That is a useful list of facts, but what do we do with it?  We need to get organized in order to take notes about the information we find, so we don’t end up with a confusing collection of facts, like what we see on that facts site. So here, and attached, are the guidelines for what you need to do for your animal project.  Print it out if you can, or save it so you can find it easily. The various dates are to help you stay on track, so that everyone finishes by the end of April.

Animal Project Guidelines

Your report should have 2-3 pages of text and a drawing of the animal in its habitat, and you will create another artistic project (I’ll give a list of suggestions) and an attractive cover or title page.

Please follow this outline and include each of these topics in your written report.

1)          Write a physical description of the animal.

2)          Write about the animal’s habitat, the place where it lives.

3)          Write what the animal eats.

4)          Write about how it moves, behaves socially, and relates to other animals in its environment.

5)          Write about how its reproduction, how has its young, including nesting and raising its young.

6)          Write a sentence or two about why you like (or dislike) this animal.

7)          List the books, magazines or other resources you used to find out about this animal.  You must use at least 2 different sources. 

Other requirements:

Your report can be either neatly written in cursive writing or typed and printed.  You must do a first draft that you read over, edit and correct yourself, as well as you can.   The final report should  be between 2 and 3 pages. 

Timeline for the independent animal projects:

Monday April 13    Decide what animal you will be studying and let me know.  Begin to look for resources, either in books you have at home or online resources. 

Tuesday April 14 Begin taking notes and make sure you keep track of what specific sites or sources you are using for your information. If you need help with accessing resources, let me know what you are looking for and I’ll do what I can to help you get the information you need. 

 Thursday April 15   Write down and send to me at least two of the sources you plan to use for your report.  You can keep doing research and add more sources if you wish, but you must list at least 2 specific sources today. Remember that an internet based site must be the web address of the page you are using. 

Monday April 20  Write an outline with the major facts you need to include. 

Tuesday April 21  Begin to write your first draft, using the outline to guide you. 

Thursday  April 22  Have your first draft finished and check it carefully for errors, make change.  Rewrite as necessary.

Friday April 24   Let me know what your artistic project will be.  I’ll send some ideas and suggestions.

Monday April 27   Work on your final draft.  Work on your artistic project.

Wednesday April 29  Finishing touches.  Prepare to give an oral presentation of your project to a family member.

Thursday, April 30  Everything should be done!   Give you family a presentation of your project.    

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April 14, 2020

Although I usually  hesitate to use songs and stories from other cultures in ways they were not intended, this song  has already come into wide use among many different groups. It comes, as far as I know, from the Ghost Dance movement, that started among the Northern Paiute people of the Great Basin and spread throughout the West, to the Arapaho Ghost Dancers who apparently first  sang this song, now translated into English.    By the later 1800’s all over N. America, the Native People were suffering, from disease and from loss of their land.  The people feared that many were  beginning to lose touch with their culture, with their own sense of belonging to the earth.  Some sang and danced in a circle as a ritual to bring unity  and  renewal of the earth, (and also for the white men to leave their land). This is again a time when we need to reconnect, to unify, even though we need to stay physically distant for a while. Let us respect the makers of this song. Let us sing this with the understanding that all people and all life around the planet are connected and linked together in one Web of Life.

Wearing my long wing feathers as I fly

Wearing my long wing feathers as I fly

I circle around, I circle around,

The boundaries of the earth

The boundaries of the earth

Main Lesson: 

Begin to find your resources and take notes for your animal project. These will be your instructions for the next week, so make sure you can find them again.  They are a suggestion on how to take notes and make an outline.

Organizing your note taking:   I recommend that you have a notebook or folder to keep all your notes together. You can have a different page or group of pages for each major topic, so when you get ready to make a full outline and write your report you can find all the information for each section easily. 

Making an outline:  An outline is a way of organizing topics and information for a report or research paper.  This might be a general outline for form for your report. Under each topic and subtopic you can leave space to write in the information that you have gathered.

This is what a general outline might look like, and you would add in notes for the different topics. 

1. Physical description
2. Type of animal – mammal, reptile, etc.
3. Shape
4. Size
5. Color
6. Age
7. Any unusual characteristics
8. Habitat
9. Location
10. Type of climate
11. Vegetation
12. Other animals in the habitat
13. Food
14. Behavior
15. Daily routines
16. Type of movement
17. Interaction with others of its type
18. Interaction with other animals
19. Unusual behaviors
20. Reproduction
21. Mating
22. Egg laying or giving birth
23. Care and raising of young, if any
24. Other important information
25. Is it endangered and why?
26. Does it have particular value for humans or for the planet as a whole?
27. Anything else
28. Conclusion
29. Why you chose this animal
30. What you have found most interesting
31. Most important thing for other to know about it

Writing your draft:  When you write your draft, you just have to put each section into sentences. Each main topic will be a paragraph or more. 

Math: 

You can work through pages 88 through 93 in the Math workbook, that you took home.  Take your time and have fun with the activities for practicing addition and subtraction of fractions.  You have two days at least to complete this assignment.  I can send you photos of the pages if you don’t have the workbook.

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April 16

Keep sending emails letting me know what you’re working on!   It helps me to know what activities and assignments to offer to you next, and I love seeing your work. 

Movement: Remember to try some of the exercises from Ms. Kennedy’s website.  Look under 4^th grade and you’ll see some videos to give you ideas how to get moving.  https://bkennedy54.wixsite.com/movement

Main Lesson:   Please send me names or web addresses of two of your references for your animal project.   Keep taking notes.  Start writing them into the outline form that I shared on Tuesday.  Here is an example of a completed outline. 

1. Physical description
2. Type of animal – reptile
3. Shape – rounded body, hard shell called carapace (top) and plastron (belly), short stumpy legs, scaly skin, strong jaws but no teeth,
4. Size – 4 feet long, 475 pounds
5. Color - brown
6. Age – can live more than 100 years in wild
7. Any unusual characteristics – can stretch neck to reach higher plants,
8. Habitat
9. Location – only on Galapagos Islands,  500 miles west of Ecuador in the Pacific, on the equator, volcanic rock
10. Type of climate –  cool and rainy in some season June to November, dry and warm December to May, wetter in highlands, dry in lowlands
11. Vegetation – varies from tropical woodland in highlands to thorny bushes and cactus in lowlands
12. Other animals in the habitat  - land and marine iguanas, frigate birds, blue footed booby, sea lions, other birds
13. Food
14. - herbivores, meaning plant eaters,
15.  eating whatever vegetation is available in their habitat,
16. get water from plants,
17.  can go without water for 6 months
18. Behavior
19. Daily routines – need to bask in the sun in the mornings, forage for 8 -9 hours a day, sleepin in a depression in the ground under a rock overhang
20. Type of movement – move slowly, walk at about 0.2 mile an hour
21. Interaction with others of its type
22. Interaction with other animals – stretches its neck so small birds can pick off parasites , no natural predators besides humans
23. Unusual behaviors-
24. Reproduction
25. Mating – males show dominance by stretching up their necks, occasionally biting, but usually the shorter male goes away, awkward business with the heavy shells, males make noises
26. Egg laying or giving birth – females dig holes in the sandy shore, lays up to 4- 10  eggs that are the size of a billiard ball, eggs hatch in 4 – 8 months.
27. Care and raising of young, if any – babies dig up to the surface, preyed on by hawks, or in modern times pigs, cats, dogs and rats.
28. Other important information
29. Is it endangered and why? Yes, it is endangered, and some species extinct.  Were captured by sailors for food, since they were easy to care for on ships and delicious, also introduced animals eat the eggs and the young as well as the eating the vegetation and trample nests,
30. Does it have particular value for humans or for the planet as a whole?  Used as food in 19^th century by sailors and California gold miners, tortoise oil was used for fuel.  
31. Anything else –
32. Conclusion
33. Why you chose this animal – saw one in a zoo, when they let children ride on its back, very impressed
34. What you have found most interesting – how their lives and food are different on different parts of the islands
35. Most important thing for other to know about it – Is a unique animal, only found on these islands.

Keep working towards this.  I’d like to see your outlines early next week, even if they’re not complete then. 

Math: 

I have a pizza that I have cut into 8 equal slices.  Each slice is 1/8 of the whole.  If my friend eats 3 slices, that is 3/8 and there are 5/8 left.  Make a drawing to show this. 

To solve it without a drawing I write 1 – 3/8.  But I have to remember that the whole is divided into eight  1/8ths. 

1 – 3/8 = 5/8

8/8 – 3/8 = 5/8 makes it very clear.

So whole numbers need to be changed to equivalent fractions with the same denominator as what is being subtracted (or added). 

Make sure you have done Lesson 16 problems.  If you were comfortable with those, try this next set called Lesson 17. 

Don’t worry about solving them exactly as the instructions say.  Use the methods that you understand and prefer. 

Spanish:  Remember that you’ll find your Spanish lessons on this website from Sr. Dan.  https://itj2001.wixsite.com/mysite

Handwork and Music:  I’ll send this later, when I have them. 

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April 17

Community Service:  

Did you know that smiling is contagious?  If you smile at  someone else, and it is likely to make them smile, even they are a stranger.  We hear a lot about contagion now during the coronavirus, but we can pass on cheerfulness and smiles, even with a safe distance between us, even from across the street.  Here is a funny poem about that. 

Smiling Is Infectious
by Spike Milligan

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized
I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin,
don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

I know from experience that even if I am feeling grumpy, if someone says or does something kind, says thank you, or just smiles and says hello, it can change my whole mood.  Today, do what you can to make others smile, to cheer them up, and to show your gratitude for what they are doing.  

Movement:  Enjoy the sunshine today, in whatever way you like best!  But keep moving!  30min.

Main Lesson:  Keep taking notes and writing them into the outline form that you should create for yourself.  I will ask to see your outlines next week.  Do this before you start writing your first draft. ( 45 min.)

Math:  Here are word problems for addition and subtraction of fractions.  Where the instructions ask for RDW process, this means simply Read the problem, Draw a diagram, model or number line, Write the equation. 

Here is an example for completing the first problem. 

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April 20

Movement:  How about putting on some  favorite music and dancing this morning?  Or get on your bike or go out for brisk walk or a jog.  Even you can’t get out, do star jumps and running in place.   Have you tried making an obstacle course either outside or in your house?  (20 or 30 minutes)

Main Lesson:

1. Do another piece of observational writing, preferably of something in nature, but it could be of something or someone inside your home.  Make sure you’re using good descriptive language and giving a real sense to the writer of what you’re looking at.  You will be needing this writing skill for completing your report, so keep practicing every day.  (20  minutes)
2.   I’ve seen from most of you that you’ve started .  Today, work on your outline, making sure you have enough facts for each topic that you’ll be able to turn each topic into a paragraph with at least 4 or 5 sentences.  Keep gathering information and taking notes if you need to.  (30 min.)

MATH:

We are moving on to adding and subtracting fractions that do not have the same denominator.  We have to change them into a form that they do have the same denominator.  Here is the problem.

So we need to use our skill with equivalent fractions to change 3^rds into 6ths.

Remember how we do that by multiplying or dividing both numerator and denominator by the same number?

Now we can add easily.  

Some will see how, by changing the answer again to an equivalent fraction, the fraction can be simplified. To simplify you divide both numerator and denominator by the same number.

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Happy Earth Day!  

Today is the 50^th anniversary of the first Earth Day.  Every year on April 22, since 1970, people around the world have been celebrating the earth and taking action to protect the earth’s environment for the sake of all life. 

Two years earlier, in 1968,  a photograph was taken of the earth from space by the astronaut William Anders, from the Apollo 8 space capsule.  It came to be known as Earthrise, and was very influential in helping people to think about the earth as a whole living system, or what some consider as a living being named Gaia, after the ancient Greek goddess of the earth. 

Although the effects of climate change not as evident or well understood  in 1970, the effects of pollution of the air and water and soil were of great concern to many people.  In 1962 a great writer named Rachel Carson published a book called Silent Spring, bringing attention to the effect of toxins and pollutants on the natural world. It became a best seller and influenced millions of people to consider the health of our planet.  A huge oil spill off the coast of California in 1969 showed people the dire results on the birds and animals exposed to oil pollution.

On April 22, 1970,  20 million Americans took to the streets, rallied in parks, and joined together for “teach-ins” about the need to stand up for the earth.  They  demonstrated for the need for laws to protect the environment.   Later that year the Environmental Protection Agency was created, and from that impulse came the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

Fifty years later we still have the urgent need to stand up for the earth, to speak for the earth.  We are now well aware of how climate change is largely created by the burning of fossil fuels, of oil and gas that we use to power factories, to run our cars and to heat our homes.

Most of us would do almost anything for our families, whom we love.  We will do whatever we can to protect our pets, our gardens, our parks. We are willing to do whatever we can to protect what we love. We are all part of an even larger family, a larger community. It is the family of humanity.  It is the community of all the earth, its creatures, its plants, its soil, its air.  So,  today is a day to focus on our love for the Earth, as a whole being. 

We need to remember that amazing photo of the earth.  We need also to do what we can to protect the the earth, since it is interconnected in a planet-wide web of life. 

What can you do today to share your love for the Earth?

These days, of course, it must be from home, and most likely on behalf of our own home and neighborhood.  

Suggested activities:  What else can you think of? 

Spend time working in your garden.

Spend time outside, enjoying and observing the natural world. (even if it’s raining)

Write poems and stories, make art, make up and sing songs about the earth.

Make a banner to put in your window or front yard to remind people about Earth Day.

Write letters to our lawmakers about the need to maintain and strengthen environmental protection.

Talk with your family about what Earth Day means to them.

(15 min. – 2 hours!)

Main Lesson: (45 min)

You have a choice of readings.  The first  is about John Muir, who was a naturalist and author over a hundred years ago.  His writing  was the inspiration for the idea of National Parks and wilderness areas.

The text and images are from “America’s Story from America’s Library” by the Library of Congress.

John Muir contemplating the great outdoors in 1902

the tops of the Sierras in 1875

What's the first thing you see when you wake up? What would you see if you slept outside? Would you wake up when the sun rises? For John Muir, a naturalist who traveled the country and observed his surroundings, sleeping outside was one of life's great pleasures. He kept track of his experiences by recording them in a journal. Here's what he wrote on July 19, 1869, when he woke up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California:

Watching the daybreak and sunrise. The pale rose and purple sky changing softly to daffodil yellow and white, sunbeams pouring through the passes between the peaks and over the Yosemite domes, making their edges burn; the silver firs in the middle ground catching the glow on their spiry tops, and our camp grove fills and thrills with the glorious light.

John Muir with Theodore Roosevelt on Glacier Point in Yosemite

From the start, Muir was an early defender of the environment. In 1876 he supported the adoption of a federal forest conservation program. From 1892 to 1914 he was the Sierra Club's first president. The Sierra Club is an environmental organization. His articles and books describing Yosemite's natural wonders inspired public support for establishment of Yosemite National Park in 1890 and expansion of the park in 1905. . . .

Read these quotes of John Muir.  Choose one and write a paragraph or more about what it means to you. 

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” 

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

The second choice is about Jane Goodall, a scientist who studies the behavior of chimpanzees for many years, and it a strong activist for animal rights and environmental protection. 

Jane Goodall is a very famous primatologist. She is a scientist who studies a group of mammals called primates. Primates are a group of mammals that includes humans, monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Jane Goodall has spent her whole life studying chimpanzees. She has focused on studying animal behavior in chimpanzees. Her discoveries have made her one of the best known scientists in the world.

Goodall was born in 1934 in London, England. When she was a little girl, her father gave her a toy chimpanzee. It looked so real that people who visited her house were afraid of it, but she loved it!

When Goodall was 23, she went to Africa. She began studying chimpanzees with a well-known scientist named Louis Leakey. After a year of working in Africa, Goodall went back to England and studied at the University of Cambridge. Can you guess what her favorite subject was? Chimpanzees!

Jane Goodall

After finishing school, Goodall returned to Africa and spent the next 45 years studying chimpanzees in the wild. Her discoveries during those years completely changed the way people think about primates.

Before Goodall’s work, people thought chimpanzees were herbivores. She discovered that they eat meat, too. More importantly, Goodall discovered that chimps were quite intelligent. She observed them making and using tools! Before that, people thought humans were the only animals that made and used tools.

When you hear the word tool, you may think of a hammer, saw, or shovel. Chimps don’t use those kinds of tools. A tool is something used to help make a job easier. Tools can be very simple. A rock becomes a tool if you pick it up and use it to crack open a walnut.

Goodall studies chimpanzees, a type of mammal belonging to the primate group.

Goodall observed chimps using blades of grass and sticks as tools. Chimps like to eat termites, a type of insect that is like an ant. Termites live in holes underground. To catch these tasty insects, Goodall observed a chimp sticking a blade of grass into a termite hole. The termites crawled onto the grass. Then, the chimp took the grass out of the hole and ate all the termites. Before Goodall wrote about this behavior, people did not realize how clever chimps and other primates are.

Goodall gave names to all the chimps in the group she was studying. She got to know them pretty well. Over time, she learned that chimps were smart animals. She learned that chimps express many of the same feelings as people. They can feel happy, sad, and mad. Chimps can also be mean. Goodall saw them attack and eat small monkeys, not out of hunger, but because they didn’t want them around.

A chimpanzee uses a plant stem as a tool.

Goodall is more than a scientist. She is also an activist. An activist is someone who works hard to solve a problem and change something in the world. Goodall works as an animal rights activist to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. She tells others about human damage to habitats, such as hunting and pollution, and works to stop these problems. She loves working with young people and teaching them how to protect animals. She has written many books and has been the subject of books and movies. She has won many awards for her work in protecting chimpanzees. 

Jane Goodall continues to work as an animal rights activist.

Read this quote from Jane Goodall and write a paragraph or more on what it means to you. 

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.” — Jane Goodall

Math:

Here is an Earth Day math project.  You can try this, if you want to, or continue with fractions work.    

We know that recycling can be an important way helping the earth.  (right now we’ll focus on the math rather than the science)

When we recycle certain materials the amount of greenhouse gases is reduced. For example, for every ton of aluminum recycled, 13 tons of carbon dioxide is prevented from being released.  When we recycle 1 ton of newspaper, 2 ½ or 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide is prevented. 

Using this information, solve these problems, showing your work.

1. How many tons of aluminum do you need to recycle to prevent the release of 182 tons of carbon dioxide.
2. You and your friends collected 6 tons of newspapers.  How many tons of carbon dioxide did you prevent being released? 
3. As a school you’ve set a goal to prevent 70 tons of carbon dioxide from being released.  If you all collected 5 tons of aluminum and 3 tons of newspaper did you reach the goal?  How many tons did you prevent? 

Thanks to Kathyn Wisinger on Teachers Pay Teachers for these problems!

(30 min.)

Enjoy your day! 

Ms. McNamara 

April 24

Happy Friday! 

Reading:  Please keep reading for at least 30 minutes a day.  Let me know who is your favorite character in your current book, and why you like them. 

Music: Your song from Ms. Nicole.  https://vimeo.com/410819364

Main Lesson: Keep working on your animal projects, either the writing or the artistic/ practical project. I’m excited to hear your ideas for that.  Ms. Jessi is going to share some ideas with us too.  And she’s going to join us for the Zoom class circle on Monday morning!  

When you have finished a first draft, use this checklist to do your own editing and revising.  I’ll be happy to look at your work, once you have gone over it yourselves and made all the corrections you know how to make.  Remember, a good writer usually does several rewrites of their work. 

Editing Checklist

Read your piece aloud to see where to stop or pause for periods and commas.

Capitalize the beginning of each sentence, proper names and places.

Make sure your sentences are complete thoughts and contain a noun and a verb

Make sure you have no run on sentences (more than one thought and not joined by a conjunction)

Make sure you have organized your writing into paragraphs for each topic.

Make sure you indent the beginning of each new paragraph.

Make sure your nouns and verbs match.

Make sure you check all spelling and use a dictionary to check, if you’re not certain.

Revision (rewriting) checklist

Have you included everything on your outline?

Do you have an introduction and a conclusion?

Does it all make sense when you read it aloud?

Have you used the best and most descriptive adjectives and adverbs?

Have you overused any words?

Is there anything you can do to improve it?

Math:

Do the word problems in the math workbook p. 117-118. 

Draw a model for each problem and show your work for each one.

If you don’t have the workbook here are the problems:

1. Meredith bought a piece of cloth.  She used 3/8 of it to make a dress.  What fraction of cloth did she have left?
2. How much longer is the stick than the string, if the stick is ¾ of a meter and the string is 5/12 of a meter?
3. John spent ½ of his money on a toy car.  He spent 1/6 of his money on a pen.  What fraction of his money did he spend altogether?
4. Mary drank 7/10 of a liter of orange juice.  Jim drank 1/5 of a liter less than Mary.  How much juice did they drink altogether?
5. Lily bought 1 yard of ribbon.  She used ½ yard to tie a package and 3/10 of a yard to make a bow. How much ribbon did she have left?

Have a good weekend! 

April 27, 2020

Main Lesson:  (45 minutes) Continue to work on your animal projects.  Please do your best to edit and correct your own first drafts.  Have a parent go over your writing if you need help with this.  Work on your artistic/practical project.  Let me know what you plan to create for this part of your project.

Math  (45 minutes)

We are going to review working with fractions using multiplication.  Although I’ve put a lot of material to work on, please work at your own pace, as slowly or quickly as you need to.  If you need help, you can set up a session with me, and I can give you a “private lesson”. 

The first example  is a reminder of work we did together back in early March, because adding a number 5 times is the same as multiplying by 5.

The second example is the same idea, except that it results in a fraction greater than one whole.  A fraction with a larger number in the numerator (top) place and a smaller number in the denominator (bottom) can be changed into a mixed number (a number that has a whole number and a fraction that less than a whole number).

First practice drawing a number line and showing the equation for the problems in exercises 3 and 4, Lesson 23.  You can of course do exercise 1 and 2 if you wish.

If you get through this quickly, get some practice with changing each of these fractions to a mixed number.  There are different methods to do this.  Can you see that these are way to show the same thing?  Can you show a different way? 

Now try the problem set of Lesson 24. 

Let me see at least one of your problems, showing me how you figured it out, using a drawing and/or words and numbers. 

April 28 

Storytelling:  I am hoping this link will work.  Again, please let me know whether or not you can access it. I plan to tell, over the next week or so stories from Irish mythology, to be begin to get us ‘warmed up’ for a main lesson block of stories and story writing.

Main Lesson:  Your goal might  be to work on your writing, finishing up the final draft, and to work on your artistic project.  Check with me if you have questions or need help. Let’s be ready to share the projects on Friday!

MATH:

If you understand how to change an improper fraction to a mixed number, then you can change the other way around too. 

Here is a word problem, based on yesterday’s lesson work. 

Ms. McNamara wants to walk 2 miles.  If the distance around a field is 1/6 mile, and she walks 13 times around the field, has she met her goal of walking 2 miles? 

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29

Storytelling:  Here is the text of the story I told yesterday. You might want to read it and then do a drawing of the young Fionn in the forest, where he lived with his foster mothers.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you the next part of the story. 

Fionn’s Early Childhood retold by Alexandra McNamara

Fionn MacCumhaill (pronounced Finn Mac Cool)  was one of the most famous and popular legendary heroes in Ireland, from ancient times.  Stories of his life and adventures have been told for over almost 1,500 years.  He may well have been a real person, but over the centuries the stories became more fanciful, perhaps.

Fionn’s  father was the leader of the Fianna, that band of warriors who roamed the land, serving the, the High King, and keeping the land safe for all its people.  At that time there were 5 major kingdoms and many clans, each with a clan chief.  His father was named Cumhaill (pronounced Cool) , and “Mac” means “son of”.  Fionn’s mother was Muirne, the granddaughter of the most powerful druid in the land, whom say said was actually a king of the Tuatha de Danaan, the folk of the otherworld, the Faery, also known as the People of the Sidhe (pronounced Shee) , or the People under the Hill.  But that is story for another time. Enough to say, she was powerful and beautiful, but not immune to love. 

She and Cumhaill fell in love, but because her father would not allow them to wed, they ran off together to marry in secret.  By the time this became known, she was pregnant, and her father appealed to the High King Conn, who declared Cumhaill to be an outlaw and gave the leadership of the Fianna to the chief of Clan Morna.  The chief of Clan Morna was a strong warrior with many strong sons.  There was a battle and Cumhaill was slain by Goll Mac Morna.  Muirne was sent for safe keeping to her aunt Bovmall, a healer and druidess. 

Muirne gave birth to a son, whom she named Deimne, but she knew that her boy would always be a risk from the Clan Morna, who would want to ensure they always kept the leadership of the Fianna.  So she left him in the care of Bovmall and Bovmall’s companion, Lia Luachra.  Lia Luachra was a warrior, for at that time women were among the most skilled warriors, and often were the teachers of the art of swordsmanship and other forms of warfare. 

The boy could not have had better foster mothers.  They cared for him and taught him all that they could.   Here is an excerpt from a story, called the “Boyhood of Fionn”, written by James Stephens, who was a friend of poet William Yeats, the author of Lake Isle of Innisfree.

“He had birds for playmates, but all the creatures that live in a wood must have been his comrades.  There would have been for little Fionn long hours of lonely sunshine, when the world seemed just sunshine and a sky…He would have known little snaky paths, narrow enough to be filled by his own small feet, or a goat’s; and he would have wondered where they went, and have marveled again to find that, wherever they went, they came at last, through loops and twists of the branchy wood, to his own door.  He may have thought of his own door as the beginning and end of the world, whence all things went, and whither all things came.”

Bovmall, the druid knew the secrets of plants, animals, stones and stars, while  Lia Luachra was able to teach him everything he needed to know about fighting, with a staff, with a sling and stones, with a sword or spear, and with a bow and arrows.  They taught him to swim like a fish, run as quickly as a deer, to leap like a hare, to stand still and quiet for hours or to track an animal through the forest so he could hunt them for food if necessary.

 James Stephens wrote, “So the time went, and Fionn grew long and straight and tough like a sapling; limber as a willow, and with the flirt and spring of a young bird.” 

Animal Projects:

Keep up the great work on your animal projects, so they are finished by Friday. Check that by Friday  you have:

1. a)An attractive cover page
2. b)A drawing of your animal.
3. c)A corrected written text that includes all the topics on the outline.
4. d)A list of the references you used to learn about your animal.
5. e)A completed artistic project, that shows or includes your animal.
6. f)Practiced giving an oral presentation of your animal that is less than 10 minutes.
7. g)If at all possible, please take a picture of you with your completed project parts. 

We will do small group Zoom sharings next Monday and Tuesday.  I’ll let you know when your scheduled session will be.  Please let me know if there is a classmate with whom you particularly want to share, and let me know if there is a time Monday or Tuesday mornings that you will not be able to do a 40 minute zoom session.  Our class circle will happen at 9:30 on Monday, but it will be shorter than usual, no more than half an hour.

Math:  Comparing  fractions and mixed numbers on a number line.   

1. Barbara is baking bread, and her recipe calls for 3 ¼ cups of flour.  She only has a ¼ cup measuring container.  How many times does she need to fill the container to measure 3 ¼ cups?  Draw a sketch or model  to make sure you understand the problem.  Solve the problem and practice explaining it to someone else. 

2. We can compare a number of different fractions on a number line.   In this problem, three friends need different amounts of flour and want to compare by plotting (marking and labelling) them on a number line.

But we can also compare fractions, without having to be so precise.   Here is an example of plotting points just for comparison on a number line.  Then there are two more sets to try doing on your own.

Thursday April 30

Storytelling:  Here is the next installment of the story of Fionn MacCumhaill. 

And here is the written text. 

Fionn Goes into the World, retold by Alexandra McNamara

One day, Bovmall and Lia Luachra heard horsemen approaching their remote forest home.  “Quickly, climb that tree and stay very quiet.” Fionn had learned to follow their instructions, so he did as he had been told.  From his leafy perch he strained to listen to what was being said.  The women of course had told him who he was, who were his mother and father, and why he must be wary and stay out of sight. So, he was not surprised to hear the men asking about the rumor that the son of Cumhaill and Muirne might be living hereabouts.  The horsemen went away again, and Bovmall called him down from the tree.  “It is perhaps time that you leave here for a while.  MacMorna has sent his spies throughout the land, but he suspects that you are here.  He knows that I am truly your great auntie, even though I said I hadn’t seen you since the time of your birth. Be careful and do not stay in any one place too long.  Use all the skills we have taught you.  Do not let anyone know who you really are.”

So Fionn went out into the world.  He was eager to meet other young people his age.  And there were plenty, who, like him, had gone out seeking adventure, seeking to make their own way in the world.  He stayed for a little while with a band of young bards in training, for to truly become a bard, or a poet took 20 long years of study. These youngsters had become impatient and bored with the long hours of recitation and  of quiet contemplation that were required by their teachers.  So, they had run off into the forest to live as they imagined the Fianna might live.  But they were found by some members of the actual Fianna, led by one of the sons of Goll MacMorna.  Fionn decided this would be a good time to go away again. 

He joined a group of robbers for a time, thinking that stealing from the rich and giving to the poor would be not only good sport but  a good deed.  But he soon found that the other robbers simply wished to keep what they stole from wealthy travelers for themselves.  Again, he left, taking great care not to leave any trail for the robbers to follow.  He did not need more enemies! He travelled to many kings and chieftains, offering to serve as a hunter or warrior, but he dared not stay long in any one place, lest his fame become known to the MacMornas.  He finally realized that it might be best to live on his own. 

He began to long for what kings and younger companions could not give him, and that was the answer to the many questions that always came to his mind.  He had learned much from Bovmall when he was a boy, but the more he went through the world and saw different places and different things, the more questions he had.  He heard about a very wise druid and poet (for they were much the same thing, having similar training),  who lived on the banks of the river Boyne.  This man Finegas was said to have an answer for any question.   And it was true, Finegas knew many things and was always eager to share what he knew with this young student.

“Why do you live by the river Boyne?” asked Fionn. 

“Because I was given a prophecy that one day I would catch the salmon that eats the hazel nuts that drop into the well of wisdom, which is the source of this river.”

“How long have you been here?”

“For seven years I have fished every day in one of the pools along the river. “

“Seven years!” exclaimed the young man, for whom seven years seemed like an eternity. “Why do you not just go to the well and get the nuts for yourself?”

“Ah!  To find the hazel tree by the sacred well requires the wisdom that can only be gained by eating the nuts, and the wisdom in the nuts can only be gained by eating the salmon.”

“So, we must wait for you to catch that salmon!”

One day, Fionn was sitting by the fire, whittling a piece of wood into a shape that pleased him, when Finegas came up, holding a heavy willow basket, with a look of utter delight on his face.
“I’ve done it!  I’ve caught the salmon.  Here, take the fish and roast it for me, and I will go and find some fresh herbs to eat with it.”

Fionn put the salmon over the fire, and watched carefully as it cooked.  It began to sizzle and smoke, and the aroma was delicious.  He saw that a blister had begun to form on the skin of the fish where it was close to the heat.  He pushed it down with his thumb, so that the salmon would look perfect for his teacher’s triumphal feast.
“Ouch!”  He quickly put his burnt thumb into his mouth to stop the pain. 

And, his head began to spin.  Everything around him began to shift.  The trees, the water, the birds, the plants were all there, but somehow different – more present, more colorful, more full of life. 

And he heard, to his utter surprise, the chirping of the birds become an exchange of voices he could understand. “Look!  The boy has done it!  He has taken the first taste of the salmon.  You know what that means don’t you?” said one robin to another.

“Indeed, it means that now he is the bearer of all knowledge, and as he has more experience he will gain all wisdom.”

Finegas returned with the wild onions  and other herbs in his hand.  One look at the boy, and he knew what had happened.

“Oh Fionn!  That is truly who you have become.  You are now the fair one, the bright shining one.   For that is the meaning of the name Fionn.  You have eaten of the Salmon and you now have  access to all wisdom and healing.  Surely it is as it should be.  I have spent my life catching the Salmon. You will spend your life showing others how to work with wisdom in the world.  Go now, there is nothing more I can teach you.”

From then on, whenever Fionn had a question, he had only to put his thumb in his mouth and bite down and he would know the answer.

Main Lesson:  Today you might be finishing up your independent animal projects.  If you are done, you can draw a picture of the story of Fionn and write a short summary. 

Math:

Today you have a choice of fraction tasks.  If you are comfortable with the work we did yesterday try going on to 2) .  If you need more practice  then do 1).  

1)     Compare these fractions, using any method that you prefer.

2)Make a number line (what they call on this page a line plot.  Make and label the distances on the chart onto your number line.  Then answer the questions on the next page.   

Friday May 1

May Day!   Today is a holiday!  If we were at school we’d be walking down to Kenton Park for a May Day celebration, and we’d be singing and dancing around the May Pole.  Then we’d be having a picnic with our friends and family before heading back to school for the afternoon. 

The tradition of dancing around a May Pole is very ancient, and no one really knows how many thousands of years people have been celebrating this time of year, as spring turns towards summer.  Some historians think that the May Pole comes from the ancient Norse (and other cultures’) traditions of dancing around the World Tree, Yggdrasil.  So, today is a good day to go out and spend time with a tree.  So many trees are now flowering!  May Day was sometimes known as Flora Day, or flower day.  That’s why we wear flower crowns of course. 

In Ireland and Scotland May Day was called Beltaine, and it was the time when the cattle were driven between two bonfires, to bless them with fire before families went up with their herd to the summer pastures on the high hills.  Some people still light bonfires on May Eve and dance around a maypole on May morning.   In a few villages in Cornwall  the day is still celebrated with processions and singing. This is a song from the old  fishing village of Padstow. 

Unite and unite, we all will unite,

For summer is a come in today.

And whither we are going we all will unite

In the merry morning of May. 

So, in the spirit of the day, I’m suggesting you spend as much time outside as you can.  Make a flower crown or put together a May Day bouquet,  if you can, and send the picture! 

Listen to this story about the Shee, the Irish name for the Faery folk, who are said to come out of the hollow hills to ride and roam over the land, on May Eve.  And to sometimes take human folk into the hills with them to sing and dance and celebrate. 

This is my retelling of a story collected and written down 200 years ago by Thomas Crofton Croker. 

No math today! I hope you’re not too disappointed.  LOL

Enjoy your day. 

 This is a photo of May Celebration at the school where I used to teach in Scotland, and this was one of my classes when they were probably 3rd graders. Now they are all adults.   You’ll notice that it was raining.  It almost always rained for our May Day Festival, even though we would wait until at least mid May, in hopes of better weather. 

Hello Class!   

Storytelling:

This story about Fionn MacCumhaill takes place at Halloween, the opposite time of year from now.  I hope  you’ll enjoy it.  

Main Lesson:

Now that you are finished with your animal projects, we are moving into a new lesson block.  You can use the new yellow  main lesson book that most of you will have at home.  I’ll be continuing with telling some of the stories of Fion MacCool, and then moving on to stories from some different parts of the world.  The theme will be Heroes and Heroines.   We will explore the idea of “what or who is a hero or heroine?” You’ll be drawing, writing story summaries, an essay, and then the final independent project will be to write your own story and illustrate it. 

For today, review the stories of Fion MacCumhaill, (yes, I spell it differently each time, because there really isn’t a standard spelling of his name.”  You may have already followed my suggestion to do a drawing and write a summary of the first two stories.  If you haven’t yet done that, go ahead and do an illustration and a summary of the story so far, in your own words.  Or you may want to take a part of one of the stories and expand it with some of your own descriptions.  Do not change the story itself.  It is important to honor the old Irish tradition from which these stories come.  Like the Native American legends, they have been passed on orally for thousands of years, although there are many who have rewritten them.  The earliest recording of the stories in written form were made by scribes and poets in the 7^th and 8^th centuries. So there have been many versions. 

Math

Today we are adding mixed numbers and fractions. 

Remember we can only add like units, so we will add whole numbers and fractional parts separately. 

In the next problem the sum of the fractional parts is more than 1 whole. 

Here is another example.

As you can see, there are many ways to think about, draw or write, and solve problems.  What other methods can you think of.

Now try the problems in Lesson 30. 

April 27, 2020

Storytelling: Today I’m sending you an audio file of the first of a series of stories from Irish mythology about the legendary hero Fionn MacCumhaill, more commonly written in English as Finn MacCool.  Please let me know whether you can click on the link to open and listen to it.

Main Lesson:  (45 minutes) Continue to work on your animal projects.  Please do your best to edit and correct your own first drafts.  Have a parent go over your writing if you need help with this.  Work on your artistic/practical project.  Let me know what you plan to create for this part of your project.

Math  (45 minutes)

We are going to review working with fractions using multiplication.  Although I’ve put a lot of material to work on, please work at your own pace, as slowly or quickly as you need to.  If you need help, you can set up a session with me, and I can give you a “private lesson”. 

The first example  is a reminder of work we did together back in early March, because adding a number 5 times is the same as multiplying by 5.

The second example is the same idea, except that it results in a fraction greater than one whole.  A fraction with a larger number in the numerator (top) place and a smaller number in the denominator (bottom) can be changed into a mixed number (a number that has a whole number and a fraction that less than a whole number).

First practice drawing a number line and showing the equation for the problems in exercises 3 and 4, Lesson 23.  You can of course do exercise 1 and 2 if you wish.

If you get through this quickly, get some practice with changing each of these fractions to a mixed number.  There are different methods to do this.  Can you see that these are way to show the same thing?  Can you show a different way? 

Now try the problem set of Lesson 24. 

Let me see at least one of your problems, showing me how you figured it out, using a drawing and/or words and numbers. 

May 5, 2020

Main Lesson:

In ancient Ireland, before the coming of Christianity and the introduction of writing in Latin, all stories and all knowledge were  given orally.  There was a written language or sorts, similar to the Norse Runes, which could be used for writing short inscriptions, but it was never used to pass on a story or important information.  That was done person to person, out loud.  Certain people were trained to remember the stories and pass them on to others.  In Ireland the formal training lasted at least 12 years, and the bard could recite any of perhaps 500 or more  stories and poems.  These included the traditional stories of the gods and goddesses; of the great legendary heroes, such as Fionn MacCumhaill or Cuchulain; and of the history of the clans, including major battles, and all the genealogy of the kings and chiefs. Some bards stayed with a specific clan chief or king, and some others were wanderers, moving around to play their harps and sing and tell stories in different courts.

During this new main lesson block, you’re all going to become storytellers.  One of the things I’d like you to do is to try to memorize a poem that you like.  You are used to learning poems and songs by heart, usually because we say or sing them together over the course of many days. Remember how you all learned The Jabberwock, even though it was a long poem? If you liked  The Lake Isle of Innisfree, that could be a good choice.  Or you might want to learn just spring by ee cummings. 

Here are few poems  to read aloud.  You might enjoy learning one of these  by heart. 

The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee

BY N. SCOTT MOMADAY

I am a feather on the bright sky

I am the blue horse that runs in the plain

I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water

I am the shadow that follows a child

I am the evening light, the luster of meadows

I am an eagle playing with the wind

I am a cluster of bright beads

I am the farthest star

I am the cold of dawn

I am the roaring of the rain

I am the glitter on the crust of the snow

I am the long track of the moon in a lake

I am a flame of four colors

I am a deer standing away in the dusk

I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche

I am an angle of geese in the winter sky

I am the hunger of a young wolf

I am the whole dream of these things

You see, I am alive, I am alive

I stand in good relation to the earth

I stand in good relation to the gods

I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful

I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte

You see, I am alive, I am alive

(N. Scott Momaday is a well known  Kiowa poet and novelist.  He was born in Oklahoma.) 

Jaguar

BY FRANCISCO X. ALARCÓN

some say

I'm now almost

extinct in this park

but the people

who say this

don't know

that by smelling

the orchids

in the trees

they're sensing

the fragrance

of my chops

that by hearing

the rumbling

of the waterfalls

they're listening

to my ancestors'

great roar

that by observing

the constellations

of the night sky

they're gazing

at the star spots

on my fur

that I am and

always will be

the wild

untamed

living spirit

of this jungle

(Francisco Alarcon is a Latino poet, who was born in California and grew up in Mexico, before returning to the US.)

Reading     from Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

I am not my sister.
Words from the books curl around each other
make little sense
until
I read them again
and again, the story
settling into memory.  Too slow
the teacher says.
Read faster.
Too babyish, the teacher says.
Read older.
But I don’t want to read faster or older or
any way else that might
make the story disappear too quickly
from where it’s settling
inside my brain,
slowly becoming
a part of me.
A story I will remember
long after I’ve read it for the second,
third, tenth,
hundredth time.

how to listen #7

Even the silence
has a story to tell you.
Just listen. Listen.

(Jacqueline Woodson is an African American writer for children and adolescents.  Brown Girl Dreaming is a novel in verse. She was born in Ohio.)

Form Drawing: 

Use the interlace pattern that we’ve practiced to create a border on one of your main lesson book pages.  Continue your drawing and writing of the stories you’ve heard so far about Fionn MacCumhaill. 

Here is the text of yesterday’s story:

Fionn Defeats Aillen and Saves Tara

Gifted with the access to all knowledge and with the new name Fionn, which means bright one, far seeing one, he went out again  into the world. He came to the place of the high king at Tara just before the festival of Samhain, which we know as Halloween.

At this time the High King hosted all the nobles – the chiefs and kings of Ireland to join him in a great gathering.  None were allowed to raise a weapon against another, for it was a time of peace.  It was the  time when the king  announced new laws or decisions and  chose who would be his champions to uphold the laws of the land.  When the business was done, there would be a feast, and then all would go to their homes to prepare for the winter, for soon the roads would become difficult or impossible to travel. 

Fionn decided to that the time was right to go to the High King and declare his true identity.  He arrived as all were gathered in the king’s great hall.  King Conn looked around and saw an unfamiliar face.  “Young man, come forward and tell me who you are.” 

“I am Fionn, the son of Cumhaill.”  There was a gasp of surprise for few had believed that the rumor of the boy’s survival was more than that.  And there was a roar of anger from Goll MacMorna and his sons, but they could not harm him during this time of truce.  

“Well!” said the High King, “Your father was a great friend of mine, and I was grieved that I had to rule him an outlaw.  But you are welcome at this time of peace.  Come and sit.”

As the evening wore on, and the wine jugs grew empty, the hall grew more somber. Finally, the king rose and spoke to the gathering.

“As you know, the son of the Dagda Mor, the chief of the Tuatha de Danaan, is Aillen.  I once entered the Otherworld, the land of the Sidhe, and this same Aillen took great offence at a jest that I made.  For nine years now, every Samhain eve, he has come out of the Hill and sought to take vengeance on me and my household. He will surely come again tonight.  Although we have so far managed to repair the damage each time, his attacks have become increasingly ferocious. I fear that the fire he brings will destroy Tara, unless he is stopped.  Is there any one here who would stand against him to defend Tara?”

No one spoke.  The brave warriors were terribly embarrassed,  for they all knew that when Aillen came, he brought an enchantment that sent them all to sleep.  And each year, every one of them had snored their way through the attack, only awakening when Aillen, having brought his destruction, had already  retreated to his mountain home.

 Into this silence, Fionn now spoke. “I will stand for you Ard Righ, and I ask only that you stand for what is rightly mine if I should succeed.” 

“I agree,” replied the King. “You have my word that you shall have whatever I can rightfully bestow upon you.”

Now, it is possible that Fionn had bitten his thumb and therefore knew how to overcome the vengeful Aillen.  The rest of the king’s company watched him leave the hall, assuming that by morning he would be dead, for the only thing that protected them were the stout walls of the inner hall.

Fionn moved confidently into the darkness beyond the gate.  He was used to be out in all weathers, and he knew he could depend on his skills to defeat any enemy.  But he knew that the ability to defeat Sleep would need the aid of a friend.  That friend approached him. 

“Fionn, I come in peace.  I am one of the band of Fiacuil, with whom you spent time when you were still a boy.” Fiacuil was the leader of the robber band that Fionn had briefly joined. “I am bringing you one of the treasures that was stolen by a member of our band.  It is the spear of Aillen.  It is the only thing that will defend you in your great trial this night.” 

Fionn was very grateful, and he took the spear. “I will return it to him, although, perhaps, not in the way that he would wish.”

The robber crept away, leaving Fionn alone in the darkness. He listened intently, but heard nothing except his own heartbeat and the wind.  He stood for many hours, leaning on the point of the spear, so that he could stay awake.  Finally, he sensed a movement, and he began to hear a sound, so sweet that he longed for nothing so much as to drift away on the lilting tones.  He pressed the spear point more tightly into his cheek.  He must stay awake. 

Before Aillen could unleash his weapon of fire, Fionn drove the spear into the approaching moving dark mass that he knew was the man of the Sidhe.  The touch of his own spear against him was more than Aillen could repel, and he fell heavily, his unearthly powers gone.  “Here is your spear, returned to you,” said Fionn to the tattered heap that was once son of a god.  Fionn turned back towards the palace of Tara just as the sun began to rise. 

As the warriors woke, they saw to their amazement, Fionn enter the hall and walk directly over to the High King.

“ I have defeated Aillen and his thirst for vengeance is over.  Tara is safe.  Will you now grant me what is rightfully mine?”

“Surely, if it is in my power to do so. What do you want.”

“I want to lead the Fianna, as did my father before me.” 

The king took only a moment before he turned to Goll MacMorna, who had also come forward. “You have a choice to follow Fionn MacCumhaill, my new champion, or to leave Ireland.”

Goll knelt before them both, offering the hilt of his sword.  “I will follow you Fionn MacCumhaill, for you have proved yourself worthy, and I offer you the strength of my sword arm and my friendship.”

He rose and grinned at the young Fionn.  For in his eyes he saw an extraordinary  strength of will and spirit that even his own sons did not have. And so, the feud between the two clans ended and Ireland was at peace.

Math: Today I’ll giving some addition problems of that involve fractions with different denominators.  You will have to find the equivalent fraction for one of the them.  You can use any method that you like to solve the problems that are in the math workbook, p. 119 and p. 120, Exercise 4. 

If you don’t have the workbook, here is a photo of these pages.

Wednesday May 6

Storytelling:  Here is the next tale in the saga of Fionn. 

            So Fionn became the leader of the Fianna,  that highly trained band of warriors sworn to serve the High King, but who had laws of their own, holding them the highest standards of skill, wisdom and honor. To be admitted to the Fianna required the passing of difficulty tests.  Each must know by heart twelve books of poetry.  Each would be buried in a pit up to his neck and have to defend himself from others throwing spears at his head.  Each must braid his hair and run through the woods, closely followed by others of the band, armed with spears.  If his foot should crack a dry branch underfoot, if a single strand of his hair should come unbraided, if a single scratch was given him by a spear or low hanging branch, the Fianna would not accept him. If he could not leap over a stick held as high as his head, stoop down to the height of his knee, and remove a thorn from his foot, all without slowing his pace, they would not take him into the band. Once a man had become part of the Fianna he received good wages and reward for his service.  He had a home forever with the finest men and women in the land. But the service was dangerous and full of hardship.  It was the task of the Fianna to keep the land free from robbers, from any invaders, and from any who might harm innocent people

            The Fianna also welcomed druids or priests and priestesses, physicians, and musicians, who were some of the most highly regarded in the whole of Ireland. They all had a place at Dun Allen, in the east of Ireland, which must have been a huge and beautiful rath, or hill fort.  It would have been surrounded by a  ditch and a high wall of stones.  Inside were a number of round timber or stone halls and houses. 

We know that the women warriors, like Lia Luachra, were among the best, and are mentioned in the ancient stories as teachers of the arts of warfare.  But we don’t hear as much about them, because the stories were written down hundreds of years later by monks, who often had little respect for women.  In the early times though, the women studied, fought and celebrated alongside the men as their equals. But the traditional storytellers did not write down their accounts, so all we have in written form is from the point of view of the later scribes.             Fionn had a favorite musician, whom he called Little Nut, for he was small in height and was, in fact, one of the Sidhe.  Fionn was sitting one day near a hill, when he heard the sound of a harp and saw a little man, with silvery fair hair, whose music was the sweetest he had ever heard.  The man finished his song and came to Fionn and put his hand in the warrior’s hand.  “Fionn, take me as your friend, for that is why I have come out of the Hill, to be with you and bring music to the Fianna.” 

         It is said there were three things, or rather people who were most dear to Fionn.  The first was Little Nut, the second was his two dogs Bran and Sceolan, and the third was his wife Saba. 

Next you will hear more about his dogs and about how he found his wife.

Main Lesson: 

You have a choice of writing and drawing activities.  You can continue to work on your main lesson book drawings and story summaries of Fionn MacCumhaill. 

Or you can do a first person  (yourself as the main character) or third person (someone else as the main character) account of what it would have been like to a young aspiring warrior who wished to join the band of the Fianna, and what your ordeal might have been like.  You could also draw an illustration.

Or you can write the draft of a story about yourself or some imaginary character who has some special companions, whether animal or Faery or human.  How did you meet them?  What is their importance to the character; why are they so special? 

Please send me a draft of your work in progress. 

Math:

Review the work that you have been doing with fractions and do any necessary catching up.  It is important to work at your own pace.  Please ask for help from an adult or from me if you need it.  Try to do a little bit of math everyday.  It’s a kind of brain exercise!  

Here are some subtraction problems to practice.  Ignore the instructions and instead use a similar method to how you do addition.  You can draw a number line, or you can change the mixed number to an improper fraction.  For at least one or two of the problems, write out all the steps or use a model to show how you solved it.  I’m excited to see what methods you come up with that work best for you.

Thursday May 6 

Storytelling:

This is  from James Stephens story The Birth of Bran, describing  Fionn’s love for dogs and especially for his hounds Bran and Sceolan.

“Fionn, the son of Cumhaill,…delighted in dogs, and he knew everything about them from the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one. He knew the affections and antipathies which are proper in a dog; the degree of obedience to which dogs may be trained without  losing their honorable qualities or becoming servile and suspicious; he knew the hopes that animate them, the apprehensions which tingle in their blood;…and he understood these things because he loved dogs, for it is by love alone that we understand anything.

            Among the three hundred dogs which Fionn owned there were two to whom he gave an especial tenderness, and who were his daily and nightly companions.  These two were Bran and Sceolan, but if a person were to guess for twenty years he would not find out why Fionn loved these two dogs and why he would never be separated from them. 

Rather than keep you guessing, I will tell you the story.

First you need to know something about Irish hounds.  They are large, immensely large, standing about 3 feet tall and 4 feet in length.  They are usually grey, but might be white, red, black or light fawn colored. They have a rough shaggy coat, and even if they look ferocious, they tend to be gentle and good natured.   They are intelligent, can gallop at great speed, and have excellent eyesight.

Fionn’s mother Muirne came to visit Fionn at Dun Allen, bringing along her younger sister Tuiren.  While she was there Tuiren met a man named Iollan, and he asked her to marry him.  They moved to the north of Ireland, where he had a home and for a time were very happy. But Iollan, in his younger days, had a lover, who was a woman of the Sidhe named Uct Dealv. He had left her some time before, but she had not stopped loving him, and when he turned up with a wife, she became jealous.  She plotted how to lure Tuiren away, in hopes that she could regain Iollan’s love.  Because the Sidhe are shape-changers, she decided to take the form of a messenger woman of Fionn’s, whom she knew Iollan and Tuiren would trust.  She came to their home, saying she had an important message for Tuiren.  Tuiren, assuming that the she had come from her sister Muirne, willingly walked some distance from her house with the messenger.  When they were out of sight of her home, Uct Dealv took a hazel branch and touched her on the shoulder.  Immediately Tuiren took the shape of a dog, a tall, slender dog.  She was terrified at this sudden change.  The Sidhe woman put a leash on her and led her away, shivering with fear, to a man she knew whom was willing to take another dog to foster. 

A while later Fionn found out that his aunt was no longer living with Iollan, that she had disappeared.  Iollan had thought that she had gone to Dun Allen with the messenger, but when he inquired and was told that Tuiren had never come there, he grew very alarmed. He guessed that Uct Dealv was responsible, and he went to her to beg her to release his wife from the enchantment. 

In the meantime Tuiren, in the form of a dog had given birth to two pups.  Uct Dealv was persuaded to break the spell on Tuiren, but there was nothing that could be done to change the puppies into humans. They were sent to Fionn, whom everyone knew loved dogs, and who was in fact their cousin.  They were as intelligent as any human being, as well very loyal and affectionate.  They became Fionn’s constant companions, going with him on every hunt and sitting with him by the fire at night.  That is why Fionn loved Bran and Sceolan so much and was never separate from them. 

Fionn and Fianna travelled not only throughout Ireland, but also through the west of Scotland.  Near the harbor town of Oban, one of the main ports for the western islands that lie between Ireland and Scotland there stands a tall stone, called Fingal’s Dog Stone. Fingal is the name that Fionn was called in the Scottish stories. I went there often, and about five years ago I took a photograph of it that came out a bit too blurry. But here is another slightly clearer photo, showing a groove around the bottom of the stone, said to be worn away by the rope of Bran and Sceolan, when Fionn tied them there for a while, perhaps while he was visiting the nearby castle. 

So, to continue with the story, one late afternoon Fionn had been out hunting with some of his companions, and of course with Bran and Sceolan, but they had found no game to chase and were turning for home. Then suddenly a doe leaped into the clearing just ahead of them.  Although it was getting towards evening, the dogs immediately gave chase, and the men rushed after them.  Fionn could run as fast as the hounds, although none of the others could keep up that pace.  They were soon far ahead. Usually the dogs would bell as they ran, with a kind of singing, barking call,  but this evening they were oddly silent, racing on through the forest. Fionn was amazed that they had not yet caught up with the fleet-footed doe, but suddenly the dogs stopped.  There she lay, unmoving, in a patch of grass, and the dogs were leaping and playing around her, licking the deer’s face, and acting not at all like the hunting dogs they had been trained to be.  He came close, put away his own spear, and the deer stood up to put her nose into his hand. He was filled with deep joy and love for this beautiful creature.  The four of them started for home.  When they reached Dun Allen, all agreed that there was something very special about this doe, and they were only mildly surprised, when she turned into a young woman. 

She now began to speak.  “Fionn, I come to you for protection, for the Fir Doirche, the Dark Man, a cruel magician, changed me into the form of a deer.  It is only when I am within your walls that I can take my own shape.  My name is Saba, and I have admired greatly you.  It was because I refused to marry the Dark Man that he grew angry with me and put me under enchantment.”  It was not long before Fionn and Saba were wed, for although many women had wished to marry him, he had never wanted to wed anyone until he met Saba.

Main Lesson:

Continue with the stories that you began writing yesterday.  Here are some drawing ideas of how animal forms can be made into interlace knots.  The first is my attempt at a sketch of making a design from Fionn’s name. The second two are drawings taken from manuscripts and stone carvings by George Bain in his book Celtic Art, the Methods of Construction.  The last is a photo from a book showing medieval Irish manuscript decoration. Try some drawings, perhaps based on these ideas.

Math:

Here are some more problems to practice subtracting mixed numbers.  If it’s easier for you, you can work from  p. 121 and 122 in the math workbook. 

Friday May 8

Storytelling:  I haven’t managed to record this story today, so I’ll send it tomorrow instead. 

You have heard how Fionn came to marry Saba, who had once, due to an enchantment by a cruel magician,  had the form of a deer.  Many stories might have ended , “And they lived happily ever after.”  But that is not true of this one.  It is sadder but far more interesting!

Often the tasks of the Fianna took them away from home, sometimes for many days.  Before Fionn met and married Saba, he was always happiest when he was out in the woods with his band of hunters and warriors.  But now he would do what was needed, whether fighting off invaders, or chasing down robbers and returning the stolen goods, or whatever righting whatever wrongs needed to be righted, and rush back to Dun Allen.  Always, as he came in sight of his home, he would see Saba up on the wall, watching for his return, for they couldn’t bear to be away from each other for too long. 

After one such foray, he was especially anxious to get back home.  

His friend Caelte  (pronounced Keltya) said, “Relax man.  She will be there waiting for you.  She is safe at Dun Allen, for the place is always well guarded.”

Fionn replied, “I know that, but I feel I must get back as soon as possible.”  And he began to run, in long loping strides towards home.

When he came near, he looked up at the wall, but didn’t see her.  What he did see were many of his people in front of the gate, milling about in great distress and confusion, wringing their hands and shouting.

“What has happened?   Where is Saba?” Fionn bellowed to one of the servants.

“Alas, I do not know!”  she sobbed.  “Yesterday Saba was watching for you from the wall, and she saw you coming, with Bran and Sceolan by your side.  We knew it was too soon for you be returning, and we urged her to stay back until one of the guards had met you.” 

“That was wise counsel.  For whoever that was, it  was not me, as you now can see.”

“It might have been wise advice, but she would not listen, and she rushed out to embrace the man she thought was you.  Then before our eyes, she turned back into a deer, and the person, the deer and the two dogs all disappeared.” 

Fionn turned without a word, and went alone into the surrounding forest. 

The next day he came back, and he reassured the rest of the Fianna that he would remain their leader, that they would continue to serve the High King, as they had always done.  But whenever they were not fighting, Fionn was out searching and hunting all through the land, with his hounds by his side, hoping to find his lost love. And the joy was gone from his heart.

Seven years passed, and the band were out hunting one day.  The dogs had  run ahead, and then began to bay, signaling that they had surrounded the creature whom they had scented.  Fionn heard Bran and Sceolan, calling urgently for him, over the sound of the rest of the dogs.  He sprinted forward and saw, to his amazement, a young child standing in the circle of dogs.  The child stood upright and seemed undaunted by the clamor, and was offering his fist to Bran and Sceolan who leapt about, keeping off the other dogs and licking the hands and face of the little boy. 

“Tell me, little one, what is your name, and who are you that my dogs have protected you and greeted you with such eagerness?”

But the little boy did not speak, seemingly could not speak.  He simply walked over to Fionn and put his hand into that of the warrior.  Fionn bent down and looked into the boy’s eyes.  And there he saw the eyes of Saba. 

“I know who you are!  You are the son of my dear lost wife.  And I see that you will grow to have a body like mine, for you are also my son.”

Fionn carried the boy home on his shoulders, singing the whole time.  And he named the boy Oisin, which means little fawn.  Oisin did grow to become very much like his father, a great warrior and a great poet. He learned to speak and he told the tale of how he had grown up in the care of a doe, whom he always felt was truly his mother. 

Main Lesson:

Read over, edit and revise your story summaries or your own story that is inspired by these tales.  Some of you have begun what may become a longer tale of your own creation.  By Monday please send me a picture of at least a page or two of writing and a drawing, in the main lesson book.  You may print it out and past it in your written text if you are working on a keyboard. 

Math: 

Word problems for today are on p. 123 of the workbook.  I’ve also included them here, if you do not have a workbook at home.   By Monday, please send a finished page of the math you have done most recently. 

1.  John used 3 m of wire to make some flower pot hangers.  He had 1 m left.  How much wire did he have at first?
2. A container can hold 4 gallon.  It contains 1 gallon of water.  How much more water is needed to fill the container?
3. Ms. Lopez bought 3 ¾  kg of beans, 1 ½ kg. of lettuce and 1 ¾ kg of carrots.  How many kilograms of vegetables did she buy altogether?
4. Lauren bought 7 ½ lb. of flour.  She used 2  lb. of flour to bake some banana bread.  She used another 3 lb. to make a chocolate cake.
5. a)How much flour did she use altogether?
6. b)How much flour did she have left?

Monday May 11

Storytelling: 

My father was Irish, and my mother was Russian, so over the next few days I want to share a Russian story.  For those who remember last year’s story about Baba Yaga, she is in this one too! 

 

This is the story of Maria Morevna, and I am reading the version of it from The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from around the World by Ethel J. Phelps.

 

Main Lesson: 

 

After listening to the story, draw a picture. Here is  painting for the story of Maria Morevna, done by a Russian artist named Ivan Bilibin in the early 20^th century. 

Here is my now simpler version of the image. 

If you still have time, here is a guide to writing a summary of the story of Maria Morevna, as you’ve heard it so far.  This is an example of a summary of the first part of the story in the first section.  Next is a section with some blank spaces for you to fill in the parts that are missing.  For the third section there are questions to answer in full sentences to complete the summary.  Use it if it is useful, or write your own summary in your own words.  Remember to keep it as a summary.  You have only heard the first half of the story!  I’ll read the rest tomorrow, and you can continue with another drawing and story summary, over the next few days. 

 

Maria Morevna

            Maria Morevna was a warrior queen in Russia.  Prince Alexey came to join her army, and they fell in love and married. When war came to her border, she left Alexey in charge of the kingdom.

            “Do not enter the rom in the tower,” she warned.

            After a few days, Alexey became curious an opened the door.  There was an old man chained to the wall. 

            “Give me water!” he begged. When he drank he became young and strong, and he broke the chains. “You will never see your wife again, for I am Koschey, the powerful wizard.  He flew out the window and _________________________.

            Alexey followed and found the palace of Koschey.  While Koschey was out hunting he ___________________.  Koschey’s horse warned him that ________________________.  Koschey then ___________________________. When he caught up to them he _______________________________________________________________.

            Who saved Koschey?  What help did they give him? 

 Math: 

Here are some math tasks, involving fractions. Please send me your work, showing the sketches, models and calculations. 

May 12, 2020

Storytelling:  I will attach the next part of the story  of Maria Morevna in a different email post, so this one doesn’t get too big to open. 

 

Main Lesson:  

 

Focus on your writing and on creating a beautiful main lesson of at least the first part of the story.  My example is a bit sloppy, but you get the idea of this traditional Russian geometric border.

 

 

 

 

Math:  We will be learning and practicing skills for multiplying fractions by whole numbers.  Watch the video and then do the problems #2, #3 and #4.  Be sure to show your work, not just writing down the answer. Get in touch if you need any help.  

Wednesday May 13

 

Main Lesson:   Finish your drawing and your summary of the first part of the Maria Morevna story.   For the next part of the project, please choose from one or more of these.  Write a draft, edit and correct it, and put it into your main lesson book. You should write a few paragraphs, with 4 or 5 sentences in each paragraph.

1)    Write a summary of the second part of the story.

2)    Write a detailed account of the scene in which Maria Morevna gets the information from Koschey on how to get a horse like his.   Pay attention to the use of quotation marks, and refer to the attached grammar guide for help with this.

3)    Describe Alexey’s encounters with animals.   What did each of these meetings have in common.  What might be  a lesson in how Alexey responded to the animals in the story?

4)    Write a vivid and detailed description of Alexey’s crossing of the river of fire.

5)    Write an account from the point of view of one of the horses of some part of the story, either Koschey’s horse or the colt.

 

Grammar:  Here is a chart that shows how to use quotation marks correctly.  We will do some lessons on this later in the week. 

 

Math:

I found this recipe on the back of the sugar bag.  It says it would make 4 dozen large cookies.  What if I wanted to make enough cookies to serve 2 cookies each to 50 people.  How would I need to change the recipe?  

Chocolate Chip Cookies

¾ cup white sugar                                         

¾ cup brown sugar

½ butter

½ vegetable shortening

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

 

Write a new recipe doubling each amount.

Now try tripling each amount. 

Finally, can you write a recipe that is half the amount.

 

Storytelling:  Here is the first part of a new story. 

The Search for the Magic Lake

Thursday May 14, 2020

Main Lesson:  Complete the draft of your writing assignment on Maria Morevna and copy, by hand or by printing and pasting, the corrected version into your lesson book. 

Make another drawing from the story of Maria Morevna.

If you have complete that work, you can begin  a drawing of some part of The Search for the Magic Lake, and write a paragraph describing that scene.    

 

Math:    This recipe is for pinwheel cookies, with chocolate and vanilla swirls! 

2/3 c. butter

2/3 c. sugar

1 ½ tsp. of vanilla extract

1 egg

1 ¾ c. flour

½ c. unsweetened cocoa

 

1)    Let’s double it.  Write the new recipe. Change any fractions to mixed numbers if you can.  Remember you wouldn’t try to measure out 14 little ¼ cup measures would you?  You’d want to use your cup measure.

2)    Let’s make 12 dozen cookies.  By how many times do we need to increase the recipe if a single recipe makes 4 dozen cookies?  Write the new recipe. Change improper fractions to mixed numbers.

3)    Now write 5 times the original recipe.  How many cookies will this make? 

 

Storytelling:  

Because some people have not been able to open the audio files, I am sending the rest of the The Search for the Magic Lake as a written text. Let me know if you could not access the first part, that I read as an audio file.  It is from the collection Best Loved Folktales of the World, edited by Joanna Cole.

The Search for the Magic Lake   part 2

       The first night she slept, snug and warm against her llama, in the shelter of a few rocks.  But when she heard the hungry cry of the puma, she feared for her pet animal and bade it return safely home.

            The next night she spent it the top branches of a tall tree, far out of reach of the dreadful puma.  She hid her provisions in a hole in the tree trunk.

            At sunrise she was aroused by the voices of gentle sparrows resting on a nearby limb.

            “Poor child,” said the oldest sparrow, “she can never find her way to the lake.”

            “Let us help her,” chorused the others.

            “Oh please do!” implored the child,, “and forgive me for intruding in your tree.”

            “ We welcome you,” continued the first sparrow, who was the leader, “ for you are a good child. Each of us will give you a wing feather, and you must hold them all together in one hand as a fan.  The feathers have magic powers that will carry you wherever you wish to go.  They will also protect you from harm.”

            Each sparrow then lifted a wing, sought out a special feather hidden underneath, and gave it to Sumac.  She fashioned them into the shape of a little fan, taking the ribbon from her hear to bind the feathers together so none would be lost.

            “I must warn you,” said the oldest sparrow, “that the lake is guarded by three terrible creatures.  But have no fear.  Hold the magic fan up to your face and you  will be unharmed.”

            Sumac thanked the birds over and over again. Then, holding up the fan in her chubby hands, she said politely,  “Please, magic fan, take me to the lake at the end of the world.”

            A soft breeze swept her out of the top branches of the tree and through the valley.  Then up she was carried, higher and higher into the sky, until she could look down and see the great mountain peaks covered with snow.  At last the wind put her down on the shore of a beautiful lake.  It was indeed the lake at the end of the world, for, on the opposite side from where she stood, the sky came down so low it touched the water. Sumac tucked into magic fan into her waistband and ran to the edge of the water.  Suddenly her face fell.  She had left everything back in the forest.  What could she use for carrying the precious water back to the prince?

            “Oh, I do wish I had remembered the jar!” she said, weeping.

            Suddenly she heard a soft thud in the sand at her feet.  She looked down and discovered a beautiful golden flask – the same one the emperor had found in the ashes.  Sumac took the flask and kneeled at the water’s edge. 

            Just then a hissing voice behind her said, “Get away from my lake or I shall wrap my long, hairy legs around your neck.” Sumac turned around.  There stood a giant crab as large as a pig and as black as night. With trembling hands the child took the magic fan from her waistband and spread it open in front of her face.  As soon as the crab looked at it, he closed his eyes and fell down on the sand in a deep sleep.

            Once more Sumac started the fill the flask.  This time she was startled by a fierce voice bubbling up from the water. “Get away from my lake or I shall eat you,” gurgled a giant green alligator.  His long tail beat the water angrily.  Sumac waited until the creature swam closer.  Then she held up the fan.  The alligator blinked.  He drew back.  Slowly, quietly, he sank to the bottom of the lake in a sound sleep.

            Before Sumac could recover from her fright, she heard a shrill whistle in the air.  She looked up and saw a flying serpent.  His skin was red as blood.  Sparks flew from his eyes.  “Get away from my lake or I shall bite you,” hissed the serpent as it batted its wings around her head. Again Sumac’s fan saved her from harm.  The serpent closed his eyes and drifted to the ground.  He folded his wings and coiled up on the sand.  Then he began to snore.

            Sumac sat for a moment to quiet herself.  Then realizing that the danger was past, she sighed with great relief.  “Now I can fill the golden flask and be on my way,” she said to herself.  When this was done, she held the flask tightly in one hand and clutched the fan in the other. “Please take me to the palace.”

            Hardly were the words spoken, when she found herself safely in front of the palace gates.  She looked at the tall guard. “I wish to see the emperor,” Sumac uttered in trembling tones.

            “Why, little girl?” the guard asked kindly.

            “I bring water from the magic lake to cure the prince.”

            The guard looked down at her in astonishment.  “Come!” he commanded in a voice loud and deep as thunder.  In a few moments Sumac was led into a room full of sadness.  The emperor was pacing up and down in despair.  The prince lay motionless on a huge bed.  His eyes were closed and his face was without color.  Beside him knelt his mother, weeping. Without wasting words, Sumac went to the prince and gave him a few drops of magic water.  Soon he opened his eyes.  His cheeks became flushed.  It was not long before he sat up in bed.  He drank some more.

            “How strong I feel!” the prince cried joyfully.

            The emperor and his wife embraced Sumac.  Then Sumac told them of her adventurous trip to the lake.  They praised her courage.   They marveled at the reappearance of the golden flask and at the powers of the magic fan.  “Dear child,” said the emperor, “all the riches of my empire are not enough to repay you for saving my son’s life.  Ask what you will and it shall be yours.”

            “Oh, generous emperor,” said Sumac timidly, “I have but three wishes.”

            “Name them and they shall be yours,” urged the emperor.

            “First, I wish my. Bothers to be free to return to my parents.  They have learned their lesson and will never be false again.  I know they were only thinking of a reward for my parents.  Please forgive them.”       

            “Guard, free them at once!” ordered the emperor.

            “Secondly I wish the magic fan returned to the forest so the sparrows may have their feathers again.” This time the emperor had no time to speak.  Before anyone in the room could utter a sound, the magic fan lifted itself up, spread itself wide open, and floated out the window toward the woods. Everyone watched in amazement.  When the fan was out of sight, they applauded.

            “What is your last wish, dear Sumac?” asked the queen mother.

            “I wish that my parents be given a large farm and great flocks of llamas, vicunas and alpacas, so they will not be poor any longer.”

            “It will be so,” said the emperor, “but I am sure your parents never considered themselves poor with so wonderful a daughter”

            “Won’t you stay with us in the palace?” ventured the prince.

            “Yes, stay with us!” urged the emperor and his wife.  “We will do everything to make you happy.”

            “Oh, thank you” said Sumac blushing happily,  “but I must return to my parents and to my brothers.  I miss them as I know they have missed me.  They do not even know I am safe, for I cam directly to your palace.”

            The royal family did not try to detain Sumac any longer.  “My own guard will se that you get home safely,” said the emperor. 

            When she reached home, she found that all she had wished for had come to pass: her brothers were waiting for her with their parents; a beautiful house and huge barn were being constructed; her father had received a deed granting him many acres of new, rich farmland.  Sumac ran into the arms of her happy family.

            At the palace, the golden flask was never empty.  Each time it was used, it was refilled.  Thus the prince’s royal descendants never suffered ill health and the kingdom remained strong.  But it is said that when the Spanish conqueror of the ancient Incas demanded a room filled with golden gifts, the precious flask was among them.  Whatever happened to this golden treasure is unknown, for the conqueror was killed and the Indians wandered over the mainland in search of a new leader.  Some say the precious gifts – including the golden flask – are buried at the bottom of the lake at the end of the world, but no one besides Sumac has ever ventured to go there.

Friday May 15

Storytelling:  I think I have managed it!  Here is the second part of The Search for the Magic Lake for you to listen to.  

 

 The Search for the Magic Lake part 2 .m4a

 

Community Service:  Think of something you can do that will help others in your family or community over the weekend.  You do not have to think of yourself as a hero to be able to do good deeds for others!  

 

Main Lesson: 

Some of the most popular stories, through the ages and around the world, are tales of heroes or heroines.  You are already familiar with the way  many of these stories unfold.  Usually there is an ordinary person, either male or female, who is goes off on a quest.  Maybe they are trying to save someone from danger or gain fame and riches.  They meet obstacles that seem impossible to overcome.  But they meet helpers.  These may animals or people to whom they are kind and generous.  With that help they are able to succeed in their quest.  The hero marries the princess, or in the case of Maria Morevna, the warrior queen is rescued from her husband’s folly and gains a miraculous horse that can take her into battle. In “The Search for the Magic Lake” it is again birds who help Sumac to succeed in her task. Usually at the end of the story the hero or heroine has not only succeeded and gained some kind of reward, but they have also changed in some way or made the world a better place. Sumac does not ask for a reward for herself, but asks for things that will benefit her family members and the birds who helped her.

Of course real modern day heroes do not always go on a journey or meet magical helpers.  Isn’t a hero someone who shows courage, persistence and dedication, and who faces and overcomes obstacles in order to achieve a task that helps other people?  Think about some of the heroes and heroines you have heard about this year:  Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Helen Keller, just to name a few. 

Here are some of the stages that often appear in traditional Hero (or Heroine) tales. 

1)    The call to adventure

2)    Meeting helpers

3)     Trials and tests

4)    The magic flight

5)    Rescue and reward

This map or structure will be useful for you in beginning to think about the story you want to write.  You will need to choose a setting for the story and the main character or characters.  

Begin to think about who the characters are, what they look like, how they behave.  Imagine that you are observing that character in their setting. Take notes on what you see and hear them doing, just like you did for observing an animal or something in nature.  Now you are observing a character in your imagine.  Then write a paragraph, using  good descriptions so your reader can also imagine them clearly.

 

Math:  Here are some more story problems, this time not involving fractions.  

May 18, 2020

Main Lesson: 

You should have started to write a good description of your main character, the hero of your story.  I’m  using the word  hero here to mean either male or female. 

Reread the  description you have written of your main character.  Have you given a good idea of what they look like, their physical appearance? What kind of clothes do they wear?   What about their personality?  Are they energetic, laid back, selfish and greedy or kind and helpful to others? What kind of habits do they have?  What do they do with their hands when they talk? Do they fidget a lot or are they calm and still?  How do they get along with other? How do they speak to others?

Write a little dialogue that involves them and someone else.  See if you can bring in details that give clues about the kind of characters they are. 

Instead of “What are you doing?” the king asked.    Try something like  The king waved his hand irritably and asked, “What you think you are doing, anyway?” or  “What are you doing?” the king asked gently, bending down to look at the boy.

You will need to use quotation marks and other punctuation correctly.  

There  is the chart I sent a few days ago with guidelines. 

 

Here are some sentences to practice adding quotation marks, commas and capital letters.   Copy the sentences and add what is needed to correct them as quotations.

1. John said, I want to go to my friend’s house.
2. Let’s sit outside and read a book, suggested Mary.
3. Bob asked,  what time is it?
4. Let’s eat lunch now, said Dennis because  I’m hungry.
5. I like your hat,  said Kit where did you get it?
6. John asked Sam do you want to come with us?

Math:

Ms. Serra has made a video to watch.  Then practice the skills with the problems on the sheet attached at the end.

 

 Lesson 36.mp4

 Storytelling : 

Stories from the Kalevala

 

 audio_only.m4a

 

I’m going to be sharing one of the great epic poems of northern Europe, the Kalevala.  It is part of the oral tradtion of Finland, which is located  between the Scandinavian countries to the west – the home of the ancient Vikings and the Norse legends and stories – and Russia to the east. The northern  third of  Finland is above the Arctic Circle, and is called Lapland, home of the Laplanders or Saami people.   Finland  has no  high mountains, but many lakes and vast forests.  Their stories were also full of heroes and heroines, who, like the Norse gods and goddesses, sometimes behaved well and other times behaved foolishly.  Woven through all the stories is a real love of the land. 

The stories that were collected 150 years ago by a man named Elias Lonnrot  were traditionally sung or chanted by two people who would link their fingers and take turns with the rhythmic lines.  Sometimes they were sung to the kantele, a small string instrument, something like a lyre. You can imagine them sitting by the fire on a winter evening, perhaps singing one of the fifty Runo, or chapters of this long epic poem. 

Here is one of the traditional melodies used to chant the Kalevala, with the words that I’ve based on the beginning stanzas of the first Runo. 

Runo I

The poem begins with a  description of  how the stories were given to the singer by Frost, wound into a ball, taken home on a sled, and then hidden in a little copper box! 

The first Runo tells of the creation and the birth of the hero and main character Vainemoinen.   As in other creation stories from around the world,  there were only air above and water below.  Ilmatar was the Great Mother, living for ages and ages, untouched, in the world of Air.  She grew tired and lonely,  and so she descended to the water. There she floated on the waves, until a storm came.   The wild waves and wind brought life into her belly;  She became pregnant. Yet She continued to drift on the water for seven centuries, but not yet giving birth.  She moved about in the ocean, to all the directions, with her body becoming heavier.  The pain of loneliness and long waiting grew unbearable, and she called out to Ukko, the ruler of the heavens, in her despair.  A short time later a duck appeared in the water.  It swam about, looking for a place to build its nest. 

Then the Mother of the Waters,

Water Mother, maid aerial,

From the waves her knee uplifted,

Raised her shoulder from the billows,

That the teal her nest might ‘stablish

And might find a peaceful dwelling.

 

The duck seeing her uplifted knee thought it was a small island, a good place to make a nest.  She made that nest and laid six golden eggs, and a seventh egg of iron. The duck sat on the eggs, warming them with her body, day after day.  Ilmatar’s knee grew warmer, even hot, and finally saw hot that she jerked it and the eggs rolled into the water and broke.  But something wonderful happened:

 

In the ooze they were not wasted,

Nor the fragments in the water,

But a wondrous change came o’er them,

And the fragments all grew lovely.

From the cracked egg’s lower fragment,

Now the solid earth was fashioned,

From the cracked egg’s upper fragment,

Rose the lofty arch of heaven,

Form the yolk, the upper portion,

Now became the sun’s bright luster;

From the white, the upper portion,

Rose the moon that shines so brightly;

Whatso in the egg was mottled,

Now became the stars in heaven,

Whatso in the egg was blackish,

In the air as cloudlets floated.

 

Time passed, and Ilmatar lifted her head out of the water and began to put the world into order. Where she pointed with her hand there appeared headlands jutting into the sea. Where her feet rested became sea caves where the fish could live and raise their young. She continued to shape the continents, the shorelines, and the depths of the sea. Her own child Vainemoinen was still unborn.  But he became aware of his state, within the darkness of his mother’s body, and he  grew weary of it.  He called out to the Moon and Stars to help release him, but they could give no aid.  It was up to him to push his way out of his mother’s body and float out into the sea.  So he pushed and struggled and was born.

 

Thus was ancient Vinamoinen,

He the ever famous minstrel

Born of the divine Creatrix,

Born of Ilmatar, his mother.

 

Tuesday May 19

Main Lesson: 

Writing the setting: 

Today, spend some time writing about the setting of your story.  Where and when does it take place?  What is the environment like?  What kind of landscape and buildings are there?  Your assignment is to describe that setting clearly and with detail, using good, rich adjectives.  You might want to include your character in the scene and then describe what they see. 

Here is an example from Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire”.

           

The man flung a look back along the way he had come.  The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice.  On top of this ice were as many feet of snow.  It was all pure white, rolling in gentle undulations where the ice – jams of the freeze- up had formed.

 

Here is another example to show how setting can affect the mood of a story.

 

We got our ice cream cones.  We ate them on the beach.  We were enjoying our vacation.

 

How much more we learn and feel in this version! :

 

As we waited for our ice cream cones we could feel the warm sand on our bare feet.  We shaded our eyes with our hands to look out at the waves, gleaming in the bright sun. We ate our ice cream cones. We were enjoying our vacation.

 

Drawing and Poetry:   My version of the image of Ilmatar, the Water Mother,  in the sea is attached as a jpg at the bottom. .  Draw your own picture of the scene and either copy the verse or write one of your own. 

 

Math:

Today there is another video from Ms. Serra, who is so good at making these.  This one is instruction on multiplying mixed numbers by whole numbers.  The pdf for the practice work are attached at the bottom.  

 Lesson 37.mp4

 

Storytelling:   Here is the next story from the Kalevala. 

 Vainenmoinen and Joukaheinen .m4a

 

Wednesday May 20

 

For Parents and Students:  

By the end of the week I plan to have our Google Classroom set up, but I will keep sending your lessons by email as well.  Some of you may have Chrome Books that cannot be reset for a guest login, meaning you can only use your pps.net email address (if you know it).  Logging in using that address will not allow you to join the class Google Classroom.  There are four of you for whom that seems to be the case, because I was unable to send you an invitation to join the Google Classroom group. Creating the Google Classroom now, at the end of the term, and having you respond, if you’re able, is really a practice test for when we may need to use Google Classroom again next school year.  So, if you need to swap your chromebook for a different one that will allow you to set the new studentof pvs.org email address as your log in, either have a parent or guardian go to the Portland Public School district office this Thursday or contact the PVS office for help. 

Here is the process to follow.

1. Go to google and click on the right upper corner where it shows your accounts.
2. Go to "add another account" then click "use another account".
3. Sign in using the PPS email and password combination you got from our school (...studentsofpvs.org) - accept.
4. Go to Google Classroom and continue setup.
5. Join your first class by hitting the + button in the upper right corner.
6. Enter the class code in the prompt. The class code iskpybiy7. 

Don’t worry if you can’t manage it just now!   We’ll all get this figured out eventually.  Please let me know how you get on. I’m learning right along with you! 

 

 

Main Lesson:

You should be continuing to write every day!   Here is the list of choices for main lesson assignment, depending on where you are with your various projects. 

1)Continue writing your independent story, making sure you have included a good description of your character, a description of the setting, and some dialog between the characters, using quotation marks correctly.

2)If you remember the Iroquois story of Sky Woman from last year, how is this story similar, and how is it different?  Here is a retelling of that story if you have not heard it or cannot remember it. Write a text comparing and contrasting the Iroquois story and the Finnish story. 

 

 

The Creation Retold By Joseph Bruchac – from the book “From Sea to Shining Sea” compiled by Amy L. Cohn.

 

How was earth formed? The Iroquois people of the Northeast Woodlands say our land began when Muskrat placed a speck of earth on Turtle’s back. Before this world came to be, there lived in the Sky-World an ancient chief. In the center of his land grew a beautiful tree, which had four white roots stretching to each of the four directions: North, South, East, and West. From that beautiful tree, all good things grew. Then it came to be that the beautiful tree was uprooted and through the hole it made in the Sky-World fell the youthful wife of the ancient chief, a handful of seeds, which she grabbed from the tree as she fell, clutched in her hand. Far below there were only water and water creatures who looked up as they swam. “Someone comes,” said the duck. “We must make room for her.” The great turtle swam up from his place in the depths. “There is room on my back,” the great turtle said. “But there must be earth where she can stand,” said the duck. And so he dove beneath the waters, but he could not reach the bottom. “I shall bring up earth,” the loon then said, and he dove too, but could not reach the bottom. “I shall try,” said the beaver and he, too dove but could not reach the bottom. Finally the muskrat tried. He dove as deeply as he could, swimming until his lungs almost burst. With one paw he touched the bottom and came up with a tiny speck of earth clutched in his paw. “Place the earth on my back,” the great turtle said, and as they spread the tiny speck of earth, it grew larger and larger and larger until it became the whole world. Then two swans flew up and between their wings they caught the woman who fell from the sky. They brought her gently down to the earth where she dropped her handful of seeds from the Sky World. Then it was that the first plants grew and life on this new earth began.

 

3) Think about these questions based on the retelling from yesterday of the contest of Vainemoinen and Joukaheinen.  Take notes about your ideas.  Begin to write a short essay about one of the questions.

The two bards were having a battle with words.  How can words be powerful, (even though we don’t use them to create magic spells)?  How do we use words to either help or harm?

 

Think about the idea of singing the spell backwards to undo it.  How can we “unwind” our words in order to repair harm that we might have done to another?

 

Joukahainen makes a promise in order to save his life.  What was the promise?  Have you ever made a promise that you could not keep?  Have you ever promised and had someone promise to you something that was not yours (or theirs) to give?  How did that work out?

 

What do you think about the scene in which Vainemoinen tries for days to catch the fish that is really Aino, but then doesn’t recognize her when he does catch her?  Have you ever had the experience of trying to get something you want, and then not being able to recognize it or hold on to it once you had it?

 

 

Math:  Continue practicing multiplication of a mixed number by a whole number.  Here is your practice sheet, attached at the bottom. 

 

Summer Activity Book: 

This is a great project that both 4^th grade classes can join with for the summer.  Here is the link to all the information. 

 

 SUMMER ACTIVITY BOOK

Music:   A video and a link to the sheet music for this new song for the whole school.  

Hello 4th grade, here is a wonderful inspiring song for these times which the sheet music attached.  Grab your ukulele, shaker or beautiful voice and sing with me and Trooper;)

https://vimeo.com/420110270

Hello 4th grade, here is a wonderful inspiring song for these times which the sheet music attached.  Grab your ukulele, shaker or beautiful voice and sing with me and Trooper;)

https://vimeo.com/420110270

 

 Spanish : Here is the link to the Spanish website 

Here's the link to the Spanish class activities:

 

https://itj2001.wixsite.com/mysite/karaoke

 

Thursday May 21

Movement:  Here is the link again to Ms. Kennedy’s suggestions for movement activity.  Especially on these grey, damp days when you might not be getting outside as much,  do some vigorous movement to get your heart rate up, everyday.  https://bkennedy54.wixsite.com/movement/4th-grade

 

Summer Activity Book:  Please give some thought to what kind of page you’d like to create to put into the summer activity book.  Look again at the document that I sent yesterday. Let me know by Friday what you plan to do.   If you have any questions please ask!  You could send a coloring page, a puzzle, some riddles, a recipe with instructions, an idea for a craft project, an outdoor game for the family, an indoor game, a list of book recommendations… It should be a fun project.  Let me know if you need any help, and either Ms. Serra or I can help you.  If you cannot email it, then it will need to be put into the regular mail early next week.  We’ll get the books put together, copied and then mailed out to you all for the summer. 

 

Main Lesson:  Keep working on your story, and on your written pieces chosen from yesterday’s suggestions.  If you have a different idea for a theme to write about the Kalevala story, let me know, and I’ll almost surely say “go ahead.” You can also draw a picture illustrating some part of the second story, which had several parts:  Vainamoinen planting all the trees and grains, Joukaheinen and Vainamoinen meeting with the sleighs and Vaninamoinen singing Joukaheinen into a swamp, and Vainamoinen fishing for Aino in the lake.   

 

Math:  Just a warning, do not take the shortcut of trying to do multiplication of whole numbers and mixed numbers all in your head!   You may be getting most of them right, and it’s good to get estimated answers before you start, but do make sure you follow the method Ms. Serra showed in the video.  

 

 I’m sending two different practice sheets.  Lesson 38 homework sheet is for those who need some more practice solving the multiplication problems.  It does get easier with practice!   Lesson 39 video and problem sheet is for those who are ready to move ahead in solving word problems.  When you try these problems, draw some kind of model to show how you can solve them.  It will make it easier for you to understand what to do, and help you to be more accurate. 

 

This is the video for lesson 39.  Below are the practice sheets for Lessons 38 and Lesson 39.T

 Lesson 39.mp4

 

Story telling:   In this next section we meet Louhi, Mistress of Pohjala, a powerful magician queen of the far north. She promises to send Vainamoinen home again safely after a disastrous journey, if he meets one condition.

 

 

 Louhi asks for the Sampo.m4a

 

Friday May 22

We have just one more week of lessons, and there are some deadlines coming up.   Take a look at these and write them down if you need to .

No lessons on Monday.  Enjoy Memorial Day.

Summer Activity Book:   Let me know by Tuesday at the latest what you plan to contribute on your page and whether you need any help to get it sent to Ms. Serra.  

Main Lesson:  Continue working on and polishing up your story.  By Wednesday I need to see a draft of whatever you have done by that time.

Math:  Here are some more word problems involving fractions, attached at the bottom.  There are two levels of work – choose what is right for you.   Take time to review all the skills you have worked on.  Next week we’ll do a review of fractions.  On Friday you will need to send me the math work that I will be assigning.

Storytelling:  Here is the next part of the Kalavala story.   You can do a drawing while some of the images are still fresh in your mind after listening. 

Tuesday May 26.

Main Lesson:  This week you should be finishing your story drafts to send to me tomorrow.  The project will be complete when you have a final corrected copy and an illustration sent to me. You can send a photo, an emailed document, or a google doc. 

 

By now, if you have been following the Kalevala stories, you might have a number of drawings and short texts in your main lesson books.  Take some time to listen to the new part of the story, or catch up on any parts you haven't heard yet.  You can draw as you listen again.  

 

Summer Activity Book Page:  If you haven’t already , please send me your idea for your summer activity book page.  Those are due tomorrow.  Send them to me and I’ll pass them on to Ms. Serra. 

 

Math:   This week we will be reviewing what you have learned about calculating with fractions:  

 

 Fraction Review 1.jpg

 

 Fraction Review 2.docx

 

 Fraction review 3.pdf

 

 Fraction Review 4.pdf

 

Storytelling:   Here is the next story of the Forging of the Sampo from the Kalevala.   

 

 The Forging of the Sampo.m4a

 

Wednesday May 27

I am also posting the lessons in Google Classroom, so for you who are logged into it now, you will find all the instructions and links there as well. 

Here is a beautiful Scottish folk song, that I’ve been singing during my daily walks over the past couple of weeks, so I thought I would  sing for all of you.  Here are the words, if you’d like to learn it and sing along! It’s got a nice easy melody.  It is one of those songs that everyone in Scotland knows and loves. I hope you like it too.

 

 

 Wild Mountain Thyme.m4a

Wild Mountain Thyme      traditional Scottish folksong

 

Oh, the summer time is comin’

And the trees are sweetly bloomin’

And the wild mountain thyme,

Grows around the bloomin’ heather.

Will ye go, lassie, go?

 

Chorus:

And we’ll all go together

To pull wild mountain thyme,

All around the bloomin’ heather.

Will ye go, lassie go?

 

I will build my love a bower

By yon crystal fountain

And on it I will pile

All the flowers of the mountain.

Will ye go, lassie go?

 

Chorus

 

I will range through the wilds

And the deep glens so dreamy

And return with the spoils

To the bower of my dearie.

Will ye go, lassie go?

 Chorus

 

Summer Activity Book:  Thanks so much to those who are preparing a page to include  in the 4^th grade summer book.  It will be really fun for everyone to have contributed and have a copy. You need to  have your pages turned in to me by tomorrow Thursday the 28^th . 

 

Independent Stories: 

1)Please send a copy of  the draft of your story to me today, even if it isn’t finished yet. 

2) Choose a short section of your story to read to your small group tomorrow in your  Zoom meeting. You might want to rehearse this!

Math:  We’re continuing with review of fractions.  Please do pages 148 -149  in the workbook.  If you don’t have the workbook here are the links.  

 

 Fraction Review p. 148.jpg

 

 Fraction Review p. 149.jpg

 

Kalevala Story:

Here is the next installment, about yet another suitor for the Maiden of the North, who doesn’t fare any better than any of the others! 

 

 

 Lemminkainen.m4a

Handwork: 

 

4th Grade Handwork for the week of May 26th-29th

 

Yarn Wrapped Kitties! 

(with other wrapped yarn ideas!)

Supplies needed:

• Cardboard
• Crayons
• Black marker
• Pencil
• Small scrap of white paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Assortment of yarn scraps
• Toothpick (helpful but not necessary)

Watch this quick little video for instructions.

YARN KITTIES!

Have fun Handworkers! 

Thursday May 28

Main Lesson:  Begin doing  final editing and corrections on your story. 

Check for whether  :  

*Capital letters  are in the right places

 *Each sentence is a complete thought  

*Sentences do not run together without correct linking words and punctuation.

*You have punctuated any dialog correctly.

*Your spelling is correct.

*Everything makes sense when you read it out loud.

 *You have used good descriptive adjectives and adverbs.

 *The reader has a good sense of who your characters are and what they                       are like.

*The reader has a good word picture of the setting of your story.

  *Your story has a structure:  there is a strong beginning;  there is a              conflict or problem that your character has to solve; there is a                              climax; there is a resolution at the end.

Storytelling:  In this episode the heroes return to the Northland, still hoping that one of them will gain Louhi’s permission to marry the Maiden. If you have your story finished, you can draw and write about some of the Kalevala stories, putting finished copy into your main lesson book. 

 

 

 Ilmarinen wins his bride.m4a

            

Math: Here are word problems, attached at the bottom, using addition and subtraction.  Make a model, so you can see what calculations you need to do to complete each problem.  Read the problems carefully so that you use only the relevant information!  Please send me your work. 

 

 Addition and Subtraction Fraction word problems...

 

Spanish:  Here is the link for your Spanish lesson, updated with the new assignment.

https://itj2001.wixsite.com/mysite/assignments

May 29, 2020

Summer Activity Book:   Come on folks!  Only a few of you have contributed activity pages for the summer book.  Work on that today and get them sent to me, so that Ms. Serra and I can get it put together, printed up and distributed to you. 

 

Main Lesson:  Please have a final copy of your story to send in to me by Monday.  We’ll do our Zoom groups on Tuesday morning, so that will be the time to show your drawing and finished project, along with any other work you have completed and want to share.

 

Math:  These word problems use multiplication.  Draw a model of the problem and show your workKalevala Stories:  Here is the story of the wedding of Ilmarinen and the Maiden, and an account of how Vainamoinen made the first kantele, the stringed instrument used to this day in Finland.

 

 Kalevala Stories:  Here is the story of the wedding of Ilmarinen and the Maiden, and an account of how Vainamoinen made the first kantele, the stringed instrument used to this day in Finland.

 

Monday June 1   

 

 I shared a favorite summer song from Scotland with you last week.  Do you have a favorite song or poem about summer?  

How about starting your morning with a boisterous round of “I like to rise when the sun she rises?”  

 

Poem:   Read these two  poems several times, out loud to yourself or to a family member.   We will be using the idea behind these two similar  poems as part of a group sharing on Wednesday in our Zoom end of year celebration.  Try writing your own “I am” poem, using images of nature.  Start thinking about how you might describe some of your classmates in a “you are” image, similarly from nature.  

 

The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee  by N. Scott Momaday written 1976

I am a feather on the bright sky

I am the blue horse that runs in the plain

I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water

I am the shadow that follows a child

I am the evening light, the luster of meadows

I am an eagle playing with the wind

I am a cluster of bright beads

I am the farthest star

I am the cold of dawn

I am the roaring of the rain

I am the glitter on the crust of the snow

I am the long track of the moon in a lake

I am a flame of four colors

I am a deer standing away in the dusk

I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche

I am an angle of geese in the winter sky

I am the hunger of a young wolf

I am the whole dream of these things

 

You see, I am alive, I am alive

I stand in good relation to the earth

I stand in good relation to the gods

I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful

I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte

You see, I am alive, I am alive

 

 

And this one written 4,500 miles away and 2,000 years earlier!  

The Song of Amergin Amergin, Irish bard,  written in the 1st century  (before 100) 

 I am wind upon the sea.

I am  ocean wave.

I am Stag of seven combats. 

I am Eagle on  a cliff.

I am teardrop of the sun.

I am fairest of plants.

I am Wild Boar for valor .

I am Salmon in the pool.

I am lake upon the plain.

I am the meaning of poetry.

I am spear waging war with greed

I light a fire in the head and heart.

 

Main Lesson:   Today, look over all your work from the past two months at home.  Here are the various projects in order, with star in front of the required assignments : 

*The Oregon Trail text and drawing

Oregon Modern history project 

*Nature observation journal

Written piece based on The Lake Isle of Innisfree poem

*Animal Project

Reflection paragraph on quote by either John Muir or Jane Goodall

*Drawings and summaries of Fionn MacCumhaill stories

*Drawings and reflections or summaries of Maria Morevna story 

Drawing of The Search for the Magic Lake

Drawings and summaries of the Kalevala stories 

Independent Story Project 

 

Put your own work in order and choose your favorite piece of work to share with the class on Tuesday in your small group Zoom session, telling briefly why you have chosen it. 

 

Math:   Here is a final fractions review/quiz.  Please be neat, show all your calculations, and draw a model for the last problem.  Send me a photo of your work, if at all possible.  If you are using Google Classroom you can turn it in on that site.  

 

 Final Fraction Quiz

Kalevala Story:  Here is the last story I’ll tell from the Kalevala Epic.  I hope that some of you enjoyed listening to them.