In Bible class she has been singing some patriotic songs like "The Star-Spangled Banner", "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless America". She has a sweet, little voice to sing with, unlike myself. I can't sing in tune no matter how hard I try, and I certainly can not and SHOULD NOT sing "The Star-Spangled Banner". NEVER in the presence of other hearers! :) Some of the Bible songs that Syd has been singing - "He Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills", "One Door", "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart".
She has been studying parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning that Jesus told when He was on earth. She has been learning the heavenly meanings behind "The Sower and the Seed", "The Good Samaritan", The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin", "The Prodigal Son", "Pharisee/Publican Pray" and "Dinner Guests".
:)
In Arithmetic class she is going through a thorough review of the facts and concepts learned last year. This review provides the foundation for the new material covered this year. Extensive work has been done so far in such things as telling time, measures of time, adding whole numbers with carrying, place value to thousands, money, measuring to nearest half inch, multiplication tables 0-4, subtracting whole numbers with borrowing, Roman Numbers 1-12, multiplying whole numbers with carrying and English/Linear/liquid measures.
She strives for increasing her accuracy, fluency, alertness to punctuation, good expression, comprehension, appropriate pace, and vocabulary development through words and definitions included in the readers.
In order to develop reading skills, your child has to read, read, read, and read some more. They have to learn how to decode words by applying phonics sounds and rules. They need to be exposed to good reading. It is important to read, read, read to your child.
At first, it is a difficult and tedious task to sit through all of the readings with a child who is starting to develop reading skills, but so rewarding to see the results of it all. It takes a lot of love, more patience then you thought possible, good guidance and direction, and a large quantity of time (and as I said before PATIENCE). Sydney has come a long way in her reading and is starting to blossom into a confident reader. I am so proud of her!
This year Syd begins a more formal study of English as an academic subject. She is learning to incorporate correct capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, and word usage in her daily speaking and writing. She is developing dictionary skills and improving her writing through creative writing exercises.
In Spelling she is learning her fifth list of spelling/vocabulary words. This year each list contains words from everyday life, and content words that include terms from other academic areas. One of the spelling words from list 5 is "miscellaneous". I don't even know if I can spell that word without looking at it. :D
I am a decent speller until someone asks me how to spell a word. For some reason, at that point, I lose all confidence in my ability to spell the word, my mind draws a big blank, and then have to look the word up in the dictionary. :) I-D-I-O-T!
Some basic techniques developed - direction coloring, drawing, 3-D forms, adding textures with various media, smudging, and shading.