Middle School Week 12
Hi MS families! I hope you've all had a blessed start to the fast! As a reminder, next week we will only have school on Monday and Tuesday. I'm finishing up some comments on the progress reports, so those should be out early next week.
Faith and Literature
This week in Faith, we were in the book of Exodus. We read about the plagues of Egypt, and thought about how this was a judgment of the Egyptian gods. We discussed the Passover, and its connection to Pascha. And, finally, we read about the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, including the 10 Commandments! We finished out the week this afternoon by watching The Prince of Egypt--a classic animated movie that retells the story of the Exodus--and we thought a little bit about what was changed for the purposes of the movie's storytelling. We also attended Liturgy this week for the Feast of St. Matthew, and wished our own Fr. Matthew (and several others) many years! In Literature, we read a few more Chinese myths and legends, and then got into Greece. We read about the Olympian gods, and considered their characters, while familiarizing ourselves with classic stories like that of Athena and Arachne or Hades and Persephone. Having this background will allow us to more fruitfully read the stories of the Iliad and Odyssey, which we will begin shortly.
Composition
For Grammar this week, we continued getting comfortable with pronouns and prepositions, and introduced direct objects as another noun/pronoun job in a sentence. (This will soon help a great deal in Latin, as the accusative case gets introduced.) In Writing, we considered parables and story structure, and worked on sequencing a story, setting description, finding a moral, and descriptive synonyms. We focused especially on the Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Rich Fool, both from the Gospel according to St. Luke, as our models.
History and Geography
This week in History, we introduced the Minoans as one of the earliest civilizations of Greece, and therefore Europe generally. We learned about the impressive archaeological sites they left behind--especially the palace of Knossos on Crete. Then, students were able to construct a model diagram of a room of the palace, including Minoan-style murals for the walls.
Logic
This week in Logic, we continued working with the ad hominem abusive fallacy by considering examples from advertising and politics.
Latin
This week in Latin, students either finished up the test from last week (if necessary), or practiced their numbers by playing I Piscatum! (Go Fish!)
Science
This week in Science, aside from working on our chicken mummies, (almost done!), we began considering Earth systems. We took the Dust Bowl as as example of the interaction of several systems, and the consequences one system can have on others. Then we considered Earth's hydrosphere by collecting data on how much fresh vs. salt water there is on Earth, which we will use to work on our graphing skills once more.
Mathematics
This week in Math was exciting--we had Mr. Schwartz (the elder) in for the first time! He was able to tell the students a bit about his career as an engineer, and introduced them to factorials and calculating combinations and permutations. He also, of course, introduced them to some of the LEGO robotics materials! For more on that, check out ASA's blog: https://www.asapdx.org/blog. We also (as a whole class) took a deeper look at some arithmetic operations and properties that become more and more relevant as students prepare for algebra. For example, we considered how to use the commutative and associate properties to easily solve problems like "What is the sum of the first 61 positive integers?" or "Compute the product 25 x (12 x 8) in your head."
Specials and Other Notes
We had an almost full week of PE and Music with Mrs. Northend, until she got sick Wednesday afternoon. We hope she feels better soon! I heard students starting to work on some Christmas music before that. In Art, I saw students painting with animal subjects. In Greek, Ms. Karafotias told me that they are working on Greek articles and grammatical gender, and noted that everyone's pronunciation is good! Fr. Matthew came in Wednesday afternoon to read to the students--he alternates between a section from a catechism book and a saint's life chosen by one of the students. Out in the parking lot, several students have been busy during recess constructing a fort rampart! 7 Wonders is still a favorite for free moments indoors.