Classy Talks

Semester 2 Week 4 update

Mozart - www.playbuzz.com

Beethoven - www.historylists.org

Robinson Crusoe - www.corpussomnium.org

Homework Review – complete before semester 2 week 5 class
Algebra 2	Lessons 72-75. Also, bring one math question from your own math book to put on the board.
Latin	Lessons 21. We will pick up translations after this week’s debate.
History/Music: Gift of Music Classical Music	We will continue to add composers to our Timeline. GOM – No reading while working on debate. CMD – No reading while working on debate. (Week 7 will have a comparison essay on Mozart and Beethoven)
Debate	Team Prep – Prepare for a quick informal debate this week as we switch sides. Vint Hill is researching New Laws about Copyrights & Internet Plagiarism. Culpeper is researching New Legislation for Facebook Client’s basic rights.
British Lit. WAS Essay	Read half of Robinson Crusoe. Words Aptly Spoken 121-124 (Klay & Mrs. Hoke are picking questions) (Week 6 will have an Alice in Wonderland/Robinson Crusoe essay)
Biology:	Finish Chapter 12. We’ll add Cow Eye dissections this week.
Drama	Bring your books to class. Read some of the stage scenes to get familiar with props. We will start adding to the props list and taking pictures needed for a play.

Algebra 2 – This week’s lessons involved solving Gas Law problems, Scientific Notation, scientific calculator problems, and Quadratic Equations (factoring, completing the square, or using the quadratic formula).

Latin – We reviewed a short section on pronouns and read through the next section of Caesar’s report on the Helvetians. We are ahead of the guide in our translations, so we will return to finishing the last two weeks of the Helvetian Drive after this week’s debate. Then we have 3 weeks of “Seacoast” and 3 weeks of “Britain’s Invasion” to translate.

History/Music – We talked about Haydn, Rossetti, and Shubert. We will next discuss composers specifically in the Classical Era (Mozart and Beethoven). Even though reading is not assigned this week, students may wish to read ahead and complete the chapters 6 & 7 for Mozart and Beethoven (Essay to define “genius” using these men is due week 7).

Debate - We will have the groups hold a short reverse debate this week and then jump into research for our Lincoln-Douglas Debate. We will POSTPONE the Music Lecture/Presentation until the end of the semester. Working on the Debate for March 17^th and the Harvey Play for April 21^st should spread assignments out enough to finish the semester with only their Music Lecture and Challenge II Notebooks in the last week.

Vint Hill Affirmative Team: Hope, John, Klay, Seth, Sarah

Vint Hill Negative Team: Bethany, Michelle, Ian, Asher

Culpeper Affirmative Team: Desiree, David, Wayne

Culpeper Negative Team: Jordan, Grace, Justin

British Literature – Alice in Wonderland discussion: Desiree and Michelle led group discussions with Words Aptly Spoken questions. We discussed using Fantasy Novels as a device. We discussed author Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodson) and others that write Fantasy Novels. Next week, we cover the first half of Robinson Crusoe. We’ll hold discussion the following week with Klay and Mrs. Hoke selecting questions.

Fantasy Novels:

“Folklore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problem of a modern novel is what will a madman do with a dull world? In fairy tales, the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels, the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.” G. K. Chesterson

Student-led discussion assignments:
Robinson Crusoe – Klay/Mrs. Hoke
Father Brown – John/Justin
A Morbid Taste for Bones – Sarah/Grace
Out of the Silent Planet – Hope/Jordan
The Hobbit – Bethany/Wayne
The Screwtape Letters – Seth/David

Drama – This coming week, we’ll continue work on class “Radio Reads.” A few logistics need worked out for gathering props and for planning a few practices with both Challenge 2 campuses. We are considering asking Culpeper to visit the Vint Hill campus twice in March right after lunchtime and the Vint Hill Campus to Visit Culpeper twice in April as we pull 4 in-class practices together. If things progress well, we may be able to present “Harvey” on Tuesday evening, April 21^st at Culpeper Christian Fellowship Church. The students are asked to look at the prop checklist at the back of the book (as well as read through the scene sets in the script) and to list props they may already own (many students are taking pictures of their props so we can quickly sort what to bring). The kids are still rotating and trying out the various speaking parts. Final selections will not be made until the students meet together in March. I’ll try to include an updated props list and a general set layout soon so any parents with a little extra time can see if there is an area they might assist (gathering a few props, providing the students extra weekend script practice, building a fireplace mantle for the family living room or flat back walls or doorways for main rooms in the play - doctor’s office, living room, & Pub – the walls might only be simple 2x4 frames with plywood on front and back support beams).