New Year’s greetings, Strawberry families!

We hope you all were able to spend your winter breaks with things and people that bring you joy, raise your spirits, and left you feeling recharged enough to tackle another year around the sun. While the first three days back to school brought with it the predictable energy of 16 kids who haven’t seen their friends in two weeks, the past month has been chock full of productivity and a renewed sense of community.

Thank you!

Thank you to all the families for your generous Winter Appreciation gifts. Even the most brief handwritten notes from kiddos is appreciated along with with everything else, and your thoughtfulness does not go unnoticed. Thank you, also, for birthday treats, continuing to help with class laundry, Lucky vacation care, and bringing beautiful flowers weekly. They really do bring so much beauty and joy to the classroom and the kids LOVE assembling little bouquets to bring home to y’all at the end of the week.

In-Class Happenings

Upon return, students picked a word to set the tone for the year. Words like ‘rise’, ‘perspective’, ‘organize’, and ‘imagine’ are all worthy reminders of what students want to manifest for themselves in 2023.

Science

Even unexpected absences didn’t stop us from finishing our gizmo building in science. Partners presented to their Blackberry Creek little buddies and completed their final presentation recordings.

 

Strawberry scientists moved on to a new challenge – can you fold a paper airplane that can carry cargo (coins)? With only 3 pieces of paper, staples, tape, and scissors, our engineers crafted and tested their different designs to see how much weight could be carried and how far they could fly.

   

Math

4th grade mathers have launched into a new unit, fractions and decimals – this means getting hands on a new tool, Cuisenaire Rods! As with any new tool, first comes the play, then comes the application. Mathers naturally started noticing patterns in the rods, organizing them in various ways, and or course, building with them. This week, we moved on to using them to represent fractions, with special emphasis on the importance of defining the whole first. Can you spot how a student used the rods to represent halves in the third picture below?

Cultural Studies

Why do people move? If you read this week’s post about the start of our unit on American enslavement, you may remember the conversation started with the question, “Why do people move?” Thank you to the adults who participated in or helped facilitate student interviews on this topic, and I hope you will take the opportunity to continued those conversations and story sharing with your child. Students did a deep dive into vocabulary for people who move under different circumstances, discussing definitions and grouping them by commonalities. A lot of interesting were made, including following the observation that, “Tom Brady is an ex-Patriot. Is that related?” Picking apart word roots and meanings helped us eventually arrive at the definition of an ex-patriot as it relates to migration.” Please see the non-exhaustive list of agreements your students came up with for conduct of behavior during this unit. I am consistently blown away by the amount of care, thoughtfulness, and empathy our children hold for themselves, others, and this case, the people whose stories we are about to learn.

Of course, enslavement has a long history globally, though not as it existed in the United States. Students became experts on one of many ancient civilizations that practiced enslavement, did some reading, answered questions independently, discussed in groups, and shared out with smaller groups to understand the origins of enslavement, and the work, rights, and treatment of ancient enslaved peoples, before comparing and contrasting them in a Venn Diagram. Ask your student what ancient civilization they read about.

Community

Community bonds are exploding in 2023. We have already had 2 wonderful Talent Friday presentations by Max G. (karate) and Eliza (taekwondo) in the last month, not to mention Daniel (violin), getting us off to a strong start with presentations. If your kiddo has an interest, hobby, collection, or special knowledge they’d like to share with the class, encourage them to sign up for a Talent Friday!

Weekly book writing club and D&D clubs are flourishing with participation across the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. These student-led clubs are gathering in and out-of the classroom and have brought a renewed sense of connection and community through the 3-5. Kudos to Kai (Cerrito Creek) and William LB (Strawberry Creek) for running the Book Writing Club, and Falcon (Strawberry Creek) for leading Dungeons & Dragons!

Valentine’s Day

Tuesday of next week is Valentine’s day! This is an opportunity for students to spread a little love to their classmates by passing out a note or card. It is not mandatory to participate, but we ask students to bring something for each kid if they bring anything at all. Handmade is best when possible, but not expected. Please keep any treats to the birthday treat guidelines of vegan and nut-free so they can be enjoyed by all if you choose to include a treat; no candy please. We will be celebrating friendship and kindness that day in other ways as well, and all throughout the week.

Here is a list of the 16 students in our class.

Adira	Andre	Cora	Daniel
Elaine	Eliza	Falcon	Hannah
Jack	Jon	Lucas	Max G.
Max R.	William L.B.	William M.	Zadie

Classroom Teachers: Samantha, Aly, and Julia

Spirit Week

Next week is spirit week to celebrate our awesome basketball team so each day will have a dress up theme.

• Monday: TBS colors day wear Blue, White, or Red; alternatively, wear a TBS shirt if you have one even if it doesn’t follow the same color scheme
• Tuesday: Valentines day
• Wednesday: Favorite character day (as simple or all-out as you’d like; please stick with same expectations as at Halloween)
• Thursday: Hat day – also gameday at 3:45-5 @ French American
• Friday: Pajama day (No blankets, pillows, or stuffies please!)

In partnership,

Samantha & Aly