On Monday, November 26, 2018, InSight completed its 7 month journey to successfully land on Mars!
We tried to watch the live stream from JPL of the landing, but may have missed it, but did catch this gentleman talking about what was involved in trying to plan, before InSight was even launched, the landing and things that HAD to work right in order for the probe to safely land. (the music for this is very exciting.)
This video has information about the InSight landing and its 2 year mission on Mars. (up until 2:35, then it talks about another topic: the worlds of the Trappist 1 system)
With all that is happening in our families, communities, country, and even world, it’s a great reminder that there is more out there to discover and wonder about than what we already know here on Earth.
In math, we wrapped up multiplication this week. Temescalians filled in a multiplication table to identify different types of facts. We also noticed that when multiplication is represented in arrays, but it’s a bigger problem or one that we’re not familiar with, we can always break it up. For example, 8×4 can be thought about like this: (4×4) + (4×4). We also tied in picture graphs in by having one shape represent 2 things. Instead of a 1-1 ratio, they now had to skip count to show the number represented. For example, the Temescalians voted for two of their favorite ice cream flavors. If a circle stands for 2 votes, and vanilla had 3 votes, they’d have to represent it with 1.5 circles. In addition to using a picture graph, we also represented the same information using a bar graph. When asked which they preferred to use, many Temescalians noted that they liked the bar graph because it was easy to see the information. While we may be moving on to a different concept, keep practicing those math facts! At this point of the year, we are looking to see if there is an understanding of what multiplication is. However, when we circle back to multiplication, and by the end of the year, there should be a familiarity that will support automaticity with multiplication facts. Looking ahead, in 4th grade, division and long division will be tackled and if the Temescalians don’t know their multiplication facts (aka the times table) by then, doing those computations will be even more laborious.
We are ramping up with cursive and almost completing all the letters that start with an “under curve”. These past two weeks, we have learned the /h/, /k/, /r/, and /s/. Backboard writing continues to be a favorite exercise as Temescalians’ awareness of letter formation is growing. Tips while writing on each other’s backs are: Think about the height of the letter, where is the connection of that letter supposed to be, did you dot and cross everything? Temescalians guessed words like “kilt” and “shells”.
Temescalisn continue working in spelling groups and sorting words into different categories and trying to make a rule that makes sense for the set of cards they are given.
Retelling is an important part of reading. It shows comprehension and being able to synthesize everything that you’ve read into a digestible share. We ask that Temescalians include the book title, book author, the overall story (including characters’ names), and then the little part that they just read. We tried using a jigsaw format for these retellings. First, two Temescalians were paired up. They listened to each other’s retelling. They then were grouped with another pair and each partner had to share out what his/her partner had read and go around the group until everyone had shared. This style of sharing required listening to your partner and being able to understand your partner’s retelling well enough to share it with other people. We practiced the jigsaw a few times, and the accountability increased the attention they gave each other while sharing their retells.
Part of learning about the local plants and animals of the area is also to understand the different landforms that can be found on earth as well as using maps to get around and find things. After learning cardinal directions, Temescalians were given a map of Tilden Park with items they needed to find on it, as well as decode what certain things meant from the key. Some were given a campus scavenger hunt to find locations of places on campus.
Finally, we used a landform to demonstrate that when there is no water, land is land. There are no islands, peninsulas, or beaches. The landforms they’re seeing are plains, hills, and even mountains. But when it rains, gravity pulls it down and as water fills in the land, the landscape is also changed and pieces of land now have new names. This demonstration was also a way to remind Temescalians that even though we may not see it, the ocean floor has as much topography as we see on land.
We invited in guest educator, Keith Gutierrez to come in and share about the Ohlone culture and let us experience their traditions and ways of life in a hands on way. He talked about where the Ohlone and many other tribes lived in the Bay Area long ago. He talked about how the Ohlone people were hunters and gatherers, the different roles of males and females in tribe, what they looked like, how they might dress, what jobs they would have in the community, and what celebrations they might have. An interesting fact about the Ohlone was that they believed that as life givers, women could not take life. So even though the women were generally stronger, to respect life, hunting was reserved for the men in the community.
Women would spend their days gathering food. One source of food was acorns. They would gather them, then crack them, pound them into powder, filter the tannic acids out, and then make acorn mush. Acorn mush was prepared by placing the ground acorn into a tightly woven basket filled with water. A rock would be heated, picked up with two sticks, dipped into water to wash off the ash, and then placed in the basket with the acorn powder and water. Using a willow stick that was curved into a loop, the Ohlone would keep the hot rock moving until the mixture was boiling or the rock lost its heat and another hot rock was placed in the basket. Keith talked about the soap root and its many uses. The whole bulb could be used to make a brush used to brush acorn shells from the powder. It would lather so the Ohlone would wash with it. The lather would create a layer on the surface of the water and block the oxygen from going into the water and knock fish out. When the fish floated to the surface, the Ohlone would catch them to eat. The soap root bulb is also edible after roasting. The Ohlone people had so many ways to use one item!
To watch this video of Keith demonstrating a song sung while pounding acorns, use the password: TemescalCreek!
The Ohlone would use a bow drill to start a fire.
A demonstration of making fire using a bow drill. To view, please use the password: TemescalCreek!
The Ohlone people were hunters and gatherers. They believed that as life givers, females couldn’t take life so they helped get food by gathering. The males could hunt and to practice as boys, they would play a game where they threw a stick through a hoop. To see this video, enter the password: TemescalCreek!
Keith talked about how the Ohlone believed that sweating would help rid them of their human scent. While the men and boys of age sat in the sweat lodge, they would tell stories, make nets and work on their weapons. We saw how men would dress with a deer skin to try and camouflage. To increase a spear’s range, the Ohlone men would use an atl-atl. Bows and arrows were used, and different types of wood would be used to make the bow (yew wood) and arrow shaft (elderberry cane). Obsidian would be traded to make arrow heads.
Keith brought in pump drills to replicate how men would fashion shells into necklaces and use that for trade. He also showed us how to rub rocks together to make paint we could use on our faces. He also introduced the game of Staves. To get 1 point, three would have to face up and three would have to face down. To get 2 points, all of the six sticks would have to be face up or all six of the stick would have to be face down.
If you are interested in learning more about any of the things that Keith Gutierrez talked to us about, please visit his website: A Touch of the Earth
During “Super Science and Art” on Friday, Julianne introduced us to the work her high school friend, Jill Lian, has done to photograph snowflakes using her iPhone. We looked at the shape of the snowflakes, and compared her work with what “Snowflake” Bentley did years ago in 1886 to photograph snowflakes. We also looked at the structure of water and how that dictated that snowflakes would be six sided. It was a time of observation, pushing to create the structure of ice molecules, and being inspired by others’ art and how it intersects with science.
Our writing project is starting to wrap up as Temescalians are moving from the drafting portion of their writing to editing/peer editing/teacher editing their writing. To prepare for peer editing, we have been practicing catching “bloopers” in the morning message using editing marks.
We wanted to invite you to our Celebration of Learning for these Thankfulness Expository writing pieces on Friday, December 21 from 10:30 -11:30am.
Please come ready to listen to small groups of Temescalians sharing their work and be prepared to give compliments for their writing. Part of this celebration is also to welcome the coming holidays. We are making this a potluck breakfast and I’ll put a signup on the top of the blog. I’ll also put a signup sheet on the door and fill it in on the blog accordingly. Finally, we’ll bring in some holiday cheer with some singing. We have a packet of holiday songs, but if you have a favorite, please let us know and we’ll try and include it in the packet. If you are comfortable playing an instrument, please bring your instrument! The more musicians, the merrier! (If you would like to see the packet of songs that we have to prepare beforehand, let me know!)
Other snapshots from our time together:
In this season of giving, please consider the following collections members in our community are having:
– Sweet Briar Creek are collecting toiletries and warm clothing for the Women and Children’s Drop-in Center. They are collecting until December 21.
– A 5th grader in Cerrito Creek is collecting books for the African Library Project. If you have any gently used books, textbooks, and board books, please bring them to the box in front of Cerrito Creek.
Upcoming Events:
December
21 – Winter Assembly from 9:15 – 10:15am (click here to let us know that you’re coming!)
Celebration of Learning for Thankfulness Expository from 10:30 – 11:30am (potluck sign up on the top of the page!)
24 – Jan 4 Winter Break
January
7 – Professional Development (no school/childcare)
8 – School resumes
21 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day (no school/childcare)
22 – Field Trip: Exploratorium (We’ll take BART. Chaperones needed)
February
4 – Field Trip: Cal Performances presents Kodo at Zellerbach Hall (We’ll take AC Transit. Chaperones needed)
