Classical Conversations CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Tutor Plans

Here is everything that I plan to do with my Masters class for week 9 in cycle 3 of Classical Conversations!

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Memory Work

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Timeline

This week for timeline, I plan for us to play Before or After.

This game is great for the Masters class because it can test their Timeline knowledge forwards and backwards.

To play Before or After:

1. Draw a random Timeline card and set it out front as the first reference card.
2. Sing the Timeline portion once through. Then, draw another random Timeline card.
3. Ask the class if the newest drawn Timeline card comes before or after the reference card. I have the students move to my right if it’s before and my left if it’s after to get them out of their seats.
4. We sing through the song to see who in the class was correct.
5. Pull another Timeline card and use the most previous drawn card as the new reference card to ask before or after.
6. Continue playing until all 7 repetitions are done.

Supplies needed to play Before or After:

• 7 Timeline cards pertaining to the week

Approximate time it takes to play Before or After: 5 minutes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Math

Yay for only one times table this week! Since I have the Masters class we say the entire equation.

This week, I plan to do a mathercise activity. It is only the 15s so we won’t get as tired as mathercise was when we had two times tables.

I will likely keep it simple with doing squats with each circled repetition.

To play:

1. Chant the 15s together as a class.
2. Have the first student pick out one or two equations to circle. The circled equations are our cue to squat when we chant that equation.
3. Chant the 15s again, making sure to squat at the circled equations.
4. Ask the next student to pick one or two to circle and repeat.

Supplies needed for mathercise: 

• marker or dry erase marker to circle equations

Approximate time it takes: 4 minutes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 History

As usual, we will play Hot or Cold.

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 will hide something that is red/white/blue. I basically just saved a bunch of 4th of July party favor type items to cycle through this year.

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 in 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

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

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Latin

This week, I plan to do a song that spans weeks 9-11 to cover Latin rules.

This song is by Gabriela Gierke and goes to the tune of Yankee Doodle, fitting for our tin whistle song this cycle.

To get in the 7 repetitions:

1. Read the rule.
2. Introduce the song.
3. Sing all for the remaining repetitions.

Supplies needed for Latin: 

• none

Approximate time needed for Latin: 3 minutes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Science

This week I plan to introduce a song by The Home Video Variety Show on YouTube.

Here is the order I plan to do to get all seven repetitions in:

1. Read the question and say the answer, making sure to say “Four parts of the lymph system are…”
2. Read the question and have the class answer
3. Introduce the song to the class
4. Sing the song with the class
5. Sing the song all together
6. Sing all
7. Sing all

Supplies needed for science: None

Approximate time needed for science: 4 minutes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 English

This week we will use the hand motions we have learned so far to recite the different verb tenses for “to lay.”

Here is the song and hand motions that I will use by Driven By Grace which goes to the tune of If You’re Happy and You Know it:

If the song is just too much on top of the hand movements, we might just chant it. I’ll see what the class wants to do/can handle given our quick time frame!

Here are the 7 repetitions:

1. Read the grammar.
2. Introduce the hand motions for each part.
3. All practice the hand motions for each part.
4. Introduce the song (or do a chant) while doing the hand motion.
5. Have the students sing with me (or do a chant) and do the hand motion for the remaining 3 repetitions.

Supplies needed for English: none

Approximate time needed for English – 4 minutes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Geography

This year we’ve been trying something new in my Masters class.

Instead of tracing maps, I want to challenge my class to draw the US, week by week.

My director gives us large copies of the CC maps, one for each student. Last year, the students traced the maps.

I picked up some 11×8.5 paper. I plan for each student to keep their map all year (in a folder I will take home each week) and to build on the map each week.

Here is what I plan to do to get our seven repetitions in:

1. Read the states and capitals for the week while the students put their names on their papers.

2 & 3. Have the students draw just the states we are doing this week, with their dots for capitals, on their papers while I read the states and capitals 2x through.

4. Show me where _____ is… (all 5 locations)

5. Tell me what this is… (all 5 locations) as I point to my map on my board.

6 & 7. Everyone reads all the states & capitals while passing their maps back to me to put away for next week.

Supplies needed for geography: 

• large map for each student
• 14×8.5 paper for each student
• pencil for each student
• optional – Draw the USA by Kristin J. Draeger to reference if students are stuck – she blobs the shapes of each state to make it easy to draw 

Approximate time needed for geography: 5 minutes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Tin Whistle

For tin whistle I will lay out my overall order for class and then explain further below if you want a more scripted guide.

FYI, my order is different than what is presented in the Foundations Guide but I still cover everything.

Here is the order I plan for us to do tin whistle:

1. Define the staff – a group of five lines used for writing notes of a song and explain how to draw it.
2. Instead of explaining the notes next, I plan to jump to explaining the treble clef so we can do all of our drawing-only exercises before bringing out the tin whistle. *See treble clef explanation below*
3. Have the class draw a treble clef.
4. Sing Yankee Doodle together. Ask the class if they noticed some notes lasting longer than others.
5. Introduce & define the whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth note (and pair of eighth notes) and have them draw their own on their staff *See explanation below.*
6. I plan to clap as I sing each note out rather than do the ta-ah-ah-ah as that confuses me and I was in band for 5 years! So, clap four times to start the song, then hold a note for four claps and explain that it is a whole note. Repeat for the other notes, starting with four claps before singing a note.
7. Rather than sing Yankee Doodle, I plan to have them say the type of note, so for example quarter note , quarter note, quarter note, quarter note, quarter note, quarter note, quarter note, quarter REST (will need to name symbol)… for “Yan-kee Doo-dle came to town , “
8. Practice playing a whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, and two eighth notes on their tin whistles as I clap the beat.
9. Practice playing Yankee Doodle.

*Here’s how I plan to explain the treble clef:

• Ask if students knew what two clefs music was written in (treble and bass)
• Give some examples of instruments for each clef.
• Explain that the tin whistle plays higher notes and is in the treble clef.
• Show them how to draw a treble clef – start with a dot below the staff, create a J from the dot, draw a backwards S and then swirl to end it.

*To have the students draw the notes:

• Start with the whole note (4 counts), then add a line for the half (two counts), then color it in for quarter (one count), and then add a flag for eighth (half a count). You can connect two flagged notes to make a pair of eighth notes (for a total of one count).

Supplies needed for week 9 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 draw the staff, treble clef, and notes

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Science

This week we will continue our anatomy study.

We will tackle the skeleton, muscles, and stomach this week.

Encourage the students to color different body parts at different times so not everyone will need a red pencil for the muscles at the same time, for example.

I plan to inform everyone to label all of their parts with their names so I can keep everything together in my expandable file folder.

I will likely follow the script from my director this year since she outlines it nicely with Naming, Attending, Memorizing, and Expressing.

(Here is the script from my director by Tiffany Pena)

But I also plan to have the students review science grammar from what we already know.

The My Body book also has good information in it for teaching on each body part.

Supplies needed for hands-on science:

• My Body copies of the skeleton, muscles, and stomach
• Pencils
• Scissors
• Colored pencils, crayons, or markers

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Presentations

This year, I plan to have a skill of focus each week.

For the ninth week, I plan to have the audience members practice the skill of asking open-ended questions.

I will inform the audience members to remember to wait until the presenter is done presenting to raise their hand for questions.

Then, they should ask questions with these starting words:

• What
• Why
• How

I am not including who, where, or when as a starting word since these words tend to have close-ended answers. (Who? this person Where? here When this time)

It’s not that we want to start long conversations during presentation time, but this will hopefully allow audience members to really think about what they want to know and not ask simple questions they probably already know the answer to if they thought about it longer.

I plan to just print off the words what, why, and how onto pieces of paper for each student to reference.

CC Cycle 3 Week 9 Review

For review this week, I plan to have the class play Turkey Jeopardy.

This is just Jeopardy but I plan to show a picture of a turkey if they land on the pre-determined daily double spot.

This Jeopardy game is regular printer paper sized for convenience. I don’t know about you, but the less I have to carry on community day the better!

This fits on my clipboard that I use during class.

If you want a copy of this Jeopardy board for free you can download it here.

To play:

• divide the class into equal teams (2 or 3 teams work best) and inform them to name their team
• have teams determine who goes first (rock, paper, scissors or coin toss, etc.)
• first team picks a topic & point value
• whatever team buzzes first (or rings a bell or claps their hands.. whatever you have) gets 3 seconds to try to answer – if they get it correct they get the points, if they don’t the other team gets a chance to answer in 3 seconds (if 3 teams – have them buzz for their chance) if no one knows it, the tutor shares the answer and nobody gets any points
• whoever had the last correct answer controls the board
• if they land on a turkey (daily double) they may wager up to all of their points but they need to wager at least 100 points. If they have less than 1400 total points, including being in the negative, they may wager up to 1400 points.

Supplies needed for Jeopardy: 

• Jeopardy board with 7 categories, one for each subject, and 7 point values, one for each week (you can download for free in the link above)
• Turkey picture for the daily double spot (also in download along with a Christmas tree and a standard Daily Double picture)
• Two buzzers or bells (or just have the students clap or raise their hands first)
• Paper/pen or whiteboard/marker to keep track of score
• Review sheet with pre-designated score amounts

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 3 Week 9 tutor planning!