Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 2: Week 11
Memory Work Idea
Memory Mother May I Game. Play the classic Mother May I game, but the Mother must ask memory work questions! The ‘children’ ask ‘mother’ if they may take X steps/twirls/hops etc, and the ‘mother’ must require them to correctly answer a question about or recite a memory work sentence. Something like this:
“Mother, may I take 2 frog jumps?”
“Finish this line: A conjugation is a word that….”
“joins words, phrases, or clauses together”
“Yes, you may take 2 frog jumps!”
<jump> <jump>
If they get it wrong, then ‘mother’ may say “No you may NOT take 2 frog jumps” or whatever move.
Religion
Get going on Week 11 activities in the John the Baptist Fun Pack this week!
- As you learn about John the Baptist this week (either from your Children’s Bible or picture books), check out these notebooking pages. They are so open-ended, you can use them no matter how you choose to learn about John the Baptist.
Math
- How about making some pie this week? What better way to learn math than through desserts? Cut out an “R” and a “square” to decorate the top… get it Pie R Squared?
Language Arts
- Have a conjunction race in a newspaper. Assign each student a conjunction (give the younger students the easier ones like ‘and’ and ‘but’). Start a timer and see how many they can find and circle in their section of the paper!
- Try this free and fun online coordinating conjunction game.
- Stretch your student’s writing skills by making them write a story and include all the coordinating conjunctions For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So.
Latin
- Since we learn about the Romans this week in History, introduce Roman Numerals while you teach about Latin. If you don’t remember them, check out this site: JAM with Latin video.
Art
- In Art, your students will make a Lyre this week. You could go back and listen to lyre music from week 7.
- Or continue your study of Greek Architecture. Since you already made columns out of paper (and maybe a whole Parthenon!), try making columns out of a different medium, such as clay or Play-Doh.
- Go for a Greek Architecture ‘hunt’ as you do your regular activities this week around town. Can your students identify columns? Many government buildings, especially in state capitals, use Greek columns. Bring a notepad and a picnic lunch and draw a building that has columns. Can you find all three types in your city?
Music
- Learn about the Bass this week!
- Compare and contrast the violin and the bass this week. (Hint they’re both string instruments but one is high pitched and the other is low pitched) Experiment/learn about high vs low pitches if this is a new concept to your students.
- The Bass is used in a variety of ways- it lays a foundation for music. You can hear it in Jazz, Orchestra/ Symphonic music, it even shows up in rock and roll. See if you hear the bass in your favorite type of music.
History
- You may have used a dry-erase marker on your map to circle the Persian empire a few weeks ago. This week outlines the lands Alexander the Great conquered. You can reference the picture on your History Card, or check this link for a map of his territory. Do your students notice anything when comparing Alexander the Great’s empire to the Persian empire? Yes, they are nearly the same area (Alexander’s was a little larger). This area was the ‘known world’ so conquering the ‘world’ meant this same area- no one even knew about other continents that they could conquer! We will see again and again throughout history, this same ‘blob’ of land being taken over by various groups that come to power.
- Alexander the Great marched his army east conquering lands as he went, Persia and even into India. “Conquer” some lands this week in your backyard. If you had several students, you could have volunteered to be King Darius of Persia and Alexander the Great. “Battle” (safely, with sticks/toy swords- if you are ok with this kind of play) and have Alexander the Great win. Make sure you let everyone have a turn being Alexander the Great! Once the battle is won, ‘Alexander the Great’ can stake claim to the backyard (previously Persia) with a flag! To keep it going, march around to the sideyard and have another battle, claim the territory, and move on again- much like Alexander the Great did. If you don’t like fighting, just skip to the ‘claiming’ and let your students make their flags to ‘claim’ the backyard.
- Since we are getting into Romans, now would be a good time to borrow DK Eyewitness Ancient Rome from your library (or buy on Amazon). I love all the pictures and captions that go with them. Use it as quiet time reading, or choose just a couple of topics to talk about with your students.
- Several Punic Wars videos are here. These videos were funded by a game company, but you can skip that plugging for the game by going straight to 50 seconds into the video. Parental warning- the language in this one is more colloquial- I didn’t hear any awful curse words but he does say ‘heck.’ So watch it ahead of time and decide if you think it’s ok for your kids. The reason I’m still recommending them is there is a lot of information in them, and they are kind of funny. Even if you don’t let your kids watch it, you may enjoy the quick overview of Punic Wars.
- Check out this game I made about the Second Punic Wars! Hannibal surprised the Romans by heading OVER the Alps into Italy. It was a treacherous journey though, and the Carthaginians faced many hardships in the journey. Even though they eventually lost, this strategic move helped the Carthaginians ‘win’ at the beginning of the war.
Download and Print Hannibal crosses the Alps- the Game
To make your elephant pieces, fold on the solid lines to form an open-ended box shape. The bottom tabs overlap each other so you can tape or glue them.
Race to cross the Alps first!
- As you learn about the Romans through the Punic wars and the Roman Republic- wear togas! Pants/trousers were regarded as ‘unmanly’ fashion! I do recommend wearing the toga OVER your normal clothes. And maybe don’t wear them on days you do your shopping. 😉
- When you teach about the Maccabean Revolt, you can introduce your students to the Jewish Tradition of Hanukkah. (I’m all for teaching kids that other religions exist, once I think they’re old enough to grasp the concept of different beliefs). You could even do a Hanukkah craft, I like the handprint menorah at the end!
- Discuss the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes with your students this week. For your older students, you can draw a parallel with our current situation of Catholic vs various Protestant and Non-denominational churches.
Geography
- What an exciting week of Geography! Vatican City is included! Here are a few fun ideas for learning about the Vatican:
- Make an edible Vatican Flag (you’ll just have to click it to understand, I know it sounds weird).
- Color a Vatican Flag (or any of this week’s country’s flags – I don’t know how much flag coloring your students can handle though…)
- Make a pop-up Vatican and Pope Francis paper doll
- Check out this video about Saint Peter’s Basilica. Its about 10min long and shows beautiful pictures of Saint Peter’s Basilica.
- Portugal and Spain:
- Fatima is in Portugal! Teach your children about the story of Fatima, the three children, Our Lady of Fatima’s promises and how the sun danced and changed colors.
- There’s a Rick Steve’s video on Portugal’s heartland. (I like the topics he covers and lengths of his videos).
- Check out this Rick Steve’s video on the “Micro countries” which covers three of the tiny countries in this week’s Geography list: Andorra, San Marino and the Vatican. You also see a bit of Lichtenstein (a review of wwek 8), and Monaco.
- Make some Paella this week for dinner, it looks delicious and healthy. And it’s a common dish in Spain! Try your hand at ‘fried milk’ or leite frito for dessert. They eat this in Portugal and Spain.
- Italian food can be as easy or complicated as you like! You could simply make your favorite spaghetti recipe this week, or you could try something a little more authentic like Insalata Caprese, or some Pasta E Fagioli. Honestly, when I was in Italy, a lot of our meals consisted of a chunk of bread, some cold meats, and maybe some cheese.
- Don’t forget yourself this week in Geography! Spain and Italy are known for their wine, so have a glass- in the name of education of course! 😉
Science
- Make science with snack time this week. Have a Homogeneous Mixture snack day- serve something that you make but is not separable (some ideas: blended yogurt (not fruit on the bottom!), smoothies, sugar cookies, carrots, really anything). The next day have a Heterogeneous Mixture snack day- serve something you CAN easily separate- think chex mix, a mixture of cereals, fruit salad etc. Have them separate it before enjoying!
- In case you’re still teaching about the periodic table, I found this cute online game to help your students practice remembering the elements and symbols. This is another periodic table elements game, and they donate 10 grains of rice for every answer you get right!
- This is a pretty good video about mixtures. It’s about 15min long and is basically a guy teaching chemistry in a video.
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