Third Grade in Our Home :: Exams, Term 3

The last of my third graders' exams for this year!  I like Term 3 exams best because many of the books that get stretched out over terms (and even years!) are finished up, and the whole text is fair game for questions. ;) And I have been trying to stretch my young learners just a tad because they're showing signs that they're ready for more "Grand Conversation" discussions, so there are a couple questions here that ask for a comparison or a choice among options that takes a bit of thinking beyond simple narration.  A little novelty always keeps things fun!

As always, below are all the questions and then a sampling of answers.  And if this list looks intimidating, please keep in mind, I have two students answering, so they're often doing just half of each category, particularly for literature, history, and religion.  And the narrations at the end were all oral narrations that I audio-recorded and transcribed to share here.

If you're looking for questions to use for your own exams, check out the wonderful exam page over at AO!

The Questions

Italian:
Sing your favorite song in Italian or recite your favorite Italian rhyme.
Choose one relative to describe in detail.

Poetry:
Recite one of the poems you memorized by Longfellow.
Tell me the story of Hiawatha.

Piano:
Play your recital songs.

Physical Education:
Do ten burpees.
See how many pushups you can do without stopping.

Math:
Complete the following page from Challenging Word Problems.

Free Reading:
What was your favorite book read during free time this term?  What did you like best about it?
Draw a map for Crossbows and Crucifixes, showing the main house and the path down to the old town along the Sapey.
Draw a scene from St. Edmund Campion.  Describe briefly which scene you have illustrated, either in writing or orally.

Recitation:
Sing "Attende Domine."
Sing "Pull For the Shore" or "These Happy Golden Years" or "Highland Mary."
Recite the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Recite the Divine Praises.

Penmanship:
Write the following sentence in your best printing: "Let the jungle listen to the things I have done."
Now copy that sentence in your best cursive.
Now identify what book that line is from, and describe its context.
Now choose you own quote and do the same thing!

Literature:
Draw and label the five most important characters from The Jungle Book.  Who was your favorite animal character and why?
Tell me the story of Much Ado About Nothing or Hamlet.  You can look at our character chart as you explain the story.
Recite the lines you learned from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.  Who says them and what are their context?
How did Theseus escape the Minotaur OR how did Theseus fall by pride?
Tell about how Christian and Hopeful crossed the river.
Tell me about John Henry or Joe Magarak.

History:
Describe the Union Jack and how it came to be OR about the sad day in Highland glen.
What do you know about Bonnie Prince Charlie OR how Canada was won?
Tell me the strengths and the flaws of the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers.

Religion:
Choose one parable we read this term to tell me about.
Tell your favorite miracle of Jesus from the term, using the biblical language if you can.
Which was your favorite prayer from the devotionals section of our angels book?  Read it aloud in your clearest voice.
Draw and label the priest's vestments.  Describe their use and meaning.
What are some ways we can prepare ourselves each week to receive Holy Communion?
Describe purgatory according to Mother Loyola.  Describe heaven.
How does the description of heaven differ between First Communion and Pilgrim's Progress?

Geography:
Tell me what you know about the desert: its people, its geography, its animals.
Fill in the map of Europe/Asia paying careful attention to spelling for all countries.
Tell me about the war between Genoa and Venice.  How did Marco Polo get taken prisoner?
What do you think was the most interesting sight of all his travels?
Draw a map of our backyard, labeling as many plants as you can.

Nature Study:
Sketch three wildflowers we saw this term from memory and describe where we saw them growing.
Sketch one new bird we saw this term from memory.  Tell me about its call if you can.
Draw a map of <local county park>, noting the presence of wildflowers and other natural features.

Art:
Complete your sketch of a human nose, as assigned by your teacher.

Music Study:
Tell me a favorite scene from Opal Wheeler's Handel.
Hum the theme from one of the Handel selections we enjoyed this term.

Picture Study:
Choose one of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings and describe it as well as you can.
Choose an item to paint up-close using O'Keeffe's style.

Some Answers   (For any written work, I spelled words for the children when asked.)

John Henry from American Tall Tales, by Vincent
First thing John Henry reached for was a hammer, and afterward, when he was old enough to talk, he said that he had been born with a hammer in his hand.  When he was old enough to hold a hammer, he practicing swinging it.  One day, he had a dream that he was working for a railroad company.  There was a war at that time, but when it ended, John Henry decided to be a railroad worker.  When he came there, he saw other men working, and also he saw lots of hammers lying by the fire.  He picked up one that weighed twenty pounds, but he thought it was too light.  Then he picked up another that weighed seventy.  Then he asked someone to hold the stake for him, but no one wanted to because they were afraid that he might hit them.  But a little man called Lee Willy offered to hold it.  The other ones jeered at him and asked if he wanted to be crushed to death.  Lee Willy just ignored them, and soon John Henry had a lot of stakes in the ground.  From then on, Lee Willy was John Henry's helper.  One day a man came to the captain and said that he had built a machine that could work much faster than his workers on the railroad.  But the captain said, "I don't need any machine with my John Henry."  But the other man said, "I'll make a bet with you: if John Henry can beat my machine, then I'll give it to you for free."  And if the machine won, the captain would have to buy his machine.  The  agreed for them to see who could dig the longest tunnel in a day.  Both of htem started.  At first Lee Willy was pale because the machine was ahead.  But then he told John Henry that the machine had to stop to fix a new drill because the other one had broke.  But then it started again, and Lee Willy said, "You're at least two inches ahead."  Finally there were only ten minutes left, and John Henry kept on going and told Lee Willy to sing him a song.  Lee Willy tried to sing as best he could with sweat dripping down his own face as he put in a new drill.  Finally a gun fired, which meant it was the end of the contest, and the judges ran forward to measure.  They came back and it was said that John Henry had beat the machine by four feet.  After that John Henry lied down and looked at the sky.  He said he would die with a hammer in his hand, and then he died.

Longfellow's "Hiawatha," by Vincent

Once there was a girl that had been knocked down from the sky to earth.  She then there bore a daughter and gave her the warning many times not to listen to the West Wind but to bend and play among the flowers.  But her daughter did not obey her and when she was laying among the lilies, the Wind came and wooed her.  She did not know that he was faithless, and he left her alone to die.  But before she died, she bore a son, whom she called Hiawatha.  And her mother took care of Hiawatha.  And she taught him many things and showed him the sky and the stars.  One day, he asked when he heard a owl hooting, "what was that?"  And she said that it was the owl.  And then Hiawatha began getting acquainted with all the animals and birds until he knew them all by heart.  One day a boa constrictor said to Hiawatha to go and shoot a red deer.  He took his bow and arrows and went into the forest, and he saw the tracks of red deer, but they was not here because they had left.  Then he heard the red deer coming, and one of them stopped uneasily, but Hiawatha's arrow was too quick for him, and he fell down in the middle of trying to leap.  And then he brought the meat and skin back to his grandmother, and she made him a cloak out of the skin, and the meat he invited all his friends to feast on.

How Canada was won from This Country of Ours, by Vincent
The French had possession of Canada and they also had possession of Louisiana.  Now the English wanted to continue their colonies out and they wanted to push the French out so they could spread farther and wider. There was a town in Canada which was protected by a great general, a French general, called Montcalm.  There was an English captain, James Wolfe, who was sent with one thousand soldiers to destroy Montcalm and win Canada and Louisiana.  He fought many battles with Montcalm, but Montcalm was too clever to be defeated.  James was getting hopeless because he was supposed to have soldiers sent to him but they did not come.  Finally he wrote a letter to his family saying he would try one more thing and he would either win Canada or die trying.  In the town there was a part that was not guarded strongly because the entrance was in cliffs and it was hard for the English to get up the cliffs.  A few boats went and got half of James' soldiers and they went back as quickly as they could to get the rest.  And then the soldiers climbed up the mountain and they took the French greatly by surprise.  General Montcalm came in the morning to see where they were (the English) and the battle was fought, and James Wolfe was wounded twice and then he got a shot that killed him.  The French general was also killed. But before James Wolfe died one of his friends told him to look, and he tried to raise his head, but he could not, and his friend said that the French were fleeing.  The English wrote a letter to the king saying that they had captured Canada and Louisiana.

Bonnie Prince Charlie from Our Island Story, by Gianna
Bonnie Prince Charlie was one of James' descendants.  He came to Ireland and hoped to win George's crown.  He wasn't as stern, grave, and melancholy as his father had been; he was exactly the opposite.  People crowded around him from all parts of Ireland, and a few from England.  They raised a flag and declaimed King George and claimed Bonnie Prince Charlie as their king.  The king said that he would fight Prince Charlie, and he said that it would be the next morning.  The next morning Bonnie Prince Charlie's men were up so early that they won the battle in five minutes, and they made up a song about him, saying that he could eat his breakfast in four minutes and win a battle in five!  Though he was loved  everywhere, he did not succeed in getting the throne.  He fled to France with the help of Flora Macdonald, who dressed him as a girl.  That story begins with him hiding on the beach, and she, with lots of trouble, made her way to him, bringing a girl's suit. He put this on and she called him her maid, Betty, and she went to her friend's house and asked if Betty and she could stay the night.  When Flora Macdonald's friend heard who Betty was, she quickly made the best rooms for Betty, the prince.  And when her little girl saw this great gigantic woman, she ran screaming to her mother.  So finally Flora helped Charlie to the beach, where he was to sail back to his father.

How Theseus Fell by Pride from Kingsley's Heroes, by Gianna
Theseus, when he had taken Ariadne away, forgot to take her home but left her on an island.  And he forgot to put up the white sails in the morning, so his father fell backward over the cliff and died, and so Theseus was the ruler.  He conquered a very many cities, and he opposed all enemies who came to take the throne and fought them well.  One day, he decided to go and fight Hades, the king of the dead.  He forced his way in with another friend, Hercules.  Hercules escaped but Theseus was chained to a rock, where he had to stay.  Hercules came back and released him, but when he died, his bones were not found on his beloved country but on another desolate, desolate island.  His people had thought him to be dead, so they had a new ruler, whom Theseus did not like.  When he came, they did not recognize him, and they told him to "go away, young stranger."  And so he went away, no longer king of Athens but just a man.

Some Thoughts

:: We don't usually narrate poetry at all, but since Hiawatha is a story poem, I thought it might be fun.  It was unexpected and the kids had a great time telling back.
:: I added a few mapping-as-narration exercises this time, just as I did in Term 2, and they were a good challenge but an interesting one.  Both of them enjoyed the mapping of literary places very much.  But neither of them gave a very detailed map of the nature study spot I asked about, which was a surprise to me--they got the general layout of the place correct, but they didn't add all the plants they know so well.  Their maps of our backyard were a bit better but still could have been more detailed.  I've been wanting to do more mapping for our nature study, and I think this might be a good time to start!
:: History and literature were remembered in great detail, as usual.  Biggest hit in that category: Shakespeare.  Their narrations were way too long for me to type up, but the stories have such a hold on their imaginations, term after term.  I'm looking forward to hitting the "real thing" in a few months.
:: They had a harder time with Marco Polo--I think all the sights started to blend together for them by the end of the book, even with our mapping exercises alongside.  They got a very good general sense of the vast differences in custom between East and West and the amazing riches and influence of the Khan, but distinguishing one city or people from another was a challenge--they remembered details from this and that and kind of mixed it all together.  We used Towle's version, but I think I may try something different when it's Cate's turn, just to see whether we like it better.

Later this week I'll share a quick peek at my kindergartener's final exam!

Third Grade in Our Home :: Exams, Term 2

I'm finally getting around to sharing our Term 2 exams for AO's Year 3, which we finished up over six weeks ago now!  (By the way, the thing that always bogs me down in popping these right up is transcribing the audio-recorded narrations.  I only do a few, and I do like to have them for my own purposes, but it's hard to find free minutes to listen and type.  So if anyone has a reliable speech-to-text suggestion for Android, please do share!)

As always, below are all the questions and then a sampling of answers.  There are more questions than you might usually expect because I have two children in Year 3; they didn't both answer all of these questions.  If you're looking for questions to use for your own exams, check out the wonderful exam page over at AO!

Yes, this is really how they sat to narrate together! LOL

The Questions

Italian:
Let's talk about your birthday!  Translate the following sentences:
I like when I celebrate my birthday!  I play games.  I eat cake.  I choose a special dinner.
List three actions you do at the park.
Recite "Stella Stellina" or sing "Con I Rami d'Agrifoglio."

Poetry:
Recite one of the poems you memorized by Sara Teasdale.
Besides the ones you memorized, what was your favorite poem that we read this term and what was it about?

Piano:
Play a Christmas song you have learned.

Physical Education:
Do ten burpees.
See how many pushups you can do without stopping.

Math:
Write two long multiplication problems and two long division problems for your sibling to solve.  Then switch papers and solve the problems!
See how fast you can do your 7s Wrap-Up.
Find the area of the living room carpet.  Be sure to account for the fireplace and air vents.

Free Reading:
What was your favorite book read during free time this term?  What did you like best about it?
Draw a scene from one of the stories in Crossbows and Crucifixes or The Little White Horse.  Describe briefly which scene you have illustrated, either in writing or orally.

Recitation:
Sing "Holy Holy Holy" or "O Come, All Ye Faithful."
Sing "Panis Angelicus" or "Adeste Fideles."
Sing "Barbara Allen" or "Home Sweet Home."
Recite the parable of the Good Samaritan  or Luke 2:1-7.
Recite Blessed Henry Newman's Prayer for a Holy Death.

Penmanship:
Write the following sentence in your best printing:"Two people meet, both bound on the same business, both going to the same rendezvous, and for three days do not venture to trust each other."
Now copy that sentence in your best cursive.
Now identify what book that line is from, and describe its context.

Literature:
Work together to:
Draw a map of the New Forest, complete with distances if you can manage it.  Include as many landmarks as you can.
AND
Draw a character chart outlining the story, just as we do for our Shakespeare tales.
Tell of Christian's experience with the Giant Despair.
Tell me the story of Measure for Measure or The Taming of the Shrew.  You can look at our character chart as you explain the story.
Recite Petruchio's lines regarding Katherine from Act 2, Scene 1 of The Taming of the Shrew, and describe their context.
Which story did you find most unbelievable: Johnny Appleseed or Davy Crockett?  What aspects of his character make him larger-than-life?
Describe one of the difficulties the Argonauts encountered on their journey OR What was Jason's folly, and how was he punished for it?

History:
Describe the Globe theater.
Name two  famous people during the Age of Elizabeth and give an account of them.
Pretend you are one of the pilgrims that came to America on the Mayflower, and you are writing a letter to family back home in England.  Describe your voyage, the reasons for your trip, and what you have encountered so far in your new home.
Whom would you rather live under: Cromwell or Charles II?  Why?  Explain your choice.

Religion:
Tell me the story of the tribute of the temple OR the story of Mary and Martha.
What did Our Lord say about little children?  Use biblical language if possible.
Label the bodies of water in this map of the Holy Land.
Tell me about the duties of the guardian angels.
Share with me your favorite line so far from The Story of the Mass and read it aloud in your clearest voice.
What are some ways we can overcome our "pet passion," according to Mother Mary Loyola?
What is one quality that made St. Thomas More heroic?  Describe a scene from his life that illustrates this quality.

Geography:
Tell me what you know about India, including the caste system and its dominant religion.  Describe one way in which Hindu custom is very different from our own.
Describe the geography of India.  How are its plains different than those in the United States?  What animals live there?
Fill in this map of Europe, paying careful attention to spelling for all the countries.
Identify these states by shape.

Nature Study:
Tell me what you know about hermit crab homes OR Tookhees the wood mouse.
Sketch and label the life cycle of the mosquito.  How does it compare to the life cycle of the butterfly?
Sketch one more favorite discovery from our nature study outings this term.

Art:
Complete this warm-up activity as carefully as you can.

Music Study:
Tell me a favorite scene from Opal Wheeler's Chopin.
Hum the theme from one of the Chopin selections we enjoyed this term.
According to Thomas Tapper, why is it important to have control over our hands?

Picture Study:
Choose one of Fra Angelico's paintings and describe it as well as you can or sketch it from memory.

Handicraft:
Show one of your completed projects to Daddy.

The Answers

For any written work, I spelled words for the children when asked.

I thought it might be interesting this time around to share a few side-by-side answers to the same questions.  Both kids both did a very good job on all of these, so I'm not trying to compare whose narrations were more successful at all.  But I think it's really neat to see how two children almost the same age (they're only three months apart) reading the same books at the same time can respond to those readings with different details and styles.  These narrations were done out of hearing of each other or me, into the audio recorder, and then I transcribed them afterward.

One of the adventures of the Argonauts from Kingsley's Heroes

by Vincent

Once the Argonauts sailed by a place where the Sirens lived.  These, um, girls were half-bird and half-woman.  They sang and they lured sailors to come, and then they were put to death by their sweet song.  The Sirens began to play, but Orpheus, when they reached that, began to play on his harp.  But it would not work and the men soon fell asleep.  Then Hera said to him play very loud and crashing; that will wake the Argonauts up.  The Argonauts were woken up, but one of the men jumped out of the boat and ran to the Sirens and swam over to them.  The Argonauts were sad but they knew it couldn't be helped.  He came on the shore and begged to listen to the Sirens.  He was put to sleep by their magical voice and the Sirens ran out and began to eat him.  But just as they were about to, a goddess came up and took him in her arms, and the Sirens were so angry they dashed themselves to pieces.
[Just had to add--he pronounced Sirens as Cyrenes--like Simon of Cyrene.  Ha! And he pronounced Orpheus as "Orcheus," which actually makes sense given Orpheus' special talent--I think he was making the "orchestra" connection!]

by Gianna

One of the Argonauts' adventures, and probably the most brilliant one, is how they really got the Golden Fleece, which was with the help of the King's daughter.  She helped them in many ways.  The first one was she helped them to overcome the things they must do in order to get to the Golden Fleece at all.  First he had to take some fiery bulls and have them plow and tame them (of course you had to tame them first, because what else could you do with fire-breathing bulls that you have to have plow?).  The seeds that he had to plow were the teeth of the dragon, which made soldiers spring up, and he had to couquer every one of them.  He did this by taming them with witchmaiden's charms and then he plowed the land with them, and that was easy.  Once he plowed the seeds, they started to come up, as you would expect plants to do.  He threw his helmet into the middle so each solider struck the other, and they both struck each other dead.  The last two mortally wounded each other in the last moments of their lives and lay there, glaring at Jason.  Jason was glad.  The king said he would have to overcome now a fire-breathing dragon which was under a tree.  This he did in the middle of the night with the witchmaiden's help.  He took some poison or something and killed the dragon...or maybe the witchmaiden stared into his eyes, and Jason got the golden fleece then.  But I think they just killed the dragon because he hasn't been heard of again.  Well, that's the end of that adventure!

[See?  High on style and about average on substance, if you know what I mean. :)]

An account of two figures during the Age of Elizabeth

by Vincent

Sir Walter Raleigh was a fine gentleman and once he saw Queen Elizabeth walking on a road, and he saw a big puddle, and he didn't want her to step in it, so he threw his best cloak on the ground and let her step on it as a carpet. Queen Elizabeth was greatly pleased by this and she let him become a knight.  He wanted to plan an expedition for Virginia, a great part of which John Cabot had already claimed but no one had tried to settle on it. He was one of Queen Elizabeth's favorites, and Queen Elizabeth did not want him to go in case he might die, and he had to stay.  He had one of his brothers go with the expedition, and he also built a ship, which he gave for the expedition.  It came out that each expedition failed when finally, with the fifth one, he managed to settle a colony, but this was in the time when James was king.  Sir Walter Raleigh was put in prison, for people said that he was trying to form a plot against James, and he was executed like many other great men.

Shakespeare was also in the time of Queen Elizabeth.  His father was the mayor of a town.  When he was six years old, he went to school, and when he was a young man, he married a girl older than himself.  Her name was Anne.  A few years after, he left Anne and his few children at home and went to London.  There he began writing plays.  First he began to change some plays, and the people liked them so much that they begged him to write more, and he agreed to write more.

by Gianna

The Earl of Essex was one of Queen Elizabeth's many male friends.  However, it ended up that he was thrown into prison and in the reign of the next king, James, had his head cut off.  But for the time being, they were friends.  He had to go over and help rule Scotland and that is when their enmity started.  One time he put on a play where a king was a bad king and was to be overthrown, and he and all his followers clapped at the right parts. They tried to make Queen Elizabeth act the part of the bad king and he act the part of the new and much better king.  Queen Elizabeth found it out and that's how he was cast into prison.

Mary Queen of Scots also ended up having her head cut off.  She was actually Queen Elizabeth's cousin, and they quarreled, and Queen Elizabeth got so mad that she shut up her own cousin.  Later when she was beheaded, she looked old but she was still young.

The tale of Christian and the Giant Despair

by Vincent

Christian and his companion, Faithful, were walking along the road when Christian saw a better road.  They went on that road but there was a great flood and they had to take a break in shelter.  When they awoke they found that they had been caught by a giant called Despair.  In the morning he put them in the dungeon and gave them no food or water.  The next day he said to them that it would be better if they just killed themselves instead of having to suffer so much.  After a long talk about this, they decided that they should not kill themselves because there still might be hope that they could escape.  Because once when he was beating them with a club, he had had a fit and he stopped moving.  The next day he showed them some bones and said that soon their bones would be among those.  One day Christian said to Faithful, "I forgot that I have the key in my bosom," so they pushed open the prison door and ran out through the gates.  The Giant Despair was just about to run after them when he suddenly pushed open the gates and had another fit, and Christian and Faithful escaped, and they put up a sign to make sure that no other pilgrims went there.

by Gianna

They had just gone away from the lovely meadow and river, and the walking became hard because there were stones on the way and it hurt their feet.  There was a stile which led into another beautiful meadow and they were tempted to go in, though they knew it was not in the way.  Finally they were so tempted to go in it that they did go in it. Christian said to his fellow, "Let us go in it!" until his fellow finally gave in.  No sooner had they gone in than they fell fast asleep for they were tired.  Then a giant called Giant Despair came in.  These were his grounds, and if people were found on his grounds, that meant death.  (At least he thought so!)  They were led away, and for many, many days, he tried to convince them to give in. Christian and Hopeful would not.  They said that they would never ever give in.  He, seeing this, counselled his wife.  His wife told him to "show them all the bones that are in the garden.  They will find, most likely, that it is best to give in to you.  Or else, my dear husband, they will know that it means death."  So they were shown the bones in the yard and they thought nothing of it--at least they didn't think much.  Christian did--he kept telling Hopeful to give in.  Finally on probably the sixth night, they prayed, for they were going to be killed and beaten tomorrow if they hadn't escaped by then.  Christian cried out aloud, "Look!  I have a key in my pocket!  And it can open any lock! It's called the Key of Promise."  And so they went out.  The giant, hearing them, gave chase, but he got into a fit and couldn't move his arms and legs.  To think that Christian had a key there the whole time when he was with the Giant Despair!

Some Thoughts

:: Speaking of narrations, as you can see, Vincent is my one with the nearly photographic memory, but his vocabulary is a bit more stilted, and Gianna remembers less but tells it back with more style. ;) And what you can't tell from these transcripts is that Vincent's narrations are much slower and more measured but also more careful and methodical.  Gianna's are more fluent, but she gets ahead of herself sometimes.  I'm curious to see how this all will play out when we begin regular written narrations next year.

:: They loved the collaborative questions, so I'm going to be doing more of those!

:: They thought it was funny to be comparing Cromwell and Charles II, both of whom they thought were pretty terrible.  I'd like to have asked them to compare two good rulers, but they are so few and far between during this era.  Vincent, grasping at straws, actually mentioned that he'd rather live under Charles II because at least the fire swept the plague out of London when he was king!  That had me laughing out loud--you know it's bad when a citywide fire is the highlight of your reign. ;)

:: We didn't get through as much Italian as I was hoping to this term, but at least they remembered what we did work on.  To be honest, I don't think much will change in that area until summer, when I have a little more time to pull new resources together.

Third Grade in Our Home :: Morning Basket, Term 3

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, with the littles. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and one done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we did it last year, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, feel free to click over to read more.  ~~ You can read about our Morning Basket for Term 1 and Term 2 of this year.

We finished a few books this past term that we have been working on since the beginning of our school year back in July:

:: Thomas Tapper's Music Talks for Children

:: Benson's A Child's Rule of Life and An Alphabet of Saints

:: Kingsley's The Water Babies

:: MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind

I added a couple new ones to our rotation, but I'm also leaving a couple empty slots because I'll be adding in some Lenten reading shortly.  So we'll have a slightly lighter schedule until Ash Wednesday, which is just a few weeks away.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 3 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem from our poet for the term, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (daily)

Short Reading - from one of the following:

:: the Kirbys' The World at Home (two chapers per week)

:: Opal Wheeler's Handel (a chapter per week)

:: Pilgrim's Progress (a short section per week, following the AO 72-week rotation)

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Crossbows and Crucifixes, The Wheel on the School, and The Little Prince

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as our current selections:

:: Hymns - "Attende Domine," "Stabat Mater," and "Bring Flowers of the Fairest"

:: Folk Song - "Highland Mary" (finishing from Term 2), "Pull for the Shore," "Golden Years are Passing By"

:: Bible - The Parable of the Good Samaritan (finishing from Term 2), Matthew 5:13-16

:: Prayers - The Divine Praises and St. Alphonsus' Night Prayer

:: Poetry - Longfellow's "The Tide Rises," "The Arrow and the Song," "Snow-Flakes," and "A Day of Sunshine"

:: Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing 4.1.216-221, Hamlet 1.3.76-81

:: Bird Calls - California Quail, Belted Kingfisher

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  I'll update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation at a different time of the day, but we do our Italian memory work with the littles:

(We took a bit longer on the previous unit than I expected, so we're still working on several from last term.)

:: Rhymes - "La bella lavanderia" from Filastrocche Italiane

:: Songs - "Tu canterai, "Cosi fan," "Giro giro tondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian

:: Series - "I do something every day"

Picture Study on Georgia O'Keeffe (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch

:: Landscapes: Canyon with Crows, 1917

:: More Landscapes: Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu--Dry Waterfall, 1943

:: Flowers in Black and White: Black Hollycock, Blue Larkspur, 1930 and The White Trumpet Flower, 1932

:: Flowers in Color: Red Poppy, 1927

:: Bones: Summer Days, 1936

:: Abstract: Music--Pink and Blue II

Music Study on Handel (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion

:: Water Music (four weeks)

:: Royal Fireworks Music (four weeks)

:: The Harmonious Blacksmith (one week)

:: Zadok the Priest (one week)

:: Messiah (two weeks)

Return to the Argonauts

Last year, we read Hawthorne's Greek myths, A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales.  Although they are scheduled as Year 2 free reads, I decided to stretch the two books over the course of the school year, a bit per week, so that we could savor them.  And savor them we did.

This year, Kingsley's Heroes is scheduled for Year 3, and in that book, we have been revisiting some of the myths we first encountered in Hawthorne's volumes.  Our reading for this week has us at the climax of the Argonauts' dangerous voyage.

I was struck last year by a particular moment in Jason's journey--the setting sail of the Argo.  Hawthorne's telling was so vivid and poetic.  I was surprised to find myself similarly struck with Kingsley's version.  You would think that the story would get dull when heard twice, but far from it: one can appreciate the craftsmanship of the writer all the more hearing them side by side.  The tales remain fresh and exciting in the adept hands of each author.

From Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales:

Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seizing their oars, held them perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus (who liked such a task far better than rowing) swept his fingers across the harp.  At the first ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir.  Orpheus thrummed away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvellous lips, and rose again as buoyant as a swan.  The rowers plied their fifty oars; the white foam boiled up before the prow; the water gurgled and bubbled in their wake; while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of music, that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of keeping time to it.  Thus triumphantly did the Argo sail out of the amidst the huzzas and good wishes of everybody except the wicked old Pelias, who stood on the promontory, scowling at her, and wishing that he could blow out of his lungs the tempest of wrath that was in his heart, and so sink the galley with all on board.

From Kingsley's Heroes:

And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to launch her down the beach; but she was too heavy for them to move her, and her keel sank deep into the sand.  Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing; but Jason spoke, and said, ‘Let us ask the magic bough; perhaps it can help us in our need.’

Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard the words it said, and bade Orpheus play upon the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding the pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.Then Orpheus took his harp, and began his magic song—‘How sweet it is to ride upon the surges, and to leap from wave to wave, while the wind sings cheerful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among the foam!  How sweet it is to roam across the ocean, and see new towns and wondrous lands, and to come home laden with treasure, and to win undying fame!’

And the good ship Argo heard him, and longed to be away and out at sea; till she stirred in every timber, and heaved from stem to stern, and leapt up from the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward like a gallant horse; and the heroes fed her path with pine-trunks, till she rushed into the whispering sea.

Then they stored her well with food and water, and pulled the ladder up on board, and settled themselves each man to his oar, and kept time to Orpheus’ harp; and away across the bay they rowed southward, while the people lined the cliffs; and the women wept, while the men shouted, at the starting of that gallant crew.

This is why I love educating my children using Charlotte Mason's "living books," full of real ideas and literary language.  The poetry of the writing, even in these elementary years, feeds my mind just as much as it feeds theirs.  I am not the teacher here, in these moments--I am a fellow student, sitting at the feet of literary masters, learning and loving alongside my children.

Third Grade in Our Home :: Exams, Term 1

As usual, some of the exam questions are my own and some are from the wonderful sample exam questions over at Ambleside Online.  I usually look at those first and then make changes and additions to suit our family.  And keep in mind that I have two children in Year 3, so they aren't both answering all these questions--I give them options.

The Questions

Italian:

Translate the following sentence:  I like when I go on the swings and the slide.  I see the stroller on the sidewalk.

Describe three actions you do in the backyard using complete sentences.

Answer the following questions: "Che tempo fa in dicembre?  Che indossi?  Che tempo fa in luglio?  Che indossa la ragazza in luglio?"

Translate the following numbers into Italian: 92, 87, 63, 16, 58

Recite "Pioggia, pioggia vai via" or "Piove, la gatta non si muove."

Poetry:

Recite one of the poems you memorized by William Blake.

Besides the ones you memorized, what was your favorite poem that we read this term?  What was it about?

Piano:

Play your recital songs.

Physical Education:

Do ten burpees.

See how many pushups you can do without stopping.

Do first through fifth positions of the feet in ballet, with accompanying arm positions. (for Gianna only)

Math:

Draw a circle with a diameter of four inches using your compass.  Then create a regular decagon within this circle using your ruler and goniometer.  

Then answer the following questions:

 - What is the measurement of each internal angle?

 - What is the length of each side?  What is the perimeter of the decagon?

 - What is the circumference of the circle? (for Vincent only)

 - What is the area of the decagon? 

Estimate the area of the circle.

See how fast you can do your 8s Wrap-Up.

Do the following long division problems, writing remainders as a fraction.

Free Reading:

What was your favorite book read during free time this term?  What did you like best about it?

Draw a scene from Men of Iron or The Little White Horse.  Describe briefly which scene you have illustrated, either in writing or orally.

Hymn:

Sing "Ave Verum Corpus" or "Come Holy Ghost."

Folk Song:

Sing "Dixie" or "Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night."

Recitation - Bible:

Recite the Last Gospel or Psalm 129.

Recitation - Prayers:

Recite the Confiteor in English or the St. Michael Prayer in Latin.

Penmanship:

Write the following sentence in your best printing: "The queen went stumping along in one shoe of stone and one of skin."

Now copy that sentence in your best cursive.

Literature:

Tell of Christian's experience in Vanity Fair or of his encounter with Talkative.

Tell your favorite part of The Princess and the Goblin.

Tell me the story of Pericles or The Merchant of Venice.  You can look at our character chart as you explain the story.

Tell me about Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill.

Why does Perseus embark on his dangerous journey, and what help does he get?

History:

Tell me about one of the Marys: Mary I of England or Mary Queen of Scots.  How was each related to Queen Elizabeth I?

Tell me about the circumstances surrounding the departure of either Martin Luther or Henry VIII from the Catholic Church.

What does Renaissance mean and why is it called that?

Which of Michelangelo's projects did you like best?  Describe the commission, the piece itself, and his process of creating it as best you can.

Did the earliest settlers from Spain and France get along with the natives in America?  Why or why not?

Reading Skill:

Please read this passage aloud in your clearest voice.

Religion - Bible Stories:

Show me Capaernum on the map and describe, using biblical language if you can, one of the events in the life of Our Lord that took place there.

Religion - Angels:

How were angels involved in the life of Our Lord according to the biblical account?

What was your favorite story about angels from the Old Testament?  Tell me all you can about it.

Religion - Study of the Mass:

Share with me your favorite line so far from The Story of the Mass.

Religion - Catechism:

What kinds of mortification are asked of us?  How can mortifications aid us in the spiritual life?

Tell me the story of the wedding garment and what it symbolizes.

What is needed for a sin to be mortal?

Geography:

Tell me about Tartary.  What animals live there, and what is the geography like?  Where is it on our modern map?

Fill in this map of America, paying careful attention to spelling for all the states.

Chart Marco Polo's journey so far on a map of the world.  Describe one of the sights he encounters along the way.

Nature Study:

Sketch and label three sea creatures we have read about this term from Pagoo.

Choose one of those sea creatures and tell me all you can about it.

What is plankton?

Describe the nicest walk you have had this term. What did you find?

Art:

Complete this warm-up activity as carefully as you can.

Sketch a cup showing its volume.  Note where your light source is coming from.

Music Study:

Tell me a favorite scene from Opal Wheeler's Bach.

Hum the theme from one of the Bach selections we enjoyed this term.

What is a "classic," as described by Thomas Tapper?

Picture Study:

Choose one of Monet's paintings and describe it as well as you can or sketch it.

Handicraft - Chores:

Clean the downstairs bathroom for inspection.

Mop the downstairs bathroom and laundry room for inspection.

The Answers

Just a sampling of answers here, for variety...

Christian and Faithful's experience in Vanity Fair from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, by Vincent
Christian and Faithful came to a city, and it was called Vanity Fair because there was a fair all year.  In this fair was sold vanities.  Christian and Faithful did not spend a single penny.  Some of the people were angry at them and they ended up telling the chief of the fair that he had said their thing was rubbish and vanity.  So Christian and Faithful were thrown into prison.  A voice told Faithful to be brave, and Faithful was the first one to be tried.  Ten witnesses were brought and witnessed against him.  Some said they could bear to see him no longer.  Some said he was a rogue.  And it was asked what death Faithful should have, and someone said hanging, and the chief said that wasn't good enough.  So they put him to the most horrible death they could.  First, they beat him with irons, and then they burned his body to ashes at the stake.  Meawhile, while Chrstian and Faithful were in prison, they had been talking with the other people about their faith.  The people were so happy about Faithful's death that they didn't much mind Christian, and he was able to escape with one of the men he had converted, whose name was Hopeful.

Pecos Bill from Stoutenberg's American Tall Tales, by Vincent

Pecos Bill came from a family that lived in Texas with twenty brothers and sisters. The family decided to move because Texas was getting a bit too crowded. When they did, Pecos Bill flew out of the wagon. But since they had so many children, it was two weeks before they noticed that he was gone. When Pecos Bill flew out of the wagon, he just sat there on the grass and watched a pack of wolves eating a dead deer. A female wolf gave him a chunk of deer. Pecos Bill had never eaten raw meat before, but he took a bite of it to please the wolf. He found it tasted quite good, so he toddled over and joined the other wolves. He kept on living with the wolves, and he learned how to howl like them. He kept on doing this until he thought he was a wolf.

One day, a cowboy came and he saw Pecos Bill. He asked Pecos Bill to come with him to the ranch, but Pecos Bill said he was a coyote. They kept on arguing until finally the cowboy made a point: he said that Pecos Bill had no tail like the other coyotes did. Sure enough, Pecos Bill had no tail, so he followed the cowboy.

Pecos Bill invented the lasso, and also the six-shooter. In those days there were many horse stealers, and Pecos Bil had to think of making a six-shooter. The cowboys asked him what it was, and Bill replied, "It's a gun that holds six bullets at a time." In those days, it was hard to keep your cow from running off. A cowboy had to just lie down in the grass, and put a noose down, and wait for the cow to step in it. So he made a lasso.

Pecos Bill once met a rattlesnake--he was riding a mountain lion then--and the cowboy he had first met went thundering on ahead because he was afraid of the snake. He heard Pecos Bill say, "Mr. Rattler, I'm going to make the poison come out of you, but I'll let you have the first three bites to make it fair!" And Bill did what he said: after the rattlesnake took the first three bites, he wound the snake up and made a noose out of him and beat him against a chain until all the poison came out. Once a cow was running away when he came near the ranch, and Pecos Bill just threw his lasso over it, and the cow was caught, so the cowboys began making more of them. Once when there was no water, Pecos Bill went out of Texas to find some water. He met a cyclone, and he threw his lasso around his neck and squeezed it until all the dust came out. Under the dust was all water.

One day he saw a girl riding on a huge fish. When he learned her name was Sue, he decided to marry her, and they had fourteen children, seven girls and seven boys. And the boys became cowboys and the girls cowgirls.

"The Merchant of Venice" from Lambs' Tales from Shakspeare, by Gianna

Once there was a man called Antonio. There was also a man called Shylock. Antonio was a man who lended money for free. Shylock was a man who lended money and then you have to pay him back and give him interest also. These were mortal enemies. You might as well expect that, as people would rather go to Antonio than to Shylock, who was the one who lended for interest.

Now, Antonio had a friend, Bassanio, and Bassanio was in need of money because he wanted to marry a girl called Portia. Antonio, who didn't have any money at the time, went to Shylock, and Shylock said that Antonio would have to pay him back by a certain time or else he would have to take a pound of flesh. And Antonio agreed, and so they had a bond. And so Bassanio got to marry Portia. And Graziano, Bassanio's servant, and Nerissa, Portia's maid, also got married. The girls both gave Bassanio and Graziano each a ring.

One time, Bassanio got a letter. Soon, his face turned pale. Portia asked him what was the matter, and Bassanio said that his dear friend, Antonio, had gone into prison because his ships had not returned, and the time when he should pay Shylock back was already at hand, and he had not paid him. And he also said that he must go to see his friend. "Shylock will cut off a pound of Antonio's flesh if he doesn't pay," said Bassanio. And so he went. Bassanio had taken Graziano with him. They both went to where Antonio was imprisoned.

Portia was quite disturbed on hearing her husband. So was Nerissa. Meanwhile, Portia and Nerissa had a plan. Portia had a friend called Balthazar. He was a clerk of the law. Portia dressed as him, and made Nerissa as her helper, and they too went to the place where Antonio was to be judged.

She went there and found Shylock waiting for Antonio. He was growling impatiently, for he wanted the time to come very soon when he would cut off Antonio's flesh. Portia went to him and asked him to have "Mercy, mercy, sir!" But he would not, though she asked him many times. Then she asked the judge, "Let me see the bond." And so he gave her the bond and she read it. Then she started thinking and turned to Shylock. "You mustn't let a drop of blood fall out. You cannot bleed him to death, you see. It says nothing about death in this bond here." Shlyock growled. "Go on," continued Portia, "go on, there's Antonio--you must cut off his flesh." "But remember," she added, "not a drop more than a pound." Shlyock knew that this was impossible. How could he not let blood drip if he cut out a pound?

Bassanio had some money ready--the money which Antonio should have paid. "Give me the money," said Shyock. "No, no," said Portia, "you must cut off his flesh." Shylock was soon discovered and the duke put him in prison instead of Antonio. And when his judgment came, it was decided that his money would go to the land.

The judge turned to Bassanio when Shlyock was gone and said, "Why don't you thank this kind lawyer for freeing your friend?" Bassanio had his gloves off, and Portia searched him to see what she wanted for her payment. She finally chose the ring that she had given him and that he had promised not to part with. He tried to say no, but he was reminded that the judge was there, and so he gave it to her. Meanwhile, Nerissa had been searching Graziano, and took his ring also. The two girls fled giggling that they would accuse their husbands of giving the ring to another woman.

When they got home, Portia asked, "Where is your ring?" "Ah," said Bassanio, "I had to give it to some young lawyer for saving Antonio's life." "Some young lawyer indeed? It was probably some woman!" "No, I tell you, it was an officer of the law." "No it wasn't," said Portia. Soon they were quarreling. Finally, Portia and Nerissa told who it really had been and the story was made clear.

Mary, Queen of Scots from Our Island Story, by Gianna
Mary was cousin to Elizabeth.  She married the King of France, but he died about two years after the marriage.  She sailed sadly back to Scotland, saying to herself, "Adieu, France, adieu!"  When she got to Scotland, she made war with Elizabeth.  Mary was put in prison by Elizabeth.  She stayed there a long time, and when she came out of prison to die, she looked old though she was really young.  After her death, her dog thought she was still alive and whined around her grave.

Some Thoughts

I really appreciate the opportunity that exams provide me to reconsider the ways in which I'm presenting the material and guiding their learning.

:: I switched to time-based penmanship this year (I used to assign 1-2 lines per day, now it's five minutes) and we're making the same amount of progress.  Good news there!

:: I feel like we have finally hit a stride with our Italian.  The children answered their exam questions in Italian with confidence, which was not the case in any other term.

:: We are still very much enjoying the Opal Wheeler biographies.  Even though I consider them supplemental and don't have my kids narrate them, they're still able to vividly recall scenes from the book when it comes to exam time.  And that has been a "peg" for them to hang the music we listen to on.  They are both story-loving children, so the addition has been good for us as a kind of history supplement that meshes with our music appreciation work.

:: They recited their Blake poems with ease, but they had trouble of thinking of others besides the ones they selected for memorization that impressed them.  That has never been the case for any other term, and they really enjoy poetry in general, so Blake was evidently not a favorite.

:: We spent this term training in new chores.  I am so happy to see their progress in this area!  It's such a blessing to our family.  But I think all of us (and the kids in particular--ha!) will be happy to move on to something more artistic next term.