Who knew that marshmallows could have so many uses?
We used them this week to have a greater understanding of 3D shapes, an exercise in will power and how that translates to future success, and a team building activity with our buddies. We also squeezed a field trip to the Exploratorium and writing our family stories in there too this week.
In math, we are revisiting 3D shapes such as prisms and pyramids. Temescalians wrangled and wrestled with marshmallows and toothpicks to create triangular & rectangular pyramids; triangular, rectangular, hexagonal, & octagonal prisms but they were triumphant! They are getting a better idea of each form; seeing each marshmallow as a vertex and toothpick as an edge. Hands on experiences definitely engage a different part of the brain and connect the drawn three dimensional images with the real thing. While we thought that the learning was the best part of this experience, the Temescalians will probably tell you it was eating the marshmallows at the end of the period.
We also folded in lessons and experiences with symmetry and congruency. It’s really easy to mix the two up. Symmetry is the mirror image whereas congruency is the same size and shape while color doesn’t matter.
Following this experience, we showed the Temescalian a video of kids who are given a marshmallow and told that if they wait, they will get another marshmallow at the end of the time. (View the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3S0xS2hdi4) Some observations the Temescalians had of this display of delayed gratification were: “The younger kids went straight to eating the marshmallow.” “Maybe they didn’t understand the directions of getting another one in the end.” “Thinking about the marshmallow made it hard to not eat it.” “Focus on eating 2 at the end of distractions helped.” “This is like mindfulness. Urges sometimes control you.” “Eating a little made it even harder to resist!”
We went on to have a discussion about how this connects to how we live life: If you do your homework now, you’ll have more free time later. Talk to your Temescalian about how this experiment could help them approach different circumstances in life.
Our trip to the Exploratorium was to make real the conversations and learning experiences we have had on sound and light waves thus far. Each group was given a scavenger hunt to guide them in their time at the Exploratorium, but we also had time after lunch to explore and experience more of what the museum had to offer. Favorites were the huge convex mirror that “made my head hurt”. The “Quiet Room” was a room where your steps over gravel was monitored and you tried to out-quiet yourself. By spreading out your weight and moving as slowly as possible, some were able to get 0.2 and 0.3 scores! The surround sound implement was fun to guess where your friend was, but highlighted how we listen with both of our ears to locate the origin of the sound. The pitch slider “was super fun. The shorter it was, the faster it vibrated!” We got to see a cow eye dissection, make huge bubbles, and climb on a giant gyroid climber too! Thanks again, Wadie, Jennifer, Lisa, and Lauren to chaperoning! You were definitely up for the challenge of the day!
We have gone through the writing process and have begun to type our stories on Chromebooks. We wanted to invite you to a celebration of learning to share these stories with you on Wednesday, June 10. This is a few days before the end of school, but we thought it would be nice to have a gathering with parents and wrap up the school year together. Sherry and Logan have already emailed out with signups for the breakfast potluck. We hope you can join us!
We also had more conversations about Berkeley as it was long ago. We looked at more pictures of Berkeley as it was when it was first founded as a city. What was most interesting to the Temescalians was the pictures of the Depot, as it was originally a train depot. They imagined railway tracks running through the basketball courts and were amazed. Ask your Temescalian if s/he can find the historic plaque on The Depot now. http://berkeleyplaques.org/plaque/santa-fe-railway-depot/
Family Fridays allowed us the time to experiment with slinkies, share science journals, and read.
Buddies with the 7th graders was yet another marshmallow experience! The challenge was to create the tallest structure with a marshmallow balanced on top that you could with only a paper bag, a yard of tape, 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, a yard of string, and a marshmallow. (Based on the TED Talk with Tom Wujec, click here to watch: http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower?language=en)
The Temescalians were tasked with creating these structures within the given 18 minutes. The 7th graders were mostly observing and perhaps tearing tape. While building a tower was the given objective, the real challenge was team work. After the 18 minutes, the 7th graders, who had just done the same challenge during their overnight trip, shared their observations: “You just jumped in and didn’t say, ’18 minutes?! I can’t do this!'” “Some people took over in our groups but you guys all pitched in and just started.” “A lot of the 7th grade groups took a long time figuring things out, and before you knew it, time was up and we hadn’t done anything.” Great teamwork, Temescalians!
Super Science and Art focused on light waves and color.
While Julianne helped Temescalians create wheels of ROYGBIV color on spinners, other groups cycled through experiences with flashlights and prisms to refract light, as well as using mirrors and crumpled foil to see how light reflects on different surfaces. A Temescalian observed, “You can’t really see where the light goes when it’s crumpled.” We also looked into light sources, and watched a video on bioluminescent creatures of the deep ocean. Light is so interesting because it is both a wave and a particle! We have only scratched the surface of learning about light waves and properties of light, but as we learned in the monochromatic room, how objects absorb light waves and reflect light waves affect what colors we see.
We hope you have a wonderful long weekend!
Upcoming events:
May 29 – Beach Day (we have Lara, Jennifer Z., Tita, and Doug driving. We may need 1 or 2 more drivers! We’ll be going to Crown Beach and stay there the day so packed lunches will be needed. More information on the field trip slip that will go home on Tuesday!)
June 5 – Walkathon (wear comfy shoes, a hat, sunscreen, and water!)
June 10 – Celebration of Learning
June 12 – Last Day of School!
