Week 3: Sept 13-17

Religion & Bible

personal devotions and journaling daily

weekly bible memory verse: "Come to me you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28

Reading

Reading comprehension: reading articles and poems and answer questions on content.

Writing

from dictation

MaTh

reviewing multiplication tables 0-12

fun facts about 9

Science

Heat Energy

*measuring heat energy

-joules

-James Joule's experiment

*expansion

-thermostats

*thermal capacity

*temperature is measured in degrees (celsius and fahrenheit an kelvin)

-thermometers and how they work

Language/Spelling/Grammar

Action verbs

-tenses: past, present, future

History & Geography

The Growth of the USA 1800-1900

-Buying land

-War with Mexico

-Moving West

- Gold rush

-taking land: Warring with the Native Americans

Art & Music Appreciation

U.S. History

Reviewing pilgrims coming to a new land

looking for religious freedom

*the Mayflower

*Plymouth Rock

*early settelments

P.E.

Field trip Friday!

Visiting Copshaholm, the Oliver mansion.

(My dad had the pleasure of being one of the gardeners there this summer. Can't wait to go back to this wonderful house and look around the gardens!)

James Oliver was a 20th century industrialist who invented the chilled plow in 1857.

Week 2: Sept 7-10

Religion & Bible

personal devotions and journaling daily

weekly bible memory verse: "Behold! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the word!"

Reading

Reading comprehension: reading an article and answer questions

Writing

from dictation

MaTh

place values up to 6 digits - (review)

Science

Energy - part 2

*chemical

*potential

*kinetic

learning the law of conserving energy

and what is an energy chain?

Language/Spelling/Grammar

Noun review

-irregular nouns

-capitalization of proper nouns

History & Geography

Africa under European control

Art & Music Appreciation

U.S. History

Reviewing pilgrims coming to a new land

looking for religious freedom

*the Mayflower

*Plymouth Rock

*early settelments

P.E.

Week 1: Sept 1-3

Religion & Bible

personal devotions and journaling daily

weekly bible memory verse: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

Reading

Reading comprehension: reading an article and answer questions

Writing

from dictation

MaTh

place values

Science

Energy

*chemical

*potential

*kinetic

learning the law of conserving energy

and what is an energy chain?

Experiment - potential stored energy changed to kinetic energy

needed: match box, 2 used matches, rubber band, small square of cardboard and water

1. empty, insert matches in the back and stretch rubber band across the two sticks.

place the piece of cardboard in the rubber band and twist it to wind it up.

2. float the boat in the water, releasing the band

Language/Spelling/Grammar

Noun review

-common and proper nouns

-singular and plural nouns

-possessive nouns

History & Geography

Africa under European control

Art & Music Appreciation

U.S. History

Reviewing pilgrims coming to a new land

looking for religious freedom

*the Mayflower

*Plymouth Rock

*early settelments

P.E.

4th grade schedule

Monday:

morning chores

breakfast

devotions and journaling

9:00 Math 40 minutes

9:40 Spelling 15 minutes

10:00 History 60 minutes

11:00 Grammar 20 minutes

11:20 memory work 10 minutes

11:30 reading 30 minutes

12:00 lunch

12:30 piano practice

1:00 writing/penmanship 30 min

1:30 Latin 45 minutes

2:15

Tuesday:

morning chores

breakfast

devotions and journaling

9:00 Math 40 minutes

9:40 Spelling 15 minutes

10:00 Science 90 minutes

11:30 Grammar 20 minutes

11:50 memory work 10 minutes

12:00 lunch

12:30 piano practice

1:00 reading 30 minutes

1:30 writing from dictation 30 minutes

2:00 Latin 45 minutes

2:45 Art 60 minutes

Wednesday:

morning chores

breakfast

devotions and journaling

9:00 Math 40 minutes

9:40 Spelling 15 minutes

10:00 History 60 minutes

11:00 Grammar 20 minutes

11:20 memory work 10 minutes

11:30 reading 30 minutes

12:00 lunch

12:30 piano practice

1:00 Latin 45 minutes

1:45

Thursday:

morning chores

breakfast

devotions and journaling

9:00 Math 40 minutes

9:40 Spelling 15 minutes

10:00 Science 90 minutes

11:30 Grammar 20 minutes

11:50 memory work 10 minutes

12:00 lunch

12:30 piano practice

1:00 reading 30 minutes

1:30 write from dictation 30 minutes

2:00 Latin 45 minutes

2:45 Music (this will change to 4:00 when choir begins)

Friday:

morning chores

breakfast

devotions and journaling

9:00 Math 40 minutes

9:40 writing from dictation

10:00 History 60 minutes

11:00 Grammar 20 minutes

11:20 memory work 10 min

11:30 reading 30 minutes

12:00 lunch

12:30 piano practice

1:00 writing/penmanship 30 minutes

1:30 Latin 45 minutes

2:15

4th grade: Religion, Art and Music

Religion:

*Learning about world religions through the study of history

*Our family's faith 10-15 minutes daily as part of family devotions

*Weekly Scripture memorization

*Personal devotions and journaling

Art:

1 hour a week (Tuesdays) :

*picture study

*art projects

Music:

1 hour a week (Thursdays):

*memorize a hymn and learn it's story

*study a composer

*listen to classical music

*piano lesson

*daily piano practice - 30 minutes

*participate in a community choir

4th grade Science: Physics

For the first year whiles studying the ancients N learned about those things the ancients could see - animal life, the human body and plants. In the second year he studied facts about the earth and sky designed to go along with the medieval-early Renaissance period when men like Copernicus and Tycho Brahe would have been watching the heavens.

The third year was focused on basic chemistry - atoms and molecules, what elements are and how they interact. History lessons were in tandem and N studied the years when the first great chemists lived.

Now, in the 4th year as he studies modern times in history, N will be learning basic physics and will be introduced to the elements of computer science.

The divisions of Science studied in this order, move from the most concrete to the most abstract and movess with the student's ability to process and idea and understand the concepts.

A classical education is organized around reading, writing, math and history so especially in the early years, science tends to take a secondary place and some classical academies leave it out altogether. However this young age is such a time of discovery that I think it should be studied gently and at the students leading within the divisions.

"Physics is simply the study of the physical world and how it works. The way sound travels, magnetism, the laws of electricity, energy, and motion -- these are the concepts of physics"(The Well Trained Mind).

Tuesdays and Thursdays, priorities this year will be experiment focused.

Topics will cover

*Matter

-Air

-Water

*Mechanical Energy and Machines

*Heat

*Sound

*Light

*Magnetism and Electricity

A physics notebook will be divided in half: "Experiments" and "Finding Out More"

*2 experiments per week

*9 experiments per chapter

After reading the science lesson, complete narration, perform experiment and fill out an experiment page in the notebook.

4th grade History and Geography

I'm still basing my schedule and curriculum choices on the suggestions found in the Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Modern Age - 1850 to the present, Usborne Encyclopedia of World History.

We will follow the same pattern as before with narration (I read the lesson and have N write short compositions of 2-3 paragraphs), illustrations, coloring pages, maps and library visits.

This is the perfect time to dig in to United States History as a separate History subject, although we did a little bit last term.

Goals for history this year will be:

*Memorize the 50 states and their capitals and be able to locate them on the map

*Memorize the U.S. Presidents

*Memorize the Preamble to the Constitution

*Memorize the Gettysburg Address

*know the purpose of the ammendments to the Constitution

*Memorize the dates of the major wars from 1850 to the present

*Spend 3-6 weeks on our state's history

*Field trips to historic local sites

*State scrapbook

*Complete a U.S.A. Flag timeline

Topics we will cover:

Africa under European control

the Indian mutinies

the Crimean War

the Victorian Era

the War between the States (Civil War)

exploration of the American West

Euro-American conflict with the Native American tribes

the Boxer Rebellion

World War I

the Russian Revolution

the Soviet Union

the Great Depression

the New Deal

civil war in Spain

the Axis and the Allies

World War II

Nazi Germany/Hitler

the Holocaust

Zionism/the Jews' return to Palestine

apartheid/South African segregation

China under Mao

the Korean War

the civil-rights movement

the Vietnam War

landing on the moon

List of important Men and Women to cover:

Andrew Jackson

Louis Joseph Papineau

Samuel Morse

Commodore Matthew Perry

Santa Anna

Robert E. Lee

Abraham Lincoln

David Livingston

Otto von Bismarck

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Karl Marx

Queen Victoria

Victor Emmanuel II

Susan B. Anthony

Florence Nightingale

Harriet Tubman

Ulysses S. Grant

Catewayo of the Zulus

Sitting Bull

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

George Custer

Claude Monet

Alexander Graham Bell

Thomas Edison

Mutsuhito (emperor of Japan)

Theodore Roosevelt

Henry Ford

Wilbur and Orville Wright

Mahatma Gandhi

Vladimir Lenin

Winston Churchill

Josef Stalin

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Benito Mussolini

Adolf Hitler

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Charles de Gaulle

Francisco Franco

Mao Zedong

Czar Nicholas II

Amelia Earhart

Albert Einstein

Charles Lindbergh

John F. Kennedy

Nelson Mandela

Margaret Thatcher

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Neil Armstrong

Saddam Hussein

Bill Gates

Ronald Reagan

4th grade: Math

Work on a math lesson (concept or drill) 40-60 minutes a day.

This year I believe we will be using Singapore Math, but here we are just before the start of school and a decision has yet to be made. I'll put a bookmark here.

4th grade: Language/Spelling/Grammar

Spelling - 15 minutes daily

N will receive spelling list on Monday and will write each word twice

Tuesday N will write a sentence for each spelling word

Wednesday N will put the words in alphabetical order

Thursday N will have a spelling quiz; any incorrect words will be written 5 times each

Reading - 30 minutes of assigned reading daily

Grammar lesson - 20-30 minutes daily

Memory - 10 minutes daily

Fun books - reading 30-60 minutes daily

Writing - longer letters to friends and family, once evert 2 weeks

-from dictation 2-3 days/week

-writing program 20-30 minutes 2-3 days/week

Latin - memorize vocabulary and basic rules of syntax; study 45 min. daily

A fresh start

Well, we're back to the books and excited for a new term and a new year. Noah begins his fourth grade and Bronwen, kindergarten! My goal for this year is to more faithfully record our lesson plans and activities here at Little Gray School House.

Let me remind you that a classical education is organized around reading, writing, arithmetic skills and history. We'll round things out with science, music, art and poetry.