at least. The place is beautiful and so peaceful. The children's behavior was outstanding. The first 20 minutes were spent watching a video and they remained very quiet and respectful throughout. (Although we had just watched a long video of MLK making his "I Have A Dream . . ." speech) I'm very proud of them. Please plan another longer outing there. There were many trees that needed climbing and a leisurely picnic under the shade trees is a must.

We had a good latin lesson before leaving. I hope the students had some fuzziness from last week cleared up. Have your student explain two things from Bible. How fat was the king that was killed and what cycle did the Israelites fall into. Oh, and what does it mean to "compartmentalize" our lives.

Enjoy Spring in the Lowcountry and I will see you Tuesday!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read Chapter 59 in the Bible Story Book
2. Please catch up your History reading. Several children mentioned they did not have time to read chapters 37 and 38 for yesterday. We will not press on into ch. 39 for next time but, instead, will spend time learning about the Viet Nam War.
3. Finish reading the MLK book.
4. Continue practicing Week 23 memory work.
5. Complete Lesson 23 in Latin. Write the new words for Lesson 24 three times each. (Answers will be emailed.)

assignments for 4/20/10

Hello Families!

I'm sorry to be late posting. Life with a graduating senior is a whirlwind of activity. I'll try to do better.

We had a great day yesterday. We had show-and-tell AND still got to all subjects. Yeah! We spent alot of time looking at pictures and talking about JFK's assassination. We didn't take much time with MLK since we will read a biography about him. The book reports were outstanding!!! I'm so proud of everyone and the work they put into that.

I am trying to pull together a field trip for next Tuesday. I've e-mailed you my tentative plan. The Penn Center staff did get back in touch with me. Visiting the museum and having a guided walking tour will cost a total of $8 per person. I have a query into Nicole and Alice to see if there is any funding to defray that expense and will let you know. I plan for us to have class as usual including lunch in the morning. We'll leave Trinity at noon and return at 3:00. I do not think there is anything to have spending money for.

We had some questions about our work on the Latin Review. I plan to get in touch with an expert and will e-mail the answers later this week.

Enjoy the beautiful springtime.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read chapter 57 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Practice and learn Week 23 memory work.
3. Read the first 6 chapters of Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. Review our probability lab with you parents.
5. Read Ch. 37 and 38 in SOTW.
6. Finish the Unit 4 Review in Latin. Write the vocab words for Lesson 23 three times each.
7. Review the features of the U.S. from the CC book. Go back to the mountains in lesson 11 and move through lesson 23. I want us to be able to point our their names and locations on a blank map by the end of the year.

Happy Easter!

Dear Parents,

I enjoyed the day with your children today. We're reading an excellent book and I enjoy discussing it with them. We looked at a map of Berlin that I hope made it home. Several of the sites in our book are shown on the map. We saw a picture of the wall being constructed and discussed writing from different perspectives. In history we learned that Castro closed schools in Cuba for eight months and sent all teachers and students into the countryside to teach the peasants to read. We made books similar to the ones used. His goal was to abolish illiteracy in Cuba. For fun we stood toe to toe and had staring contests. The first one to blink was a communist!

Latin is proceeding well. Mr. Tkach, (Thomas) was in my room after school and said he was impressed with the chants we're learning and that there were many his students don't know. We drilled the features on the US map. My goal is for us to not only be able to name all the rivers, canals, trails, etc. but to point them out on a blank map. We were actors in Bible and had fun improvising. We'll have two probability labs in science when we return.

Many thanks to Mrs. Irvine for her help, today. Please enjoy our break and I will see you in April. The first day back is show-and-tell!

love to all,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read chapter 55 in the Bible Story Book.
2. learn week 22 memory work
3. finish Escape to West Berlin.
4. read chapter 36 in SOTW
5. complete lesson 22 in latin
6. work on memorizing the names and locations of all our geography features from the Classical Conversations book.
7. Read a book over the break of your choice. Below is a link to a book report form that I want you to use to write a book report about your book. It is geared for 4th graders but I want you 3rd graders to give it a try,too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! and assignments for 3/23/10

Good Evening!

We had a good, and somewhat of a calm day. Many thanks to Spencer's mom, Mrs. Victoria, for helping us. We were able to have a few activites outside because of the great weather.

For Geography, we are really concentrating on the land forms that are identified in the Classical Conversations book after the states and capitals. This is a challenge, but the last map in that book has all of them identified for us. Science was a probability lab from the CC book, too.

We discussed Communism in history as we learned about the Korean conflict. I encouraged my students to ask their parents who they thought was right when Gen McArthur was relieved of command--him or Pres. Truman. The lit read is also a good source to spur conversations about communism. The activity we did in lit involved learning about the genre of realistic fiction. These works include detailed descriptions so we went outside and had to make an accurate representation of a scene. It was a good exercise. We played a game in history to study Ho Chi Minh and his teachings. We spent a good amount of time reviewing chapters 20 and 21 memory work. Latin received a strong portion of our morning and your students are doing great (usually better than their teacher at grasping these latest lessons).

Be sure and wear green tomorrow and enjoy learning together.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read ch. 53 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Learn week 21 memory work and practice week 20 as well.
3. Read chapters 5--8 in Escape to West Berlin.
4. Describe our Probability lab in science to your parents.
5. I will not be covering ch. 34 in SOTW in class. I will leave it up to you as to how you cover it at home. Read ch. 35 for next week.
6. Complete lesson 21 in Latin. Here is my suggestion for dividing the work.
Wed: ex. B
Thurs: ex. C
Fri: ex. D, E, and F
Mon: ex. G and write lesson 22 words three times each.
7. Review that map at the end of the Classical Conversations book several times this week. We want to work toward not only being able to name the land forms but locate them on our blank maps.

WHEW! and assignments for 3/16/10

Good Evening!

Our day was packed! Ask your student about folk dancing, thank you notes, rutabagas, snakes, their pancreas, little red books, and performing Friday night!

Enjoy your week and I will see you Friday at the Open House. Watch for e-mails concerning a meeting place to prepare for our performance.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read Ch. 51 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Practice History Memory Sentences through week 19 at least twice before Friday. Do not press on into week 20. We did in class, but I want them to concentrate on our performance material for the Open House.
3. Finish Otis Spofford and read chapters 1-4 in Escape to West Berlin.
4. Read ch. 33 in SOTW.
5. Complete Lesson 20 in latin and write lesson 21 words three times each. Here is a suggested break down for the week. NOTE: This is a challenging lesson--be sure to work diligently on the new material.
Wed: exercises B and C
Thurs: exercises D and E Go over this several times
Fri: exercises F and G
Mon: write lesson 21 words three times each.

Practice ALL the latin chants several times before Friday night.

assignments for 3/9/10

Dear Families,

We had a busy but fruitful day. Many thanks to Mrs. Karen for helping us and to Mrs. Stephanie for being our guest speaker. She told us of her training and work with the mentally challenged and was able to relate to Corrie ten Boom's love of working with these special people. As a college student, she traveled and was able to hear Miss ten Boom in person!

It is very late so please ask your student all about our day. The History reports were great. I don't plan to share my paycheck this time either--even though you did a great job teaching two chapters.

We are planning to recite our Latin chants and our History sentences/songs at the Open House. We worked on that today and I think we can be ready.

Enjoy each other and I will see you next Tuesday!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read Lesson 49 in the Bible.
2. Practice week 19 memory work. Also, review all our History Sentences at least twice this week.
3. Finish reading Twenty and Ten. Begin reading Otis Spofford through ch. 3.
(A refreshing, light break after such heavy "reads" lately!)
4. Read ch. 32 in SOTW.
5. Complete Lesson 19 in Latin. Suggested daily breakdown:
Wednesday: exercises B and C
Thursday: exercises D and F
Friday: exercises G and H
Monday: Write Lesson 20 words and meanings 3 times each.
Please practice saying all the chants clearly and from memory at least twice this week.

A Great Day! Assignments for 3/2/10

Dear Families,

I'm not sure why I feel the day was such a success but I do. It seemed the children were really focused and we had meaningful learning! The day started with a very informative guest. Mr. McCoy of Lowcountry Horology visited our class to inform us about the profession of watchmaking. He was awesome. He went into the history of keeping time and told us about watchmaking during the time of Casper ten Boom. He brought samples and tools that we were allowed to handle. He was great. His shop is in a small building next door to the Barber shop that is across from the Bi-Lo shopping center near Paris Island. Several students want to pay him a visit. Many thanks to Mrs. Victoria for being our helper. We enjoyed having Spencer's little brother and sister with us today, as well.

I shared some of my Dad's stories from his time in the Marines in the South Pacific. Our discussion did get political as I defended out country's actions during WWII. Try drawing out from your child what he/she learned today. You can correct any misconceptions I may have imparted. We read a book about a Japanese/American girl being sent to a camp from her home in California. I explained my understanding of the rationale behind this policy. I also distributed information about the leaflets we dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the bombs were dropped. We also planted our Victory Garden. The plan is for it to live at everyone's house each week. We'll play that by ear. It went home with Chloe today.

We are about finished with our unit on the human body and I am considering ways we can show off our knowledge. Latin went extremely well--your students are amazing. If they could each do the work at home, I know they could be soaring above the group in the next class older than us. For those putting in the effort, it really shows--keep it up!

We pressed on in memory work and tested ourselves on states and capitals.

Enjoy each other this week and call anytime with questions or concerns.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read lesson 47 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Practice Week 18 memory work.
3. Finish reading Corrie and read first two chapters of Twenty and Ten. Be sure to read the Preface page and About the Author at the end.
--in conjunction with this reading, research what a DP is. Research the Biblical Account of the Holy Family fleeing into Egypt in all four Gospels. Be ready to tell all you know about it.
--Don't read ahead! Speculate about the relationship between Henry and Janet.
4. In History you're going to be the teachers again! Please read the following assigned sections of Chapters 30 and 31 of SOTW and be ready to thoroughly present/teach the information contained in your pages.
Woods--1st section of Ch. 30, pages 329--332
Spencer--2nd section of Ch. 30, pages 332--336
Amelia--Ch. 31, pages 339--1st 4 lines of 341
Talia--Ch. 31, starting with the first paragraph on page 341 through 343.
Chloe--2nd section of Ch. 31, pages 345--349
Mills--Help Woods by illustrating his pages.
5. Complete Lesson 18 exercises in Latin. Suggested breakdown for the week:
Wed--exercises B and C
Thurs--exercises D and E
Fri--exercises F and G
Mon--exercise H and write lesson 19 words and meanings 3 times each

assignments for 2/23/10

Dear Families,

We had a HUGELY busy day! I hope some bread made it home to you. We worked hard but I'm afraid it was removed from the oven before its time. You might try finishing baking it at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or so. We did get an idea of how hard Sarah Pucket had to work to earn coins to help her family in the Great Depression. We missed Woods and prayed for you! Mills was in and out with doctor appointments. Many, many thanks to Mrs. Tronda for being our very busy helper.

We had a great discussion on WWII and the different effects from all over the country. The Hatchells brought in letters from the government (one even signed by FDR) about an Uncle killed in the war. We will continue the study next week. We will also plant a Victory Garden (the seeds were accidentally left at my home) next week. Ask your student why they came about.

I hope you each have a great week studying. See you Tuesday!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read Ch. 45 in the Bible Story Book. Be ready to discuss how Moses showed meekness and a merciful heart.
2. We did not watch the memory work power point. However, we did learn the Veritas Cards for week 17. Please move on into the lesson 17 work this week. We will spend time in class on it as well as moving on into week 18 next week.
3. Read the first 7 chapters of the Corrie ten Boom book.
4. Show your parents the hand out from Spencer's book about the lungs. Finish the drawing on the second page.
5. Tell your parents about Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics and his German friend. Read ch. 29 in SOTW.
6. For latin do the review that follows lesson 17. Here's my suggested breakdown for the week:
Wednesday: Complete ex. A of the review
Thursday: Complete ex. B
Friday: complete ex. C
Monday: complete ex. D and E and write lesson 18 vocab three times each

assignments for 2/16/10

Good Evening Families!

I will be short and sweet tonight. We had a great day with an awesome Valentine Party to cap it off. Many thanks to each of you for donations and to Mrs. Irvine for pulling it all together for us. Thanks also to Mrs. Joy for being our very busy helper. We had the honor of having 4 guests--Jacob Beach, Anni Martin, Emily and Sarah Avera.

Please ask you student to recount the day for you--squirrel stew was the highlight. Mrs. Joy was merciless and shamed anyone not willing to taste. Life in the depression was hard!

I love you each and hope you have a great week. Happy Valentines Day!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read Lesson 43 in the Bible Story Book and illustrate how it might have been to regain your land when you heard the trumpet. Be ready to show your picture next week.
2. Practice Week 16 Memory Work.
3. Finish The Bread Winner. Write a 1/2 page reflection on this book. Here are some questions to get you thinking: How would you have felt if you were Sarah? What would you do differently? We don't know if they were Christians. How would that have made a difference?
4. Read Chapter 27 in history.
5. Latin: Wednesday: Teach/show Mom how we did exercise E of lesson 17 in class. Do exercise B of lesson 17
Thursday: do exercise C
Friday: do exercise D and F
Monday: do exercise G and do exercise G of the Review that comes next.
6. Share with your parents about our talk about sin never being in the presence of God and what hope we sinful people have of heaven.

assignments for 2/9/10

Good Evening!

A note about report cards. I was a bit out of my league because I designed the report cards (not my area of expertise). Next was filling them in which is always difficult. I have two to put in the mail tomorrow and I'm sorry to those families that I didn't have them ready today. A part I left off is the following key: E=Excellent, S=Satisfactory, N=Needs Improvement, and U=Unsatisfactory. Study Skills is a vague area that just entails if your student seems ready for class each week. Also, in subjects like Science and Geography that don't have homework, everyone received an S. I hope these give you a snapshot of your students work and will be helpful to you. Please contact me with any questions.

I AM EXHAUSTED! I don't even know why--it was a great day. Two huge highlights were visiting Mrs. Fowler's class to hear Mr. Charles Aimar, 92 years old, tell about the Great Depression in Beaufort. He was awesome! I was so proud of my students and their polite behavior during a long session. We also "showed off" for the entire school our memory work. I spoke with Mrs. Fowler this evening and she told her class not to even hint about complaining about some memory work she plans to require of them after hearing my students today.

Here are some hints to use as you have your student tell you about the highlights of our day: baking soda, incense, spleen, Mao Zedong, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", the Holy of Holies, spending a dime on the movies.

Enjoy your week!

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read chapter 41 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Read Chapters 6--12 in The Bread Winner.
3. Read Chapters 27 in SOTW.
4. Complete Lesson 16 in Latin. Here is a suggested schedule for the week:
Wednesday: Complete exercises B and C
Thursday: Complete exercise D
Friday: Complete exercises E and F
Monday: Complete exercise G and write lesson 17's vocab and meanings three times.

Answers to Latin Exercises for after you've completed Lesson 16 this week:
A. 1. Jesus
2. Christ, Christmas
3. diurnal/natal, nativity
4. no answer
5. angelic, angel
6. magician, magic
7. infant
8. ruby
9. viridian
10. ass, asinine
11. glory
B. 1. ruber
2. Iesus
3. angelus
4. dies natalis
5. infans
6. viridis
7. gloria
8. praesepe
9. magus
10. asinus
11. Christus
C. Christian--Christus
ass--asinus
glorious--gloria
magcian--magus
ruby--ruber
viridescent--viridis
angelic--angelus
D. See Lesson 1,8,5,10,2,6,9,12,14, and 15 in that order to fill in the charts
E. 1. asinus
2. stabulum
3. infans
4. praesepe
5. Iesus
6. angelus
7. pastores
8. oves
9. pastores
10. infans
11. Magi
12. stella
13. Iesus
14. gloria
15. Iesus
16. Christus

Latin Answers for Lesson 15

Here are the answers so that you can check yourself. Some of these we did in class.
A.1. corpse
2. capital, cap
3. ocular
4. aural
5. nasal
6. oral
7. dentist, dentures
8. brachium, bracelet
9. manual
10. digit
11. no answer
12. pedal
13. core
14. exercise
15. respiration

B. 1. exerceo
2. cor
3. crus
4. caput
5. bracchium
6. dens
7. spiro
8. nasus
9. auris
10. pes
11. manus
12. digitus
13. corpus
14. os
15. oculus

C. 1. exercise, exerceo
2. manually, manus
3. oral, os
4. spiracle, spiro

D. 1. Nominative
2. Genitive
3. Dative
4. Accusative
5. Ablative

E. 1. The boy trains, exercises.
2. The women were training, exercising.
3. The whale will breathe.
4. Time flies.

Our Fun Tuesday and assignments for February 1st

Greetings Families!

Before I forget, show-and-tell is next week! Many thanks to Mrs. Karen for helping make our busy day a success. We ate manna that was falling outside our tents in Bible, we learned lesson 15 in Latin (I think really well, too.) We added the large intestines and the liver to our bodies in science and reviewed the functions of all the organs we've been studying. We went over the geography portion of the memory work from the beginning as a review of the state capitals. We pressed on into week 15 in memory work and practiced our presentation for next week.

After lunch, we had a history lesson about Egypt and Italy. We discussed why the British wanted to keep their fingers in Egypt's business (Suez canal) and three facts about Italy: 1. Who became the ruler, 2. What kind of government he set up, and 3. What is that kind of government. See if your student can answer those questions for you.

Finally it was time for the fun. Our Purim celebration! I told them about some traditions associated with this holiday. Megillah is the scroll that contains the story of Esther. A Gragger is a noise maker to use whenever Haman's name is mentioned. The word Purim means lots--which is what Haman cast to see which Jews to murder first. We made two food baskets and delivered them to Pastor Jeff Miller and to Mrs. Carol, one of the custodians. Each child donated three 50 cent pieces to the Haiti relief fund in the church office. The grand finale was when Mrs. Nicole read the Megillah to us and we booed and hissed and stomped anytime Haman’s name was mentioned. A messy, good time was had by all!

Please pray for my Arianna who was home today battling a stomach bug. Her big sister Rebecca volunteered to skip classes and stay with her so I could come teach. Interestingly, I didn’t have to ask Rebecca twice!?!

Love to all,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read chapter 39 in the Bible Story Book.
2. Practice Week 15 memory work. Perfect your hand motions and recitation for next week’s performance.
3. Read Chapters 1 through 5 of The Bread Winner.
4. Skim Chapter 25 in history and read chapter 26.
5. Cover lesson 15 in Latin. Here is a breakdown for the week that you may want to use:
a. Complete part B on Wednesday.
b. Complete part C on Thursday.
c. Complete part D and F on Friday.
d. Complete part G and write lesson 16’s vocab and meaning 3 times each on Monday.
6. Thank God everyday for the privilege of learning along side of your precious children.

Dear Families,

We had a BUSY Tuesday. Chef Todd let us invade his kitchen and make hamentashen cookies like Sache did in our lit book. Some had "gold" pieces baked into them and some did not. Hopefully one made it home for you to see. Many thanks to Mrs. Tronda for being our helper. In Bible we discussed Passover and how it is still celebrated today. History was a bit brief but we did talk about the League of Nations that was an American President's idea and the man of steel--Joseph Stalin. Chloe had a picture of Lenin in his coffin that she shared with us. Another lit activity we "enjoyed" was mashing into a makeshift wagon and lying still while I read to them. This helped us to sympathize with the crowded ride Sache and her family endured while fleeing Russia. I have a friend with chickens and the thought did cross my mind. . . Ask your student the other thought that crossed my mind to make the experience real!

We did some more reading and discussing the digestive system in science. For geography I think the capitals are just about conquered. I'm proud of the students.

Latin: Well. . . I am sad that the students are so unhappy and I want to try to help. I want to breakdown the assignments that you do at home for you. Maybe that will make it less daunting. My plan is to press on with this curriculum since it was chosen by the board. I made some changes in how we had Latin in class and they seemed to "get it" a bit better.

In memory work, we presented our weeks. Sorry for such short notice. I've reassigned weeks below. Tronda pointed out that working on weeks out of sequence can be confusing to the children and of course, the point is for them to see the flow of history.

Please quiz them about our day. I feel it was quite successful.

Work hard on your studies, students, as if doing them for the Lord.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

p.s. I saw Riddock Sunday and he said to tell everyone hello!

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read chapter 37 in our Bible Story Book
2. New assignments of Veritas Cards for our presentation to the school:
Mills: Weeks 1 and 2
Amelia: Weeks 3 and 4
Spencer: Weeks 5 and 6
Talia: Weeks 7 and 8
Woods: Weeks 9,10,11
Chloe: Weeks 12, 13, 14
3. Say the She'ma for you parents from Deut 6:4.
Read Ch. 107 and 108 in our Bible story book about Esther.
Finish reading the lit book.
4. read ch. 24 in SOTW
5. In Latin, we wrote lesson 14's words three times in class. Some didn't finish but they were easy words. Use your own discretion as to whether you want them to finish doing that. Here is a suggested schedule for the week:
Wednesday: finish writing the words 3 times if you so desire
------------- fill in the derivatives on part A. They are: 1. tempo, 2. annual, 3. semester, 4. hour, 5. punctual, punctuation, 6. solar, solarium, 7. meridian, 8. antediluvian, anterior, 9. posterior, 10. no answer, 11. diurnal, 12. procrastinate, 13. no answer, 14. move, movie, 15. no answer
------------- complete exercise B
Thursday: Complete exercise C.
Friday: Complete exercise D and E
Monday: Complete exercise F and G and write lesson 15's vocab words 3 times each. Let's see if this helps.

I had a meeting at the high school until almost 9:00 pm. That's my excuse for not having this posted last night. That was unusual and I hope to be more prompt in the future!

assignments for 1/19/10

Dear Families,

We had a busy Tuesday. We finished the Prince of Egypt for Bible, saw a snippet of Far and Away that gave us a visual of the difference between the peasant's life and the rich land-owner's life in Ireland. (I can't recommend this movie because of certain parts. However, I love sections of it to give the children vivid pictures of parts of history. For example, the life of immigrants upon arriving in America, harsh factory conditions, the laying of the railroads to the west, the races for free land in Oklahoma, etc.) It might be worth you pre-viewing and using your judgement about sharing it with your child.

Because Woods had us all wired up for video, we watched Ado Annie sing in Oklahoma. I whole-heartedly recommend viewing this movie with you children. We boiled salt water and tasted the resulting salt as Ghandi and his followers did. We went for a long walk in the neighborhood and imagined doing that with he and his followers. We discussed the large intestines and began discussing the functions of the liver. Most students have the state capitals memorized.

Two areas I feel I've caused a mix up in are memory work and latin. Some students had done lesson 13 in latin and some had not. For next week, be sure that lesson is completed. If your student already has that done, utilize some of the activity sheets in the back of their book to keep them fresh on the material. For memory work, I introduced Week 14. Work on this information for next time. I plan to take time next class evaluating where we all are and reviewing.

I love my Trinity kids. I had the card to show them about our purchase from World Vision of a goat and 2 chicks but forgot to. I'll share it next time.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

p.s. Many thanks to Mrs. Amy for helping us today!

ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Read Chapter 23 in SOTW
2. Read Chapter 35 in the Bible Story Book
3. Work on memorizing Week 14.
4. Read through (and including) chapter 15 in The Night Journey
5. Make sure all exercises are complete through lesson 13 in latin

Our First Day in 2010 and assignments for next time

Good Chilly Morning!

It was great to be with my students yesterday. We missed Spencer very much and mourn with him as he mourns his family's loss and rejoice with him as he rejoices in a new sister!

Many thanks to Terry Beach and Beth Langehans for being our helpers yesterday. Show and Tell was great and long. Spencer, feel free to bring yours next week! In Bible, we watched part of The Prince of Egypt and enjoyed that very much. We pressed on past the review in Latin into lesson 12. We worked on some of the homework activities in class for that lesson. Hopefully, this will free up some time for you to do the review at home.

Because only one student had read the Gandhi book, lit was short. Another had done some research apart from the book and those two students shared their thoughts on this man's life and accomplishments. I hope each of you will make time to read the book. In history, we talked about WWI and the sad episode it was in human history. We listened to the poem In Flander's Field and talked about its history. We talked about the beginnings of communism and Lenin as well as women getting the right to vote. I began reading a book about Lizzie Stanton and her work for suffrage for women. It is at our library and you may want to secure it for your child to read.

We pressed on into Week 15 with the memory work. Science consisted of doing an experiment suggested in our history activity guide about hemophilia. It was most insightful. I will devote double time to geography next time because we did not spend time there yesterday. Please bring your maps.

I hope your week is fruitful.

love,
Mrs. Tkach

ASSIGNMENTS: (that I would like to see done before next time)

1. Read chapter 33 in Bible.
2. Work on Week 15 memory work.
3. Read chapters 1 through 9 in The Night Journey
4. Read chapter 22 in SOTW
5. Do review R in Latin and the rest of lesson 12 activities. On Monday January 11 write lesson 13 words 3 times each