Everyone seemed rather stunned to be back at school this morning, and we took a quick moment of silent mindfulness to just draw awareness to the experience of being back together as a group. At nine, we had a presentation about Standing Rock by Craig Merrick, a Cheyenne-Sioux that often subs in extended day and in K-5 classrooms. He is going on December 8th to support the “water protectors,” and he shared his perspective on what he sees a continuation of a 500-year antagonistic relationship between the US government and Native people. It’s a complicated issue that we as teachers and adults have many questions about, and we therefore must reflect our curiosity and desire for understanding to the students. For example, students may assume the police are the “good guys,” so why are they shooting rubber bullets, cold water, and gas at the protestors? Tricky, but rich curriculum, indeed.

We also dove into colonial history today, reading a great text on the Boston Massacre, Tea Party, and the beginning of the Revolution–it’s amazing how many parallels there are between those events and current ones. The text is called, “King George, What Was His Problem?” and is a remarkably readable, lucid book on the time period. We are simultaneously reading a Scott O’Dell book on the Lewis and Clark expedition from the imagined perspective of Sacagawea and will simulate their voyage on 12/13 at the Berkeley Marina, complete with cartography activities, plant and animal taxonomy, canoeing, hiking, and encounters with unfamiliar people who don’t speak our language. More details to come, and thanks in advance to the volunteers that will help on this one. We’ll see if you can paddle!

December, here we come.

If you want students to pay attention, give them knives or have them start a fire. Julianne planned a great widdling lesson in art class today, with all the safety precautions, of course.

Thursday Homework

4th grade math: 86,87  in Spectrum workbook

5th grade math:Show Me 1/2: four pages per night this week. Centimeter rulers are a great substitute for Cuisenaire rods!

Memorize the first stanza/verse of the Star Spangled Banner, also known as the National Anthem. Ask your child about the symbolism of the flag and our primary source document work today!

Read!

Practice spelling words on Quizlet

Wordly Wise Chapter 7 this week