Hello everyone,

It was lovely to see all of the students at Michaelmas this weekend -- grade 4 was one of the only classes with full attendance at the festival! Many thanks to all of you for helping make this festival a special occasion at the Wessling farm. No doubt you all heard stories about going down to the creek (cold water!) and exploring the caves upstream (fox skull!) -- I hope everyone slept soundly that night after all the excitement.

We have been working diligently on our Main Lesson books for Language Arts. Details from Norse myth are paired with illustrations on the facing page, the text in pen -- mostly cursive, although I do allow some printing -- and the illustrations in colored pencil or in wax crayon. As we create these illustrations together we develop an eye for layout, color shading, and relevant detail. Usually the children copy the texts I have written on the board, occasionally I just give the first couple of sentences and then let them compose the ending themselves. Nearly always, when doing this they write more "for themselves" than I would have assigned. Funny how it works that way.

In the week ahead we will hear myths involving trickery, cleverness, tough choices and harsh consequences.

Spelling continues apace, this time with words that contain AI or AY to make the long-A sound. (Each spelling list has its own particular focus.) Each week I also assign a few "outlaw words" that break the rule, which need to be memorized for correct spelling; for this list, the word Again is an example. I also like to include some words from Norse myth, for two reasons: a) they are important for our curriculum, and b) they are fun to spell. It's not everyday you can drop the word Yggdrasil into casual conversation.

We continued reviewing the 4 math processes, this time working with a scenario I devised about a Viking marketplace. There are iron axeheads for sale, and yellow/black beads from Birka that are known to archaeologists as "bumblebee beads", and there are wineglasses from Rhineland and some French combs made of antler inlaid with silver wire. And so on. If there are 5 combs to a box, and a comb costs six silver pennies, how much do 3 boxes cost? Story problems lead us develop skills in quick reckoning, estimating, and formulating problems as mathematical equations (5 x 6 = 30, 30 x 3 = 90 silver pennies)

Currently I am assigning homework on a two-day schedule. Handouts go home twice a week (sometime Mon - Wed) and are due two days later. The children are building up good work habits about making sure assignments go home and come back. It may be time to consider having your child bring a backpack to and from school every day -- the lunchbox could go inside as well.

The class dynamic is relaxed but focused, collegial, and supportive. We are settling in.

Bill Layher