Welcome back!

Welcome back everyone! We hope that you all had enjoyable breaks, be with your feet up at home with a good book, or on the road and in the air, exploring what this amazing world has to offer and spending quality time with loved ones! We are hitting the ground running in our last stretch before the end of the year. Can you believe there are only eight weeks left before we say ¡adios! for the summer! Here is a brief peek at what we have to look forward to this week!

As we move westward towards Oregon with our wagon trains, we are learning about the substantial cost to Native American life and culture generated by westward migration by White Americans and the patterns of systematic oppression towards Indigenous peoples in the forms of assimilation, coercive treaties, and forced relocation. The class evaluated whether or not a controversial panel of a 13 piece mural hung in the main hallway of George Washington High School in San Francisco should be censored or preserved and used as an educational opportunity. Students shared their reflections of the piece, how they would feel to see that hung in their school, weighed the pros and cons of censoring controversial artwork, and made suggestions for what to do with the painting. Thoughts from the students writing will be incorporated into a letter I will be writing to SF’s Board of Education as they will be deciding soon what will be done with the art.  What did your child think of it?

Rad women, A-Z! We are rolling out our end-of-year research project on Rad American women. Taken from the book Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!, each student will be studying a Rad woman, learning about her life, struggles, and accomplishments, positing how the world would be different for women without their work, and reflecting on how that woman inspires them. But rad women aren’t only in books and history, we know a bunch! Part of the project will be selecting a rad woman that the student knows, conducting an interview and answering the same questions as above. Students received their choices this week, read short biographies about them, and will be starting with an acrostic poem. We practiced slowing down and using our five senses to observe a lemon, and then wrote acrostic poems about the lemons to practice. If you’ve never thought about what sound a lemon makes, ask your child what they heard!

Homework

Math

  • 4th: worksheet due Wednesday
  • 5th: packet due Friday, each page marked with day or night to be completed

Reading

  • 20 minutes, nightly

Writing

  • Due Tuesday: 2 paragraphs (4-6 sentences each) about the George Washington Westward Movement painting (see below)
    • Paragraph 1: What did you think of the painting? How would it make you feel if it was at your school?
    • Paragraph 2: What suggestions do you have to this ‘problem’. Should it be painted over or covered? Add a new mural explaining it? Would you use it to teach others? What other suggestions do you have?
  • Due Thursday: Acrostic poem using your name.

Ex: S erious book collector

      A lways on the lookout for the next good restaurant

      M athematics enthusiast

Word Study

  • WordlyWise
  • Study your spelling words! Do a practice quiz on Thursday night.
    • Sight words:
      • 4th: couple, young, touched, length, strength
      • 5th: library, disease, cereal, terrible, necessary

Cultural Studies

  • Oregon Trail Journal Entry: Every family chose the Fort Bridger Route, so you have a 10 day long journey to imagine and write about. What did you see on the way-wild animals? Indians? Once you got to Fort Bridger, what supplies did you stock up on, and what was missing from your wagon? Check the scenario below for details you may want to add, including what each family decided to purchase (scroll all the way down for each family’s purchases).

Parting of the Ways (Sublette Cutoff)

(9miles northeast of Farson, Wyoming)

Mile 932

July 8

You’ve had a lot of decisions to make along this arduous route, but up until now, you never had to

decide which way to go. Well, that isn’t true anymore. The trail forks here and you must choose

between two routes. Both routes convene at the Thomas Fork Crossing. So your wagon train could

separate and meet there if you like.

Here are your two choices: 1.) THE FORT BRIDGER ROUTE This is the long route. It goes south

to Fort Bridger and will probably take at least 5 more days than the shorter route. The area it passes

through is inhabited by local Indians who are becoming more and more hostile towards oncoming

wagon trains. But there is definitely plenty of water along the way and enough grass for grazing

your animals and the possibility of buying fresh supplies at Fort Bridger. 2.) THE SUBLETTE

CUTOFF. This is the shortcut. It saves you about 46 miles (5 travel days). But it passes through the

waterless Little Colorado Desert and stretches for over 50 arid miles – which means that there is no

grass for grazing your animals. Furthermore, it is rumored that hostile Indians frequent this trail.

Fate: Ft. Bridger Route

The livestock are tired but healthy, and everyone is feeling good about

the decision you made to take the long route. It took you ten days, but

now you’ve made it to Fort Bridger. You all take this opportunity to

bathe, restock your water kegs, and boil up a big pot of antelope stew.

On the downside, one of the men on night watch thought he heard

Indians lurking around the camp in the wee hours of the morning. When

he tried to investigate, he found nothing. Every family, however,

reported an heirloom or luxury item missing.

Food and supplies available at Fort Bridger: (wow, stuff sure is

expensive this far into the trail! why?)

•10 lb. bag of flour: $2.00                     •rifle: $13.00

•5 lb. bag of cornmeal: $1.00               •lead for bullets (20 lbs.) $4.00

•1 lb. bag of dried apples: $.50            •bullet mold $2.00

•1 lb. molasses: $.50                              •100 feet of rope $4.00

•1 lb. bacon: $2.50                                 •sewing kit $3.00

•1 lb. beans: $.50                                    •boots $6.00

Callan Family: Purchased: 10 lbs flour, 6 lbs bacon, 5 lbs cornmeal; Special item stolen: potato face doll

Emerson Family: Purchased: 2lbs dried apples, 100 ft rope, 4 lbs beans, 1 sewing kit, 2 lbs molasses; Special item stolen: Justice’s pacifier

Ertel Family: Purchased: 1 lb dried apples, 2 lbs beans; Special item stolen: baby crib

McNiel Family: Purchased: 1 sewing kit, 2 lbs dried apples, 1 lb beans; Special item stolen: Granny’s sewing kit

Oliai Famili: Purchased: 1 sewing kit, 2 lbs dried apples, lead for bullets, 100 ft rope, 2 lbs dried beans; Special item stolen: Ivory Rose’s sewing kit