We kicked off this week with hands on practice of measuring volume, mass, and length. We emphasized with volume, that to get a more accurate measurement, you would have to get to eye level with the measuring cup to see if the liquid was at the measurement line. Looking at it from above would get you close to the desired measurement, but it would not be as accurate. To measure mass, Temescalians used pan balance scales to find how many grams an item would be. Measuring tapes were used to measure length. A pitfall of measuring is often that the end of the measuring tool isn’t lined up with the end of the item that is being measured. A tip for this is to check and see where the “0” is of the measuring tool. Sometimes it is not at the end of a ruler or meter stick. In this unit, we used the metric system to measure. Labeling units can be a tricky but important part of math skills. Ask your Temescalian what units you would use for volume, mass, and length! (Milliliters and liters are used to measure volume. Grams and kilograms are used to measure mass. Millimeters, centimeters, and meters for length.) We also learned a new game: Target 1,000 where you get 6 cards and arrange them into two 3-digit numbers whose sum is closest to 1,000. Your score for each round is the difference between 1,000 and your sum. The player who has the lowest score after 3 rounds wins! This take strategy and an understanding of “friends of ten” as Temescalians practice more adding skills. With Katherine, she introduced the 9 Lines method to support ongoing practice of multiplication facts.
We kicked off our study of poetry by sharing a few poems from African American and Native American poets. We asked the Temescalians to listen for the poets’ perspective and how the language made them feel. Thinking about “Honey, I Love” by Eloise Greenfield. Temescalians noted the warmth shared in the poem, and also noticed how the spacing affected how they heard the poem.
We pulled out all of the poetry books from our library and asked Temescalians to select one to share. We encouraged them that while familiar poets are great, selecting one by a poet new to them would be great. Perhaps they chose a poem because of its form or perhaps it made them feel a certain way.
In an exercise to juxtapose the difference in writing as a scientist vs. a poet, we placed items out for the Temescalians to describe both as a scientist and as a poet. The items we placed were a vase, a green squishy cushion, an empty fruit bowl, and a climate map. As scientists, they used exact language to describe these objects. “12 inches long.” “Wood.” “Plastic.” As poets, they drew from a different part of their brain and their descriptions were surprising and apt. “The bowl is as empty as my patience for my sister.” “Clear like a diamond.”
To model poetic writing, we read color poems from Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill and illustrated by John Wallner. Temescalians chose a color and brainstormed objects and feelings that reminded them of that poem. The poems the Temescalians created are vivid and descriptive. In next steps, we hope to introduce and dig deeper into different figurative language techniques, as well as model going back and revising words/phrases to paint a more clear picture or express a feeling more clearly.
In Cultural Studies, we practiced note taking and our reading and summarizing skills. In different groups, we looked at passages about people’s roles in the Ohlone community. After taking notes, we shared out what we had learned.
We got back into the swing of teaching handwriting after our two week hiatus for our touch typing intensive. Â The Temescalians enthusiastically switched gears and learned the letters “q” and “o”. Please check your Temescalian so they are forming the connections between letters correctly. If those connections are not formed correctly, they may not forming the letter correctly either.
We will be assigning 1 lesson from Typing Club per week for homework. We often have the Temescalians practice the lesson once or twice before checking them. They may not move on before getting a check from a grown up. When checking their typing, please make sure that their finger placement is on the correct keys. We want to build a solid foundation for typing so that they can be more efficient as they begin to use word processing more in the future. We have a strict rule in Temescal Creek that if you do not use the correct keys, then you may not use the computer. Grown ups may employ this same rule for Temescalians at home! To login:
Go to https://tbstyping.typingclub.com
Username: Temescalian’s first name and last initial @theberkeleyschool.org. (For example, if your child’s name is George Lucas, their username would be georgel@theberkeleyschool.org)
Password is grad2024
Continuing our study of weather, we learned about weather related natural disasters such as tornados, hurricanes, and floods. We learned how wetlands help alleviate the affects of floods. With Julianne, we learned a little more about the flooding that is currently happening along the Russian River in Sonoma County. We looked at maps that showed the topographical and physical elements of the area, road maps to give us a context, and a zoomed in map of the area affected by flooding. We also looked at how much water has been dumped onto the area by looking at an animated map tracking the drought in California since 2016. We noticed trends of when drier months were, and how they related to our “fire season”. We also noticed in the past week, the effects of the drought have been completely erased. The river that is usually 5 feet deep crested at 45 feet! Temescalians calculated that that is 9x the normal amount!
In the assembly on Friday, Sweet Briar presented their civic engagement work in which they explored what it means to be a “good neighbor”. They defined the term as well as share different ways that they connected with our community. At the end of their presentation, we paid homage to Mr. Rogers and sang “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”. The Ashoka Jr. reminded us that we are collecting empty soda cans and recyclable containers to raise money and partner with People’s Breakfast Oakland to support that organization and support those in homelessness at the Seabreeze encampment. If you have any empty recyclable cans or containers that we can collect and exchange for money, look for tall slender gray containers that are placed by Temescal Creek and perhaps on the Middle School level.
We celebrated a birthday in our class! We love seeing images of fellow Temescalians as younger people and learning more about favorites and firsts.
We had a lot of indoor time this week because of the rain but the Temescalians were busy creating!
Upcoming events:
March
7 & 8 – Parent teacher conferences (no school but childcare is provided if you sign up)
10 – Daylight Savings (“Spring forward!”)
14 – Pi Day (bring in a pie to share!)
14 & 15 – Middle School Play (6:30 – 8:00pm)
15 – Buddies
22 – Field trip to Coyote Hills (Parent drivers/chaperons are needed!)
Family Reading cancelled due to the field trip
29 – Assembly
April
5 – Family Reading (8:30 – 9:00am) and Readathon (Join us in the morning for reading! If you’d like to come in at other parts of the day to share a book/poem with us, please let us know!)
8 to 12 – Spring Break (no school)
19 – Buddies
26 – Family Reading (8:30 – 9:00am)
