This month in our writing curriculum, we embarked on a study of theme—a vital literary concept that helps us understand the deeper meanings behind the stories we read. In class, we began by identifying themes in various pieces of literature, using both our class novel, Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, and books […]
Dear families, it was wonderful to meet with you all last week for parent teacher conferences. In science, last week, teams of students have gone through planning stages for our circuit based gizmos and gadgets, creating labelled detailed drawings of their device. We’ve since created prototypes of the circuits then thoughtfully planned the steps to […]
As important as it is to learn the hard history of American Enslavement and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, we know that it was not the beginning nor it end of the Black experience around the world. It is equally, if not more important to center Black joy, excellence, and perspectives from throughout the African Diaspora. […]
This week we read Born on the Water, to serve as an anchor text in our study of the history of enslavement. Born on the Water begins with the misstep of a well-intentioned educator: “Trace your roots. Draw a flag that represents your ancestral land.” When asked about her intentions for Born on the […]
Hello Strawberry families, From our learnings about Jamestown and in pursuit of answering the question, “Why do people move?” we are embarking on our study of African enslavement in the US. Today we began our lesson with a, “What we think we know & What we wonder” brainstorm (photo attached), setting some expectations around the […]
Despite the short week, science inspiration was all around us as Strawberry students gear up for their much-anticipated gizmo project! Tuesday students got a hit of inspiration from the 6th grade’s Cardboard Arcade projects. Students got to play all the games that the 6th graders constructed with cardboard, circuits, and Scratch programming, learning just how […]
Dear families, This week we launched book clubs across Cerrito Creek and Strawberry Creek cohorts. Book clubs allow us to build up reading skills, foster a deeper understanding of literature by reading with support from peers and teachers in small groups, encouraging students to discuss, analyze and share their perspectives on shared literature and […]
Happy New Year! This week in Strawberry Creek, we eased our way back into our classroom routines, resetting ourselves through thoughtful reflection. Students shared how they felt on their first day back, what they missed about their community and what they are looking forward to this year. To celebrate Bill Nye earning the Medal of […]
Link To Classs Photo Gallery Strawberry life continues apace, between breaks and winter cheer! In literacy, we have been looking at the plot elements of a story. We plotted out the elements of our shared class reading book, Ban this Book, on a story map. Then, we focused on writing realistic characters that shared some of our […]
In reading, we have been practicing summarizing by using the acronym SWBST (“someone wanted ___ but ___ so then ___.” This helps students focus on the essential elements of a story, including the protagonist, conflict, and resolution. We practiced that by summarizing a short animated video and then we practiced it by reading the Greek […]