This Thursday night from 6-8 pm is the opening of the 14th Annual Art Show entitled “SPARK* Ideas. Ignite!” There are also gallery hours on Friday (8:30 am-6 pm) and Saturday (10 am-2 pm). Get ready to be inspired and amazed! Big kudos to Julianne and Emily for all of their dedication and guidance of the Temescal artists.
This week we begin our new Information Literacy intensive with Rebecca! We will be taking a walk on Thursday down to our local branch with our library cards/forms in hand. If your child does not have a Berkeley library card and hasn’t turned in an application to class yet, please fill out this form and get it in before Thursday. If you need a replacement card let us know. Students are excited to start their research on a local plant or animal of their choosing and become an expert in time.
Temescalians are still talking about the Theremin instrument, which seemingly makes music out of thin air! They enjoyed learning about it via the Google Doodle in honor of Clara Rockmorre’s 105th birthday. She was a virtuoso of this unique instrument that is played by placing hands near two antennae to manipulate and amplify sound waves. Click here to learn more and to try out the mesmerizing sounds yourself!
Thank you to all the families who brought in pie for our Pi Day celebration. We enjoyed learning and reading about pi, as well as calculating and cutting pi by measuring the circumference of circles with string and dividing by the diameter. We also brainstormed and drew clever “Pi Puns,” which are on display in the classroom. The day was topped off with each student having the choice of THREE slices of delicious pie! We got to see fractions in action, the more slices the pie was divided into, the smaller the portions got. This lead to some strategic pie decisions . . . do I want 1/8 or 1/16 of a pie? Some students are still trying to memorize as much of the number Pi as possible and will have an opportunity to perform their progress this week.
It’s time to move on in math . . . our time tellers are ready to start our third grade unit on money. We wrapped up our work with clocks, elapsed time, and word problems. Some students took on the challenge of creating Mayan cogs that fit together to calculate time. This overlapped with our study of circles and involved using drawing compasses and protractors.
In science we learned about the importance of wetlands and how California has only a tenth of its original wetlands remaining. Ask your child how we all depend on wetlands and how the local marshes changed to marinas over time. Next we will be learning about green infrastructure and how we have the power to help our local ecosystems and wildlife.
We love birthdays in Temescal!
