Saturday, Feb. 1, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM—Art Show gallery hours

The Depot will be open for families who would like to come by and check out the beautiful ECC through 8th grade Art Show.

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2:00-3:00 PM—Art Show clean up

Julianne would love help dismantling after the show. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2:30-5:50 PM— Fort Ross costume decorating workshop in Cerrito

If you would like help decorating or making costume items, drop by Cerrito Creek this Saturday. Jen (Tess’s mom) will set up her sewing machines again, and happily help anyone who needs to decorate (or make!) costume elements (hats, belts, vests, aprons, trim for shirts…) Last week students came by and added ribbons to costumes, as well as epaulets to jackets for the militia. This is a drop in, so feel free to come by anytime within that window. Here are some pictures from our workshop last weekend:

Monday, Feb. 3—Parent letters for Ft. Ross due

Parents—please write a letter to your child that we can share with them on our Fort Ross trip. Many of our students will have “big feelings” on this trip away from the comforts of home so they will greatly appreciate hearing from you during their “7 years” in The Russian Company. Your letters should:

  • Be addressed to your student using their character name.
  • Include historical context that will help your student remain in character.
  • Written to encourage your student to persevere through their time away from home.
Before you write it, take some time to ask your student about their character or do your own research. They have been learning about their characters history and their cultural groups experience at the fort in class and are knowledgeable.

Thursday-Friday, Feb. 6-7— Cerrito goes to Fort Ross!

Read on to learn about what we did this week:

Cultural Studies

Across all subject, life in Cerrito has been pretty Cultural Studies-focused. This week, in preparation for our trip to Fort Ross, students started making their costumes—satchels, hats, and name tags. On Monday, Jen and Mark came by to help students make “fur” Russian hats. The militia worked on their flag, while other students continued reading about Fort Ross history. Sam lead students in decorating and creating satchels for carrying water, their notebooks, and work visas, while Rachel taught students how to embroider name tags on felt. Students also practiced the troika (a traditional Russian dance) in music class!

Writer’s Workshop

Students wrote their first Fort Ross journal entry this week, but not after doing some research! Their writing prompt was to write about their life before they got to Fort Ross, or if they are playing a Native Californian—what life was like before the Russians came. In order to do so with historical accuracy, students broke into their character’s ethnic groups (as opposed to their role groups),  and did research on their culture. Students used articles and books to look up their tribe or country’s practices around food, clothing, shelter and jobs. Students were then able to refer back to this information in their journal entries.

Math

Even in Math this week, curriculum was tied to our upcoming trip! Before Strawberry left for the Fort on Thursday, we got together as a Cerritoberry class to learned a traditional Kashaya game—staves. This game gave students an opportunity to practice quick mental math in adding and subtracting. On Friday, learned about Russian units of measurement—an arshin, a pud, and a ruble. Students worked on measuring out arshins and converting them to inches, as well as converting pounds to puds.