It is hard to believe that it is already March! We look forward to chatting with you about your child during parent/teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday, March 9-10. If you have not yet already signed up for a 25 minute conference time, please contact Chris at the front desk!
We came back from Presidents’ Week Break refreshed and full of experiences that we were eager to share in our morning meeting on Monday. There is still so much catching up to do. In an effort to continue community building, we shared gifts & challenges that we each have. “I am good at painting in Art.” “I am not good at fractions.” Re-emphasizing the spectrum that we all fall on, in terms of being “good/bad” at something, we reminded the Temescalians that we are all working on different skills and “YET” is key to developing this growth mindset. Even if you feel confident in an area, there is still room to grow!
In math, we continue our study of measurement. We welcome Paula Symonds, a math educator, as she will join us every Wednesday and contribute to our math program. We read Polly’s Pen Pal and looked at the difference between centimeters (how people are measured in Canada) and the inches that we use in the United States. After looking at how long a bat is, we estimated how tall we might be and went about measuring ourselves. We also continued our Nine Lines to a mixed review of 2s, 3s, and 8s. Next week will be 9s.
Our biography unit is wrapping up. We have read about African Americans and we will soon share what we have learned about them. We plan to interview each Temescalian as if s/he were the person s/he read about. This unit allowed us not only to learn about contributions African Americans have made to the United States, but also give us a taste of note taking, pulling out importance, and reading to get to know someone.
Thinking about how the Ohlone lived, we talked about using local materials to make shelters. We first read about what the Ohlone used long ago to build their structures. Often, they used bundled tulle or pieces of redwood bark. Why would they use there materials? Mostly because they were plentiful where they lived. In thinking about what was most important when making a structure, we discussed what would matter most: sturdiness, weather-proof, secure (helping keep you safe from things outside of the structure), environment friendly. Temescalians noted that these different aspects are often intertwined. For example, a secure structure would probably also be sturdy, as would a weather-proof structure. We then had the Temescalians think about what local resources are available in Strawberry Creek Park and posed the question of what they would use if they were to make a structure to live in the park. Since the kids go to the park multiple times a week, they noted that there were a plethora of trees, grasses, and natural materials to make a structure. After drawing a sketch of what their shelter would look like, and possible materials they could use, we teamed up with our 7th grade Buddies to gather materials. The Temescalians ended the day with creating their own model structures. We provided the Temescalians with clay as a base and raffia as cordage. They fashioned structures that often used branches as a frame and then covered the “walls” with large leaves or more sticks. We will continue the conversation next week, but it will be interesting to see how the structures held up over the weekend!
We wrapped up the week with an Assembly. A few of our Temescalians were chosen to lead the mindfulness opening activity where they imagined a flower, the color it was, its scent, and then let it go.
The Respect and Inclusion Committee of the Student Council brought up the decision to create gender neutral bathrooms on campus. They would like to replace the stereotypical bathroom signs downstairs with a less gendered student design in order to make the school feel more inclusive for everyone on the gender spectrum.
Finally, students who were selected as “Citizens of the World” last year were honored in the assembly on Friday.
A few other views from the week!
We celebrated Randy Yee, our go-to guy on campus, for 20 years with TBS on Wednesday! He is so generous with his time and talents and we are so lucky to have him as part of our community! (Fun fact: He loves chips! Sea salt are his favorite!)
We are trying to use the 3D printer more so we are in the process of setting it up in the classroom, but its uses are yet to be determined!
Snapshots of our Family Reading on Friday!
We will see you on Thursday and Friday for Parent/ Teacher Conferences!
Also, we will be starting a touch typing course with Susan on the week of 3/13 for two weeks. If we do not have a Technology Use Policy signed for your child, we will contact you! Those without a signed form may not use the Chromebooks, but we will provide a keyboard template for them to practice on!
Other things on the horizon, we will be celebrating Pi Day in class on March 14. We invite you to bring in a pie, and in the process, talk to your student a little about this wondrous number!
