Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 1: Week 9

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Religion

• Pull out your Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Fun Pack and complete the activities for Week 9!

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Fun Pack-Printable

• Have your students recite the Religion memory work this week.  Then discuss it (or have your students write about it).  How do we ‘know’ God?  What are some ways we can know God better? Are we ever finished knowing God?  How do we love God? How do we serve God?

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Math

• Get a fun set of Tantagrams and see how many different shapes you can make using the quadrilateral pieces.  Those squares, rectangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids are critical to most designs.  The Melissa and Doug ones are my favorite.  If you want, you can buy some foam board or cardboard and make your own Tantagram set using this black and white template.

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Language arts

• This week students learn about adverbs.  They modify a verb!  Play “Mother May-I” using only the action ‘walk’ and as many different adverbs as you can.  If you’ve never played Mother May I, here’s how it’s done.  Go outside and determine a ‘mother’ (one student) and the ‘children’ (the rest of the students).  Establish a starting line and a finish line.  All the children start at the starting line and take turns asking “Mother May I walk ____ for 5 steps?”  For this week the children can only use the verb ‘walk’ and pick an adverb to go with it. ( Walk slowly, walk happily, walk tiredly, walk excitedly, walk sadly, etc) The mother either replies “Yes, you may” or “No, you may not do that, but you may walk _____ for ___ steps instead” and inserts his/her own suggestion. Even if the mother makes an unfavorable suggestion, the child must still perform it. The winner is the first to make it to the finish line.  Then, take turns being the mother and picking adverbs!  Challenge them to only use each adverb only once during each game.  (For example, every child can’t ask to walk quickly, they have to switch it up, maybe walk fast, walk expediently, walk sluggishly).

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History

• If you live near San Antonio, TX (or are planning to drive near it on a trip sometime), be sure to visit the Alamo!  What better way is there to learn history than by going where the action happened.  I had the opportunity to visit the Alamo years ago. I still remember it!
• Have your students complete a writing exercise titled:  Why Texas is known as the lone star state.  Teach your younger students about the Texas War of Independence and allow them to write what they learn.  Challenge your older students to find the information on their own, write a rough draft to organize the information into an essay, and a formal draft clean of any mistakes or typos.  Don’t forget to examine the back of your Texas quarter if you’ve been collecting!
• There are a lot of great children’s level books on the Alamo.  I love all the Picture the Past books including the one titled Life at the Alamo.  Consider purchasing one of these for your own collection, or visit your library for a large selection of books about the Alamo.

• The Telegraph was a huge improvement in communication in the 1800s. Print copies of the Morse Code and send messages to each other at the dinner table by tapping (lightly) on the table. It takes more concentration than your students are probably used to, to understand the message. You can also visit this site and send Morse code messages to your friends in your Catholic Schoolhouse Program this week.
• Make a Morse code bracelet or necklace for your mom/dad/sister/friends that says “I Love You” in Morse Code.  You could also make a necklace or bracelet with your name.  Find instructions in the Morse Code Jewelry Post.
• Print a blank map of the US (Click here for a US Map) and draw the path of the Oregon Trail on it!
• If you’d like a book recommendation try If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine.  It’s great for your 2-5 graders to read and understand, and for the younger ones the illustrations are great.

If You Traveled West In A Covered Wagon

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• There are a couple of Henry David Thoreau quotes on the CSH History cards already, but one that I really like is “I make myself rich, by making my wants few.” Use this quote as a writing subject.  What does it mean to you?  Is it true for you?  Henry David Thoreau was a philosopher (among many other things), so this week allow your students to philosophize on materialism and the place and purpose of material things in our lives.  How can we be rich by making our wants few?  (The word “philosophy” comes from the greek word, which literally means “love of wisdom”.)

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Geography

• Check out the Mid-Atlantic States Lapbook!
• If you have a large US Map (maybe under your clear tablecloth?), have your students use tracing paper to trace the Mid-Atlantic States.  As they are tracing, have them listen to and sing the song from the Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 1 CD!
• How is your quarter collection coming?  Look at the backs of the Mid-Atlantic state quarter and discuss why each picture was chosen.  What is significant in the history or character of each state?

 

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Art

•  Did you know Audubon drew all his birds to scale?  This means that if a goose was 2ft tall in real life, his painting of a goose was 2 feet tall.  Choose a doll or stuffed animal and draw it to scale this week.  Use a tape measure to measure the animal or doll’s height and width in various places, and match those dimensions on your paper.  Is it easier or more difficult to draw a picture to scale? For the youngest students, they can use a small and simple object, for example, a toy building block or tennis ball to draw.  They can even use the side of the block to trace it onto the paper- then you know it’s to scale.

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Science

• Watch a cool video and learn about clouds from the NASA Website.
• Make clouds out of puffy paint for a fun craft activity.  Mix equal parts of glue and shaving cream.  Use your fingers or paintbrushes to put some puffy paint clouds on blue construction paper.  Look in the appendix of the Tour 1 Science Book for examples of clouds and challenge your students to make a specific kind of cloud.

Here are some cumulus clouds (“Just Glob it on there!”):

Cirrus Clouds (“Glob and smear!”):

Stratus clouds (“smear, smear, smear!”):

Clouds made by a preschooler:

We ALL had fun making puffy paint clouds!

Thanks for reading!

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Did you Miss week 8? Check it out here!