We welcomed back Jesus Sosa, the Mexican folk artist who carves and paints wood with the help of his wife and daughter. Our class enjoyed his demonstration during art studio time last week and then had an opportunity to view and/or buy his work and support this amazing artist and his family.

A parent led our Super Science time last Friday and we got to “see” photosynthesis in action. When we blew through a straw into cup of purple cabbage blended with water, we observed the color lighten in response to the carbon dioxide we exhaled. Then we placed water plants into the cups and placed them in the sun. The oxygen produced by the process of photosynthesis began to return the cabbage mixture to it’s original color. “Cooooooool!” Then we mashed up strawberries in ziploc bags and added salt, rubbing alcohol, dish soap, and water to extract DNA. “Ewwwwwww!” We were able to pull the purified DNA out with Q-tips and the words used to describe what we saw included: slimy, gooey, and “like mucous.” Then we looked at chloroplasts, where chlorophyl is stored, through a microscope and drew what we saw in our STEAM journals. Thank you, Don, for the hands-on science fun related to our plant studies! We will be reflecting on all that we saw and experienced this week as well.

Preparing for Mummenschanz! Lisa and Julia went to a workshop to learn more about the legendary Mummenschanz and how to prepare the third graders for this mind-blowing performance at Zellerbach. Then we led the class in an exploration of objects and how they can be infused with creative life and interact with one another. There are so many curricular tie ins with literacy and SEL. The workshop leaders will be visiting Temescal on Wednesday to further prepare us for the field trip that will happen the Monday after Thanksgiving break.

In math we have been engrossed in a real-life project calculating how much a 24 pound turkey would cost that is $1.25 per pound in preparation for “The Big Dinner.” In pairs, students worked out the answer using a variety of strategies and then shared their ideas with the class by making a poster. We were amazed by the range of approaches, from skip counting to traditional algorithms, and then we all tried out a ratio chart. During our Friday time with grown ups we did a gallery walk of the posters and added post-its with appreciations, questions, and other positive comments. Next we will be calculating how much the potatoes and carrots cost. Temescal mathematicians will be ready to help with your own big dinners this Thanksgiving and we encourage you to put them and their math skills to use!

Teacher Daniel, who taught 1/2 last year, came to visit and read Our Mothers’ House, by Patricia Palocco, as part of our author study. Many rich topics came about through this read aloud related to diversity and inclusion.

After seeing the canoes, shelters, and baskets all made with tule (reed grass) by the Ohlone people at the Oakland Museum of CA, we tried our hand at making our own models of boats and coil baskets. We used straws to replicate the tule, and the popsicle sticks were like Redwood bark that some indigenous people used for building. Rafia was used to weave and tie our visions of boats together. This process helped us to realize how challenging it must have been for the Ohlone to work with the resources available and without the help of Home Depot! This week we are testing our boats to see if they float and hold weight. Hooray for the integration of science and cultural studies!

You may have heard about your child being a “dictionary detective” at school and we encourage you to continue their exploration at home. Students are solving mysterious questions with the help of an actual book version of a dictionary. Would a bassoon eat a banana? Look it up to find out!

This Friday we will not be having our usual reading with Temescal grown ups time so we can welcome in our special visitors for GrandFriends Day!