9/7

This is the start of something good! I got to meet 16 beautiful 3rd and 4th graders today and boy was it fun! (We missed you Jackson and Miah G).

A quick note in case you don't make it through the recap: It's come to my attention that the backbacks are quite heavy with all of the supplies. I'm working on a way to remedy this. For right now, I think it will work for the students to leave both the Science textbook and IEW binder at home (the atlas stays at home as well). For the Science textbook, they will use this mostly for homework - I will bring the copies needed for class experiments and expect them to bring their binder with vocab cards to class to use during the experiments and extensions. For IEW, we work mostly out of the workbook in class so I will give each student a folder for transporting their drafts to and from school and you can file them in the binder at home until we need it in class.

Here's the play by play...

SCIENCE:

We opened the day with prayer and a morning Benediction: "I'm not what I do. I'm not what I have. I'm not what others say about me. I am the beloved of God. It's who I am. No one can take it from me. I don't have to hurry. I don't have to worry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His love with the world."

We read a devotional out of Louie Giglio's Indescribable about how God started with a blank page and created everything we know and see - just imagine the story He can write with our lives.

Next, I introduced each student to their table team with the help of your encouraging notes. Thank you for taking the time to write them. I think it really helped the students feel confident and seen on the first day. The table teams worked together to choose roles for each member (Captain, Secretary, Inspector, Supply Chief and Positivity Police).

We set up our Science binder and then the students worked together to create a class contract. I acted as the scribe and they came up with some really solid guidelines for us to follow. We noticed how often they used the word "other" in their rules and how obvious it was that they really care about each other already. We will all sign the contract next week, but here are the rules they chose:

1. We will have our supplies.

2. We will listen when others are talking.

3. We will stay focused through the whole class.

4. We will help and include others.

5. We will ask questions when we are unsure.

6. We will practice self-control.

7. We will honor the space and others.

Geography:

We opened with the flag salute (thanks for leading us Jacob) then set up our Geography notebooks. Some students did not have the supplies to add titles to their dividers. If this is your student, please help them prepare the binders at home so they are ready for next week.

To introduce World Geography we looked at a ball and an orange. We discussed the globe and concluded that our world is more like the orange (slightly flat on the top and bottom) than the ball. We read a poem by Montgomery and a chapter out of Charlotte Mason's Geography book. We learned one way that people discovered the earth was round (in at least one direction): you can start at a point and continue in the same direction and arrive back at that same point.

We introduced maps. To fully appreciate maps, we attempted to make our own. The students worked in table groups to create a map of the classroom using graph paper. They realized it can be quite challenging, that a map key is helpful, and scale is needed (more on this next week). When they completed their map I added an "X" where the treasure (read: suckers) was hidden and gave it to a different table team to use to find the treasure. Everyone was successful (and enthusiastic)! They concluded that maps can make getting where you want to go much easier! I reminded them that God gave us a map too (the Bible) and it can be really helpful in getting us where we want to go (near God himself).

Finally, we began our Hidden Country Projects. The students were so excited to work on these that they didn't want to go to recess. I can't wait to see what they come up with! The instructions (with an example) are linked in the homework below.

IEW:

We opened with our memory verse for the week. I read it from the Scriptures and then we learned the motions from the Seeds Family Worship video. We talked about how our good God desires ALL people to be near him. Feel free to use these videos at home throughout the week. We will memorize a new verse every two weeks to give us time to truly hide it away in our hearts.

We reviewed KWO (Key Word Outlines) and talked about some common symbols and abbreviations (located on p. 10 in the workbook). We read "Floating Rocks" together and created a KWO for it. We reminded the outline that it works for us, not the other way around and tried narrating the passage using only the outline. The students will practice this skill with another passage for homework and I know there were a couple students who didn't quite get the example outline finished in class so I have attached a full example outline from the passage that we worked on (their outlines do not have to be the exact same) to the bottom of the homework page below.

Every student earned their punch card today!

What a wonderful start to the year! Your children are truly a gift. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to reach out!

Divider Tabs:

Science: Experiments, Notes, Review

Geography: Mapping, World, Europe, Oceania, South America, Africa, Asia, North America

IEW: Rough Draft, Final Draft, Paper

WEEK 1 HOMEWORK: