Category: Teaching

Teaching Websites

Teaching Websites

Below is an ongoing list of websites for teachers from my days as an elementary education major. I have been starting to try to categorize the websites (as you can currently see near the bottom of this list) and that has the issue that some sites fit under multiple categories and are only listed under one category. The websites are subject to change.

Categories

Agriculture – Reading – Museums and Periodicals and Foundations – Teacher Education – Current Events – Middle Grades – Strategies – Testing – Lesson Plans – Music and Theater – Classroom Management – Math – Science – Foreign Language/Spanish – Exceptional Learners (covers a spectrum  ranging from physical disabilities to autism to gifted children) – Supplies and Workbooks and Technology – Physical Education – General and Miscellaneous

  1. Teacher Information Network http://www.teacher.com
  2. Access ERIC http://www.eric.edu.gov
  3. Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning http://www.mcrel.org
  4. Educator’s Reference Desk http://www.eduref.org
  5. Skewl Sites Online – http://www.skewlsites.com
  6. Ed Helper http://www.edhelper.com
  7. Education Place http://www.eduplace.com
  8. Sites for Teachers http://www.sitesforteachers.com
  9. Chaminade College Preparatory School: http://www.chaminade.org/inspire/learnstl.htm
  10. Rockwood (Missouri) School District: http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/curriculum/staffdev/diff/
  11. Teacher Talk Forum: http://www.education.indiana.edu/cas/tt/ttarticles.html
  12. Pathways for School Improvement web site: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/te0cont.htm
  13. SchoolGrants for instructional purposes: schoolgrants.org
  14. ResearchChannel: researchchannel.org
  15. Little Planet Literacy Project: http://www.sunburst.com/littleplanet/
  16. The Jason Project: http://www.jasonproject.com
  17. READ180: teacher.scholastic.com/read180/
  18. SimCalc: http://www.simcalc.umassd.edu
  19. ThinkerTools: thinkertools.berkeley.edu:7019
  20. Thinkquest: http://www.thinkquest.org
  21. 700 Great Sites: http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/amazing.html – for preschool to age 14
  22. Bigchalk: http://www.bigchalk.com
  23. Houghton Mifflin’s Eduplace: http://www.eduplace.com
  24. The Jigsaw Classroom: http://www.jigsaw.org
  25. Ted Panitz’s Homepage: http://home.capecode.net/~panitz/
  26. George Jacobs Website: http://www.georgejacobs.net
  27. Richard Felder’s Homepage: http://ncsu.edu/felder-public/
  28. http://www.mhhe.com/springae12e – American Education (12th edition, Joel Spring, Queens College) textbook student resources McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Agriculture

  • Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (SM) – agintheclassroom.org – for teachers can actually send a guest speaker/schedule a classroom visit, provide teaching materials to teach children about the state’s largest industry, agriculture, many of the lesson plans they offer teacher agriculture and another subject such as agriculture and math. Offer for $4.00 (as of 2007) a “Agriculture is Everday” overview of agriculture that highlights urban topics such as hydroponics, greenhouses, transportation and Farmers’ Markets. Shows students how agriculture is around them every day from food to clothing to research and development to manufacturing.
  • Illinois Farm Bureau (R) – ilfb.org – have a “Chosen Fields” (as of 2007) media package that features careers in agriculture such as engineering, animal behavior and nutrition and landscape design, ages 10 to 16, includes lesson plans
  • Illinois Farm Bureau & Affiliated Companies Youth Education Program – youthed.org
  • IAA Foundation – iaafoundation.org – funds Agriculture in the Classroom, scholarships, research and charitable activities to benefit Illinois agriculture
  • The Farming Game – The Weekend Farmer 800-222-GAME farmgame.com $31.95
  • Great American Soybean Promotion Kit
  • Wool Fiber in the Making Chart – pendleton-usa.com under ‘Order Educational Materials’ may be free for teachers as of 2007
  • Wet & Set Magic Noodles & CornStruction Paper – Kid Tech Tools, Inc 877-938-6738 magicnuudle.com For bulk cornstarch noodles try uline.com
  • Zipper-seal Plastic Bags – consider veripack.com
  • Crystal Soil to make Beanie Babies – gardening center: look for “soil moist” or “watering crystals” Flinn Scientific 800-452-1261 catalog numbers FB0381-FB0384
  • Wool Spinning Kit – wool for 200-250 bracelets, 30 hooks and instructions order from Utah AITC http://extension.usu.edu/aitc $10 each
  • National Agricultural Library: http://www.nalusda.gov/fnic/

Reading

  • Starfall.com – have some great free downloads for teaching reading in the lower elementary grades
  • post-it.com/kids – word builder note cards, education products for kids

Museums and Periodicals and Foundations

Teacher Education

Current Events

Middle Grades

Strategies

Testing

  • Central New York Regional Information Center: http://www.nysed.gov has articles on authentic assessment
  • Buros Institute of Mental Measurements: http://www.unl.edu/buros info commercially published tests and approaches used for developing standards and assessments
  • Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), project of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSO), http://www.ccsso.org – standards for beginning teacher licensing and development
  • Online Evaluation Resource Library: oerl.sri.com/instruments
  • Illinois Certification Testing System, Basic Skills Test Study Guide (C) 2004 Illinois State Board of Education, National Evaluation Systems, Inc.
  • ITPS
  • cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/ – age appropriate standards California
  • firn.edu/doe/curric/prek12.frame2.htm – Florida age appropriate standards
  • No Child Left Behind (P L 107-110) signed into law January 2002, http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf

Lesson Plans

Music and Theater

  • Illinois State University Extending University Youth Guide Camps, Activities and Services (music, sports, reading etc.): IllinoisState.edu/home/outreach/
  • Bands of America Music Camps: bands.org
  • Chicago Waldorf School: chicagowaldorf.org

Classroom Management

Math

Science

Foreign Language/Spanish

Exceptional Learners (covers a spectrum ranging from physical disabilities to autism to gifted children)

Supplies and Workbooks and Technology

  • Learning Horizons http://www.learninghorizons.com
  • Leap Frog Learning Game System Leap Pad Leapster
  • School Zone http://www.schoolzone.com – also have games and vidoes and more
  • Math Manipulatives for Teachers on a projector
  • Barron’s Educational Series, Inc study aids, The Easy Way Series, http://www.barronseduc.com
  • Encarta: encarta.msn.com
  • Grolier’s: auth.grolier.com/cgi-bin/authV2
  • barebooks.com – for mainly teaching reading, has blank boardgames that can be used for any subject
  • Sunburst Software: http://www.sunburst.com/
  • The George Lucas Educational Foundation – glef.org – focus on use of technology
  • Project Integration and Visualization Tool (PIViT) umich.edu~pbsgroup/psnet/
  • Inspiration Software: inspiration.com
  • Levels of Technology Implementation Scale (LoTI): http://www.lotilounge.com/lotidemo/
  • The Alliance for Technology Access: http://www.ataccess.org/default.html
  • Teacher Prep STaR Chart: http://www.ceoforum.org – assessment tool in use of technology
  • Filamentality (online activity templates): filamentality.com
  • Online activity formats examples: http://ozline.com/learning/theory.html
  • District level technology planning sites: iste.org (International Society for Technology) Milken Family Foundation (www.mff.org/edtech)  CEO Forum (ceoforum.org)
  • Center for Applied Special Technology http://cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876
  • Multipurpose Transparency Film: 3M.com allows you to print from a computer for overhead projector transparency films
  • Carson-Dellosa supplies and materials: carsondellosa.com
  • openoffice.org – great for students that cannot afford Microsoft Office
  • fppt.com – free power point templates
  • DollarTree.com – do have teaching supplies, free downloadable craft and project sheets, and may offer more than what is in the store online, also have email subscription with exclusive offers and a Facebook and Twitter account, site also has reviews
  • PartyCity.com – birthday items, small party favor toys such as colorful pencils that can be given as rewards to children
  • CriticalThinking.com – workbooks, flashcards, software in reading, writing, math, science, history and test prep
  • YoungExplorers.com – really a site for buying children’s toys and not a teaching website, like their school play set as it has stickers, report cards, hall pass, hand bell, dry erase board, pointer, and more (looks like a map with US capitals, a calendar, crayons etc.)
  • Plato: http://www.plato.com
  • Riverdeep: http://www.riverdeep.net
  • Tom Snyder Productions: http://www.tomsnyder.com

Physical Education

General and Miscellaneous

Quick Draw Teaching Strategy

Description

Quick Draw is a game taken off of charades and drawing and functions as a mini-lesson. It can be played in small groups or as an entire class. If played as an entire class you can divide the class into two groups. A box or hat with the vocabulary words or class concepts would be placed near the front and center of the chalkboard. The teacher would act as the referee and keep score for the entire class version. A member of one group would pull a word out of the box and the teacher would then check and discard it. The group member would attempt to draw and or act out the word or concept without saying teamwork, students, quick draw teaching strategythe word. The group would be timed and given a point if guessed correctly.   It would then be the next group’s turn. The students could move around and discuss what they think the correct answer is. You may want to put their desks in a long rectangle or groups of four prior to starting the game. You can place the words on the board and even place the word or phrase back in the box if the group gets it wrong. Ideally, like charades it could be guessed without the group member talking. You may want to write some ground rules on the board such as no hangman, and no writing more than three sentences as a hint (e.g. they could write begins with a ‘H’ and no run on sentences).  It might also work to write a list of the concepts/words in the box/hat on the chalkboard to help the students guess. You don’t want this to be too easy or too difficult. If playing with several small groups you would probably use the same vocabulary words in each box and place them with each small group. For the small groups you would pick a team leader and the teacher would check in on the groups.

Quick Write sometimes refers to a teaching method in which students write about several research topics of interest for five minutes and then decide on what topic to choose. Quick Draw is also used to refer to a method in which students draw in response to a prompt and then discuss their answers. This version incorporates the kinesthetic (physical movement) learning style for students that remember better with this style and or is good for a school with limited to no recess and or for students that could use a break in which they walk and move around a little. Also, it just helps reinforce material in a different learning style thus benefiting all students by making the material more memorable and understandable. This is appropriate for middle school. As with anything this can be modified and changed and improvised to fit the needs of the particular class and or concepts being taught.

Purposes

  • Incorporate movement with a variety of subjects
  • Provide opportunity to reinforce and understand vocabulary and or concepts betterquick draw teaching strategy post
  • Incorporate visual and kinesthetic (physical movement/exercise) and auditory learning
  • Work within a team in a semi-competitive environment
  • Focus despite a somewhat distracting environment (e.g. several small groups playing the game at the same time)

Directions

  1. Make sure directions are on the board if desired, and vocab words or concepts are in boxes. As an anticipatory hook or attention getter tell the class that we are going to play a game called Quick Draw. Ask, “Have you ever played charades? Do you like to draw?”
  2. Divide class into groups. Explain the rules of the game to the class.
  3. Play for up to twenty minutes or until one group has won.
  4. As an assessment students will participate in a whole class discussion on what they learned. This will help the teacher see the effectiveness of the mini-lesson and modify future lessons based on their responses.

Word Document of Post: Quick Draw Teaching Strategy 8-16-13

Magic Squares Reading Teacher Strategy

Below is a pasted word document I typed on the magic squares strategy that can be used by reading teachers. The Word document can be downloaded at the end of the post. This is from a course I took on teaching reading and part of a strategy collection notebook that education collage reading math writingthe class compiled together. I hope to post more strategies and update this with a ‘magic squares reading teacher strategy continued’ post. Obviously, this can be applied to other subjects like foreign language and even solely mathematics. As I was an elementary education major this might have to be made a little more difficult for high school students. Although it is appropriate for a warm up activity as students are arriving for class and can be found in the textbook Reading and Learning Strategies: Middle Grades Through High School (Second Edition) by Susan Davis Lenski, Mary Ann Wham, and Jerry L. Johns. Also, on the topic of vocabulary it may be worth your while to search ‘word games’ and or ‘word power games’ online just for fun and or practice. I found some interesting sites such as youplay.com that has the game Word Power. Looking at youplay.com it might be possible to take a Sodoku or some other puzzle and retype it to add hints that incorporate vocabulary terms and and or concepts the class is learning. The Word document is ready for use in a classroom as a worksheet, just may have to change some of the terms and definitions.

Magic Squares

Description

Magic squares are math puzzles that are solved by matching a term with the proper definition. The solution of the puzzles is that in the end each row, horizontally and vertically and diagonally, adds up to the ‘magic number’. The squares aid in teaching students the proper definitions for terms. These puzzles can be used for practicing and or reviewing terms from a reading chapter. Magic squares combine English and mathematics lessons, and make learning fun.

Purposes

  • Help students learn definitions of words
  • Provide students an independent way of reviewing materialteaching education students reading geography
  • Helps students practice math skills
  • Helps students cognitively understand the literary material
  • Provides an opportunity for whole class to become involved

Directions

  1. Hand out worksheet to students. Explain that the solution to the puzzle is the magic number. The horizontal and vertical sides will add up to the magic number.
  2. Allow each student to work on the puzzle for five to ten minutes.
  3. Students will now compare answers with small groups of peers and reach a consensus.
  4. Instructor will post the answers of the puzzle.

 

Name: __________________________________ Date: _______________

 

Magic Square 1

Directions: Solve the magic square puzzle below by matching correct term with the correct definition and writing the number in the corresponding square. Each diagonal, vertical, and horizontal row adds up to the magic number for the magic square puzzle solution. Also, note it is possible to solve for the magic number, but still have terms and definitions matched incorrectly.

Definitions

  1. Clever or practical
  2. One who buys and sells things for profit
  3. Foolish or silly
  4. Someone who lends money
  5. Excited or joyful
  6. Light two-wheeled covered carriage
  7. Gold coin of Great Britain
  8. Partner or associate
  9. Association of persons or groups united by common interests

 
A B C
D E F
G H I

 

chalkboard, education, writing, reading
Content Terms

  1. Classified
  2. Tradesman
  3. League
  4. Pawnbroker
  5. Sovereign
  6. Elated
  7. Dolt
  8. Hansom
  9. Shrewd
  10. Accomplice

 

Magic Square 1 Solution

A. 9  B. 2  C. 7
D. 4  E. 6  F. 8
G. 5  H. 10  I. 3

Magic Number: 18

 

 

 

 

Word Document of Post: Magic Square Reading Teacher Strategy

Spanish Past Tense

For those of us starting to learn Spanish it is safe to say many of us will first begin to become comfortable with the present tense and then look to learn the past tense. Beginner Spanish can be selfish and for the future you can say voy a (I am going to) or tu vas (you informal are going to) plus a verb such as tratar which means ‘to try’ in English. Hence, there is the desire to learn the past tense after the present tense. For whatever reason when I look up the basic past tense in Spanish it is called the preterit or el pretérito instead of the past tense. This is probably because like English there are various ways to speak in the past tense such as ‘I went’ or ‘I was leaving’ or ‘I used to leave.’ Nevertheless, below is the basic Spanish past tense.

  – ar (hablar) – er (comer) – ir (escribir)
Yo hablé comí escribí
Tú hablaste comiste escribiste
El/Ella/Usted habló comió escribió
Nosotros hablamos comimos escribimos
Vosotros hablasteis comisteis escribisteis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes hablaron comieron escribieron

 

Hablar means to speak and comer means to eat and escribir means to write.  It is generally agreed the above would be translated as ‘I spoke’ or ‘I ate’ or ‘I wrote.’  For those of us that do not know:

  • Yo means I
  • Tú is you informal, or more friendly and familiar such as when you know the person somewhat or very well
  • El is he and ella is she and usted is you formal
  • Nosotros is we
  • Vosotros is used only in Spain and I am not very familiar with it. I know it is used rarely and only when you are speaking to a group of people the same age. It is also difficult for me to pronounce the ending for vosotros verbs. Many people admire Spanish from Spain as very proper and pure Spanish
  • Ellos refers to they when the group is all male, and ellas is when the group of two or more people is all female, and ustedes is formal and when the group is both male and female

As you can see above the endings for the past tense change depending on whether the verb ends in – ar, – er, or – ir. There are alsostudents irregular preterit or past tense verbs such as:

  • andar (anduve, anduviste, anduvo, anduvimos, anduvisteis, anduvieron)
  • ir (fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron)
  • ser (fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron)
  • traer (traje, trajiste, trajo, trajimos, trajisteis, trajeron)
  • leer (leí, leíste, leyó, leímos, leísteis, leyeos, leyeron)

The Quick Study Academic Spanish Grammar Guide (quickstudy.com, the website includes free downloads) helped me figure out this information and has more tenses and a brief explanation of each. It is a nice and helpful guide and sure to help at least beginners in Spanish class. When I went to spanishdict.com’s learn section it showed how the -er and -ir verbs have the same endings. Another way to look at this would be:

– ar – er and – ir
Yo – é – í
Tú – aste – iste
El/Ella/Usted – ó – ió  
Nosotros – amos – imos
Vosotros – asteis – isteis  
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes – aron – ieron

 

Below are some sites to help learn Spanish:

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/Spanish/Caminos3/Cam3Uni9/6.htm – this is a lesson specifically on the past tense irregular verbs

http://pinterest.com/sewisabel/trying-to-learn-spanish/ – this board has sites to help learn Spanish that I have collected, including a few places to take lessons

http://pinterest.com/SchoolSpain/spanish-for-families/ – currently has over 400 pins

www.commspanish.com/blog – like the author’s book, Top 1000 Spanish Words

Word document of post: Spanish past tense preterit chart

Library Links

These sites are from a library technology class I took at a local community college. I did not know some of these sites existed, and they can help with researching topics. The class was nice, but I decided library technology is not a major for me. The jobs you can get in the field are limited, and the classes were very similar to computer classes. It seems better to study computers. If you want a job after your studies you should study something in the medical field like radiography or basic nursing assistant (BNA, sometimes referred to as a CNA or certified nursing assistant). They used to train you on the job to be a BNA, now you have to complete and pay for the training before you apply but the odds are good at finding a job. It is required to be a certified BNA if you want to be a unit secretary at a hospital.  From the library technology course I discovered much of the information you are looking for is probably already published out there. It is a matter of finding the information, which is a skill, and library assistants and librarians have training in classifying and organizing and locating information. When you go to the library they know things I would not think of that are helpful in finding good information. Here are some library links:

  1. COLT (Council on Library/Media Technicians, Inc.) – founded 1967 and an affliate of the American Library Association (ALA) and covers technical education and even gaining respect for library technical assistants, also has a job line section http://colt.ucr.edu/
  2. American Library Association (ALA) – might actually be the oldest library association in the world, in the United States a librarian is more a profession and requires schooling whereas other countries one of which is Japan there is no degree or training in the field, site also has an employment guide and American Libraries section http://ala.org/
  3. Internet Public Library – a good place to research topics ipl.org
  4. LibrarySpot – collection of reference and research materials, has links to dictionaries, thesauri, phrase-finders, and related resources, has/had a Librarian’s Shelf section http://www.libraryspot.com
  5. SirsiDynix – did not know this existed looks like a company or resource to help libraries deliver ebooks and audiobooks to patrons http://www.sirsidynix.com/
  6. Library of Congress – states is mission is to support the Congress and promote knowledge for the benefit of the American people, has scanned copies of American historical documents and much more such as history links on things such as cuneiform tablet pictures from the BC days with info and supplementary materials loc.gov
  7. Illinois State Library – has digital archives and looks like a nice place to visit in Springfield, Illinois can find more info at cyberdriveillinois.com
  8. New York Public Library (NYPL) Digital Collections –  over 275,000 digital images including historical maps, vintage posters, illustrated books and more http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm
  9. C.Berger – library consulting and staffing firm, provides answers to issues libraries and information centers face cberger.com
  10. Library Job Postings on the Internet –  looks interesting libraryjobpostings.org
  11. O*Net Occupational Information Network – can search and research info on various occupations http://online.onetcenter.org/find/
  12. Bureau of Labor Statistics – a premier source for career information, part of the United States Department of Labor and has an occupational outlook handbook http://www.bls.gov/oco/
  13. Beyond the Job – has professional development opportunities for librarians, articles, job-hunting advice and more. http://www.beyondthejob.org/
  14. Library Mosaics – magazine for support staff, can obtain through community college’s library remotely or in-person, to check out books at a local community college library, must be a student or maybe just have an ID card, might be open to alumni http://www.librarymosaics.com/
  15. Library Journal – respected library publication that includes reviews, technology and policy reports http://www.libraryjournal.com/
  16. ACRL’s Blog – Association of College and Research Libraries blogging for and by academic and research librarians http://acrlog.org/
  17. Library Stuff– weblog for professional development and keeping current librarystuff.net
  18. College of DuPage Weblog – looks like a great resource with good information http://www.cod.edu/library/research/searchTools/
  19. “Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control” – a good read for everyone, honestly have not read this pdf yet unfortunately http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/WillFairUseSurvive.pdf 
  20. Educators’ Spotlight Digest – online publication for information literacy, has some good posts, looks like a simple site, maybe the following site is the wrong site but again it has topics that touch on information literacy sosspotlight.com
  21. Library Support Staff Interest Round Table – the research guide section looks helpful lib.colostate.edu

Please forgive me if any of the links are wrong as things change and I will work to correct the mistake. You can contact me anytime about the issues or with any other suggestions or comments. Possibly the site no longer exists and or it is a new address or you can find information with a Google search on the name of the site.

Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Latin Present System and Verb To Be

Here are some Latin grammar present verb system endings and the verb to be. At the end I included some notes on the parts of a Roman house from my high school Latin class notebook. Just trying to post every week, and I am little late in posting this week as I try to post Monday night currently. Hopefully, it intrigues people to look into this part of history a little. It is very interesting, and can be worthwhile to read.

 

Present System (I love, I am loving, I do love)                            Verb To Be                                            Amar (to love)

o (I)                                 mus (We)                                                              sum              sumus                             amo     (I love)                 amamus (We love)

s (You)                           tis (You plural)                                                  es                  estis                                 amas   (You love)           amatis (You pl love)

t (He, She, It)              nt (They)                                                               est                sunt                                 amat    (She loves)          amant (They love)

 

Imperfect (I was loving, I used to love)                                         Verb To Be

bam                     bamus                                                                              eram             eramus

bas                       batis                                                                                 eras                eratis

bat                       bant                                                                                  erat                erant

 

Future (I will love, I shall love)                                                        Verb To Be

bo                      bimus                                                                                ero                 erimus

bis                     bitus                                                                                  eris                 eritis

bit                     bunt                                                                                   erit                 erunt

 

Perfect (I loved, I have love, I did love)                                      Verb To Be

i                        imus                                                                                    fui                   fuimus

isti                   istis                                                                                     fuisti              fuistis

it                      erunt                                                                                  fuit                  fuerunt

 

Pluperfect (I had loved)                                                                     Verb To Be

eram              eramus                                                                              fueram           fueramus

eras                eratis                                                                                  fueras             fueratis

erat                erant                                                                                   fuerat             fuerant

 

Future Perfect (I will have loved)                                                Verb To Be

ero                 erimus                                                                               fuero              fuerimus

eris                eritis                                                                                   fueris             fueritis

erit                erint                                                                                    fuerit             fuerint

 

Present Passive (They are being)

r (I, first person singular)                                                 mur (We, first person plural)

ris (You, second person singular)                                 mini (You plural, second person plural)

tur (He, She, It, third person singular)                       ntur (They, third person plural)

 

Four conjugations, infinitives

First conjugation        – āre – amo, amare (to love)

Second                            – ēre – habeo, habēre (to have)

Third                               – ere – rego, regere (to rule) facio, facere (to make)

Fourth                            – īre – venio, venire (to come)

 

 Three Classes in Roman Society

Patricians – upper class- lawyers, senators, merchants, etc.

Equistrians – middle class

Plebians – lower class, commoners, slaves

 

Roman Saying – Panem et circensesroman coliseum

translates as bread and circuses and basically meant that if you feed people well and provide entertainment it generally keeps them happy and makes them friends, hence the gladiator games provided bread and entertainment for all of the people throughout various locations in the Roman empire

 

Parts of a Roman House

ianua – door

tabernae – store/shops

cubicula – bedroom

atrium – dome, entrance

impluvium – pool, located in atrium probably had not ceiling above it

compluvium – area around pool located in atrium

tablinum – office/study

paristylim – courtyard

culina – kitchen

triclinium – eating area with three couches where servants fed them

hortus – garden

probably had some benches and waiting areas also, there were also bedrooms for slaves

 

Ancient Roman society was made up of about 70% slaves, and the gladiator games did involve killing people. Nowadays, most people would probably not approve and or at least see that as normal.

Latin Declension Endings

This is from a Latin course I took in high school. It really is not something that you would probably expect on this site, but is interesting and relates very basic map of Italia clipartmarginally to the elementary education section that is here. Hopefully, it intrigues some to look into Latin as the history is interesting and can relate to modern times. Reading the stories of many of the Roman emperors would probably interest many and is worth the read.

Latin has five cases:

  1. Nominative – Subject
  2. Genitive – Possession (‘s or of)
  3. Dative – Indirect Object
  4. Accusative – Direct Object
  5. Ablative – Object of Preposition

Present System

(I love, I am loving, I do love)

-0                  -mus                       amo (I love)                                                 amamus (We love)

-s                   -tis                           amas (You love)                                         amatis (You plural love)

-t                  -nt                            amat (He, She, It loves)                           amant (They love)

You can see in English it is ‘I love,’ in Latin, you take amar and drop the -ar and add an ‘-o’. It gets kind of complicated with different tenses, but in your native language you probably change tenses without even realizing it and don’t see it as complicated. It takes a while to get used to, but is possible and can become easy. The declension endings correlate to words that end in -a, -ē, -e, and -ī. The macrons are important. When the verb ends in -āre, -ēre, -ere, and -īre they are infinitives and are translated as to plus a verb (e.g. iuvāre means to help). Forgive me if this wrong as this high school Latin course was many years ago. Greek AlphaThis is more a taste of Latin, which is similar to modern romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian and 60% of English words have roots/meanings from Latin. I am certain the present tense and five cases and declension endings here are correct. English uses the Roman or Latin alphabet. Latin lives on in history and similarities and ties to modern languages. It is barely spoken, probably only the Vatican in Rome is the only place where it is spoken and maybe some small groups of Latin scholars. However, it lives on through similar languages such as Italian and has a remarkable history and civilization that has lived on and influenced modern times. Just an interesting side note is that the Romans stole the alphabet from the Greeks. For some time most the empire spoke Greek, but the ruling class spoke Latin. If you look at the Greek alphabet the first letter, alpha, is like a triangle and is similar to the Roman ‘a’ which is also like a triangle. Hebrew, also from the Mediterranean region, has an aleph for the first letter of the alphabet is more like a triangle than the other letters. However, the vowels for Hebrew are different and the aleph does not sound exactly like an ‘a.’ Below are the five Latin declension endings.

Nouns

First Declension                                    Second Declension                                               Third Declension

a                      ae                                      us/er/um                       ī/a                                   -/-                        ēs/a                                                Nominative

ae                    ārum                                ī                                        orum                              is                          um                                                 Genitive

ae                    īs                                        ō                                       īs                                       ī                           ibus                                               Dative

am                  ās                                      um/um                           ō/a                                   em/-                    ēs/a                                              Accusative

ā                       īs                                      ō                                        īs                                       e                           ibus                                              Ablative

Fourth Declension                               Fifth Declension

us/u               ūs/ua                               ēs                                      ēs

ūs                    uum                                 ēī                                      ērum

uī                    ibus                                   ēī                                      ēbus

um/u             ūs/ua                               em                                    ēs

u                      ibus                                  ē                                        ēbusOld Roman Coliseum Clipart

This is coming back to me. When you read a Latin historical document the declension endings help clarify what case the noun is and there is something whether the word ends in -ar, -er, and -ir. First declension is only used with words that end in -ar. There are irregular verbs and probably nouns too. Later this week I plan to update and revise this and add some verb endings for the future, imperfect, and present. I had to find something to post as I am trying to write every week. This may not be the best, but is interesting and I have some plans and ideas for posts that are hopefully better or at least more relevant.

12 Major Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses

This is completely unrelated and off topic, but interesting nevertheless. Sometimes I see mention of some of the old Greek and Roman gods and goddesses statue of Dionysus in Romeand have completely forgotten their names and a great deal about their story. This is from a beginning Latin I high school class.

12 Major Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses

  • all live in Mount Olympus, close to the heavens, originally Greek
  • below Greek names are listed with Roman names in parenthesis
  • Romans stole the mythology from the Greeks

1. Zeus (Jupiter)

  •  Zeus and Hera were/are husband and wife and brother and sister, the stories can be entertaining/interesting

2. Hera (Juno)

  • queen of the goddesses, often got mad at Zeus for cheating and or flirting with other goddesses and mortals and half-mortals

3. Aphrodite (Venus)

  • goddess of love, Venus is the only planet you can see with the naked eye, Mars and Venus are aligned and in mythology had an affair

4. Athena (Minerva)

  • goddess of war, born from Zeus’ head and reportedly has no mother, more focused on the strategy of war

5. Ares (Mars)

  • god of war, focused on the gore and blood of fighting in war, the planet Mars is red like blood

6. Apollo (Apollo)

  • music, sun, prophecy, twin to Artemis

7. Hephastus (Vulcan)

  • god of fire, in the mythology Vulcan lives in a volcano and made weaponsstatue of Elephant of Minerva

8. Hermes (Mercury)

  • god of messengers, quick, swift, Mercury is the fastest planet

9. Demeter (Ceres)

  • goddess of grain, harvest, rain, responsible for the seasons as explained by the story where she was kidnapped by Zeus and was eating pomegranate seeds and how she missed her mom that was also a goddess or something like that, would have to look this up, can’t remember the story =(

10. Poseidon (Neptune)

  • God of the sea, Neptune is a blue planet

11. Hestia (Vesta)

  • goddess of the hearth, fire, home, cooking

12. Artemis (Diana)

  • goddess of the hunt, associated with the moon

There are more Greek and Roman gods and goddesses such as Eris, the goddess of discord, which I am pretty sure got Zeus in a troubling situation in which he had to answer which goddess was the most beautiful. It is the golden apple story in which the apple said to the fairest and Athena and Aphrodite were fighting over it. There is Romulus and Remus (twin brothers) and the legend in which Romulus founded Rome as a monarchy surviving with a wild wolf for a mother.

This information comes from a Latin I course I took in high school. I have in my high school notebook:

  • 753 BC to 509 BC Rome was a monarchy beginning with King Romulus
  • 509 BC to 27 AD was a republic and
  • 27   BC or BCE (before common era – to be more politically correct) to 476 AD or ACE (after common era) Rome was an empire

There are lots of great stories, some myth, some legend, and some true such as the crossing of the Rubicon, which signified there was no turning back. So when someone uses that expression that is what it means. I cannot remember it well, but when you read the accounts they are almost always intriguing. There were quite a few Caesars and below is a famous quote by either the first Caesar or one of his successors:Coliseum clip art

  •  “Veni, vidi, vici” – Julius Caesar (“I came, I saw, I conquered.”)

I put that under the quotes section of this site under the website heading. The history and story behind the quote will probably intrigue most. Honestly, I don’t remember it accurately or have forgotten like 90% of it. Something probably with militarily taking over an area and expanding the empire. Rome had pretty much all of the known ancient world.  A lot of this happened like 2,000 years ago, but I am pretty impressed with the ancients. When I see the pictures of things that have been uncovered or statues that remain, they are very beautiful and rival the best artists even today. However, it is probably better to live now the the advanced medicine and technology we have. There was a lot of luxury, art, and even advanced academics back then though.