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. Cerrito and Strawberry classes spent Valentine’s Day celebrating the Museum of the African Diaspora’s 20th Anniversary with a look at several exhibits that made them ask questions like, “What’s the point of holding onto traditions that are racist?” and “Is that real gold on that basketball hoop?” We hope this trip has sparked a bit of curiosity, inspiration, and joy in all our students.

Click here for pictures from our trip.

In science have set up our partnerships and teams for designing gizmos that utilize circuits and demonstrate energy through light/movement/sound. We entered early brainstorming stages and will begin planning out and creating prototypes next.

Mathematicians in 4th and 5th grade have been working with decimals.  4th graders are making connections between fractions and decimals, representing quantities in both forms and writing out and reading decimal numbers using accurate math language, moving away from saying or reading a decimal number 0.28 as “zero point twenty eight”  and instead describing it as “twenty eight hundreths.” We are using base ten pieces to build decimal numbers and compare them in inequality expressions.

5th grade mathematicians are building onto the area model that was used extensively in 3rd and 4th grade to work with multiplication concepts, and are extending it into division leading into the traditional long division algorithm. The idea is to use the grid to build an area model, where the dividend is represented as the entire area, is built part by part, using whatever facts are easily retrievable for the student. The goal is to use the area model to demonstrate the relationship between division and multiplication, with the division and quotient identifiable as the two factors of a product, in this case, the two dimensions of the area model. Check out these YouTube Shorts by math educator Howie Hua – Dividing on a rectangle (w/area model), How do we do this ‘new’ way of dividing?, and What’s with this ‘new’ way of dividing? (partial quotients)