Semester 1  Week 1 update 2014

We are off to a wonderful start and I am looking forward to a great year with a great group of students.

                                              Canterbury Tales- Geoffrey Chaucer

Jan van Eyck, 1434, The Arnolfini Wedding, National Gallery, London

Here is a recap of each seminar.

Algebra 2- We reviewed lessons A, B, and went over questions and most concepts (basically, a whirlwind tour through Geometry review). We tackled angles, perimeter, area, and volume along with many of the reasons behind the formulas we use. Please complete lessons 1 and 2 and attempt the practice problems. The student should read through each lesson again before they do the practice and problem set. If there are any questions, feel free to ask. I am also available during lunch if a student has questions.

Latin- We discussed the Introduction and reviewed 3^rd Conjugation verbs via video. We will attempt to spend 20 minutes each week on the current Henle 2 lesson, 20 minutes on a review video and 20 minutes with a class participation skill related to the video. Next week both tracks do lessons 1 and 2. Henle 2 will cover the third declension and review Adjectives, word order, cases for prepositions, and also review the 1^st - 5^th declensions. Please review all of the vocabulary, read all of the grammar rules and follow the guide for homework. Continue using flash cards for vocabulary.

Logic- We went over the Introduction and reviewed well-known men of logic throughout the centuries. Some of these deep thinkers dealt with formally structured logic, some added symbolic elements, and some reached out farther to add calculated propositions. This week, finish the questions in the Introduction. Students should read chapter 1 and finish the questions. Get familiar with all of the terminology. Making a vocabulary list will help you.  Next week we will start doing readings from the book Elements of Style. Please bring this to class each week, as we will be reading from it at the end of each Logic class. Grammar Highlights:  Simple Apprehension, mental act, truth, validity, soundness, sense perception, & concept.

Western Cultural History – we discussed art’s definition and the effects on artistic expression when a surrounding culture becomes philosophically and morally bankrupt. When people groups become complacent about their art, the society as a whole begins a downward spiral into degraded thinking and ultimately sets the stage for an age of tyranny to rise.

Follow the guide for all reading and research assignments.

Debate- The resolution is “The National Endowment for the Arts should be abolished.” Research “The National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities.”  Be able to tell me what it is and what they do. This information can be found at the NEA’s website. I just want to know their merits.  Keep all of your information on this topic in a folder or notebook. Look at what the constitution says (if anything) about the arts. We will deal will pros and cons in the coming weeks. I will assign debate teams next week. Our debate preparation schedule may be different from the guide; however week 5 will be our target. The guide says to read the chapter 3 of the State of the Arts. 

Art History Notebook - Begin Time Line by adding the Renaissance time period to it. Also add Ancient Rome before the Renaissance. The Time line is something you will build upon each week. Start studying the first piece of artwork for the semester. We will study Jan Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Wedding this week and think about the symbolism used in the painting. (Week 4 will be the Art Essay after we look at Durer’s St.Jerome in His Study.)

How Then Should We Live- Read Chapter 2.  Fill out the question sheet on page 104 in the guide as best as you can. Whatever you can’t answer we will do in class when we watch the DVD.

British Literature- We covered Beowulf and epic poetry in general. Some of the students came up with great examples of alliteration. We also talked about the 7 main guidelines for declaring a book a “classic.” Follow the Challenge 2 guide for next week’s assignment and read “The General Prologue” and “A Knights Tale” from Canterbury Tales. Make a list of all the pilgrims and their occupation (see guide). Also, read the Words Aptly Spoken Literature Guide before and as you read each book. It has valuable info on each book we are reading. The first essay for Literature will be due next week once we read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  Make sure the version you have of this book is a modern translation. We will write our first Literature essay this year by using all the questions about the topic of “Definition” as we look at heroes from each of the three books.

Biology-    For next week, finish reading all of Module 1, do the study guide questions and take the module test. All of this should go into your lab notebook.  Make sure you keep a running vocabulary list as you read! A complete glossary of the underlined words in the text should be part of your notebook also. Read the syllabus for more instructions on text reading and lab reports. Read Chapter 3 of The Student Lab Handbook. We talked about lab book layouts in class and by e-mail. Do Experiment 1.1 at home and put it in your notebook. Thoroughly read Experiment 1.2. We will be doing this in class next Tuesday. There will be 4 formal lab reports written this semester and Exp. 1.2 is one of them. Be sure to have a separate lab journal to use on any experiment at home and in class to record data as you do experiments. Good data will help create good lab reports. Theses journals should be quadrille (graph) paper. We will work on using the microscopes next week and practice using prepared slides. According to the guide, we need to begin gathering leaves and pay attention to the specific features of the nearby tree to aid in leaf identification.

Check your e-mail this week for Semester overview charts and for information about a local showing of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” I will have additional handouts this week as well as more samples of notebooks to review.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Have a good week and I will see you soon.

Mrs. Hoke