The Hopper Cricket soccer game (at last!!!)

The games held in the Middle School gym went extremely well. Here are a few photos of the boys in action. (The first photo was taken by one of the parents)

A Musical Art Class

In art class the boys have made gourds out of clay with small objects inside to form a rattle of sorts. The boys were putting glaze on the outside as I shot this video. I can't wait to see how they turn out, and I know you will look forward to seeing them when the boys bring them home.

Flag Football

The boys are well into their flag football season and are able to run impressive plays. Here are six photos from Friday's games. The first photo shows the huddle with the playbook in hand. The second photo shows a wide shot of the field I was not the referee for. The last four pictures were taken in quick succession and are all from the same play. I like the next to the last photo.

The History Test

We will have a history test on Monday on Chapters 18 -21 in A Child's History of the World. The boys do not need their books to study for the test. They do need a study guide which we filled out in class together. If the study guide is missing or if there is any question about an answer, a copy of the study guide can be seen by clicking here. As always the students do not need to memorize the material. They need to be familiar with it enough that they can answer true false, multiple choice, or fill in the blank in which all of the answers are listed in a word bank. If you have questions, concerns, or comments please feel free to email me.

A Letter From Sparta

In composition class last week the boys pretended that they were Athenian boys who lived in the time when Athens and Sparta were at their most powerful. They were visiting Sparta for a few weeks to see what life was like there. The following composition is an excellent example of the boys' work.


Dear Mom and Dad,

Life in Sparta is difficult and hard. I have to eat rotten food and sleep on the ground. Yesterday I saw two boys getting whipped for no reason, but luckily I didn’t get whipped. In Sparta they speak laconically which means to speak using few words. They are brave but hard to get to know well and very strict. Life in Sparta is much more difficult than life in Athens. At birth, babies are examined to see if they have any problems. If there is a problem they are taken to a mountainside and left to die. At the age of seven boys go to military camp to train to be soldiers and never come back until they are sixty years old. Sparta is very different than life in Athens.
Life in Athens is much easier than in Sparta. Children get to remain at home until they choose to leave as adults. We never eat rotten food, and we sleep on comfortable beds. There are much more beautiful things in Athens than in Sparta. Children go to school and the discipline is much less strict than in Sparta. People seem more at ease and friendly. I can’t wait to go home to Athens.

The author wanted to strike a Spartan pose.

Fun in Spanish Class

From time to time in Spanish class Señora Duncan plays a fun vocabulary game. She puts pictures of objects the boys have studied on the board and says a word in Spanish as she points to one of them. If it is the correct word the class says the same word that she just said. If she said the wrong word the class should stay silent. If everyone in the class is silent after she has said the wrong word the class gets a point. Otherwise Señora gets a point. The first one to ten wins. In the game above, Señora was victorious. The class will try to reverse their luck in game 2. Good luck chicos!!

A History Prezi

On Monday November 23rd we will be having a History Test on Chapters 18 - 21 in A Child's History of the World. We will have a study sheet as usual which should come home on Thursday afternoon. I made a prezi to help the students review and give some more historical background information. Enjoy!!

What is a Prezi?

Two days ago I was shown a new program called Prezi. Prezi is a Flash based presentation system that allows users to create incredibly dynamic presentations in which you can zoom in and out across a large area (no slides), create motion paths, embed images and video. I will be using it as a creative way to introduce topics and give the students information. I showed them the prezi I had made last night with information about The Great Pyramid. They enjoyed it very much and asked me to put it on the blog. I just figured out how to embed a prezi, so I have posted it in the next post. Be sure to use the full screen option which is accessed at the bottom of the prezi. The great thing about this program is that the free version (which I am using) has lots of great features and doesn't take long to learn how to use. To try it yourself head to www.prezi.com.

Great Pyramid Prezi

Mix It Up at Lunch Day

Calvert was one of 2,884 schools across America to mix it up at lunch today. The boys and girls had co-ed lunch tables which is definitely mixing it up in the Lower School. The students sat boy, girl, boy, girl in an effort to move out of their comfort zones and meet students they may never have had significant interaction with. Monica Stewart, who headed up this productive endeavor, provided discussion questions for the students as they ate their lunch. The boys and girls were hesitant at first but quickly got into it. I heard great conversations as I made my way around the cafeteria. Way to go boys and girls!!

A Heaping Helping of Helping Verbs

In grammar class we studied helping verbs for the first time. After doing some written work we reinforced our newfound knowledge with a fun grammar game called "A Heaping Helping of Helping Verbs." The rules are very straight forward. Each player in turn walks to the lunch bag which contains helping verbs and main verbs. He turns to his team and says, "I'd like a heaping helping of helping verbs!!" He then draws a slip of paper at random and reads the word printed on it. If it is a helping verb his team says, "Helping verb," in unison. If he gets a helping verb he can choose to go back to his team having earned one point, or he can choose to draw another slip of paper. If the second piece of paper has a helping verb he now has two points and chooses whether he would like to continue pulling slips of paper or not. If he draws a main verb his team says, "Main verb." His turn is finished and he has to return any slips that he has successfully pulled on this turn. Any points taken back to his group are safe and in no danger of being forfeited. The goal is to get twenty helping verbs safely back to the team. In the bag at the beginning of the game are thirty helping verbs and ten main verbs. It gets more difficult as the game goes on because the number of helping verbs is diminishing, but there are always ten main verbs in the bag. The boys had a great time with this game and showed fantastic sportsmanship. It turned out that two teams to twenty at nearly the same moment. We continued playing until all four teams got to twenty. It was great to see such enthusiasm in grammar class.

Bobbing for Donuts

As I watched the video and pondered what music to add, it struck me that opera would be fitting given all of the open mouths. Feel free to turn the volume down.

Mummy Wrap