Grammar 1 - Week 22

Middle School Week 22

Scavenger Hunts by Let's Roam!

The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Hi MS families! This was a very crazy week for all of us--with Music rehearsals, we did not get to every subject, but I squeezed in what I could! As I write this, I do not know how the performance will go, but I can tell you about how your students handled practice. I've been so impressed with them--not foremost for their acting, reading, or singing ability (although they're good there), but because they were consistently responsible, helpful, and demonstrated great leadership. Our students were responsible not only for long practices, but for setting up beforehand and tearing down afterward, to ensure that the nave was ready for the daily Liturgies. They helped put new feet on the risers to protect the solea, they got the props ready, and they set up the microphones and lights. They also helped guide and teach the younger students, and led the whole school in singing the songs and hymns. When we (the teachers) put together an edited script, we used their notes, and a lot of their ideas. Perhaps what stands out to me the most is that this is a stressful time of year, and this was a stressful week for us teachers, and they actively made it much better than it could have been. I had cause to talk to them early in the week about how they have the power to make the lives of those around them better or worse, and are called to choose to make it better. They definitely made mine better this week, which I told them today. I didn't have to spend those practices embarrassed or worried about their behavior or their stamina; on the contrary I could count on them to help, and spend my own time helping the younger classes and trying to fill in where necessary to solve problems or handle logistics. In addition, several of our students are loud, clear, and confident readers and singers. I'm not their music teacher, but I did try to help them practice this week, so I got to see first-hand how quickly and well they can pick up songs. In the practices, they helped carry the whole school. A couple of our students took it upon themselves to memorize their lines--a feat I assumed would be impossible when I realized how little time they actually had to practice, all things considered. Again, as I write this I do not know what may happen in the performance itself tonight, but even if there's some problem, you should know how impressive this all was this week, and how well it reflects on your students. I've taught students this age before, but there's not many I would have trusted to be quite this responsible. Faith and Literature In Faith this week, we got into Joshua and Judges. We covered the story of Jericho, and focused on how Rahab's faithfulness saved her and her whole household. Judges is a bit of a depressing low point in Scripture--the Israelites repeatedly do not follow God, things go really badly, and everything gets worse and worse. Still, we discussed how God repeatedly saves His people, and familiarized ourselves with the stories of Deborah, Gideon, etc. In Literature, we continued with Black Ships Before Troy, which of course is the story of the Iliad. These chapters got us to the climax of the stories of Achilles and Hector, their deaths, and the aftermath. Next week, we'll finish up--this version, unlike the original Iliad, includes the famous story of the Horse! *Just as a note here, I did in fact take a bit of pity on the students, and gave them class time this afternoon to complete their reading homework for Monday. So, it's likely that if your students tells you he or she did it already, that's true. Composition There wasn't much time for Composition this week, but we did think about description and dialogue in stories, and worked with an example (the story of Athena and Arachne). History and Geography We had a brief bit of time for History this week. We covered some things we know about Egyptian daily life through archaeology and art, and began talking about some prominent New Kingdom pharaohs. Logic This week in Logic, we introduced the tu quoque fallacy! Latin In Latin this week, we continued working with basic verbs and the accusative case (direct objects). We also sang and discussed Adeste Fidelis, from the Music program! Math We had a brief chance to cover some math this week, which I used to work with the students on negative numbers and negation. Specials and Other Notes We did have PE this week, and of course tons of Music! No Art, sadly, but we did have one of our Greek classes. On Wednesday, we celebrated St. Nicholas with some cookie decorating and treats. Thanks to the parents who provided the cookies and materials! I gave most of my extra notes up at the top! Next week is our last before break--I know everyone's looking forward to it!

This was our shortest scheduled week of the year! Nevertheless, we managed to fit in a couple things. I hope everyone has a wonderful little break and a very happy Thanksgiving. Know that I am thankful for all of you, and especially for the students you're raising, and the opportunity to teach them this year! Faith and Literature This week in Faith, we discussed highlights from the rest of Exodus. We thought about the incident with the golden calf, why Moses's face was shining after speaking with God, why there are so many instructions for the Tabernacle, altar, Ark of the Covenant, etc., and the parallels and continuities between worship as prescribed by God in the Old Testament and the worship of the Church today. We also attended Liturgy for the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. In Literature, we hit a couple of famous Greek myths. We discussed Prometheus, Pandora and her box, Phaethon and the chariot of the Sun, Echo and Narcissus, and Hades and Persephone. We found morals, discussed characters, and found parallels. This is an exciting moment in Literature: Students should have brought home a copy of *Black Ships Before Troy*, which we're beginning to read. (Chapters 1–3 are due by Monday.) This is a retelling of the *Iliad,* which is possibly the most famous and influential story in existence after the Bible. We'll be working through that for the next couple weeks! Composition This week for Grammar, we reviewed direct objects. In Writing, we worked a bit more with parable models. We wrapped up with "The Rich Fool," and then considered a couple parables that aren't in Scripture: one from the Talmud (medieval Jewish), and one from China. We continued to work with description, setting, morals, and story structure. History and Geography This week in History, we wrapped up our consideration of the Minoans by learning about their economy, and their dramatic collapse as a result of a volcanic eruption! We then considered the Mycenaeans, which gives us the background we need to learn the story of the Trojan War. Logic No Logic this week--we went to Liturgy this morning! Latin No Latin this week--we went to Liturgy this morning! Science In Science, we took the data we had collected last Thursday on the amount of salt, fresh, and frozen water on Earth, added it up, and put it into a graph. We worked especially on graph elements and neatness in presenting data. Mathematics Math this week was a combo with Science--we reviewed the power of the commutative and associative properties for addition by adding up the long string of numbers we had counted. We covered how the commutative and associative properties allow feats of mental math and shortcuts to tedious arithmetic problems. Try asking your student what the sum of every integer from 1–20 is, or 1–50, or 1–100! Mr. Schwartz (the elder) also came in, and students enjoyed the chance to try a Lego project. They were asked to build a simple machine with a color sensor that, in conjunction with some basic code on an iPad, would play sounds when pointed at specific colors. Students got a chance to see how programming logic works--and to try some troubleshooting! Specials and Other Notes We finished out this week by joining Grammar 1 for some apple turkeys and (vegan) apple pie. Mrs. Schwartz always makes those as part of her Thanksgiving party, and this year she thought of us and asked if our students could come help hers with some of the instructions that the young ones find a bit challenging by themselves! I was pleased to offer our students a chance to be helpful role models--and a bit of pie. Our students met with Mrs. Northend this week for Music and PE. I saw them bust out some floor hockey sticks, and I know they're gearing up for the Nativity program! The forts out in he parking lot seem to be doing well, in case you're curious--I was told the rampart wall is done now, and both forts seem to be looking forward to decorating for Christmas!

The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Hi! My name is Kurt Schwartz and I'm starting a new STEM unit this quarter with the middle school students! About once every week or two, I will be leading a unit about math and engineering, using LEGO education Spike Prime (robot building and programming) and LEGO BricQ (physics and engineering) kits. I've been an (electrical) engineer for over 38 years, many of which I spent professionally training other engineers how to design chips using computer languages. I currently work for Apple at our engineering site in Beaverton, where I'm on the chip design and verification team. This week was our first lesson, where the students first learned about the "factorial" mathematical operator, and how it is used to calculate how many different combinations of some size can be made from a given number. The students calculated that we can make 15 different possible partner pairs from the students in the class. Ask your student to explain factorial! This will help them review and remember! I had then planned to have the students work through the short tutorials in the LEGO iPad app, but as soon as the lids came off the LEGO tubs, there was no stopping these kids! Within minutes, we had motorized vehicles being driven across the floor, proximity sensors being used, programs being created (LEGO uses a "word block" - based programming language based on "Scratch"), and sound wave graphs being manipulated to produce weird sound effects. Who needs tutorials?! I was really impressed by the initiative, ingenuity and enthusiasm that the students demonstrated. I can tell, based on their reactions and the excitement in their eyes as they experimented, that this unit will be a huge hit! At the end, I explained to them that what they just did - first learning the nature of things (what these things do), then creating an idea of something they wanted to make it do, then applying what they knew to make that idea a reality - that's what engineering is, and they just did it! I look forward to see what we can accomplish this year!