Multiplication, A Museum, and Evaporation!

Coming back from the Halloween festivities and 2 days of meeting with parents, we still managed to pack in a lot of learning and a field trip too! Math Our work in multiplication continued as Temescalians drilled down on the idea that multiplication is repeated addition, and arrays are a way to organize your thinking. As some children practiced their skills through playing Real Estate Math, others were introduced to the checkerboard, a Montessori material that makes multiplication tangible.

Montessori checkerboard

A way to challenge yourself when playing Real Estate Math is to use die with larger numbers

Kids really enjoy sharing their work for others to see on the ELMO

We have gone over 4 ways to solve a multiplication problem

Kids showing 2 ways to solve a problem

Flash cards are a great way to practice multiplication facts

Triangular flash cards have been sent home with a letter that explains how to use them to practice multiplication facts. Please have this baggie of facts live in your Temescalians’ backpacks as we will be using them in the classroom, and continue to add to the fact families s/he may have. (We would like Temescalians to be familiar with their multiplication facts from 0-100. However, you may have noticed that each set of cards only has 9 cards. We have explained to the kids that they don’t need to do 0 x __ or 1 x __ because 0 times anything is 0, and 1 times anything is itself. So, each set should have a triangle card with __ x 2, __ x 3, __ x 4, __ x 5, __ x 6, __ x 7, __ x 8, __ x 9, __ x 10 on it.) Writing The Temescalians continue the writing process for their Thankfulness expository. They brainstormed used a graphic organizer to help them organize their lists of ideas. Now, they are transferring those ideas into paragraphs. In the drafting stage, kids are being reminded of not only the basic mechanics of writing (capitalization, using punctuation, spelling), they are challenged to write to the senses and incorporate similes in their writing as well.

Graphic organizers help kids keep track of their ideas and writing.

It was great hearing from the kids as they shared snippets from their drafts.

Music and Spanish Owen came into the room for Music and he introduced a new song. Children were paired up to create their own movements to go with the beat of the song. They came up with some formal, entertaining, & silly steps!

We had a guest artisan, Jesus Sosa, visit from Mexico. He spoke of his craft as a wood carver, and the process it takes to make each piece. His whole family takes part in the creation of each piece, and Jesus led the kids in making their own TBS piece! Julianne and Jessica were on hand to help with the art and Spanish sides of this learning experience, and pieces were available for purchase after school!

Cultural Studies We have been learning about local plants and animals in the Bay Area, and now we are focusing on the local people who lived in the Bay Area before any European settlers came to the area. To start this study, we first looked at an image. The Temescalians noticed that there were people sitting in front of round shaped shelters and we listed all of their noticings. (To see what the kids saw, look for the “Think, Puzzle, Explore” chart posted on the doors leading to Strawberry Creek in our classroom.) Then came the big work – puzzle. The Temescalians were tasked with asking questions and they came up with questions like, “How did they get their food?” “What did they use to make their homes?” “What did the kids do?” “How did they make their clothes?” Then, we revealed that the image the kids were looking at were of the Ohlone people who lived in the Bay Area long before Europeans came to North America. We discussed that there are/were many people groups who live(d) in North America, but we’re zooming in on those who lived where we live now.

There are many different indigenous people groups in North America, and each lived differently, according to where they lived. We zoomed in on the Ohlone people who lived in this area long ago.

To give a better understanding and more extensive view of things, we took a field trip to the Oakland Museum of California for the Indian Lifeways program. During our time at the museum, we first went to a classroom where an Ohlone woman talked about indigenous plants and animals of the area. She also spoke in detail about aspects of the Ohlone culture – what they valued, how they traded, how they lived off of the land.

The language the Ohlone speak is Chochenyo.

Clam shells were of value and showed importance when worn.

Abalone shells were “like Indian gold”.

The Temescalians were split into 3 different groups and brought through the museum to see artifacts, tools the Ohlone used to make/catch food, the animals they lived amongst, paintings of the landscape back then, and hear tales from the Ohlone culture.

Looking at what the land was like long ago.

Soap root was used to make a brush to prepare food and clean.

A painting of the inside of an Ohlone home.

The tale of the gods making a rock grow to help Deer escape from Mother Bear.

A picture of the rock the tale was based on.

Tule boat.

Items of value that were used to trade.

Abalone shell were very valuable.

Different food items were of value to trade too.

Baskets were used for different purposes.

Conical ones were burden baskets, often worn while harvesting acorns.

A fishing/lobstering trap.

Woodpecker trap.

Explaining the process used to cook acorn mush.

A cape made of rabbit skin.

Baskets were also worn on as headpieces.

Grizzly bears no longer live in California.

A large scale view of California.

This column of acorns showed how many acorns a woodpecker collects in 1 year!

Coyote chasing down a rabbit. Our docent explained that the Ohlone were in competition with the coyote for the rabbit, as well as the woodpecker for acorns.

An aquarium of local fish. These Temescalians were especially drawn to the sturgeon.

Sitting in the base of a redwood.

“They are huge!”

Tule grass – an important resource for Ohlone people.

Different local fowl.

A decoy amongst the lot.

Deer!

Our docent told us of the tale of Chief Tenaya of the Yosemite people and how they were killed near a lake in Yosemite National Park. There is a lake named after him.

A few other images of the kids at play on the redwood burl on Level 1.

Super Science and Art: Evaporation Evaporation can be a “wait and see” experience, or an immediate one. One station posed the same question but with 3 different factors – Which will evaporate faster from a (1) covered v.s uncovered container (2) tall vs. shallow container (3) crumpled up vs. flat towel? Each child wrote their hypothesis and reasoning behind their thoughts. Another station had kids estimating how long it would take for a brushstroke of water to evaporate. Some kids estimated 30 minutes, and were surprised when it would sometimes disappear instantly! Julianne led another station in a study of evaporation and how it interacts with salt and clay. She also talked a bit about Danae Mattes and her piece called “Evaporation Pools” where as the water evaporated, the piece changed as new patterns were created in the space where water had evaporated.

Julianne speaking about Danae Mattes’ work.

Using clay and salt to create different texture in painting.

Covered vs. uncovered

Tall vs. shallow

Crumpled up vs. flat

Evaporation! How long will it take?

Our Friday ended with Family Reading/Free Friday, a tasty snack shared by our own home cook, and our traveling Temescalian is going to be back for 2 weeks!