Week 1: There's no Place like Rome
Losing power this week did not damper our spirits, and once again we made “lemonade out of lemons.” We enjoyed the breezes as we moved some classes outdoors and had a great time being together and thanking God for what we did have. We also began working with the timeline and put some of our stories about Rome on their feet by acting them out. Read more below!
SUGGESTED AT HOME READINGS DIFFER PER PROGRAM. PLEASE GO TO THE SECTION OF YOUR PROGRAM TO SEE THE SELECTED PAGES
Memory Verse
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
The Garden
What a blessed time we had this week. The children came back happy to see their new friends and teachers, have worship time, continue to learn the song “In the beginning,” and dive into learning more about the days of creation from Genesis 1.
They have enjoyed expressing what they’ve learned in the story of Creation so far through painting. They are practicing what is the proper way to use the art materials like paint, paintbrushes, water, and cleaning up. Ask them about “swish, swish, glide, glide.” 😊 Our new song for this week is “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
We also went as a group to the large playground for the first time and it was so much fun to explore and discuss how we should use the playground equipment there and how important it is staying close to their teachers and friends during this time. We also used the water table taking turns with our friends. The highlight of the week, however, was honoring our classmate Nova who turned 4 yrs. old by reading a special story that was gifted to our library in her name.
Seeds
We focused this week on a review of the Old Testament, how God created the World and promised a savior through Jesus. We also talked about how the Bible can be trusted completely. We practiced our memory verse from Galatians 4:4-5 and sang, “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.”
SCIENCE
Readings
Encyclopedia of the Human Body - pgs 4-5
In order to start learning about the human body it is important to go to the fundamental building block of life: the cell. On Wednesday, we learned what a cell is and how cells work together inside our bodies. I used wooden blocks to demonstrate that when cells unite they form tissues and when tissues unite they form organs, and finally when organs unite, they form systems. We also learned that cells come in different sizes and have different functions but that inside they mostly have the same components. I gave the students play doh so they could make a ball and flatten it out to be their “cell.” Then, I gave them a marble to put as the nucleus, or the “brain” of the cell, and another little glass bead to represent the mitochondria, the place where the energy of the cell is produced. On Friday, we reviewed what was learned and I asked a few children to volunteer and demonstrate what I had done with the wooden blocks. Then, I showed them a ziplock bag with Jell-o inside that I had made to show them the function of the cell membrane, which surrounds the cell to keep it together and determine what goes in and out of the cell. The Jell-o also represents the jelly-like substance called cytoplasm that is inside the cell. Finally, we made a diagram of a cell in the science journals and labeled the parts we had learned about while jamming to a fun song about the parts of the cell. Some of the kids wanted to listen to it again so I have included the link for you here:
History
Readings
The Roman Empire - pgs. 4-7
World History from Ancient to Modern Times
p. 90-91 (The Rise of Rome)
We performed two short plays this week connected to the material we learned about Rome: “Romulus and Remus” and “The Elephants cross the Mountains.”
The first play taught us about how Rome got its name according to the legend and we learned a song to remember it. Also, as we sang our “Time Machine” song, we got a visit from another historical figure (who again looked just like Olivia!). Her name was Imilce and she was the wife of a great general from Carthage named Hannibal. He marched with his army across Africa, into Spain, to brave the Italian Alps mountains in a mission to attack Rome. This attack was part of the Punic Wars and he was unsuccessful. This story inspired our second play, where all but one of Hannibal’s elephants froze while trekking across the mountains.
You can read more about these and other fascinating tales from Rome in this week’s history readings.
Also, this week you can go ahead and begin putting together your timeline papers. In class we added our first three labels. See the video below to follow along.
At Home Timeline Videos
Studio Time
This week we were thrilled to finish our surprise projects! The students learned that it would be like a “wax writing tablet” that the people in Rome used to save on paper. Parchment was very costly and time consuming and was reserved only for books and very important documents. Our version was made with modeling clay and cardboard instead of wood and wax. They remarked that the modeling clay smelled “like cookies.” On Friday, we practiced writing Roman numerals on the clay tablets in our outdoor classroom and also had a drawing class with Josh. He coached them on how to draw a simple wolf like in the story of Romulus and Remus.
Oaks
In Literature, we are coming to the end of our play, “Julius Caesar” and the students performed the famous scene of Brutus’ betrayal of Caesar. They also worked on their public speaking as they recited Isaiah 53 together, assigning parts among themselves and also reading some sections together.
We also are thankful for our OAKS volunteer, Jonathan, who will be helping us out around the center this year.
For this week, all Oaks students should memorize Galatians 4:4-5 - “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” This Son, is who we are learning about in our book, “More than a Carpenter.”
History
The students continued taking notes from our main textbook, “Streams of Civilization,” as we focused on how Italian peninsula was a very desirable place to be and many tribes entered and ruled over the Romans. Finally, the Romans established their own government, a Republic, but continued to defend themselves, specifically during the Punic Wars. The students used maps to understand the logistics behind Hannibal’s famous attack.
Readings
World History from Ancient to Modern Times
p. 90-91 (The Rise of Rome)
Streams of Civilization -
pp. 162-166 (The Early Republic and expansion)
pp. 166-168 (The conquest of Greece and Fall of the Republic)
Science
This week in Oaks Pre-Physics, the students learned about the NSSR method of studying, which stands for Notetaking, Sketching, Summarizing, and Retrieval Practice. During class, the students also had a chance to practice the skill of note sketching on a topic of their choice.
In the Chemistry class, the students also reviewed the NSSR method of studying in addition to learning about the origins of the metric system in Paris, France around the time of the French Revolution. Dr. Landry also talked about Marie and Pierre Curie and the Radium Girls in the chapter as a fun introduction to the study of chemistry.
