Hello Cerrito Families!

We want to send a huge thanks to you all. We are incredibly proud of our kiddos and the families that support them. There is so much to adjust to right now and virtual learning is a big lift for everyone involved. We are very grateful to work with such a supportive community, and to have the resources to distance teach. Speaking of gratitude, students reflected on who and what they’re grateful for this week, and made signs to hang up publicly for essential workers.

This week students learned many new tech skills. We had our first week of Zoom live meetings and practiced working in small groups with the “breakout room” feature. We also learned how to upload photos of their work to Google Classroom, and became more diligent about the “turn in” button, which will help their organization moving forward.

Academically, students are continuing to develop and hone skills they learned in the classroom and are learning new strategies and content every day:

Cultural Studies

In Cultural Studies, Cerrito learned about 19th century fur trappers in the United States who slowly made their way over to Mexican California, eventually leading up to the Bear Flag Revolt (but shh, don’t spoil it— we’re not quite there yet!) Next week they will explore California’s quick shift from being a territory of Mexico to becoming a state in the U.S through the Mexican American War.

Math

5th graders learned/reviewed 2 new multiplication strategies this week—the area model and partial products. Next week we’ll begin the standard algorithm, which will likely make all parents’ lives easier. 😉 4th graders reviewed Unit 4 and began a post-assessment on addition and subtraction equivalencies. On Monday they’ll launch into geometry!

Writing/Science

Cerrito continued to deepen their understanding of their Marine Organism through the creation of a food web. They will work on making a 3D model of their animal next week by using recycled materials found around the house. Please support your student in thinking about and collecting trash they can use to make their creature! Students also finished up their writing about their marine organisms, and next week will begin the presentation of this information using Google Slides.

Reading

Students continued to work through their book club books and respond using their digital journals. We hope to see higher attendance during our Friday book clubs next week!

Each week students are becoming more acclimated to the expectation of this virtual learning as they navigate Google Classroom and our live meetings. We hope we can all be together again soon!