Monday, March 31, 2014

Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 14

Posted by The Cotter Family
Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 14
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
Using this week's Scripture memory work, I made a copy work worksheet for the kids at Worksheet Works so they could practice their handwriting while working on commiting the verse to memory. While doing the worksheets we listened to two Angel Food stories on loving your neighbor as yourself: The Saturday Morning Special and The King with the Black Heart.

Latin
We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History

Lesson 1:
The history topic of the week was the Constitution. I read the kids A More Perfect Union and then Kevin took to the white board and did his history explanation thing.

History takes place on Sunday night, hence the PJs.
Well, Pal was truly interested because the next day I found him giving 5 month old Peanut his own lesson on the government. He told her "We vote for the president, and he picks the judges. But if he picks bad judges, then we don't vote for him anymore."


Lesson 2:
For our next lesson we made this sweet craft:


We used the information we found at kids.usa.gov to write about each branch behind it's green leaf section.

Then the kids watched a Liberty's Kids episode titled We the People and this School House Rock video that summarizes the branches of the government in 3 minutes.

Science
To begin, there are three movies you can watch this week, so pick one, or watch them all: Magic School Bus Gets a Bright Idea (there are ghosts in this one, heads up), Bill Nye: Light and Color, Bill Nye: Light Optics, Bending, and Bouncing. Now on to the actual lessons.

Lesson 1
The supplies we used included:


Our lesson began with reading All About Light for a basic introduction to light.

Next we did Activity 2 from the CCM Teacher Text. The point of this activity was to teach them how light rays reflect off of objects, which allows us to see objects. This involved my children looking at a plastic baggie, piece of waxed paper, and piece of construction paper. They were supposed to note that they could see clearly through the baggie (although they argued with me on this one, so we scratched the baggie and I had them look through a window) because it is transparent, they could sort-of see through the waxed paper because it is translucent, and they could not see through the construction paper because it is opaque.

Then we headed to a dark room for Activity 3 to learn about reflection using a mirror, flashlight, and spray bottle... directions are in your Teacher Text... and I couldn't get any decent pictures of this activity!

Lesson 2
Material for lesson 2 included:


Beginning with a book again, we read Day Light, Night Light. Then we used fruit to discuss visible light, color, and absorption.

Next, we did Activity 4, which showed how white light is actually a rainbow of colors that are either absorbed or reflected by objects. They suggest using a prism to demonstrate this truth, but I didn't feel like buying one, so instead I used the mirror-in-a- bowl-of-water-with-a-flashlight-reflecting-onto-a-white-piece-of-paper method.


Finally to teach the kiddos about light being refracted we did Activities 4 and 5 from the Teacher Text.


 Math
I couldn't find a free worksheet on the area of a square, so I made one. I bet you are as talented as me and could do the same.


Timeline

Lesson 1
Timeline Tube Towers. That's what we called it.

I wrote the 8 timeline cards on 8 toilet paper tubes and then had the kids build a tower out of them in the correct order. While building, the tower fell down several times, which gave them more practice in committing the order to memory. Brilliant, I know.


This would make for a fun co-op game if you made two sets and had the kids race to see who could complete the tower, in the correct order, without it falling over, first.

Lesson 2
Eight more timeline pictures found a permeant home in our timeline book this week.

Geography
Now that we have memorized all of the countries in North America, we are focusing on memorizing our continent's major geographical features. I'm letting our Journey Across America continue to be the supplemental fun on this one, as I point out these features as we study the states they reside in.

Great Words I
We continued memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out a book on her, watch the Disney movie (maybe, I don't know if it's any good, I've never seen it), or check out this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.


Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Journey Across America: Tennessee

Posted by The Cotter Family
This post is part of a 50 state Journey Across America. For information on the basics of this project check out this post.

The Books:
We began by reading V is for Volunteer State and then Bean used the information she learned to make a notebook page for her United States scrapbook.

Then we read some Tennessee picture books: A Picture Book of Davy Crockett, Davy Crockett: A Life on the Frontier, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett, and Daniel's Duck.


We also taught the kids about Tennessee using the Our United States of America: Catholic Social Studies textbook.

The Food:
It was impossible to not make the former official sponsor of the Grand Ole Opry, the Goo Goo Cluster, for our Tennessee state food. Invented in Nashville, the Goo Goo Cluster is the world's first ever combination candy bar. I thought about buying them online, but at $26.95 for 12, when we only needed 2, I opted to make them instead. We used a recipe from food.com that omitted the carmel, but I thought it was close enough.


The Activity:
With Tennessee being home to "Music City, USA" (Nashville) I opted to share with the kids the rich music history that Tennessee holds. We listened to some country music (Bristol is the Birthplace of Country Music), some Elvis (Graceland, need I say more?), some Beale Street Blues (Memphis is the Birthplace of the Blues), and some clips of the Grand Ole Opry and Jubilee Singers.

Ohio is our next stop on our Journey Across America!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Monday, March 24, 2014

Ideas for April Feast Days and Celebrations

Posted by The Cotter Family
Here are some of our favorite traditions for the month of April. This is by no means an exhaustive list, rather it's my way of creating a resource that I plan to revisit each year for myself! I hope you can find it beneficial as well!

Month of the Holy Spirit
The month of April is always filled with the seasons of Lent and Easter, so the Saints whose days we celebrate during April are often suspended by other Holy Days. My list is short this month because we spend so much time on Holy Week and the Easter Octave!

April 16th: St. Bernadette

The Charcot: St. Bernadette's Home in Lourdes 
April 29th: St. Catherine of Siena
Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 13

Posted by The Cotter Family
Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 13
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
At Worksheet Works I created printing worksheets for the kids so they could practice their handwriting and learn their memory work!

Latin
We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History
This week's history sentence takes a look at the American Revolution and George Washington. This of course necessitated a George Washington craft complete with a cotton ball wig from DLTK-Kids. Once we had a grasp on President Washington's hair, we read George vs. George to understand him as a leader.

Other books in our studies this week included Revolutionary War on Wednesday and it's Nonfiction Companion: American Revolution, and Can't You Make Them Behave King George? The Timeline of the Revolutionary War was cool, but too much for my 7 and 5 year old. And I continued to score big points in the Best-Mom-Ever category by letting the kids watch three fitting episodes of Liberty's Kids: The Shot Heard Round the World, Bunker Hill, and Across the Delaware. Or you can watch this School House Rock song that pretty much sums up the entire history sentence.

Science
Here it is, your one week on sound, so listen up. (Sorry about that.)

Lesson 1
The supplies we used for lesson one are:

First we read All About Sound and then we did a few demonstrations on sound begin caused by vibrations. The Rookie book suggested a demonstration with a ruler...

and the CCM Teacher Text gives instructions for one using a tuning fork. (They suggest an optional percussion hammer, it is completely unnecessary.)

Lesson 2
In our next lesson we looked at sound as a wave and how sound works through mediums. Activity 6 in the Teacher Text gives instructions for a demonstration on sound in a medium, by using a glass and rubber band. My kids couldn't tell the difference between the band being plucked with the glass next to their ear versus it being plucked while the glass was pressed against their ear. Maybe they need their hearing checked, but it didn't work for us.

However, activity 4 was thoroughly enjoyed. Learning about sound waves by playing with dominoes, what's not to love?

Then we watched a Bill Nye episode on Sound. Bill Nye episodes always end with an educational music video that is set to a pop song, but my kids never understand this because we don't listen secular stations on the radio. According to Bean, this episode's song, Sound is a Vibe, set to I will Survive, is sung by girls who are dressed immodestly. I agree. Feel free to skip the last few minutes.

Math
We used a worksheet from Math Worksheets 4 Kids to help us understand this week's memory work on the area of a rectangle.

There are some interactive games online you can use to review perimeter (week 12) and learn area. Check out Finding Area and Perimeter and Party Designer (for older kids) from Math Playground for some additional fun.

Timeline

Lesson 1
Our timeline game was awesome this week. Simply put, we played Catch Phrase with this week's cards for the phrases. Since it was just Bean and me playing we passed the disc back and forth, and picked up a new card from a pile of cards between us when the disc came our way. Our goal was to work as a team and guess all 8 cards before the timer ran out. It took about four tries to get it.

This would be a exciting game to play in a co-op setting if you put 2-3 weeks worth of cards in the pile for review and played the game according to the standard rules. We will definitely be pulling this game out again soon!


Lesson 2
Our timeline book is getting quite full! Eight more images were added this week.

Geography
We finished up memorizing the countries in North America with a final group of Central American countries. The Kingfisher Student Atlas of North America served as our guide. I wasn't crazy about this atlas because they lumped several countries together instead of giving them each their own page, but it was the best that I could find without getting a 60 page book on each individual country.

Great Words I
We continued memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out a book on her, watch the Disney movie (maybe, I don't know if it's any good, I've never seen it, but I hear it's not at all accurate), or check out this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Altar Decorations for the Solemnity of St. Joseph

Posted by The Cotter Family
For the past five years we have hosted a party on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, so I think we can now call it a tradition. When I told Bean that last night was our 5th party she said "Oh, so we've been doing this since I was three." She's right, that's crazy. Over the years I've added a little bit to our St. Joseph's Day collection and the results are below.


Our St. Joseph statue was purchased while on pilgrimage to France (I know a statue from Italy would make more sense). He sits in our living room all year long and gets a really special place on his feast days. The three boxes wrapped in red paper are used for the three tiers (for the trinity and three members of the holy family) of the altar. The bottom two are lidless shoeboxes so I can nest them into each other to save on storage space.


Throughout the altar I place red table tents with explanations for the various traditional items that can be found. For more details on these items check out my post on the altar symbols and their meanings.


Cream puffs are a non-negotiable must for any St. Joseph's altar. Don't even try to have one without them, the Italians would never forgive you.


I printed a set of St. Joseph Memory Match Playing Cards from Shower of Roses, backed them to red construction paper, and use them each year to decorate in various ways. The above cards have been clipped onto a medium sized clothes pin that is glued to a wooden stick. I then held the sticks up in a glass full of breadcrumbs, which is symbolic of sawdust because St. Joseph was a carpenter.


I placed another set in our lima fava beans. One day I will splurge and buy some real dried beans on Amazon because I can't find them locally anywhere.


Way at the end of the altar you can see our fake lilies. For a few years I could never find fresh, pure white lilies, so I went ahead and bought some fake ones. They work great for Easter as well!


I love my hanging tissue paper fans. Check out this tutorial to make your own, just don't add the bunny :).


And finally I made a pendant banner stating "Happy St. Joseph's Day". If it said "Happy Solemnity of St. Joseph" it would have been out of control long. Shanty 2 Chic is my hero for making the entire alphabet, numbers, and several symbols available to print for free! For the dot in St {dot} Joseph I had to print an exclamation point, then cover the top line with paper and make a copy. Whatever works!

Next year I hope to add some fun red and white straws and those real fava beans!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Posted by The Cotter Family
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope your day was filled with as much green as ours was. 

We started things off with a St. Patrick's Day Eve run for Shamrock shakes, which made for a pleasant surprise for the kids!


Speaking of shamrocks, I was nearly scandalized when I discovered that this was being sold as a shamrock plant in the floral department at the grocery store.


What are those flowers doing growing out of the top? I'm 30 and I don't remember anyone ever saying anything about shamrocks having flowers, or the leaves looking like triangles and not circle-y hearts. 

So, I did some research and while the plant they were selling (Oxalis Regnelli - I only paid $5.00 for it) is kind-of considered one of the many forms of the shamrock, most Irish natives consider the Trifolium Dubium to be the traditional shamrock. This is even more scandalizing because, aside from three leaves, it hardly resembles the shamrock I grew up with. Click on it, I dare you. For whatever reason the Oxalis Acetosella is the plant we've chosen (whoever we is) to depict a shamrock for St. Patrick's Day, and it's not even a front runner in the "what is a true shamrock debate". 

Anyway, I've lost you haven't I? What can I say, I'm bored, Kevin's doing a fantasy baseball draft and I'm waiting for him to finish so we can finish watching the Irish movie The Quiet Man.

So, in the end, I still made American shamrock potato pancakes for lunch today. 


Then for dinner I made Mini Shepherd Pies because nobody actually likes Corned Beef and Cabbage in our house.


Finally, here are some of the Irish/St. Patrick's books we enjoyed yesterday and today.


Erin go Bragh! (Ireland Forever)

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Journey Across America: Kentucky

Posted by The Cotter Family
This post is part of a 50 state Journey Across America. For information on the basics of this project check out this post.

The Books:
We began by reading B is for Bluegrass and then Bean used the information she learned to make a notebook page for her United States scrapbook.

Then we read three Kentucky picture books. (Yes, we studied Kentucky in the fall, like four months ago.) The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby (what would a study of Kentucky be without it's Derby?), A Picture Book of Daniel Boone (he explored and helped settle Kentucky), and That Book Woman (about a woman who delivered books in the Appalachian Mountains).


We also taught the kids about Kentucky using the Our United States of America: Catholic Social Studies textbook.

The Food:


We did it.

I'm not ashamed, Baby Peanut was 3 weeks old.

I forgot how salty KFC is.

Maybe make your own fried chicken.

The Craft:
Using pipe cleaners and tissue paper Bean, and my superstar Jr. High helper who does most of the JAA activities with the kids, made a blanket of roses for Bean's horse Apples. The blanket of roses is placed on the winner of the Kentucky Derby, get it? Bean had the blanket of roses placed on the back of the horse, but I thought it went around the neck. I was wrong. Sorry about that. Peanut was 3 weeks old.


And we're off to Tennessee!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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Monday, March 10, 2014

Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 12

Posted by The Cotter Family
Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 12
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
This week's bible verse focused on the primacy of Peter, so I read St. Peter the Apostle to the kids while they wrote out the bible verse. Head to Worksheet Works to make you own printing worksheet.

Latin
We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History

Lesson 1:
History this week focuses on the Declaration of Independence, so we made our own by following instructions from DLTK-Kids. The kids enjoyed both tearing the paper and pouring coffee on it.


We also read The 4th of July Story, The First Independence Day Celebration, and A Picture Book of Thomas Jefferson. And we continued to enjoy the Liberty's Kids series by watching The First 4th of July.


Lesson 2:
We've spent the last two CCM weeks learning about colonial times via a unit study based on American Girl's Felicity. It was a blast, but I'm glad we have a few CCM weeks until we start studying Caroline with the War of 1812 during week 18!


Science

Lesson 1
Science was all about magnets this week. I had Bean read The Magic School Bus's Amazing Magnetism and we did activities 1 and 3 from the Teacher Text. Here are the supplies:


After that I just let the kids play with magnets for quite some time. Magnets are always cool.


And when they got bored with that we watched a Bill Nye episode on Magnetism.

Lesson 2
So the Teacher Text gave detailed instructions for several activities (mainly 5 and 6) that required me to become a science hunter and gatherer, so I decided instead to just buy a Snap Circuits kit on Electromagnetism. It was $17, but I think I would have spent more in gas and individual items if I went the hunter/gather route.

We followed the instructions the kit gave to do four different projects that all helped explain the connection between electricity and magnetism. The kids really enjoyed the little kit and were able to do everything on their own. Warning: Batteries not included.


Math

Lesson 1
The math memory work for this week was on the perimeter of a polygon, so to start we did a lesson on what exactly is a polygon? To do this we used two worksheets, one on identifying polygons and the other on regular vs irregular polygons.

Then we played a few polygon games online: Game 1 and Game 2.

Lesson 2
After understanding what a polygon is we learned how to find its perimeter. I had the kids find polygons around the house and we measured them out and added them up.


After that we did a few more worksheets in which we put the formula into practice: Worksheet 1 and Worksheet 2.

Timeline

Lesson 1
I'm on a roll with fill in the blank games for timeline, so I figured I'd keep going. This week: A timeline crossword puzzle. Make your own at Worksheet Works!


Lesson 2
Our timeline book was once again filled with eight new pictures representing this week's cards.

Geography
After several weeks of US states and capitols we've finally moved on to the lowest third of North America. To study Mexico we read P is for Pinata and for the Central American countries we read selections from The Kingfisher Student Atlas of North America. I wasn't crazy about this atlas because they lumped several countries together instead of giving them each their own page, but it was the best that I could find without getting a 60 page book on each individual country.


Great Words I
We continued memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out a book on her, watch the Disney movie (maybe, I don't know if it's any good, I've never seen it), or check out this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
Posted in

Saturday, March 8, 2014

American Girl Unit Studies: Felicity

Posted by The Cotter Family
After thoroughly enjoying our Kaya unit study, I knew we needed to keep making our way through the AG historical dolls during our American history studies. Here is what we did for Felicity!  

Felicity Unit Study


Fiction Books


Six Book Boxed Set (Apparently I left a book out in this picture)
Very Funny Elizabeth
Traitor in Williamsburg
Peril at King's Creek
Felicity's Short Story Collection

Non-Fiction Books


To supplement our fictions stories we also read Welcome to Felicity's World and Colonial Times from A to Z. I checked out Felicity's Teachers' Guide, but didn't really use it.

Lapbook
We used mini books from Homeschool Share's free download and Currclick's $5.00 download (which I was able to get on sale for $1.25!) to create a Felicity lapbook. The American Girl sticker embellishments were bought at Michael's with a 40% off coupon.



Timeline and Map
Felicity found her spot on our timeline right next to Kaya and we placed her in Williamsburg, VA on our map using the same American Girl stickers that we used in our lapbook.



Foods
There is a Felicity Cook Book, so that made the cooking portion of our study dummy proof.


One suggestion they give is to have Raspberry Leaf tea because colonists used it as an alternative to the taxed tea that came over from England. We found a box at Natural Grocers, this kids didn't like the tea, but like the idea of having tea.


We also made the book's recipe for Queen's Cakes, which they specifically talk about in the Felicity play that we put on...

(The recipe calls for rose water, which we also found at Natural Grocers.)

Drama


One weekend while we were studying Felicity my extended family was over, so we took the opportunity to act out the Felicity play. We just read straight from the scripts and had fun acting it out on the fly. Bean did a great job setting the stage and the Queen's Cake made it quite authentic!


And we watched the Felicity movie that is pictured above.

Craft
There is also a Felicity's Craft Book. We decided to make a fan craft and were able to use supplies that we already had on hand. It's pretty fancy!


Online Games
And finally we played some online Felicity games at AmericanGirl.com.


Next up we will be studying Caroline!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa
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