Hello Blackberry Families,

 

We’ve had an exciting and fun, full week of school! It was also an extremely warm week. With that being said, we just wanted to share that we are reminding students to drink water, remove layers of clothing from the morning, and we’ve even had to move outside snack and lunch time from outside to inside the classroom.

 

In literacy, students are building on their phonics skills, using blends. Students were writing new words using the sw___, the sp____, the str___, sm sounds. We also wrote words using the endings: -ell, -ull, -all. We also practiced writing some words that have letters that create similar sounds. We were given words like key, kit, kid, car, cat and when we use the letter K or when we use the letter C.

 

In math class, we played a few games that were fun and educational! One example of these games was when students were paired into groups of 2, had to draw 2 cards from a deck of playing cards, then needed to add up the total number (using the rekenrek) while filling out a data recording sheet. 

Students also played a game on how to write fractions on a board, asking what is a whole and what is part of that 

(Ex: 5 students wearing shorts out of 9 students wearing pants: 5/9).

 

In science class, students began to learn about earthquakes! Students learned about the “Ring of fire”, the different ways tectonic plates move, and how many earthquakes occur a year. 

 

We would like to first share the fun times we had during PUMPKINPALOOZA! This was a time when we had various pumpkin activities in the classroom. Students were put into groups and rotated from one activity to another. We did pumpkin painting, monster coloring/drawing, a math dice activity for decorating a pumpkin drawing, and even using the geoboards to create Halloween themed shapes! Students had a blast! 

 

During Pumpkinpalooza, we did receive an earthquake alert. We immediately stopped what we were doing and took cover underneath our desks. While we did this, the teachers calmly explained what we were doing, why we were taking cover, etc. Students were very understanding, very calm, and did a great job during it all. After, we quickly had a talk on the meeting rug and we explained again what just happened. Most importantly, we explained how happy and proud we were of the students for being so responsible and brave. Luckily, we have begun speaking about earthquakes during science so it has made our conversations more valued and understood.

 

As a community, we have begun to learn about Días de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead! 

We have done many lessons and activities about Días de Los Muertos in Cultural Studies, Spanish class, and Art class. 

 

For cultural studies, Mark led a lesson on what is Días de Los Muertos, where and how it is celebrated. We explained how it is not a scary or time to be afraid, rather a time to remember our loved ones that have passed. We went over what altares and ofrendas are, and what are some things we see on them. We usually see photos of our family members, as well as some of their favorite things. Mark then created a mini altar, by bringing photos of his family members he wanted to remember, some things they liked. He also showed some Mesoamerican flutes and imagery to pay respects to the ancestors before us. We ended by showing the students some videos from the Días de Los Muertos parade in Mexico City MX in 2022!

 

Students were given a packet to be put in their backpacks Wednesday. This packet had a little overview of what Días de Los Muertos is and some questions about a family member they would like to honor in our school altar/ofrenda. Students are welcome to bring a photo, something that represents their favorite food, drink, activity, etc. If you need a digital version of the packet please let Mark know at (mromero@theberkeleyschool.org).

 

In art class we learned what Calacas are! Students used a skeleton figurine to create some drawings of skeletons in the action of doing something or wearing something in daily life. Then students created a wire armature that they will work on next week to put together a 3D Calaca.

 

In Spanish class, students learned about Monarch butterflies and how they represent the souls of ancestors. Students were able to see the cocoons we have growing in the front of the school’s garden! A giant school altar will be built and will be held in the Spanish Language classroom. 

 

The Halloween parade and party are coming up and we can’t wait to gather as a community. The parade will take place from 8:45 am-9:15 am and the party will immediately follow until 10:45 am on Tuesday, October 31. As a reminder here are our costume guidelines that we will be very firm on:

 

• No masks that hide the entire face
• Nothing scary
• No blood
• No scary face paint
• No weapons

 

On Friday we got to experience the 8th grade egg drop. They had been working diligently all week and we even got to witness a few practice runs. We were able to cheer them on as they were seeing if their inventions protected the eggs or broke them. The kids had so much fun counting down and witnessing the event!!

 

Questions to ask your child:

• What is Día de Los Muertos?
• When is it celebrated?
• How do you spell: swell, swim, smell?
• What are the three ways tectonic plates move? Ask them to show you with their hands.
• What is the rule for if a word starts with a c or a k? [K before i and e, c before the other 3 (a,o,u)]

 

Lastly, we understand that there is so much going on in the world. We take the privilege of caring and teaching children very seriously. We teach kindness and caring about our community daily. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that we understand the feeling of wanting to speak about what is occurring in Gaza. Our, your, children aren’t going to solve these issues, they could worry. They could get really sad, but it is not on them to figure it out. The best we can do is love them unapologetically and teach them to care about everyone, not just those in their immediate community. 

 

“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality”-James Baldwin

 

Gracias y Saludos,

Leslie and Mark