Last week was a special one at Strawberry Creek for our 4th and 5th grade students as we celebrated our much-loved Read-a-thon tradition! The week was filled with creativity, inspiration, and a whole lot of reading joy. Students kicked off the week by making tiny books—miniature masterpieces filled with big imagination. We also had fun […]
This week, our 4th and 5th grade scientists kicked off their planetary science unit in a big—and surprisingly small—way: by shrinking the solar system to fit into a neighborhood walk! We began with one simple question: “How big is our solar system, really?” Of course, the answer is astronomically big—but understanding the vastness of space […]
This week, we continued our musical journey, diving into the history of jazz through the words of the great poet Langston Hughes. We read excerpts from his children’s book, The First Book of Jazz, which provided a rich, lyrical look at the origins and evolution of this uniquely American art form. We started our study […]
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 […]