Saturday, May 26, 2012

FRENCH: May 29 & 31


Bonjour, mes étudiants,

I have had such a great time teaching you French!  Keep learning it--go online this summer, and find Moustache and other videos that will teach you more of this beautiful language!

This Tuesday, Ms. Hermann will be preparing crepes for your culinary pleasure!  Then, we will learn our last song, which is described below.

On Thursday, we will play one last game of Loto!

Au revoir, et avoir un bon été!



Sur Le Pont D'Avignon
According to legend, it was a divinely inspired young shepherd called Benezet who caused the bridge ("le pont") at Avignon to be built. To validate his mission he lifted up an enormous stone block and cast it down at the designated site. The Saint Benezet Bridge was built in the twelfth century.
First made of wood, it was the first bridge spanning the Rhone river, dividing line between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Its reconstruction in stone dates from the end of the thirteenth century. Several times mistreated by wars and the flooding Rhone, it was continuously under repair until the seventeenth century when it ceased to be restored. Now only four arches survive of the original twenty-two.
The bridge ended on the Avignon side at the Chatelet tower (fourteenth century), and on the opposite, Villeneuve side at the tower of Philip the Fair (end of the thirteenth century). The Saint Nicolas Chapel, on the bridge, was dedicated to the patron saint of mariners. It has two stories, the lower dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Standing right at the foot of the Chatelet, the recently restored "Mariner's Chapel" was built in the eighteenth century and became the new cult centre for the Rhone boatmen. From this position Louis XIV looked out on Avignon and exclaimed, "it is the most beautiful place in my kingdom".
The song "Sur Le Pont D'Avignon", by an anonymous composer, is now famous all round the world.


REFRAIN:
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond.


ENGLISH TRANSLATION


REFRAIN:   On the bridge of Avignon, we all dance there, we all dance there,
On the bridge of Avignon, we all dance there in a ring.

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FRENCH: May 22 & 24


Parlon Français                       Let’s Speak French!
Leçon 6                                     Lesson 6

  Les mois de l'année           months of the year
   janvier              January
   février               February
   mars                  March                   
   avril                  April
   mai                    May
   juin                    June
   juillet                 July
   août                   August
   septembre         September
   octobre             October
   novembre          November
   décembre          December

Les jours de la semaine          days of the week
   lundi                  Monday
   mardi                Tuesday
   mercredi           Wednesday
   jeudi                  Thursday
   vendredi            Friday
   samedi              Saturday
   dimanche          Sunday

Les saisons                    seasons
printemps   spring          hiver   winter                           
été   summer                   automne   autumn/fall
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Saturday, May 19, 2012

FRENCH May 15 & 17


Parlon Français                                 Let’s Speak French!
Leçon 5                                             Lesson 5
New Words from Berlitz French Flash Cards

It was really FUN playing Loto with you last week!  Here are the words we learned!

la pomme                      apple
la banane                      banana
le gâteau                        cake
les raisins                       raisins
la crème glacée              ice cream
la tomate                       tomato
la voiture                       car
la famille                       family
la maison                       house                                               
la cuisine                       kitchen
le salon                          living room
les mains                        hands
le cœur                           heart
la vache                         cow
le cerf                             deer
le chien                          dog
l’ éléphant                     elephant                   
le poisson                       fish
la girafe                         giraffe
le cochon                       pig
le serpent                       snake
la tortue                         turtle
le zèbre                          zebra

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LITERATURE & HISTORY Week of May 21-25


5th  LITERATURE/HISTORY                          

This week and this coming weekend, we will be finishing  The Swiss Family Robinson in literature.  If any of you has a “block and tackle” could you bring it to school?

In History, you'll be taking your test over the Revolutionary War on Wednesday (STUDY!!!).  You’ll also be  learning about the difficulties the Founding Fathers had writing the  Constitution and the many issues that came up for debate during the Constitutional Convention.  

By this Friday, May 25, you need to memorize and be able to recite the Preamble to the Constitution.   You will find it below.  Your spelling words this week come from the history that you will be studying.

The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America

 We, the People of the United States,                      
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility,                                                             
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.

 SPELLING for Test this Friday, May 25 –you will need to be able to spell and define the words. I have given you the part of speech that your definition should match.  You will have an assignment on Wednesday to write the word once and the definition once (you will be looking up the definitions) in cursive handwriting.

1.  establish
2.  justice     (N, needs a definition)
3.  insure     (V, needs a definition)
4.  domestic            (Adj, needs a definition)
5.  tranquility        (N, needs a definition)
6.  defense   (N, needs a definition)
7.  welfare   (N, needs a definition)
8.  posterity            (N, needs a definition)
9.  ordain    (V, needs a definition)
10.  Constitution   (Proper N, needs a definition)
11.  Preamble         (N, needs a definition)



READING HOMEWORK for May 21-29

For Monday 21st, Chapters 8 & 9

For Tuesday (read even though we won’t have class)

For Wednesday, Read Chapters 10 & 11
            We won’t have class on Tuesday, so you will need to read two chapters for Wednesday

For Thursday, Chapter 12

For Friday, Chapters 13 & 14

For Tuesday 29th, (over the long weekend)  You will finish the book by reading Chapters 15-18

You Book Reports are DUE WEDNESDAY, MAY 30
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Sunday, May 13, 2012

FRENCH May 8 & 10



La patisserie  
La fleuriste

Bonjour, Moustache!                         Hello, Moustache!
Bonjour, les amis!                              Hello, friends!
Voici Papa.                                         Here is Papa.
Voici Maman.                                     Here is Mama.
Au revoir, Moustache.                       Goodbye, Moustache.
Voici Monsieur Jean Michel.             Here is John Michael.
Et voici Madame Marie Michel.         And here is Marie Michael.
Caroline                                            Caroline
Antoine                                             Anthony
Minette                                             (Moustache’s mother)
Minou                                               (Moustache’s father)
Frère Jacques                                   Brother John
Dormez-vous?                                  Are you sleeping?
Je m’appelle                                     My name is
Comment t’appelles tu?                   What is your name?
Mademoiselle                                   Miss
Au revoir, les enfants.                      Goodbye, children.
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CALENDAR FOR THE YEAR

Dear Students and Parents,

I thought these dates might be  helpful as we are winding down with these last three weeks of school.


CALENDAR of Special Events and Tests these last weeks of school:

Monday, May 14—Spelling test over this past week’s words (from short stories and poetry).  Remember that adding a definition will earn you extra credit!   
Monday, May 14—You must be able to recite the four lines from the Preamble to the Declaration of  Independence by memory.
Tuesday, May 15— Bring a blanket or quilt to school!  Test over Causes of Revolutionary War
Thursday, May 17—Whistle Stop Playground, 10:30 ish (we’ll still have class until then)
Friday, May 18—Turn in last Reading Log!

Monday, May 21—Spelling Test over words below.
Tuesday, May 22—Field Day—no History or Literature, but you still have reading homework!
Wednesday, May 23—Test over the Revolutionary War

Monday, May 28—MEMORIAL DAY—no school, but you still have reading homework!
Tuesday, May 29—School Programs at night.  Our classes may be interrupted with rehearsals for the programs, by you still have reading homework!            
Wednesday, May 30—Your 5 Activities of Culture for Swiss Family Robinson are due!
Thursday, May 31—Last day of school—Parties at 11:00, and dismissal at 11:45.
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LITERATURE Week of May 14-18




Our last three weeks of school will be spent with the famous classic, Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss.  He was born in 1743 in Switzerland.  What was happening in the colonies when he was 33 years old?  Wyss loved the novel, Robinson Crusoe which is fictional story about a castaway on a deserted island near Chile.   Pastor Wyss decided to write a story for his four sons in which he and his family become a shipwrecked family!  Is that allowed?  If you could write a story in which you became one of the characters in a fictional novel, who would you be? 

Our reading begins today on Friday, May 11.  Today, you will receive your books and assignments for a week.  Your new spelling words are on the back and come from this novel.  Your spelling test will be on Monday, May 21.  There are several times in the next three weeks that you will have assignments even though we won’t have class or be at school.  You still must do your homework.  You only have to turn in your Reading Logs one more time after today—next Friday, May 18!

Your “book report” on this book will be to choose 5 of the 9 Activities of Culture (all nine will be given to you—SMERFCAPS—and as you read, choose one event that occurs in the novel that is an example of that activity.)  For example, you might want to choose the scene where the family builds their tree house as an example of Architecture.  YOU MAY ONLY DO ONE EXAMPLE OF CULTURE.  You will have to either:
            1.  Draw and color (no photocopying allowed) an illustration of that scene, and write a caption for it, or,
            2.  Summarize the scene with at least 5 well-written sentences that include how that scene is an example of one of the SMERFCAPS. 
These five pages will be due on Wednesday, May 30 and will count as a major project grade.  Do a little on this project day by day and it will be easy!

READING ASSIGNMENTS for Week of Friday, May 11-Friday, May 18

For Monday, May 14—Read Chapters 1 and 2 in Swiss Family Robinson. Decide which of the 5 Activities of Culture you will illustrate or summarize, and work on one of them.    
                                                          
For Tuesday, May 15— BRING A BLANKET OR QUILT TO SCHOOL.  Read Chapter 3  (HAVE AT LEAST one of your five Activity pages completed.  

For Wednesday, May 16—Read Chapters 4 and 5. Choose your second scene to illustrate or summarize for your second SMERFCAPS.

For Thursday, May 17—Read Chapter 6.  Finish your second Activity page.

For Friday, May 18—Read Chapter 7.  Choose your third scene to illustrate or summarize for your third SMERFCAPS.  

For Monday, May 21—Read Chapters 8 & 9.  Finish your third Activity page.


SPELLING WORDS for TEST on Monday, May 21. 
Be able to write the definitions for the 6 words below.

1.  vehement   =          intense
2.  precipitous  =        cliff-like or steep
3.  porcupine 
4.  archery     
5.  allegory      =          fable or parable                                                   
6.  tortoise      
7.  iguana
8.  guava         =          a yellowish tropical fruit
9.  reservoir    =          a place where something is stored
10.  phenomenon       =          an unusual occurrence

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Sunday, May 6, 2012

LITERATURE for May 7-11, 2012




This week we will be reading the poetry and short stories of some of the greatest American writers of the 18th century:  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.  You will only have HOMEWORK on:
                        Wednesday night:  Read the short story The Snow Image by Hawthorne
                        Friday/weekend for next Monday:  Read chapters 1&2 in Swiss Family Robinson

Have you ever wondered why so many writers write about times past?  That is one question we will discuss this week, along with the important idea that sometimes these writings shape our historical perspective.  Do writers always do research with primary sources before they write?  Should writers (and movie producers) be sure they have their facts right before they publish a book or produce a movie about the past?  These questions are being debated all the time.  What is your opinion?

Our spelling test words will come from some of the poetry and short stories we will be studying this week.  We will have our spelling test next Monday, May 14.  On Friday, you will get your copy of The Swiss Family Robinson, our last novel of the school year.  There’s so much left to learn and so little time!!!


SPELLING WORDS for TEST on Monday, May 14  (definitions are for extra credit)

1.  rejoicing                                                       

2.  wrought (made)                                   

3.  repose  (rest)                                          

4.  prairie                                                  

5.  squirrels                                                          

6.  primeval  (primitive)

7.  disconsolate (inconsolable)

8.  disposition  (temperament)

9.  immortal  (eternal)

10.  tranquility  (calm)




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FRENCH May 1 & 3


Parlon Français                                             Let’s Speak French!
Leçon 3                                                         Lesson 3
Tuesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 3


This week, we are learning to answer the question, tu aimes?  “Do you like. . .?”
Our answers will be, Oui,  j’aime . . . .  or Non  “Yes, I like. . .  or “No.”

We will learn many new words this week, including those below:

Oui                      Yes
Non                     No
Tu aimes?           Do you like?
J’aime                 I like
Le chat               Cat
Le Cola               Coca-Cola
La lemonade      Lemonade          
Le chocolat        Chocolate
La glace             Ice cream
La fraise             Strawberry
La pizza              Pizza
Les crêpes           Crepes
Le croissant       Croissant
Les livres            Books
Le papier            Paper
Les crayons        Crayons


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