Mrs. Hallford’s Class Newsletter

September 15-18

Students take a moment of silent prayer in remembrance of the victims of 9-11.

This past week went very well! The class is doing a great job of adjusting and following directions. We had a fire drill and a tornado drill on two separate days this past week, and I was very pleased with how well everyone did. We were able to get right back into our lessons the minute we came back from the drills, and that is always a good thing! We didn’t have sufficient time for our debate, however, so we’ll have to pick it up this week instead.

We began our study of Columbus, and the students got started on their mixed-media art projects based on the constellations that early navigators used. We will continue the project this week, and I am excited to see how they turn out! We also began learning a poem about Columbus, which we will continue working with this week. Recitation is an important aspect of the Charlotte Mason philosophy which we incorporate at Flint. Memorizing something not only strengthens a child’s memory, but also is valuable instruction in language, vocabulary, and subject matter. I am including a copy of the poem so you can enjoy it with your child. This poem comes from the book The Harp And Laurel Leaf by Laura Berquist, which is a wonderful collection of classical poetry for all ages.

In Geography we copied maps of the four voyages of Columbus. This coming week, we will look at the development of cartography during his time, and copy a pre-Columbus map, so we can see how his voyages and determination changed the way people saw the world forever.

I am nearly finished with the reading assessments I need to do, and we are getting more and more settled into our ‘Literacy’ time. We had our first spelling test last week, and everyone did a wonderful job!

On Thursday last week, we devoted a lot of time to our 9-11 memorial project. We discussed the purpose of a memorial, and looked at various pictures of memorials. We then made a list as a class of words that are important to remember about that day, such as courage, hope, sacrifice, etc. Each student was given a small box to cover in paper, and then they were each assigned one of the words, which they wrote all over their box. After completing this, we voted on the best architectural design for the memorial (they chose to stack the boxes into two even towers, connected by the remaining box so it would be mobile) and then placed them together. We then had a moment of silent prayer for the victims of 9-11.

I was really proud of the sensitivity and depth of feeling that the class displayed, and I thought they did a wonderful job grasping the idea of this project.

God bless,

Nicole Hallford

Mrs. Hallford’s Class Newsletter

September 8-11

A sample of student work: a map of Portugal and the surrounding area in the time of Prince Henry The Navigator.

We had a wonderful first week of school, and I was very pleased with how well everyone got along! The returning students are doing a great job of helping acclimate our new students to classroom routine and culture, and everyone made an effort to have a pleasant week.

The class did really well adjusting to the subject rotation, and worked hard in all of our lessons. I was especially pleased with how our debate on turning great literature into movies went! We had some very good arguments and well-thought-out ideas on both sides. The debate was drawn from an article in a back-issue of World Magazine, about the new Prince Caspian movie. Since we read the book, saw a theatrical adaptation, and saw the movie as a class last year, I knew the students would have plenty of thoughts on the subject! The pro side did a great job of arguing that it is important to make literature accessible to people who struggle with reading, and wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to the ideas and inspiration of a great piece of literature. This is my personal feeling, as well! However, Mrs. O’Donnell and I were completely won over by the passionate and eloquent rebuttal from the con side, led by Josh. He argued that when you are really “inside” of a piece of great literature, your imagination takes over completely and you can feel with all of your senses that you are floating down the river with Huckleberry Finn, for example. Once you have seen a film adaptation of the book, though, the scenes, appearances, and voices are already set in your mind, and your imagination is no longer free to interpret what the author really meant.

This week’s debate will be on another article from a back-issue of World Magazine. It will be about whether or not we can or should give our forgiveness to repentant war criminals.

This week we will begin several weeks of study on the life and accomplishments of Christopher Columbus. There is an abundance of really great lessons to do on this subject, so I can’t wait to get started! We will set it aside on Thursday, however, so we can discuss September 11 and create a small memorial.

The class is really enjoying our novel, Surviving The Applewhites. One of the main characters starts out as a not-so-nice boy who hasn’t ever had good role-models, and opinions are mixed as to whether he will change his ways under the influence of the Applewhite family, or remain a troublemaker throughout the rest of the book.

Our Art lesson on Venetian masks went really well last week, as you can see!

This week’s Art lesson will be a mixed media representation of the constellations which Columbus and other early explorers used to help navigate unknown territory.

I will be sending home the Venetian masks today, and, if your child is returning from last year, some other work. Mostly this will be artwork, the Leonardo da Vinci research paper, and some completed books. I have attached short notes to these items, explaining what they are, but if you have any questions feel free to ask me! The map of Portugal, and some written narration from our History lesson will stay at school, because each child is creating their own Book of Centuries. These folders will contain maps, written information, and collages on the various people and events we are studying, and when finished will serve as a hand-made history book!

Please don’t forget to sign your child’s daily folder, so I know that you have received it each afternoon. Also, we have a lot of basketball players in our class – don’t forget that practice starts this week. I can’t wait to see our Falcons in action!

God bless,

Nicole Hallford

Mrs. Hallford’s Class Newsletter

September 2, 2008

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

~William Butler Yeats

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer! I’ve really enjoyed preparing the classroom and lessons for this year, and cannot wait to get started. We have a lot of new faces this year, including a new classroom aide, Mrs. O’Donnell.

Also new this year, our class will participate in the upper school’s core subject rotation. This means that Mrs. Roy will teaching our class Bible, Mr. Teichroew will be teaching them Latin, and Coach Hallford will be teaching Earth Science and Chemistry. I will be teaching our class and the other upper school classes Writing with the Lost Tools of Writing curriculum from the Circe Institute of classical education. Mrs. Vollmering and Coach Hallford will continue as math teachers for the upper school this year. I think that participating in this schedule will really benefit our class, and it will help break up the day for the students to be exposed to several different teaching styles.

This year, the upper school will be using a token economy reward system with some practical applications! Each student will receive a fake checkbook and register, which they will use to record transactions. Everyone has the opportunity to ‘earn’ 25 Flint Dollars each day, which can be spent on small prizes or saved for bigger prizes. They can also be fined for failing to follow our classroom habits.

At Flint we don’t have classroom rules, instead we develop habits that will serve the students for a lifetime. Our habits this year are the Habit of Attention, the Habit of Self-Control, the Habit of Sweet Temper, and the Habit of Perfect Execution.

This first week of school, I will be acquainting the students with our class procedures and our new schedule. I will also be doing some assessments for reading and phonics.

In History, we will be learning about Prince Henry the Navigator, to begin our unit study of the early explorers and adventurers of the 14^th and 15^th centuries. To go along with this, we will be studying the geography of Portugal and Spain.

In Earth Science, we will learn how early scientists calculated the circumference of the earth.

Our first book for Literature this year is Surviving The Applewhites , a Newberry Honor Book by Stephanie Tolan. I chose this book for its theme of taking responsibility for yourself and your education, and of rising above and beyond old habits and stereotypes.

Our handicraft this year is crochet, which appeared in its modern form in Europe in the 1600’s, and possibly originated in China or South America, traveling to Europe through traders and explorers.

For Art, we will make Venetian carnival masks and learn about the tradition of masked balls and festivals from the early Renaissance through Elizabethan England and today.

We will have a debate at the end of every week this year. This week’s debate will be about the pros and cons of making a movie based on great literature.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with your child! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns: nicole.hallford@gmail.com 817-372-0179

~Nicole Hallford