Classical Conversations CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Tutor Plans Masters Class

Here is everything that I did with my Masters class for week 10 in cycle 2 of Classical Conversations!

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Memory Work

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Timeline

This week for timeline, I had my class play a game that I based off of the bomb game.

Instead of putting bombs on the back of some of the timeline cards, I place a “bad guy” of some sort. This week’s theme was rainforest so we played Rainforest Zoologist.

So, I placed pictures of rainforest animals on the back of 6 cards and a zoologist on the back of 1 card. I get these photos from Canva.

Every week we play this game (well, a variation of it since I do barn animals, cats, dogs, etc.) I ask the class if they want the “bad guy” to be a “good guy” instead. I’ll explain both ways to play.

Playing the “bad guy” version:

Sing the timeline song together. Have one student pick a card. If it’s an animal, the student “won” that round. Sing the timeline song again and then have the next student pick another card. Continue playing for 7 students/7 rounds. The object of the game is to not get the bad guy because we want to save as many animals as possible. If the class succeeds in not picking the bad guy, the class wins and the tutor loses.

Playing the “good guy” version:

Essentially, I tell the class that the zoologist is needing to collect all the animals before something bad happens, like a storm is rolling in or something. Sing the timeline song together. Have one student pick a card. If it’s an animal, the student “lost” that animal to the storm. Sing the timeline song again and have the next student pick another card. Continue playing for 7 students/7 rounds. The object of the game is to get the zoologist as soon as possible because every animal that gets picked after the zoologist is found is saved! *You can keep it uplifting at the end and say “good news, all the animals were found hiding under a big tree anyway!” if you have a younger or more sensitive class.

This game is good for any age group but the Abecedarians may get confused if you give them the option of good guy or bad guy. I like giving the Masters this option because it keeps the game fresh each week.

If you have more than 7 students, you may want to skip this game since one student is left out. Or, have the 8th student be the one to flip over the cards to reveal, essentially leading the class.

This week my class decided to play “bad guy” and they ended up winning! They collected all the rainforest animals the first 6 times through, leaving the zoologist last.

Supplies needed to play Rainforest Zoologist:

• 7 Timeline cards pertaining to the week
• 1 photo of a rainforest zoologist and 6 photos of rainforest animals
• tape to tape the photos to the back of the cards

Make sure to prepare this before getting to class and then put the cards up before class starts so there are no cheaters!

Approximate time it takes to play Rainforest Zoologist: 4 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Math

This week, we did squats for squares as we said the squares.

This game works best for a class of seven students or less. If you have eight students, you’ll need to decide if one person is left out or if you have time to include an 8th round.

If you have less than seven students, do one for each student and then add parents/tutor into the mix so you can do the tables 7 times.

Squats are great for every class level if you don’t have a masters class!

I do squats this way:

• first student picks one or two equations to have me circle
• we recite the equations and when we get to an equation that is circled, we all do a squat
• second person picks one or two equations to have me circle
• we recite the equations and do squats on all the circled ones
• continue this pattern – you will have most if not all of the equations circled so you will get a nice leg workout in!

I have a class of all boys so some of them decided to do sit ups instead. Sit ups for squares works too, though.

Supplies needed for squats for squares: 

• dry erase marker (if paper is in protective sheet) to circle math equation

Approximate time it takes to do squats: 5 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 History

My class loves playing Hot or Cold for history so we have done it almost every week since I introduced it week 3.

To play Hot or Cold, listen to the history song one time all together. Then, show the class the item you will be hiding.

This week, we hid a photo of Vladimir I that I found on Wikipedia. You could use the timeline card for this week but I am kind of particular about my timeline cards and don’t want them possibly getting bent and ruined.

Since he is mentioned in our history song and timeline song this week I figured we could emphasis him.

Have one parent bring the chosen student outside into the hallway while the rest of the class chooses a place to hide the item.

Once hidden (tip – only give them 30 seconds so it’s not a big time suck), invite the student back in. Have the class sing the history song loudly if the student is close to finding the object and quietly if the student is farther from the object.

The student has six repetitions to find it. If they find it in time, they win, if not, the class wins. If the student finds it before six repetitions are over, have everyone sing or say the history song as fast as they can for the remaining repetitions.

Supplies needed to play Hot or Cold: 

• object to hide – I printed a photo of Vladimir I
• timer – if students are likely to be indecisive on where to hide the object, set a 30 second timer

Approximate time it takes to play Hot or Cold: 5 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Latin

I informed the class that a way to remember the plu-perfect tense is with the sentence:

The engineers did not design a plu-perfect bridge, so they all (and Daffy Duck) gasped for air when they saw it falling down.

I told them that plu-perfect sounds like Daffy Duck struggling to say perfect (and did my best impression) but of course, only the moms knew what I was talking about. I told them to pretend Daffy Duck was in the water watching the bridge fall.

I printed a photo of Daffy Duck and put it on my board next to Latin for fun and to show that I am not making up a cartoon character.

We then sang the CC Latin song quickly seven times through, which starts with the Latin conjugation ending “eram” which is pronounced “air-um,” hence the gasping for air.

The CC Latin song goes along to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down.

I got this idea from Joys of a CC Mom on YouTube. Here is the video I referenced:

Supplies needed for Latin: None, unless you want to print a photo of Daffy Duck like I did

Approximate time needed for Latin: 2 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Science

This week I didn’t do a song for science since my students have been talking about the acronym My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas during our 30 minutes of science.

Now that Pluto isn’t a planet, my students told me it’s now My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nuggets.

I decided to add hand motions that I found by Nicole Draggoo on YouTube.

Here is the order I presented science to get all seven repetitions in:

1. Read the question and say the answer, making sure to say “The names of the planets are…”
2. Read the question and have the class answer
3. Allow the class to say the acronym they use with the planet name it references
4. Introduce hand motions to the class
5. Practice hand motions with the class
6. Do hand motions together
7. Do hand motions together

Here are the hand motions:

Supplies needed for science: None

Approximate time needed for science: 3 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 English

We are still singing along to the Chicken Dance song on YouTube! This went so fast and was great since we did our science activity before memory work this week.

To get more participation, I read the demonstrative pronouns once and then had each student take turns saying all four demonstrative pronouns for our seven repetitions.

Supplies needed for English: none

Approximate time needed for English – 2 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Geography

This week we did geography first.

I used the song by one of my favorite CC YouTubers, Home Video Variety Show. My kids love to watch their videos and this week’s song is really catchy.

Here is what we did to get our seven repetitions in:

1. I read the components of Southwest Asia
2. I read and showed them the locations on my map
3. I read and had them trace locations on their maps
4. I introduced the song
5. We sang the song together and pointed to the locations
6. We sang the song together and erased the locations
7. I asked them review questions to either say the name in the question or have them tell me the name in the answer

Here are the review questions I asked for Southwest Asia:

1. Which country is packed between Afghanistan and India? (Pakistan)
2. What ocean is the Arabian Sea in? (Indian)
3. What country is Kolkata in? (India)

I couldn’t think of a great review question for Kolkata that brought in memory work from the previous week. If you have a good idea, let me (and the other readers) know in the comments!

Supplies needed for geography: 

• dry erase map for each student
• dry erase marker for each student
• eraser for each student

Approximate time needed for geography: 5 minutes

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Tin Whistle

I introduced the topic of rhythm last week in my class since I have the Masters and they are 1) familiar with the terms and 2) wanting to do a Christmas song at our Christmas party so we need to get through material quickly.

So, I reviewed the same information as last week and then gave them a challenge to come up with their own rhythms. One student would come up with a rhythm and the class would follow it.

Then, I had the students write their own songs with the remaining time in class.

Here is the order we did tin whistle in:

1. Play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the tin whistle together to see where the class is at and then have them put their whistles away or at the top of their tables.
2. Review the staff and treble clef.
3. Tell them to point to the vertical bars on the song and explain that these are called bars.
4. Tell them to point to the space between the bars and explain that these are called measures.
5. Review 4/4 time signature with them (and 3/4 for the Christmas song). The 4 on the bottom means a quarter note gets one beat. The 4 on the top means 4 beats per measure and the 3 on the top means 3 beats per measure. Explain that 4/4 is the standard time signature and that 3/4 is known as the Waltz time signature and count 1-2-3 like a Waltz. Have them identify what Mary Had a Little Lamb is.
6. Have the class sing Mary Had a Little Lamb while I clap four beats per measure to show them the rhythm.
7. Give the students a piece of paper and have them draw a staff on it with a treble clef and a 4/4 time measure. Have them draw the bars. Tell them to think of a song they like and to write the rhythm of the song using quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, and/or eighth notes to practice writing the language of music. Remind them to only keep four beats per measure.
8. Have student volunteers show us their rhythms either with playing one note all the way through on the tin whistle, clapping, or singing.
9. Discuss our Christmas party Christmas song and practice it with the remaining time.

Remind students that the tin whistle plays higher notes and is in the treble clef. I showed them how to draw a treble clef again – start with a dot below the staff, create a J from the dot, draw a backwards S and then swirl to end it.

The Masters class did so well with all of this but if you have a younger class, I advise just sticking to the CC guide. In other words, don’t introduce 3/4 time signature and don’t have them write their own music.

Supplies needed for week 10 tin whistle:

• each student needs to bring their tin whistle (give students a pencil to finger along if they forgot their whistle at home)
• paper and pencil to write their song of choice in music language

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Science

For science this week we had our community project. Our director had us make no-sew fleece blankets for victims in a trauma situation.

We had a guest speaker come in right after morning assembly so it was a different order this week. Rather than memory work and then science, we swapped for science first.

The guest speaker even referenced our classroom “rule” or expectation this year, Mark 12:30-31:

“…And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

This was a great tie-in to our community project, a reminder to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

CC Cycle 2 Week 10 Review

For review this week, we played Jenga.

This is a simple game I like to pull out since everyone already knows how to play it.

I debated if I wanted to put the subjects on the blocks, as I know my class tends to avoid math. But, I ultimately decided to add them to make the game even more difficult if they are wanting to avoid certain subjects.

Instead of writing the full subject out, I color coded the blocks using the same colors that my board uses for subject headings.

If a subject has already been reviewed for all 7 weeks (ahem, timeline), I will then choose one that they tend to avoid (ahem, math).

Sometimes, the class gets rowdy during Jenga and they want it to fall as much as possible. I find that I actually get more review done during this time as I ask them review questions while they re-build. So, don’t sweat if it doesn’t appear to be going as expected.

Supplies needed for Jenga: 

• Jenga game – either with subjects written on the blocks or not (I did a color code and matched with my heading cards on my board)
• a table if playing on the table

Save These Masters Tutors Ideas for Later

If you have a masters class for Classical Conversations this year, make sure to save this plan to reference during your CC Cycle 2 Week 10 tutor planning!