We started this week by looking at measurement in math. We compared the different ways that mass and liquid volume are measured around the world. Most of the world uses the metric system with grams, kilograms, milliliters, and liters. We use the customary system in the U.S. that involves ounces and pounds for mass and cups, pints, and gallons for liquid volume. We also discussed the difference between mass and weight. Mass is how much matter an object has. Weight is how much gravity is pulling on the object. An illustration of the difference is you on Earth vs. you on the Moon. While you have the same mass, your weight would be different because the gravitational pull is different on the Earth than it is on the Moon. We also talked about the instruments used to find mass vs. weight. A balance is used to find mass. A scale that you’d find in the bathroom of your house or a scale in the grocery store is what you use to find weight. Temescalians were tasked to use a pan balance. They first estimated what they thought an item might be, used a pan balance to find the actual mass, and then calculated the difference. We talked about the best surface to put the pan balance on, and we agreed that putting the pan balance on the ground would be the most stable place for the most accurate readings.
We celebrated our 100th Day of School on Wednesday by taking a gallery walk of our class projects. Temescalians wrote specific compliments to classmates about their projects. The creativity, care, and thought put into each project was evident and each Temescalian was so proud of their project!
Other 100th Day of School activities were to write what you would do if you had $100, what you would look like at 100 years old and how you’d celebrate your birthday, race to see who would get 100 tally on their game sheet first, and write their name across 100 squares and color in the first letter of their name and notice any patterns. We also split the class into 4 groups and had two groups race to see who could put together a 100 piece puzzle first. There were many challenges with this activity, but the teamwork that came from this activity was great! Each group persevered and completed their puzzle!
On Friday, we invited families from K-2 in to see all of the projects grouped by the assigned local ecosystem. So many were blown away by the “complicated math” that was represented by each project. One Temescalian commented, “It’s not complicated math. It’s just a lot of simple math.”
The 100s projects from K-2 were so creative and whimsical too! There were collections of keys, Lego figures, balloons, Instax pictures organized by topic, rocks, melted crayons, quilts, and so much more! This day is such a fun celebration of an imaginative and artistic expression of math!
We celebrated Friendship Week by assigning everyone a Secret Pal. We encouraged everyone to not just be nice to their pal, but to many others so that the love was spread around, and they would throw off any suspicions of who their actual pal was! Cubbies were full of notes, origami, bookmarks, paper airplanes. Kids helped each other in so many ways: wiping up table spots after snack or lunch, pushing in chairs, getting materials for others, helping put things away for others. It was a week full of kindness. We celebrated Valentine’s Day by decorating red paper bags with stickers and stamps. Then we broke into different stations to write valentines to faculty members and other teachers on campus, heart lacing activity, and decorate cookies. Thank you to all of you who donated materials, made royal icing, baked cookies, and spent time in the classroom with us! The Temescalians really enjoyed themselves and spending time with you!
At the end of the day, we had our Secret Pal reveal! Each Temescalian shared a compliment or appreciation for their buddy and then gave them a cookie they decorate for them. It was a very sweet time of exchange of appreciations for one another.
On Friday, we welcomed back the taiko drumming educators from Cal Performances, Jesse and Galen. They led us in a reflection of our experience seeing Kodo and then helped us create our own song!
A handy way to differentiate different rhythms was to use the syllables in food items. “Avocado toast” has a different rhythm from “coconut shrimp”. We went around and chose two people to signal the start/end of the song, while smaller groups decided the tempo, which food items to use for a unison part, which food items to use for a call and response section. We ended up using the rhythm patterns of “avocado toast” and “coconut shrimp” for the unison section and “ice cream sundae” and “chips and guacamole” for a slower call and response part. The final product was so fun to perform! (To see this video, use the password: TemescalCreek! )
As a final experience, we each got 8 counts to play on a taiko drum! (To see this video, use the password: TemescalCreek! )
Amid all of the festivities of Friendship Week, the 100th Day of School, and welcoming back guest educators, we still got some writing in there. Rocket Writes continue to help grow our stamina. We reflected on our field trip to see Kodo. We are also in the final stages of typing up and editing our New Year’s Resolutions!
A few other glimpses of our rainy Friendship Week!
Upcoming Events:
February
18 to 22 – February Break (no school, childcare available)
25 – School resumes
March
7 & 8 – Parent teacher conferences (no school, childcare available)
14 – Pi Day! (bring in a pie to celebrate!)
22 – Field trip to Coyote Hills (Parent drivers and chaperones needed!)
