Dear Families,
It was a pleasure for Jackie and I to connect with so many of you on Thursday and Friday! Our Temescalians have worked so hard so far, and it’s always so great to celebrate growth and highlight areas that can be a growing edge for them too!
While our week was short, we packed in a lot of learning! We continued our conversation on fractions and compared fractions. An “a-ha” moment for some was noticing that even though the denominator may be a lesser number, the fraction was larger. So 1/8 < 1/2. We also talked about equivalent fractions and started noticing that fractions seemed to be related. For example, 2/8 = 1/4 and 2/6 = 1/3. We also used the March calendar to think about tables, charts, analog, and digital clocks.
We used some time to review what we have learned about voting last week, and dug deeper about voting, ballots, and the electoral college to answer remaining questions that we had. We learned that electoral votes represent a state’s population so California has 55 whereas Indiana has 6. There have been 4 instances in past presidential elections where the candidate who had more popular votes did not win the election.
Thinking about climate change, we found an article that highlighted nine art installations that were put up around Paris during the climate summit in 2015. We did See/Think/Wonder thinking routines for two of the installations: “Ice Watch” and “Climate Noah’s Ark”. After looking at the art installations, we zoomed in on how the climate was directly affecting the Adélie penguins in Antarctica and polar bears in the Arctic. Adélie penguins’ nesting grounds are usually along the frozen shores of Antarctica, but with the warming temperatures, the area has turned into mud flats. These conditions make it especially difficult for penguin chicks. If they get wet or muddy, then it is increasingly difficult for them to warm up again and survive the cold temperatures, and whole generations of penguins can be negatively impacted. Similarly, in the Arctic, polar bears’ habitat is changing because of climate change. The sea ice necessary for them to hunt seals, their main food source, is melting and without these ice floes, polar bears are becoming malnourished and pushed into areas populated by humans to forage for food. This inevitably leads to a clash, where the polar bears have more dire consequences. Echoing the artwork by Gad Weil, we made our own versions of “Climate Noah’s Ark”. Daniella showed Temescalians how to trace and draw the image of the polar bear or penguin so that it was visible on both sides when assembled. She also showed the class how to assemble them to create 3D sculptures like Weil did.
Upcoming things to take note of are that this Friday, our class will be doing a short presentation during the assembly. Temescalian adults are invited to join us! The assembly runs from 8:50 – 9:30am. Also, we would like to celebrate Pi Day on Friday. Part of the celebration is eating pie, so please bring in a pie for us to enjoy!
Warmly,
Lisa and Jackie
Fractions and sharing observations about the March calendar.
Learning more about voting, ballots, and the electoral college.
Creating our own 3D sculptures of Adélie penguins and polar bears.
Thank you so much for the treats and lunch on Thursday! It certainly helped keep us chipper throughout the conferences!
Some other views of our class and community:
When talking to your Temescalian about the coronavirus, this comic strip may be helpful!
