This week of learning launched our science unit on plants.  We hope to explore plants, have a better understanding of how they make food, sustain life, and spread seeds before zooming in on the local plants and animals.  This introduction of plants will give us a foundation for when we start learning about the Ohlone people later in the year.
Last week, we emphasized the need to try an experiment many times to see if our results were an accident or if it was a reaction when we tried to make our own compasses.  As scientists, we need to have accurate drawings of our observations.  To do so, we launched our S.T.E.A.M. (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) journals with a lesson on the 5 basic elements of shape: dots, circles, straight lines, curved lines, and angle lines.  This exercise was to encourage the Temescalians to only draw what they see and break down the image into these different elements.

There is a connection between art and science when you think about how one records observations.  Looking at a botanical print, we challenged the Temescalians to explain whether they thought the print was science or art?  We then went to our classroom backyard to draw Mystery Plant #1.  It was a vine growing on a trellis.  It had red flowers.  Its leaves grew in groups of 3.  It had dried pods from past seasons.  The Temescalians noticed that the top part of the bean pod looked very similar to the red part of the flower.  The pods also looked very much like edamame pods, which led them to conclude that this plant was a type of bean plant.  We carefully opened a pod and sure enough, there were beans inside of the pod!  Reddish beans with black markings!  We revealed that Mystery Plant #1 is a Scarlet Runner Bean.

Venturing to the University Street curb, we examined Mystery Plant #2.  Many Temescalians already knew what plant it was, a pomegranate, but we looked for blossoms and fruits.  We noticed that the bottom part of the fruit looked very much like the petals of the flower.  “The fruit looks like a blown up flower.”  We were able to conclude the every flower had the potential to turn into a fruit.  Looking at the plant, we noticed that there were more flowers and fruits on the sunny side of the plant.  This observation helped us to connect the importance of sunlight to a plant’s production of flowers and fruit.  More to come on that idea in the coming weeks!

We put our observational and drawing skills to work to record the first day of “Flowers in Colored Water”.  We put white carnations in 6 different jars of water – purple, teal, orange, pinkish orange, normal water, and no water.  While many of us have seen this experiment, it is a difficult task to actually explain what is going on in within the plant.  We encouraged the Temescalians to be specific in their predictions – How long will it take?  What parts will be affected by the colored water?  They said, “I think the whole flower (petals and stem) will change the color of the water it’s in in 2 weeks.”  “I think the color of the water will show on the petals because white shows color better.”  “I think the petals will be the color of the water it’s in in 24 hours.”  We will see in the coming days and weeks what happens to the flowers in the different jars.
Within the span of less than 24 hours, we were already noticing with our grownups that the carnations in the teal water were starting to show along the edges of the carnations throughout each blossom while the carnations in the orange and pink water jars had sporadic spots of color.  Some kids noticed that the carnations in the jar with no water were beginning to turn brown along the edges of the petals.  While this experiment is a “wait and see” type of experiment, it is gratifying to have results so quickly.  We will continue to keep track of changes over the course of the coming days and weeks in the S.T.E.A.M. journals.

Our Super Science and Art time on Friday focused on plants.  We had a station to record these findings from the Flowers in Color Water experiment.  Julianne led a chromatography of markers experience where the Temescalians drew lines from different types of markers, added rubbing alcohol to it, and as the rubbing alcohol spread and evaporated, the remaining color showed the pigments that were used to actually make the marker color.  We also had a station to look at the chromatography of a leaf.  We will continue the conversation about the pigmentation in leaves next week when we dig into why leaves change color as the seasons change.
A Temescalian brought in a butterfly that was in her backyard and we took time to apply our observational skills as we drew the specimen.  We weren’t sure what kind of butterfly it was so as the Temescalians recorded its markings in their S.T.E.A.M. journals, we started asking questions and used our prior knowledge to answer these questions: “How do we know it’s a butterfly?”  “Butterfly antennae are smooth except for a ball at the end.” “This is a butterfly.”  “It looks like a monarch butterfly.  Is it?” “No, it doesn’t have the black spots on the top and this one has pearly white spots on the underside.”  This discussion continued as the Temescalians sketched the butterfly in small groups.  Finally, we talked about using the internet to search and what key words would be helpful.  We used descriptive language to help us narrow down the search (“orange butterfly, white spots on underside of wing”), and from the search, we used the images provided to match the butterfly that was brought in and discovered that it was a Gulf Fritillary.

Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with our study of plants, we talked about Growing Your Garden.  This activity highlights each individual’s character traits (5 petals), people who support him/her (2-3 leaves), activities that make him/her feel good (3-5 roots), and things that get in the way of being his/her best self (3 weeds).  Through this analogy, we tied in what we know about plants: “Leaves help you grow.” “Roots keep a plant stable and give it nutrients and water.” “Weeds make it hard for the plant to grow and live.”
Character traits are an abstract idea.  So often we confuse activities with character traits so to help us become more adept at identifying character traits, we played charades in small groups to illustrate different character traits: thoughtful, studious, brave, friendly.

We had our first Buddies with our 7th grade buddies!  The kids are paired with one or two 7th grade buddies.  They asked each other what their favorite color/sport/ice cream flavor/etc. as well as what it’s like to be a 7th grader.  Afterwards, they enjoyed some outside time together.  Our Temescalians were so excited to make this connection and can’t wait for our next Buddies time!

In Math, we continue to practice dynamic addition that involves regrouping.  This concept can be tricky because it is going beyond the concrete and into representational abstract ideas of what you do when you have more than 10 ones in the ones place or more than 10 tens in the tens place.  Having a solid number sense of place value is essential to understand what you’re doing when calculating these sums.  We use base 10 unit cubes to support making this leap from concrete to abstract.  In this unit, we also introduced Marcy Cook’s “Beyond 1,000 Place Value Tiles” work to practice logical thinking and understanding of place value.  Each card must use all the tiles 0-9.  We had a Temescalian talk us through her logic as she tried to find the numbers that were described on the card.  This is a tricky and fun activity to practice place value.  We also introduced “Real Estate Math”.  Using 2 dice, you roll and create a square/rectangle of those dimensions on grid paper.  For example, if you roll a 4 and a 5, you draw a rectangle that is 4×5.  Then your partner takes a turn.  The math comes at the end, when you need to determine who has more real estate.  This game plants the seed for multiplication as well as multiple digit addition.  We also revisited the idea of “greater than” and “less than” when comparing numbers.  Using the hungry alligator as a way to remember which way the symbol faces to indicate the greater number.  Practice reading number sentences with your Temescalian at home that involves the > and < signs.

We enjoyed having grown ups join us on Friday morning for Family Reading!  It was exciting to discover the changes to the flowers in color water and observe the butterfly together.  We also enjoyed some free choice time on Friday.  A group of Temescalians enjoyed playing Apples to Apples, creating with the PBs and Legos, drawing, reading, and making their own paper creations!

If you have yet to return your child’s letter to you from Back to School Night, please write a letter back to your child and return it to the classroom.  We would love to have it as a part of each Temescalian’s portfolio!  Also, if you have yet to return your Technology Responsible Use form, please do so as soon as possible!  We need to have a class discussion about what responsible use of technology means before we use computers in the classroom.

Upcoming Events (also refer to the sidebar to the right for upcoming events!)
September
27 – Lunar Eclipse of a Blood Moon!  Peak will start at 7pm.  This will be the last visible lunar eclipse until 2018! – http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/get-ready-for-septembers-total-lunar-eclipse-091420155/
29 – Make up Picture Day

October
2 – Family Reading on Friday will only be 8:30 – 8:45 because we have an Assembly!
8 & 9 – Parent Teacher Conferences (Childcare provided during the conference)
12 – Indigenous People Day (Professional Development Day, no school)
25 – Fall Festival at University Campus (Sunday)
30 – Halloween Parade (Starts at 8:45am)