We started the second week of school amid a heat wave, but the Temescalians rallied and weathered each day with curiosity and joy.
In Math, we began our number sense unit, touching upon the concepts of place value and expanded notation through the vehicle of our Number of the Day warmup exercise. In talking about number sense, we also generated a list of strategies that we use when we add. Many split the number up into its tens and ones to combine. Many try to find “friendly numbers” that add up to 10 so that the problem is more manageable. We also talked about using a number line to jump to friendly numbers. This was a great start to appreciating different approaches to math, and a wonderful link to our ongoing conversation about gifts and challenges.
We continued our practice to find a “just right spot” with a “just right book” and get straight to reading during Reading Workshop. We also used this time to individually meet with Temescalians for reading conferences. At the beginning of the year, we use the Fountas and Pinnell running records as a benchmark to track each reader’s progress throughout the entire year. We will check in with the Temescalians using these more formal assessments a few more times through the year. As the year progresses, we will also gather small groups for targeted reading lessons and have opportunities for Readers’ Theater too.
We had a special guest, Bliss, come in during our interactive reading time and she shared Wilma Unlimited with us. This wonderful story focused on the life of a woman who weighed a little over 4 lbs at birth was “sure to be limited”. She overcame sickness, polio, the hardships of being the 19th of 22 children in her family during a time of segregation in the 1940s. Bliss sparked an interest in a woman who pushed and worked hard to achieve her goals. The Temescalians could hardly keep their questions about this woman to themselves.
An introduction to writing was to write a brief description about an object from nature or a photograph of you in nature. The Temescalians connected with one another as they shared about their objects and experiences – “I went to Arizona this summer too!” “That rock is really cool.” The Temescalians went through the writing process as they crafted explanation cards for their nature items. Their final published pieces are displayed in the nook in the classroom. Please come by to check them out!
Our first foray into learning cardinal directions was to create a map of TBS. We now know that Strawberry Creek is directly north of our classroom. Blackberry Creek is west of our classroom. We took a morning poll and learned that many of us in Temescal Creek live north of TBS! Our work with maps will continue, especially as we also talk about perspective taking. We had a “See, Think, Wonder” thinking routine about what we observed about the “upside down map” with Australia in the center and had an interesting conversation about whether the directions change came up. A Temescalian also brought in the first map made of the world. It is challenging to see that representation compared to what we now know of the world.
We ended the week with our time honored tradition of going to Lake Anza with the 1st – 5th graders and it was just the thing to cool down after the heat wave we’ve had this week! There was water and sand play, and many were very interested in catching minnows. A crayfish also wandered into our path!
Things to look forward to:
Sept 17 – Back to School Night (6:00 – 8:00pm)
Sept 23 – Photo Day (make ups for that are on the 29th)
Oct 8 & 9 – Parent Teacher Conferences (No school. Child care provided only during the conference.)
Oct. 12 – Professional Development (No school. No child care.)
