Hello Families,
Recapping an eventful few weeks, we celebrated Pi Day, took a field trip to Coyote Hills Regional Park, and started our math unit on measurement and fractions.

It is a tradition to celebrate Pi Day in 3rd grade by bringing in pies, measuring pi, and creating pi puns!
We had a variety of pies to enjoy: banana cream, apple, chocolate cream (vegan), and pumpkin (vegan). Temescalians had a chance to choose up to 3 different flavors and we ended the day with a sweet treat.

We found round things and measured pi around the classroom.

We also brainstormed pi puns and illustrated them!

Field trip!
We trekked out to Coyote Hills and braved the elements to walk amongst the wetlands, talk about the plants and animals in the area, and see how the Ohlone people used them long ago. I have been taking this trip for about 10 years now, and with the recent rains, the wooden boardwalk that we usually use to walk over the wetlands was completely submerged in water! Our naturalist shared that it was fine just a few days ago, but the atmospheric rivers have definitely changed the landscape in the Bay Area! As the waters recede, the boardwalk should be available to walk on. Please go visit and let us know what you see!
Our time started outside for a quick lunch and we were greeted by a flock of turkeys! There were a few toms in the flock. Once we were inside, we talked about what makes culture: food, language, shared ideas, beliefs, tools.

Saying welcome and hello in Chochenyo, the language of the Ohlone people in the area:

A closeup of the model Ohlone village in the visitor center:

Walking out and about, we saw a recreated home made of a willow branch frame and covered by tule mats. We looked at oak leaves and someone found an oak gall – a growth created when oak gall wasps lay their eggs inside an oak leaf bud. The plant expands and forms into a sphere that encases the eggs/larvae. Once they exit, the gall will turn brown and drop to the ground.

We looked at soap root and talked about their many uses long ago.

Walking to an elevated part of the trail, our naturalist talked about the wetlands and how it connects to the ocean. It is hard to believe that the boardwalk has been completely covered with the recent rains.

These are images from 2016. Our naturalist this year pointed out that only the tops of these benches were visible barely above the water level.

Our naturalist took us out to a different path and water was lapping up along the path. (A parent took some time to record the view with watercolors in her journal.)

We closed our time looking at a buckeye tree, seeing the flock of turkeys in a different area, and play a hoop and staff game. Those who hit the hoop got one point. If your staff went through the hoop, you’d get two points. If you were able to get your staff through both hoops at the same time, you’d get 10 million points!

Back at the visitor’s center, we looked at more recreated items that the Ohlone people used long ago as well as animals within each habitat.

A few group photos, and back to TBS!

But from the parking lot, we saw something in the water! A type of fish? Perhaps salmon?

Reflecting on our time walking on the wetlands, despite the strong winds, Temescalians shared that they felt more connected having seen what the land would have looked like for the Ohlone long ago. We encourage you to go out to Coyote Hills and experience the area with your Temescalians and see what plants or animals that you notice out there! Perhaps the wooden boardwalk will no longer be covered with water!

We started a new math unit that focuses on measurement and fractions. This involves reading an analog and digital clock to the minute and calculating the passage of time. Remind your Temescalians to be careful with their hour and minute hands when writing the time on analog clocks. The hands should be different lengths, and unless it’s on the hour, the hour hand should not be pointing directly at the hour.
We also talked about the different systems for measurement. In most countries, they use the metric system. In the US, we use the customary system.
We also discussed the difference between mass and weight. While the mass measures the amount of matter in an object, the weight measures the amount of gravitational force on that object. For example, my water bottle has a certain mass. However, on Earth, it has a different weight than it would on the Moon because of the difference in gravitational forces on each celestial body.
Then we used balance scales (which measure the mass of something) to find the mass for objects around the classroom. The kids had great fun finding the mass of things from pencils to rocks to erasers to markets in the classroom.

We also used measuring cups to really find out how many milliliters (mL) there are in a liter (L). Given that there were smaller measuring cups with 250mL, kids found that they used the smaller measuring cups of 250 mL four times to fill 1 liter. 250 mL x 4 = 1,000 mL. That means that 1,000 mL = 1 L. We talked about needing to be at eye level when trying to be exact as they measured out the water in each measuring cup.

We welcomed in families for Family Reading last Friday and we enjoyed playing games like Apples to Apples, Proof, chess, and Boggle. While others spent time reading together, looking over their portfolios together, and showing off their new pi puns on the walls.

We celebrated neurodiversity with Brain Week. In Health, Stephen talked about types of neurodiversity. In class, we talked about how brains work. We also pondered about Rebus puzzles and watched Brain Games, a National Geographic Channel show that explores how our brains work. We also went to a panel of middle schoolers who shared about their neurodiversity, a challenge, a superpower/awesome thing about their brain, something they wish they had known when they were younger, and considering their neurodiversity, what is one thing they would change about school. Temescalians reflected that they were surprised to hear that some of the people on the panel had the neurodiversity they shared about “because they all seem to do so well.” Other Temescalians felt good that they were not the only ones with neurodiversity, and they had people they could talk to about having that type of neurodiversity.

Finally, we selected local animals that the Temescalians will spend the next month or two researching and creating a book all about that local animal. We are in the early stages and I have assigned related books on Epic! but Temescalians are not expected to do any writing on their on about their local animal. If you would like to find books or articles on your own and start note taking about them, you are more than welcome to do so with your Temescalian at home and over the break, but please remind them to (1) note where they found the information (2) only write down pieces of information, not whole sentences!

It has been a busy month and we hope that you have a restful Spring Break!

Warmly,
Lisa

Upcoming Events:
April
3-7 : Spring Break (no school)
10 : School resumes
12 : Buddies
14 : Assembly
16 : TBS Day of Service: Chili Cook Off and Fun Fest! (Sunday from 10am – 2pm in Strawberry Creek Park. Look for information on Parent Square and from parent coordinators!)
21 : Family Reading in Temescal Creek (8:30 – 9:00am)
24 – 28 : Read-a-thon! Schedule of activities to come, but start gathering gently used books to donate for the book swap!