First week of Quarter 3

 

                             

 Salvete, Spartanae Familiae!

4th Grade

In 4th grade we've been talking about Roman Villas. This architectural style has been around since the Roman Republic and has since made its way to Spain and the Americas. 

We've been talking about the different rooms in a traditional Roman Villa, why they were important, and what purpose they served. 

We've looked at the Impluvium, Atrium, Hortus, and Cubiculum, just to name a few. This week we got to design and decorate our own room in a Villa as an in-class assignment, and next week we'll use our rooms to talk about prepositions. 

Looking ahead: We'll use rooms, as well as our Roman Raccoon Titus, to learn Latin prepositions. These are important because many of these are still used as prefixes for English words we use today. These can be helpful tools in sounding out and breaking down difficult vocabulary words.

5th Grade

In 5th grade we've started our new Quarter with a new chapter. In Chapter 4 of our Cambridge Course we've been discussing the Roman Forum at Pompeii. The Romans had many jobs that we see today; for example the Tonsor is where you would go for a shave or a hair cut, the Argentarius was responsible for lending money and managing people's wealth, and the Coquus could be found in the Culina making dinner for friends and family. We've also received our new vocabulary lists and have a few quizzes on the horizon.

Looking ahead: We'll continue work with our new vocabulary words through games and in-class study sessions. We'll also start to translate 'in basilica' which is a story that takes place in a Roman courtroom. This is where we'll practice our 1st and 2nd person pronouns; Ego et Tu.

6th Grade

We wrapped up our translation of 'In Palaestra'; a story about a discus, and a statue's nasum fractum. We also spent a little time talking about Milo the famous greek wrestler. He won the Olympics 6 times before meeting an interesting yet grizzly end... 

New vocabulary sheets have been deployed and there are notecard assignments looming above us- once those are out of the way we'll continue our work into Chapter 10 (which means we're almost done with the entire Cambridge book!)

Looking Ahead: Chapter 10 is about Rhetoric, which is a fitting topic as our students continue their career here at Western Hills. Learning how to form a sound argument is a skill that students have learned since the days of Caesar, and in Chapter 10 we'll get to see a bit of what that looked like for the students in 79 a.d. 

After independent study week I was lucky enough to see a few projects, as well as participate in a socratic discussion with 6th grade. There has been a lot of laughter this week and we've enjoyed the sunshine as our days grow a bit longer- 

As always, if you have any questions you may contact me at emily.riedlinger@greatheartswesternhills.org.

Cura ut Valeas,

Magistra Riedlinger