. . . especially a Halloween one! We enjoyed seeing everyone’s creative costumes and marching through the elementary and middle school classrooms. Thank you to all of the parents who cheered us on, brought treats for the potluck, and/or helped with the Halloween crafts and activities.
The parade was followed by a class potluck and some fun Halloween centers. Temescalians could choose to create a watercolor spider web resist, decorate tangerines with jack-o-lanterns (aka: Tumpkins), decorate pumpkin cookies, and/or do some Halloween-themed writing. We ended the day/week by watching the classic Peanuts movie. It was a sweet and surprisingly mellow day.
The Temescall writers are wrapping up their small moment pieces by peer editing and writing final drafts. We are specifically focused on complete sentences with correct capitization and punctuation, as well as finding places to expand our writing with the five sense to make our writing more descriptive. For our Halloween celebration some took on writing a fictional story about a misunderstood monster under their bed and/or a zombie fill-in-the-blank story along the lines of Madlibs. Earlier in the week we became Dictionary Detectives and sorted words to learn more about spelling and phonics patterns through the program Words Their Way.
In Reading workshop we focused on making and checking predictions and reading in pairs. We continued our author study of Patricia Polacco and heard the touching story Thank You, Mr. Falker, about a teacher in Oakland who helps the young Polacco through her reading struggles.
For Math we worked on skip counting and multiplying, identifying how they are related and looking for helpful patterns. In small groups we brainstormed strategies to help with multiplication facts 1-12 and shared them with the class.
Temescal scientists created their own photosynthesis skits in groups showing what they know about the process plants go through to make their own food. An inquisitive student discovered a passionfruit outside the classroom which we investigated and tasted. We checked our leaf coverings from the experiment started the week before and documented our findings. Plants, seeds, and flowers continue to fascinate the Temescal scientists and we love hearing about your related and spontaneous studies at home, from avocado sprouting to seed collecting and planting.
This clip started after the introductions, but J is a plant, M is water (and later, the fruit), S is the sun, M is the “carbon dioxide [that] goes in and oxygen comes out. Then makes a fruit and makes a baby plant and it starts all over again.”
“Once upon a time, there was a seed in the ground…” It was an impatiens, a flower known for its exploding seeds! When rain touches its seed pod it explodes!
We started our study of the first people who lived locally with a thinking routine. Each student developed a focus for what they want to learn first about the Ohlone people and they will bring that lense with them on our fieldtrip on Thursday to the Oakland Museum of CA. We still need drivers/chaperones so if you can help out please let us know as soon as possible and check in with Chris at the front desk for driving insurance requirements.
Other photos from in and around our classroom!
On rainy days, early students stay in The Depot as usual until 8:15 and then come straight to the classroom . . . hooray for rain!
Lost and found.
Upcoming events:
November
5 – Field trip to the Oakland Museum of California. (We’re still looking for a few more drivers! Please let us know if you can drive!)
9 – Jesus Sosa is visiting! This is Jesus‘ 6th year visiting TBS to demonstrate traditional Oaxacan wood carving. It’s always great to see what he has been working on. Spanish classes and Art classes will be hosting on Monday. He’ll hold a sale of his work on the Labrynth at the University campus from 3:00- 6:00. He has price points for his pieces from $5, $10, $20 and up.
20 – GrandFriends Day! (more information to come!)
23 – 27 Thanksgiving Break (no school)
30 – Mummenschanz Show at Zellerbach Hall (We’re taking public transit but chaperones needed! More details to come!)
