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March 8, 2022
Spring Issue #2
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Weekly activities and lessons to keep your child thinking and progressing throughout the school year. |
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“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” |
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Happy Tuesday,
I hope you all are well. This week I'm sharing a truly wonderful novel about the tragic and impact of the wars of Southern Darfur in Sudan. This is an intense read, but well worth the effort. Also, there is an activity to learn how to build a sundial. These types of experiments fascinated me when I was a kid. Watching shadows move is always amazing. I think you will enjoy it, too. I've written three new writing prompts and posted a riddle. Good luck with the math problem of the week. It is very challenging a a different way of thinking. Have fun with these learning activities.
Please share this flyer with your friends and encourage them to join our mailing list by following the links on this page.
Mr. McManus :-)
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The Red Pencil
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
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Told in free verse and set in the South Darfur region of Sudan, this potent novel is built around the distinctive voice and drawings of 12-year-old narrator Amira. The first half of the novel examines Amira’s life in her rural village, where she helps out with farm chores, wishes she could attend school, and has a close relationship with her father, Dando, who “sees what is possible in me.” After Janjaweed militants invade, inflicting great loss, Amira flees to a refugee camp, where she expresses her creativity through art, after a teacher gives her the pencil. The author faces war’s horrors head on in this book, yet there is an ever present sense of hope and promise. I don't always like reading books about this topic, but this book is an inspiration. Reading it will change your life.
Enjoy!
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Make a Sundial
Use this project to show your friends that they don’t need an iPhone to tell time
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Way before cell phones, there were actual clocks for telling time, ancient relics that used “hands” and numbers for showing you when it was time to watch your favorite show on your TV because you didn’t have cable or DVR. Oh, the hardship.
And before that, people told time by using a sundial. Throughout the ages, people, animals and even plants have been using the sun to tell time. By making your own sundial, you can learn how to use the sun to tell time so you know when it’s time for a nap. When you’re done, don’t forget to take a selfie with your cell phone.
GATHER THIS:
THEN DO THIS:
- Find a sunny spot in a lawn or sidewalk.
- Put the stick in the ground.If it is a sidewalk, put the stick in the playdough and use that to hold the stick upright on cement.
- Throughout the day, place a rock, or mark with chalk for each hour indicating where the shadow falls at that time.Depending on your time, you may have to place rocks over a couple of days before your sundial is complete. Or use chalk and a ruler to draw in the shadow lines, instead of placing rocks on the hour.
ASK THIS:
- How does the sun’s position change throughout the day?
- How does the time of year change how your sundial works?
- How does the light/shadow change throughout the day?
Alternative: On a sunny day, go outside with a compass, pencil, and print-out of the Sun Clock Diagram. Put your compass on the ground and turn it so that the arrow and the “N” (for “North”) line up. Follow the directions on the Sun Clock Diagram to find out how to line up the Sun Clock with your compass. Once you have the Sun Clock pointed in the right direction, you can figure out what time it is.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
As the earth rotates, the sun appears to move across the sky. As light from the sun strikes your sundial from different angles, it casts shadows in new directions always opposite to how the sun appears to move. Earth rotates from east to west, so your shadow will move form west to east.
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If you feel your child might benefit from a group or individual tutoring program to prepare them for the next phase of their education, please contact McManus Tutoring.
Programs are structured so that students learn independence, accountability, and self-possession. They will develop a repeatable structure that can be used to build success in the future.
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Three Writing Prompts and a Riddle
These prompts and questions will help jump-start your daily writing. Just as it's important to read for at least 30 minutes each day, you should also write for 30 minutes a day. Don't worry about your organization or spelling, just write!
"Just like in Harry Potter, an owl brought me an invitation to..."
"These keys open the door to my secret..."
"The odd looking fruit came from a small island where..."
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The more you take away from me,
The bigger I get.
What am I?
Answer in next week's issue :-)
Last week's answer... Nothing
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