Classical Conversations
Week 17 for Tutors
Great Artists - Michelangelo
This week we are focusing on the works of Michelangelo, and his technique of using wet plaster to paint with. Michelangelo is one of the most famous artists of all time. Remember to spend about five minutes discussing with your students some of the biography of Michelangelo, and show a few of his famous works - before coming to the art tables. I will have seven tables set up again, which seemed to work best. Right now my plan is to have each student mix and pour their plaster right away following Opening. Each tutor can assist their class, and then we'll juggle our morning schedule accordingly to allow time for the plaster to dry. It should be ready by the time the four oldest classes finish with presentations, but if not, we'll just continue with our day until they are ready. I will have paint available and I'm thinking this time I'll just pre-pour it into the palettes for the students, to avoid wasting time and paint. Our ratio for the plaster is 3/4 cup of water to one heaping cup of plaster; stir well; then pour into the plastic plate and tuck in a piece of string, if desired.
Science Experiment #137 - Shake Up
This experiment will be a tutor demonstration and should be completed first. Discuss with the students what happens when water and other environmental things such as wind and movement of the earth come into contact with another object. Then place one piece of candy in each vial, fill with water, and shake one of the vials. Ask the students to observe both vials. Proceed with our next experiment, but remind students to return frequently and take note of how both pieces of candy are disintegrating in the water.
Science Experiment - Rock Bridge
This experiment will be completed by all students. You can either split your class into teams, or have all students work together to build a bridge from books. I will have the hymnals from the church available, and I might also bring a few books from home. You are welcome to bring books with also, if you have some options that would lend themselves well to this experiment. You will do this experiment while waiting for the candy to dissolve from our other experiment.
Our Next Tutor Meeting
As we will be having our normal CC day on February 23rd, rather than our planned tutor meeting, we will need to come up with a Plan B for our final fourth quarter training session. I am open to a couple of different options. First, we could meet on a Monday, during the day, and cover our content for the last six weeks (will take approximately an hour, maybe a bit longer). The church would be available during this time. Or I also thought it might be fun to pick and evening or weekend, meet together to cover our materials, and then we could all go out and have a nice meal together, as a fun way to celebrate the end of our year. If we pick this option, we would need to find a spot to have the tutor training portion of this (we could probably use the church if it were to be a Monday or Tuesday evening, but that might not be everyone's first option based on having a CC day as well). I could also offer my church in Kasson, and we could eat across the street at Daniel's Restaurant, pretty much any evening or on Saturday. This option would require having childcare available elsewhere for all our children. I can see if one or two of my sisters are available to help with childcare if we opt for meeting at the church during the day. Let's brainstorm and come next week with some thoughts of what would work best, and then go from there.