CC Foundations Lesson Plans for Classical Conversations: We’ve made it to week 15!  This year has been a little harder to get back on track. The freezing temperature in this area lately hasn’t helped.  I really want to just curl up under a blanket and read a book! However, when you have kids in high school (Challenge) and a preschooler running around, you don’t get much down time!

Last time we were in Cycle 2, I made these plans for my daughter and niece who were both in Foundations at the time!  I’ve updated them to match the new CC Guide!  I now have a 4 year old in Foundations, so I’ll also put some ideas for preschoolers too!

Note: Although these lesson plan posts are about our Foundations lessons, I try to make sure not to include any intellectual property from Classical Conversations Foundations program.  To follow along and do the Foundations program, you will need a Foundations Guide and be part of a CC Community! No actual “memory work” is included here.

History:

Day 1-4: We continued learning about WWI, but this week we focused on the actual war, the countries, and the events rather than just the leaders in WWI.

Last time we did this cycle, I used Notgrass history book, Adam to Us.  If you have that resource, its a great resource to pull from.  If not, you don’t have to have it, just use whatever history resources you have.  WWI can be found in most history books. I love pulling full Usborne World History Encyclopedia!

Whichever resource you have you can do the same thing…

Each day we read a portion from your history resource (Adam to Us…we read pg. 911-917 which is lesson 134 “The Great War”).  It’s a great time to work on note-taking, so you can have your kids take notes while you read to them.  My oldest had a hard time with this, so I hope to help my younger ones learn this earlier!

You can also incorporate some geography/map work by locating and labeling European maps with WWI information (Allies vs. Central Powers). If you’re using Adam to Us, you can do the Map Book exercise for Lesson 134 for WWI.

Younger Kids: Younger kids can concentrate on learning and labeling the countries (Allies vs. Central Powers).  Another great resource that other CC moms told me about is a movie called Sgt. Stubby!  Parents and kids have LOVED this movie!  “The true story of a stray dog who joins his new master on the battlefields of the First World War. For his valorous actions, Sgt. Stubby is still recognized as the most decorated dog in American history” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5314190/

Science:

Resources used this week:

Day 1: Read What’s Science All About pg. 222 – take notes and write out definitions for the different types of energy listed on the page.

Day 2:  Read What’s Science All About pg. 223 – take notes and discuss the idea of energy transfer.  We also talked about the idea that since energy can’t be destroyed, how does that reflect our Creator?

Day 3: Read Kingfisher pg. 292 – take notes about kinetic energy.  We discussed and tried to find lots of examples of kinetic energy (without getting too crazy!)

Day 4: Read Kingfisher pg. 293 – take notes on potential energy. We tried to get into positions of “potential energy”

 

Younger Kids: This week is super fun for games with younger kids!  FREEZE (Kinetic/Potential)  – go outside (or inside) and play a game of FREEZE!  Explain that Potential energy is energy waiting to happen….like a rock at the top of the hill.  Kinetic energy is moving….like a rock rolling down the hill.  Have the kids move (run, walk, jump, etc.) then yell FREEZE or POTENTIAL!!  They freeze in mid-movement.  Then call MOVE or KINETIC!!  Playing other movement games like Freeze-Tag or Twister is also fun.

 

Geography:

 

You can concentrate on the Geography of WWI or the Geography memory work. Our weekly Geography Memory work is in the middle east.  I usually like to rotate through tracing, drawing, coloring, labeling.  You can use different mediums (crayons, paints, pencils, markers).  I use the place mat size maps from CC and we use small items like lego men, goldfish, candy, mini erasers…. to place or move from one place to the next! Last week is was little Roblox figures!

Literature & Language Arts:

If you have kids in Essentials you’ll be busy doing that work.  If not, then you’ll want to do whichever grammar/writing is appropriate for your child.  Prior to age 9 or so, I recommend just grammar memory work or something gentle like First Language Lessons.  You can also do spelling, phonics, etc…..

I have used and highly recommend All About Reading and All About Spelling! 

Literature:  Let them pick out some history themed books to read this week.  Some favorites for this cycle are from the “Horrible Histories” series book.  Josephine chose The Measly Middle Ages and Lilly chose The Frightful First War.

Math

Whichever Math you are using….. I have recently switched over to CTC Math for my older kids.  My little guys is doing Good and Beautiful K Math and some MUS Alpha!  I’ll do more about those programs later.

 

Don’t forget about CC Review!

memory-card-graphic-small

These memory work system cards will help you review all your new and old memory work in a systematic way!! It takes about 15 min a day and you’ll see the difference.  Don’t take our word for it…..

I personally use these and recommend them. It’s a great resource to help you keep on track and rotating through memory work! – Debbie C

These led my little memory master to victory last year! – Ess B.

Read more…..

I'd love to hear from you...tell me what you think!