Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 4 ~ Catholic Missionary Family

Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 4
I'm blogging my way through our four year curriculum program so I don't forget everything that worked for us! Please feel free to use what works for your family and share in the comments anything you would add. For more on Classically Catholic Memory go here.

Religion

Lesson 1
We explored an online lesson on infallibility from Family Catechism this week. The lesson is more on the infallibility of the pope than the Church, but I couldn't find much else on the topic. If you haven't introduced abortion to your kiddos, don't watch Sr. Jean Vianney's video.

Lesson 2
For our second lesson we used the Baltimore Catechism #2 to read more about infallibility. You can find the lesson on page 79.

Latin
We are learning the Salve Regina by watching and listening to this version on youtube. I like this one because it has both Latin and English subtitles, as well as beautiful art.

History

Lesson 1: Cartier and Champlain

Kevin used Famous Explorers: Jacques Cartier and Kids Can Read: Samuel de Champlain to teach the kids about Cartier and Champlain.

Then they tried their hand at cartography and made their own maps, just like the early explorers did. Pal loved this activity, Bean... well, she didn't finish her map.

Lesson 2: Marquette and Jolliet

Marquette and Jolliet: Quest for the Mississippi was the book of choice for learning about these two explorers. You can also check out Jolliet and Marquette: Explorers of the Mississippi for additional information on Fr. Marquette, who was a Jesuit Priest, and his companion Jolliet.

Update: Have your kids read Father Marquette and the Great Rivers from the Catholic Vision Books series or Where Roams the River: A story of Father Marquette, S.J.

Lesson 3: LaSalle

To teach the kids about LaSalle, we all listened a 15 minutes episode of The Frontier Fighters titled Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle. The Frontier Fighters was a popular radio program in the 1930s that told of the settlement of the American west. We had to pause it a few times to explain what was going on, but the kids really enjoyed listening to the dramatization.

Science

Lesson 1:
Here are the supplies needed for the first lesson on chemical reactions:

To start we distinguished the difference between a physical change and a chemical change. First, I let the kids crumble and cut up a piece of paper. We then talked about why the paper physically changed, but didn't chemically change.

Then we lit the paper on fire.

That is always fun... and helped demonstrate a chemical change, which is a change that creates a new substance, or ashes and gas in this case.

Next, we followed the instructions in the CCM teacher text and looked for signs of chemical reactions.

We mixed baking soda with lemon juice and saw bubbles...

We watched apples turn brown...

And we formed a precipitate from milk and vinegar...

Finally, the kids watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Chemical Reactions on youtube. Whoever said science isn't fun hasn't spent some time learning about chemical reactions.

Lesson 2:
Here are the supplies needed for the second lesson on endothermic vs exothermic reactions:

Not pictured: Bigger cups and a pan.. you'll see why.

First we reviewed physical changes vs chemical changes by making this booklet for our chemistry lapbooks.

Then we observed an endothermic reaction using water and Epsom salts. When buying Epsom salts I felt the need to keep explaining to people that I needed them for a SCIENCE EXPERIMENT, not because this 36 weeks pregnant lady needed them for hemorrhoid issues. Yep, I can have insecurity issues.

So we mixed water and epsom salts and watched the temperature drop. Then we discussed how it took energy for the Epsom salts to react with the water. The absorption (ENtering - EN-do-thermic) of that energy from the water caused the temperature of the water to drop, causing an endothermic reaction.

Next we observed an exothermic reaction using water, baking soda, and DampRid. This time when we mixed the three we watched the temperature rise for an example of an exothermic reaction. This time energy was being released (EXiting - EX-o-thermic), causing the temperature to rise. The details are in you teachers text.

Wait, that's what should have happened, but it's not what actually happened.

This is why you need a bigger cup and a pan. The reaction bubbled over. I should have know this would happen since baking soda was in the mix, but that didn't register until after the explosion. And, sadly this fail became epic when the temperature didn't even rise like it should have. My only explanation is this:

The DampRid is over a year past its expiration date... and I just bought it last week! Apparently this stuff isn't flying off the shelves, so check the date on yours when you go to buy it and let me know if that makes a difference.

We finished off the lesson by reading The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake. The challenge after the book was to decide if baking a cake is endothermic or exothermic. (P.S. It's an endothermic process, not reaction, if you want to get technical. The cake is absorbing the heat from the oven to bake, the cake is not releasing it's own heat into the oven. P.S.S. I learned these things from Mr. Kent, not my own high school chemistry class where somehow somebody convinced our teacher to let us watch Billy Madison... because some scenes take place in a science class. Brick and mortar education at it's finest.)

Math

Lesson 1
For math this week we started with a multiples memory game that I learn from our RightStart Math program. I mixed up cards with the multiples of 4 and 5 and then laid them facedown like you would for memory. Next, each player was assigned a set of multiples and we took turns flipping cards trying to find our set. If you found a card that belonged in your set you kept flipping until you found one that belonged in your opponents set. After a player found all of the cards in their set, they were declared the winner.

Lesson 2
Our next lesson was inspired by Chalk Talk. We took popsicles sticks with the multiples of five and pressed them in order into playdough. Then we played with playdough.

Timeline

Lesson 1
Inspiration for this games comes from round two in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I covered the backs of each of the cards with 3x5 cards and then placed them all face down. We then took turns trying to flip over the cards in the correct sequence. If you got one card wrong, your turn was over. Once someone could complete the full sequence without missing a card, they won.

Lesson 2
As usual, we added eight new icons to our timeline book.

Geography

For geography we finished reading Wow Canada to learn about each of the new provinces and I downloaded the iLearn Canada app. This app is very simple. Basically it says the name of a province and you tap on it. There is a game mode that records high scores, so Bean, Kevin and I got a little competitive with this one.

Finally we played Ticket to Ride, which includes many Canadian cities. This activity comes straight from Blimey Cow's You Might be a Homeschooler If... 3 youtube. Watch the video, it's worth it. The Ticket to Ride shout out is at the 0:30 marker.

Great Words I
We started memorizing The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson this week and I was happy to find that there is a cute picture book of this poem by Tracey Campbell Pearson!