Welcome back, Temescalians! We hope that your break was a restful one filled with family, friends, and fun! We hit the ground running and welcomed a new student into our midst! The Temescalian community have come together to show him the ropes of our day to day. It was fantastic to see classroom routines and expectations normalized and imparted on the new member of our community!
In Math, we continued our focus on fractions. We revisited the concept of what the numerator and denominator represent, and we began to work on equivalence. Temescalians were not only asked to identify which fractions look similar (ie: 1/2 of a circle and 2/4 of a circle). They also were challenged to determine whether 1/4 of a set of 12 leaves was equivalent or not to 1/3 of a set of 12 leaves. These are tricky concepts when first grappling with the idea of equivalent fractions. This is where we make the connection from fractions back to division. When you are looking for 1/3 of a set of 12 leaves, you look at the denominator to tell you how many parts there are altogether and divide the total by that number. The numerator will let you know how many parts we need.
Combining the skills we have been learning from Speak Up and Get Along and our letter writing skills, we created our own “Dear Abby” advice column and Temescalians were called upon to help “Howling about Homework”, “Friend or Foe”, and “I’m Awesome!” figure out ways to respond to their situations. Temescalians chose which letter they wanted to respond to, and while keeping with the format of a letter, the Temescalians doled out some sage advice. Some empathized, “I know how you feel,” and suggested different tools from Speak Up and Get Along. Some Temescalians addressing “Howling about Homework” suggested that s/he use Tool #19: The Thought Chop so that s/he wouldn’t get stuck on the idea of homework and just get it done. Others advised “I’m Awesome!” to think before speaking, and a touch of humility wouldn’t hurt either!
Please come into the classroom to check our “Dear Temescalian” corner by the cubbies and Peace Table!
Orienteering!
While this term may be unfamiliar, it is the basic practice of using a map to find your way around. Before the days of talking iPhones and GPS systems, we had to observe our surroundings to create a map and then make it clear enough for others to use. A component of our cultural studies is to engage the Temescalians in their environment.
We applied our understanding of cardinal directions and created a map of The Berkeley School. Then, we had different sets of clues on them to put this knowledge to the test! The kids had a great time traversing about campus in search of finding answers to the clues. An important concept we emphasized was about landmarks. Looking at the map we created at school, we determined that The Depot was in the north part of our campus. Once we knew where north was, we could find our bearings and go from there. When walking around, other landmarks in the Berkeley area are the Bay and the hills. The Bay is always to the west and the hills are to our east.
In another activity, we pored over a map of Tilden Regional Park and utilized the legend/key to find points of interest. As the Temescalians searched for each item, they noticed that the compass rose on the map did not point to the top of their maps and they had to adjust the map accordingly. This was a shift in thinking for some as they tried to navigate Tilden Park.
Temescalians noticed a difference when they were walking around and orienteering using landmarks versus only using a map. For some, a map was easier to use while others appreciated the experience of being in the physical space and applying their understanding of directions.
We have gotten back into the habit of looking at word patterns in our Words Their Way small groups.
Temescalians had a great time using Mad Libs to apply their knowledge of parts of speech. Mad Libs are a great way for kids to think of examples of nouns, plural nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs and get a laugh out of it at the same time!
In cursive, we learned how to form the “o” and “c”. Connections are important to forming letters correctly. You have to pay attention to where the last letter leaves off, especially when you are connecting the “a”, “c”, “d”, “g”, “o”, “q” in the middle of a word.
A discovery that we made was that if the connection of the previous letter is low, like an “l” or “h”, you need to retrace a lot of the curved part of “a”, “c”, “d”, “g”, “o”, “q”. If the connection of the previous letter is by the dotted middle line, like a “b”, “o”, “v” “w”, then you only have to retrace a little of the curved part of “a”, “c”, “d”, “g”, “o”, “q”.
Try it out and see if you agree with what we noticed!
Cultural Studies, Science, Reading, and Writing are converging as we embark on our study of local plants and animals. The Temescalians will soon be choosing a local plant or animal from our lists and begin the process of researching and becoming an expert on that organism. In Reading, we will use non-fiction texts to find information about our chosen plant or animal. In Writing, we will teach the Temescalians how to take notes, organize their information, and put it together according to topics. All the while, we will be learning about the Ohlone, a local people from long ago who lived in our local environment.
Since observation is the foundation for Science, we called upon our resident artist, Julianne, to help us hone our skills as recorders of what we see. We took a walk to Strawberry Creek Park and shared about native plants that the Ohlone could have used long ago.
Elders in the Ohlone culture were revered because of the knowledge that they possessed from experience and pass on to the next generation. The redwood tree is high in vitamin C and people would often boil the needle and it would soothe fevers. The silk tassel was used to help if someone had cramps or a stomach problems. Wormwood helped with stomachaches. As we explored Strawberry Creek Park, we explained that we wouldn’t be picking or trying any of the items mentioned because you always need to clean things before you eat them, but we did observe that the leaves of the native trees, like redwood, oak, and silk tassel, were smaller whereas trees that were not naturally from this environment had bigger leaves. We touched briefly on the idea that where something lives affects how it lives. Plants and animals must make adaptations to survive in the environment that they are in. How the Ohlone people lived was also shaped by where they lived, but more on that to come!
Julianne also led us through an exercise of sketching what we saw using small strokes to get the approximate shape and details of the subject. We took some time to observe a redwood and record what we noticed about it.
We also used some of our time to read Martin’s Big Words and talk about what it takes to be an upstander/bystander and how our actions, big or small, can make a difference.
We hope you had a great week back! We hope your weekend was restful, and you’re getting ready for a 4 day week!
