Two brief, yet busy weeks passed, and the teachers appreciated the time on Report Writing day to cull through portfolios, notebooks, assessments, rubrics, and work samples. Then we were able to pinpoint criteria marks and write about each Temescal student. This year the narratives are more condensed and, along with criteria, show a complete picture of each child’s social-emotional and academic learning. The focus on the mid-year progress reports is to celebrate all the progress from the first half of the year, and articulate goals for the rest. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Bliss fueled us up with lattes!
Report writing day was put to good use.
To prepare for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we analyzed his “I Have a Dream” speech. Partners tackled different sections of the speech and presented their summary in their own words to the class, explaining words they looked up in the dictionary. We listened to Dr. King’s speech as we illustrated his “big idea” that we are all inspired to carry on.
Mariah from the Ohlone Herbal Center led the class on a plant walk through the campus and Strawberry Park. So many discoveries were made, from an abundance of caterpillars and chrysalis on our passion fruit vines, to chickweed, willow, and sour grass. All these native plants grow in abundance and had many uses, and still do today. When we returned to the classroom we documented three plants we learned about in out STEAM journals, and also reflected on the changes to Strawberry Creek due to the recent rain. We spent a mindful minute at the creek listening to sounds of rushing water, birds, talking, and laughter. We will conduct another plant walk in the spring to see what changes we notice.
Fraction work so far has been pre-assessments, so students can show what they know, as well as investigating equivalent fractions with pattern blocks. This unit intersects with our learning about division, and there have also been conversations about 2-D shapes and their properties.
Temescalians were thrilled to travel upstairs to visit their 7th grade buddies (and siblings). They learned all about their portfolios being worked on in Humanities, and they also got a tour of the second floor and met some more middle school teachers and students along the way.
For Super Science and Art time on Friday afternoon, Julianne led us in learning about the layers of the atmosphere, which built on our recent study of weather, clouds, and El Nino. Students are continuing this work in Art Studio this week. We also watched Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, sing David Bowie’s Space Oddity and saw the view from the Mesosphere.
We completed our unit on multiplication and students taught each other their preferred strategies for solving multiplication word problems and riddles. Students should continue to practice their multiplication facts daily and we recommend trying out a variety of approaches and see which works best for your child. For example:
~Multiplications chart and worksheets
~Multiplication and division fact families
~Songs and chants, make up your own or try Schoolhouse Rock.
~Online games galore!
We love starting off our Fridays reading and looking over portfolios with our grown ups!
Other peeks into Temescal Creek . . .
