Week 10 Recap & Notes

Here's what we covered today in Foundations:

History: Heian Empire
Timeline:  Japan's Heian Period - East-West Schism of the Church
Latin: 4th Declension Noun Endings
Science: Leaves & Leaf Parts
English: Prepositions through-toward
Math: Skip counting squares
Geography: Japan

Tin Whistle:  We practiced playing the scale today, and the students did fabulous!  You can find the scale & fingerings on page 159 of the Foundations guide.  Have your students practice the scale this week, especially the move from C to high D, which is tricky.  You can also review the vocabulary for music theory and practice "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Presentation:  Presentation for next week is an expository speech.  An Expository Speech is one that exposes something. It is factual – not something you make up. This week we will “expose” a hobby or a subject about which you have read alot. Share interesting facts. You may bring a picture, chart, poster or prop to help your audience relate to your topic. Practice using your visual aid(s) in your presentation.  Please also work with your students to keep the presentation time limited to 2-3 minutes.

Thanks, and I'll see you next Tuesday!

Week 9 Recap & Notes

Today our memory work covered:

History:  Confucius
Timeline:  Byzantine Emperor Justinian to Vikings Raid & Trade
Science:  Parts of a Plant
English:  Prepositions from outside to since
Latin:  4th Declension Noun Endings
Math:  Skip counting 15's
Geography:  Eastern Asia

Students are doing GREAT with the tin whistle!  Everyone was able to play the first measure of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" today!  Please review the music vocabulary (the bolded words found in the music appendix on pages 157-182 of the Foundations guide).  They can also practice "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" if they have time (page 178 in the Foundations guide).  Great job remembering whistles!  Keep bringing them!

For presentation next week:  Recite a poem
Choose any kind of poem. It can be funny or serious. Memorize as much as you can and use notes only if needed. Remember to enhance your recitation with expression and gestures.

Your students did a great job keeping it to 2-3 minutes today.  Keep practicing keeping their speeches within the time limit!  And if you are interested in ICC, please see Ty after class.

I think that's everything for now.  Please feel free to email me if you have any questions!

Week 8 Recap & Notes

Here's a recap of class today:

History:  Age of Imperialism
Timeline:  Council of Nicea - Western Roman Empire Falls to Barbarians
Science:  Types of Seed Plants
Latin:  3rd Declension Noun Endings
Geography:  China
English:  Prepositions Of-Out
Math: Skip Counting 14's

Presentation:  For next week, please have your students prepare a persuasive speech. 
Choose a topic that you feel strongly about. Create a presentation designed to “persuade” your audience to change their beliefs or behavior in some way. Use Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Speech Topics to write your speech:
ATTENTION-Get the attention of your public. State the importance the problem.
NEED-State the need for change. Show why it should concern them. Relate the issue or problem to the values, attitudes, interests and needs of the listeners.
SATISFACTION-Satisfy their needs. Provide the details and interesting facts of your plan. Show how your solution works.
VISUALIZATION-Visualize the benefits. That is the heart of your motivational speech topic. Illustrate them with examples, anecdotes, comparisons, statistics, definitions and visual aids. Share success stories. Tell your audience what's in it for them.
ACTION-Call to action. Tell your audience what you want them to do

Lately we have been running over in presentations.  While I am super-excited that your students enjoy presentations and are so comfortable speaking in front of others, at the same time I have to be a good steward of the time allotted for presentations.  Parents, please work with your children to make sure their speeches are no more that 3 minutes long.  Set a goal to have them wrap up somewhere between 2-3 minutes.  I will try to help your students stay within time limits by making some nonverbal signals this week for them to use so they know when their time is wrapping up.  You might also consider having your students join an ICC group to give them extra opportunities to present and learn the art of public speaking.

Music:  So far everyone has remembered their tin whistles each week - hooray!  Keep bringing them - we will use these for the remainder of the semester.  If you want extra practice for the tin whistle at home, check the appendix section of the Foundations guide for sheet music to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the tin whistle.

Housekeeping: I have implemented a new incentive system due to some behavior problems that arose last week.  I am now distributing pebbles during each class.  These pebbles will be counted and "traded in" at the end of the semester for treats & prizes.  Students have the ability to earn quite a few pebbles in class (I had one student earn 23 today!).  However misbehavior will result in loss of pebbles.  Pebbles will also be rewarded during review time, so have your students brush up on their memory work so they can collect more pebbles!

I believe that's everything.  If you have questions, feel free to email me.  See you next Tuesday!

Week 6 Recap & Notes

Hi Parents!

We've made it to the halfway point of the semester!  Woo hoo!

This week we covered:

• History: the fall of Rome
• Timeline: India's Mauryan Empire - John the Baptist
• Science: major groups of invertebrates
• Latin: 2nd declension noun endings (both plural & singular)
• Geography: Roman Empire
• Math: skip counting 11's & 12's
• English: prepositions beginning with down

Next week for Fine Arts we begin using our Tin Whistle.  Please bring your whistle to class next week.  If you do not have a whistle yet, you can purchase one at Learning Express (located behind La Madeleine at Severn & 17th) for $5.

Presentation assignment for next week is a short biography & famous speech.  Begin your presentation with a 1 minute introduction of the person giving the speech, and then a 2 minute recitation or summary of the speech.  Some examples would be Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, or the Apostle Paul's speech to the Athenians (found in Acts 17).  Please practice this week and keep the presentations to 3-4 minutes in length.

Has everyone been able to get on CC Connected?  If you are still having trouble, let me know.

Please email me if you have any questions!  See you next week!

Week 2 Recap & Notes

Hi Parents!  It was great to have so many of you back after the hurricane!  I hope you all weathered the storm with no (or at the very least, minimal) damage!

Here's a recap of our topics this week:
History:  Greek & Roman gods
Timeline:  Beginning with "Hinduism in India" and the 6 cards following
Science:  Parts of an animal cell
English:  the second set of prepositions (beginning with along)
Geography:  Hebrew Empire
Latin:  1st Declension noun endings, both singular & plural
Math:  skip counting 5's & 6's

For presentation next week, the assignment is to either read their favorite Bible passage or recite it.  They can add visuals to their presentation, such as a drawing or dramatic interpretation of their passages.

Great work today!  :)

Class Tuesday the 28th has been cancelled

Hi all, CC will be cancelled this Tuesday due to the impending storm. When we return we will continue with week 3's information. We will make up the day at the end of this semester. I will be praying for all the families and please be safe. I will see everyone next Tuesday. Thanks!

Week 1 Update & Notes

Hi Foundations Parents!

Well, we survived week 1!  :)  I hope your students enjoyed class today as much as I did.


A recap of what we covered:

• History: Commandments 1-5 and the timeline cards 1-7.
• Science: Classification of living things
• Latin: noun cases & their meanings
• Math: skip counting 1's & 2's
• English grammar: definition of a preposition
• Geography: Fertile Crescent

For history: I will email out the hand motions for the history sentences for weeks 1-6.  I also encourage you to either purchase the audio CDs or sign up for CC Connected and download the history songs.  Those are a big help with learning the history sentences!

For timeline: I have timeline motions I can give to each of you, once I know you have purchased the timeline cards.  Please bring a card with you next week to show me you purchased the cards and I will send you the hand motions (this restriction is because of copyright issues).  Also, sign up for CC Connected and get the timeline song - it's awesome!

For English grammar: next week we start learning prepositions and we have hand motions and a song to use for practice.  The song can be found on the CC audio CD or on CC Connected.  I will email out the hand motions after class next week.

For geography: if you purchased maps from Ty, consider purchasing some tracing paper and having your students trace the maps like they did in class today.  Remember, we are working towards having our students draw and label the whole world!  There is also a blackline map in the back of the Foundations guide on page 217.  You can make copies of the map and have your students color/label areas on the map.  I believe the blackline map can also be downloaded from CC Connected.

For Latin: we will cover the same information for Latin next week, since this year we are focusing on nouns.  So work with your students to make the connection between noun cases and their meanings.  Chant, use a dry erase board and erase words until they learn it, or make a matching game on a piece of paper.  If you have any other ideas to help learn the Latin noun cases, forward them to all the parents!

For science: remember our image of a king's crown and working our way down.  You can also use the mnemonic, "KING PHYLUM calls his CLASS to ORDER so the FAMILY GENiUS could study SPECIES."  I also found a really neat file on CC Connected that you can print and use for your students to put the classifications in order.  The file name is CC_C1-W1_Class_LivingThings.pdf.

For math: I know this week's skip counting was pretty easy.  Just have the students sing the song and practice their counting.  It will get much harder in a few weeks!  You can also find a 200's chart on CC Connected, and you can get your students to circle/color the numbers as they count by 2's.

For art: have your students practice drawing using their OiLS!  We will use those in our drawing project next week!

For presentation next week: our class is responsible for narrating a piece of literature.  Please have your students select a book this week and practice narrating it.  Their narration needs to be between 1-2 minutes.

I think that's it!  Thanks for being such a great class today!  See you next week!

Welcome to Foundations!

Hello Foundations parents!

I'm Tara Guy, your child's Foundations tutor for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year.  A little bit of my background: I am married to Boyd Guy, who is the art director at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is also completing his masters and preparing to start his doctoral work next year.  We have one daughter, Sara Claire, who is 6.  Sara Claire is entering her second year of Foundations, and she is involved in dance, art, & science lab classes.  We are members of Edgewater, where my husband teaches the adult men's Sunday school class and I co-teach the 4 & 5 year old Mission Friends class.  We volunteer as a family each month at a nursing home/assisted living facility in our neighborhood with our life group through Edgewater.  We are huge Saints fans and try to make at least one game each year.

I am so excited about this upcoming year!  I think we're going to have a great time in Foundations, and I can't wait to dive into this wonderful material with all the students!

Your participation in class is critical to making this year a success.  We're working together as a team to guide and instruct our children.  That being said, here are a few things I will need from you this year in order to make this the best year yet:

1.  Since we only have a few hours together, the pace of the class moves pretty quickly.  I will need parents to step up and take care of preparatory and behind-the-scenes work in class.  This includes, but it not limited to,

• Passing out and collecting paper for art
• Passing out and collecting pencils when needed (art, geography, science lab, etc.)
• Making sure the tracing paper is taped to the maps before geography
• Filing papers, drawings, etc. in each student's folder
• Timing our subjects for new grammar (can use the stopwatch on my iPod)
• Playing songs for timeline, history, etc. when needed

These are all things I will need the parents to jump in and do together.  Please take initiative to see what needs to be done, because I can be scatterbrained sometimes and won't think to ask someone to file papers or collect pencils.

The timing for new grammar is important, as CC requires only 4 minutes be allotted for each new subject to be introduced.

This year we are doing geography a bit different than your children did in previous years.  As we prepare them to move into Challenge in a few years, we need to start honing the skills of being able to draw the world and its features from memory.  So this year your students will be switching from tracing/coloring with dry erase markers on the laminated maps to tracing and labeling the places with tracing paper and a pencil.  This is something you can carry over into your home study to help them learn geography.

2.  This year our class will not be doing snack time.  I know, I know - let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin.  :)  Our campus has decided to limit the snack times to just the younger classes.  So please make sure that your children have a filling, nutritious breakfast that will carry them over till lunchtime.  Please do not bring a snack for them to eat in class, because this will cause a distraction for the other students.  We have swapped the times of lunch & recess this year, so your students will get to eat lunch a half hour earlier than last year.

3.  I have copies of the presentation schedule (with topics), history sentence hand motions, and timeline motions I can distribute to you.  To get the presentation schedule and history sentence hand motions, simply send me an email (so I know you are getting these blog posts!) and I will email them out to you. The timeline information is copyrighted, so in order to send those I need to see that you have bought the cards (just like with the Veritas Press cards last year).  You can bring a card with you to class and from there I will send you the hand motions.

4.  Further on the timeline cards, we will be covering the new cards released by CC earlier this year.  CC has said that families can continue to use the VP cards if they choose, but those will not be covered in class.

5.  Please refer to the CC Handbook on the use of cell phones and electronic devices in class (if you did not get a copy of this, let me know and I will email you a copy).  Please refrain from using your phones in class.  If there is an emergency and you have a call you must take, please step into the hall to answer the call.  Part of the reason CC has this policy on phones is because we only have a few hours together and the material moves quickly.  When adults are distracted by texts and emails, it slows the class down as a whole.


Now, for the fun stuff.  :)

1.  Are you on CC Connected?  If not, I highly, highly recommend you sign up.  There are hundreds of fantastic resources, printables, games, etc. that CC parents have put together and uploaded for anyone's use... for free!  Some of the ideas I use in tutoring are ideas I've found on CC Connected.  You can also download all the audio we use in class (the timeline song alone is worth signing up for CC Connected!), and watch tutorials on all the memory work.  I believe the price is $6 per month.  If you haven't yet signed up for it or are having trouble getting on, let me or Simone know.  And if I use anything in class that I found on CC Connected, I will post here the file name and author so you can find it and download it for your personal use.

2.  I have compiled a pinterest board of CC Cycle 1 ideas I (or other CC parents) have found.  Sorry, it's not organized by subject, but you can scroll through and find different crafts, projects, books, etc. to supplement our CC memory work.  You can also search pinterest for CC Cycle 1 to find other boards other CC parents have created.

3.  Do your children love lapbooks?  Wisdom & Righteousness has made some wonderful lapbooks that cover all the Cycle 1 memory work, plus the extras in fine arts & science experiments.  A Journey Through Learning has also made some lapbooks that supplement this year's memory work.


I think that's everything I needed to say for today.  I cannot believe summer is over and we're starting another year.  Time is flying!  On that note, I'm going to go pack my gear for tomorrow, and I'll see you all in class bright and early!

(Oh, and we're meeting in room 107.)  :)

Thanks so much!
Tara