Our  chapter book — Lassie Come-Home — came to an end this week. I think it’s safe to say that just about everyone enjoyed this classic dog story, appreciated the subtlety and language nuances of the final interplay between the irascible Duke and the stolid Yorkshire miner, and was drawn in by the author to the emotional ending of the story. If you and your family are looking for something to do this weekend, you might want to view the original film that was made in 1943 from the novel (minus the title hyphen)– the black-and-white movie that starred Roddy McDowall as the young Joe Carraclough.

Our next read-aloud book will be The New Policeman by Kate Thompson — a fantasy that incorporates Irish music with Irish legends and answers the age-old question of where single socks go when they disappear in the wash! It’s the first book of a trilogy. Your child may want to continue reading after we complete the first novel.

We are getting started with our study of the Celts and the Romans. Students are enjoying my collection of Asterix comics, and we are about to start working on some comparative research. Several have asked why the Roman empire came to an end, which is one of the essential questions that we will explore, if not answer definitively. (The sock question is probably easier to resolve.)  As always, there is enough history here to create a full-year study, but we are going to engage with it more briefly, primarily as a study in contrasts: social rules, housing, religion, technology, government, etc. And there are other Big Questions — why do we know so much about the Romans, and why are they so present in our architecture, governmental structure, language, and more — while we know so little about and have inherited so little from the Celts? What are the aspects of Roman culture that are part of our lives today? Are there any Celtic remnants? Why is it difficult to research the Celts on the internet but easy to find facts about the Romans?

The impact of Latin — as well as Greek — on English has been part of our work with vocabulary all year (Vocabulary From Classical Roots). This week, we gave students a list of familiar and unfamiliar words and phrases that are commonly used by English speakers but which come to us from Latin. Words and phrases such as alias, versus, et cetera, non sequitur, and nil were among the Latin items on the list. We frequently mention Latin as a wise choice for our students’ middle school language options. Why? Here’s one website’s rationale:

Knowing Latin can improve your English vocabulary. While English is a Germanic language, Latin has strongly influenced it. Most of our prefixes and some of the roots of common English words derive from Latin. By some estimates, 30% of English words derive from the ancient language. By knowing the meaning of these Latin words, if you happen to come across a word you’ve never seen before, you may be able to make an educated guess about what it means. In fact, studies have found that high school students who studied Latin scored a mean of 647 on the SAT verbal exam, compared with the national average of 505. (source: www.artofmanliness.com)

Valentine’s Day is always a popular holiday with our kids, even though we have made a serious effort to cut back on celebrating it entirely with sugar. One of the things that we teachers enjoy about it, especially for our sixth graders, is that it’s a time to think about friends rather than romantic partners. This is likely to be much less true for them when they go to middle school. We made valentine cards for our first-grade buddies in Rich and Elisa’s group and exchanged greetings with them on Thursday morning. Our students received the teachers’ traditional “homework valentine” which can be handed in as a replacement for a one-night homework assignment. For many of our group every year, the challenge is to be able to find it when they want to use it. We notice that even our most disorganized students usually figure out a way to store the document safely; the fine print says clearly that it will not be replaced if it’s lost. Motivation is powerful.

We did a learning quiz on the history of the holiday on Thursday. A learning quiz is humorous, educational, and requires no prior knowledge. The correct answer to each question is so obvious that everyone gets a perfect score. Would you like to learn more about Valentine’s Day? You’ll find our quiz here: A Brief History of Valentine’s Day. As it happens, the holiday has its origins in ancient Rome.

Next week (yet ANOTHER short week), we will let you know how things are going with our play, pennywhistle lessons, the Roman mystery novel that we are all reading, and our current and upcoming work in mathematics.

Please continue to check in with your child about cold weather clothing — spare gloves to don when the first pair is saturated, dry socks, hats and scarves, and a change of outer clothing when shirts and pants become too wet to be comfortable in the classroom. We also remind children to bring wet things home and bring dry things back, but it probably takes a village to adequately clothe a child.

Parent-teacher conference time is coming in March. Please respond promptly to Pam’s request for scheduling preferences. She does an amazing job with juggling sibling conferences, teacher availability, parent needs, and more. The sooner you reply to her request, the more likely it is that she will be able to give you what you need and/or prefer.