Hello Blackberry Families,
In science we have finished creating our habitat dioramas. We cannot wait to invite you to our community to view them and read your child’s habitat report. They have been working diligently to create a habitat that consists of many living things. For the most part every diorama has been done independently with the exception of hot gluing things in place.
Our next steps are to write a report about the habitat that consists of what the habitat’s climate is like and what animals and other living things are in their habitats. The point of our reports are to practice expository writing and for many of our Blackberrians to practice writing their first report.
As a group we have been working on symmetry. We practice finding the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines of symmetry in different shapes. We have also learned about the meaning of the word asymmetrical and how some shapes are asymmetrical.
In our second grade math group we are measuring using inch worms and rulers. We have learned how to measure things, and what the appropriate tool would be to measure various objects.
In the first grade, we have done activities for odds and even numbers, using the number racks and number cubes to show various ways to break apart and also re-construct numbers.
Writing, we have done so many new activities! Writing has consisted of collaboration activities as well as independent creative writing. We have had a chance to do an exquisite corpse writing activity, where one child began a sentence, their partner needed to add another, and so on and so on. Everyone came up with very silly sentences and we all enjoyed reading them aloud.
We have worked hard on phonics, learning new phonics rules, such as the vowel teams: ee and ea, ar or,and ore, dipthongs like: oi and oy, and the K and c rules as the K comes before I and E, the C will take the other 3 (a, o, u).
Students now have the choice of doing weekend news or following a creative prompt. Some creative prompts are: you wake up in a pirate ship, what do you do? The sun/moon gives you strength from the Partial Solar Eclipse, you now have the super power to ______. Students have really grown as writers, and independently work so hard to journal in their books.
We would like to say a big thank you to all for helping the Blackberry class visit the Oakland Zoo!!! We could not have done it without the parents volunteering for driving the students, chaperoning, and providing booster seats. Everyone had a blast and we are so happy we were able to make it happen!
Before the field trip, we had a few discussions during Cultural Studies about zoos and sanctuaries. We discussed what is a non-profit, how animals are treated in zoos vs. in the wild, and how sanctuaries operate and their missions. We read an article about Happy the Elephant from the Bronx Zoo, and all the activists that vouched for Happy’s liberty. These conversations all prepared us for our Oakland Zoo visit, as we viewed the animals and the environments they were in.
For Art Julianne executed an amazing art activity inspired by the Partial Solar Eclipse. Students made Orrey’s in the art studio. Here is the link to their amazing work (Thank you Julianne!!!): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l85TGJK1woXGaDI2a5t7c7ilWgGaXTZ0rTCGvNPcFTk/edit
Reminder:
Next week is READATHON! Here is our agenda for the week.
- Monday: make-a-book and Drop Everything And Read (DEAR), author Natasha Tripplett visits the ECC and UAC.
- Transformation: Tuesday, dress up as your favorite book character (Halloween rules apply: no masks, weapons, or gore), authors Oliver Chin, Michael Leali, and Sana Rafi visit the UAC.
- Wednesday: Read-alouds by MS for younger grades and Book Swap. Please bring in books for the Book Swap!!! Thank you!
- Thursday: Sendy Santamaria visits the ECC, and Christina Newhard and Booki Vivat visit UAC.
Friday Read-a-thon- students snuggle w/ books:
- stuffies
- Pajamas
- Pillows
