Catholic Schoolhouse Tour III Week 2
Here’s something motivational for your week- a Michelangelo quote:
Religion/ Math/ Language Arts
Keep going in your Saint Ignatius of Loyola Fun pack!
- Saint Ignatius was also known for his belief that the faithful need to have ‘alone time’ with Jesus. He often imitated Jesus’ example of going out into the desert or an isolated place to pray. I don’t recommend sending your students into a desert, but you could create a special place for them to pray. Use a big box, or a closet, or any place where they can find some seclusion to pray. Then label and decorate it appropriately. You can print some prayers to stick to the walls, hang a crucifix, add holy water etc anything to set the mood.
- Start working on a 10 Commandments Garland using these printables each week. Cut out around the triangle, color and tape or staple it to a piece of ribbon or string. There’s room on them to add an illustration or any additional information you want your students to add. Come back next week to get the next commandment!
- We use the number 4 in building lots of furniture- just think of all your chairs, couches, tables etc. If you have plenty in your own home skip count the legs of furniture. If you want, take a field trip to a furniture store and skip count the legs of chairs there! Head over to office furniture to skip count the wheels on office chairs- they come in 5’s often.
- Cars also have 4 wheels, you could set your kids outside to watch traffic driving down the street and skip count the wheels. If you have a lot of traffic, assign each student a color to watch for, and only skip count those car’s wheels. (For example Bob only skip counts the wheels on green cars, Susan only skip counts cars on red cars etc.) Who can get to 48 wheels first?
- Skip count by 5’s your fingers and toes of everyone in the house! Or if you meet in a program, skip count everyone’s fingers in a row.
- Check out my Year 2 Week 2 post idea of ‘drawing’ a picture by writing nouns, I think it’s a pretty cool activity.
- And in the Year 1 Week 2 post, there is a printable Mad Libs.
- Another very famous Baroque piece by Handel is Water Music. Listen to it here on youtube as you do your school this week or during quiet reading time.
- Little Einsteins is a show (available on Netflix) geared toward your youngest crowed, but they always feature a composer and artist. To get even your 1-3 year-olds in on the CSH fun this week, show Season 2 episodes 22 and 38 which feature Handel’s Water Music.
- If you haven’t yet, print a Music Notebooking page for your younger students and older students to fill out about Handel!
- The twelve apostles and Jesus are in very distinct poses in da Vinci’s Last Supper painting. If you have enough students at home, or in a program meeting, reenact the picture. Use some fabric or robes to dress up like the apostles. Then sit all along one side of a long table and try to get each student to pose as a specific person in the picture (don’t forget facial expressions). Take a picture and send it to me!
- Print the Classical Roots Flash Cards for this week.
- Leonardo da Vinci was a famous inventor. He drew many ideas in his notebooks of both inventions that work and some that wouldn’t work. Have your students try to invent something. Brainstorm something that they would like to make easier (maybe a chore like taking out the trash), or an ability they want to do but can’t (like flying, even though we already have planes). Then invent a device or machine that would help them attain their goal. Draw the invention, list what it is made of and how it would work. If it is something simple enough, you could even try to build it!
- Your older students may enjoy trying to write in mirror image this week just like da Vinci! See if they can write each other secret messages in mirror images and exchange notes when you meet in your programs.
- Here is a good (and short- 5min) biography video about Leonardo da Vinci. You see several of his paintings, pictures of his inventions and learn about his life.
- For a book recommendation this week, see if your library carries the National Geographic biography: Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius who defined the Renaissance.
- Ferdinand and Isabella are most known for funding Christopher Columbus’ voyage which resulted in the Americas discovery. There are a million billion Christopher Columbus resources on the internet from videos to crafts. You could choose anything from this list at ‘Blessed beyond a doubt.’ She has links to projects that could take all day, or just a coloring page for little hands to keep busy while you read aloud to them. But don’t worry if you don’t spend much time on him this week, we see him again in the Year 1 cycle of course!
- When you teach about the Line of Demarcation, make sure you remind students that the Americas had not yet been discovered by the Europeans. Have them think about it a minute- what would a world map look like to Europeans in the 1400s? Then draw the line of Demarcation on your wall world map (or whatever map you use). Do they think it was very fair? What does this line say about their knowledge of the Americas? Here’s a link to the Kids Brittanica which shows the line of Demarcation.
- Draw Vasco da Gama’s route on your Wall Map! Then ‘play’ Vasco da Gama. Build ‘boats’ from cardboard boxes and ‘sail’ around your house in search for India (don’t forget to bring something of value to trade). Once you ‘arrive’ in India, fill your boat with spices, jewels (maybe your little girls have some play jewelry or you have some inexpensive jewelry you don’t mind them trading for), and silks (do you have old bridesmaid and party dresses you never wear? I know I do). For your students who learn from writing, have them write about Vasco da Gama on their boat in markers- any facts they learned, items traded, and how the journey went.
- The quote at the beginning of this post would make a great writing prompt for older students, or topic for discussion for your younger students. What does Michelangeo mean by that quote?
- Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel laying on his back. To understand how difficult this must’ve been, have your students experience it first hand! Tape some paper to the bottom of your kitchen table, set out some watercolors or acrylics (whichever you find easier to clean up), and have them paint you pictures laying on their backs under the table. You may need to slide a bench underneath, or let them lie across some chairs so they are at the right height. A coffee table might be the perfect height for painting under if you have one that doesn’t have storage underneath. (You may wish to lay out a disposible table cloth under the painting area to protect your floor- this activity can get messy).
- Learn about Lattitude and Longitude with the snack idea from the Year 1 Week 1 post.
- Print the World Map (page 3) from the CSH resources page. Then have your students create their own Key. (you can explain what a map key is to them this week!) Color the Western Hemisphere one color, the Eastern Hemisphere a different color. You can either color or glue different color string/yarn to be the lines of Latitude, Lines of Longitude, Equator, and Prime Meridian.
- There is both a Magic School bus book, and cartoon episode titled “The Magic Schoolbus gets Eaten” which is all about food chains! Borrow the book from your library (or add it to your collection) or watch the show on Netflix Season 1 Episode 4.
- Create a food chain display using old magazines pictures. Cut out animals and plants and then glue them onto paper. Draw arrows to show the relationship between creatures. (If you look, sometimes you can even find bacteria in a cleaning product ad!)
- Here is a great printable worksheet/activity about decomposers!
- And here is printable worksheet from the same website where your student has to use clues to complete some food chains, here is a worksheet about food chains in the ocean, and here’s one last one about food chains in woodlands.