Cerrito had a slightly funky week this week! With Sam away getting married in Hawaii, MAP testing happening for an hour a day, and the unrelenting heat, it’s amazing we were able to get as much done as we did! (Spray bottles of water proved to be a helpful tool for many.) We also had our first Talent Friday hosted by a student, with Marian teaching their class about Rosh Hashana, and Cerrito students collaborated on a banner for our dear Sam to celebrate her nuptials. Read on to find out what we worked on in each academic subject.
Cultural Studies
This week in Cultural Studies, each regional group presented their poster to the rest of the class. Students took notes on their peers’ presentation. Later in the week, we watched a short video on the different regions, and added to our KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart. We also used the thinking route, See, Think, Wonder, as we looked at 2 maps showing the different tribal nations of California.
Reader’s Workshop
We had our first 2 book clubs for Island of the Blue Dolphins this week, with students meeting in half groups to read aloud in a round robin formation. Each group is in charge of keeping an in house dictionary of words they encounter in the book after looking them up in a children’s or standard dictionary. Students also worked on filling in their own Social Identity Wheels which require students to name specific elements of their identity, including gender, age, race, ethnicity, first language, and more. After completing their own, we filled one out as a group for Karana, the main character of our novel. Additionally, we discussed which elements of our identity we think about most, least, and which we’d like to get to know more about.
Writer’s Workshop
In Writer’s Workshop this week, Cerrito students continued to work on memoir writing. We completed our memoir rubric together, and then read memoirs written by past students and rated them on our rubrics. With our own writing, we focused on punctuation, spelling and writing closings to our story. Cerrito students who are ready also began the revision process using a checklist.
4th and 5th Grade Math
Due to MAP testing this week, both 4th and 5th graders had less time for math this week, unfortunately. In the cut-down time we did have, 5th grade students finished up their scavenger hunt for boxes to find volume and surface area, and launched into a new investigation of multiples and factors. We also did our first round of stations—which was a huge success! In 4th grade, students practiced multiplication strategies and played a game called the Multiple Wheel. On Friday we had a Cerritoberry math game day, with students of both grades playing multiplication games together.
Science
Students continued their work with solutions, solvents and solutes by exploring mass this week. We tested our hypotheses about what happens to a solvent when we make a solution—does it just go away? Using balances and gram weights, Cerrito found the mass of an undetermined scoop of salt. First they weighed out 50 mL of water and found its equivalent in grams, then adding the scoop of salt and added gram weights to find out the mass of the salt.
Additional Announcements
- Friday’s Folders are coming home for the first time! Parenting adults—please go over the work with your child and write a response on the reflection form!
- MAP testing continues next week
- Rosh Hashana is 9/29-10/1
- Conferences are coming up on Oct. 10 and 11. (No school for students.)
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