Hello Families,
Thank you for returning the green permission slips for the upcoming field trip to see the Oakland Ballet’s performance for Dia de los Muertos, “Luna Mexicana”. Please return them by 10/13. For those who would like to chaperone, I’ll put names in a hat and draw out 2 for this trip. This is a ticketed event for just school groups so it is not open to the public. But not to worry! If you cannot join us this time, we will have more opportunities in the future!
A blurb about this performance from the Oakland Ballet website: Luna Mexicana is a dance and music celebration of the iconic Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! In Luna Mexicana, a young woman’s dreams revive her relatives and friends who all dance back to life in the forms of teetering skeletons, skirt swishing girls, a high flying deer dancer, and a deathly Bride and Groom. Festive dancing, colorful costumes, and vibrant music. Educational study guides and lesson plans will be provided.

We had a full week of learning and connection! We had a guest educator join us on Monday. Keith Gutierrez is an educator who came to teach us about the Ohlone culture and how they lived long ago. We rounded out the week with holiday celebrations and our first Buddies meeting! This year, we are paired up with the 6th graders.

Cultural Studies
Keith Gutierrez talked about how the Ohlone looked and lived long ago. He started with a picture taken from The Ohlone Way  The Ohlone lived in the Bay Area from the San Francisco peninsula to Monterey Bay. Tule was an important plant that they used to make boats, shelter, clothing, bedding, baskets, and the uses go on! The males had longer hair they would tie in a top knot. They tied deer skin around their waist and for special occasions, would wear animal furs. The coyote, eagle, and hummingbird are important figures in their creation story. The Ohlone people were hunters and gatherers. The males hunted and the females hunted. Males hunted not because they were stronger than the females or because females needed protecting from the task of hunting. The Ohlone people believed that since females were life givers, they could not take life. When preparing to hunt, males tried to sweat out their human smell in sweat lodges and jumped into a nearby body of water. They would use a smaller animal as a quiver

A male dressed up for a special event.

A male prepared to camouflage to hunt.

Bows and arrows were introduced later so spears were used first.

To push their spears further, they used an atl-atl. They would launch spears 2x or 3x further than an original throw.

Ohlone made traps like this that were more narrow on one end to catch quail.

Once the quail entered the larger end, it would get stuck because they cannot back up out of the trap.

They traded to get obsidian to make arrow heads.

Arrows were painstaking to make so they created removable shafts and detachable arrowheads.

They made duck decoys out of tule.

They covered the duck decoy in feathers and fur and pull it along.

Then throw nets on the flock of ducks that landed on the pond.

Females had tattoos on their chins and necks to signify which family they were from, to prevent marrying relatives. Females wore a skirt of tule reeds and fur on the front and a deer skin on the back so they could sit comfortably when preparing their main staple of acorn mush. On special occasions, females would wear shell necklaces and a fur stole. She would also carry a work basket by a strap on her forehead so that both hands would be free to gather. The basket our Temescalian was using is the size a youngster would use. Adult baskets would be taller, and they needed to fill these baskets 2x and 3x a day.

mortar and pestle used to grind shelled acorns.

Temescalians saw a demonstration and helped with grinding acorns and starting a fire with a bow.

We took turns trying to throw a stick through a loop, a game that young boys would play to help them with their accuracy. I also took a turn and Keith said that if I got it through the loop, that all of the Temescalians owed me a treat, but it didn’t need to be a physical thing. It could be greeting me with a smile or transitioning smoothly.

We then went into 3 groups where we rubbed rocks together to make “face paint” of sorts, used a pump drill that the Ohlone would use to drill holes into shells to make jewelry, and played a game called “Staves”.

Math
We talked about the difference between a centimeter and an inch, and Temescalians went on a length scavenger hunt in the classroom to find things that were specific measurements. We talked about how you had to line up the 0 with the end of the item and hold the ruler/meter stick straight along the edge. We also briefly talked about the difference between a yard stick and a meter stick. They had to find things that were 4cm to 90 cm! Ask them what items they found!

Celebrations
We celebrated a few holidays. On Thursday, a parent shared about Chuseok, a Korean holiday that is likened to Thanksgiving. It is a holiday that celebrates the harvest and emphasizes time with family. The parent sent in songpyeon, a rice cake filled with sesame seeds and honey that the Temescalians enjoyed!

We also celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese holiday that is a celebration of the harvest and a focus on time with family. There is also a story behind this festival that focuses on the moon: The Legend of Chang’e and You Yi.

This is a guide on the different types of mooncakes:

An excerpt from “Over the Moon” about how the family makes mooncakes:

Buddies
We celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival by sharing mooncakes and jasmine tea, and also fill out a Venn diagram after answering “get to know you” questions to see how they were similar or different from their buddy.

Thank you to this Temescalian for bringing in flowers. They certainly brightened up the room, and one Temescalian even drew them as their highlight of the week on their Weekly Reflection. On Friday, we sent smaller bunches home with those who wanted to enjoy the blooms over the weekend.

Upcoming Events
October
5 & 6 – Parent teacher conferences (no school, childcare available)
9 – Indigenous Peoples’ Day (no school, no childcare)
24 – Picture Day
31 – Halloween Parade

A note about Halloween costumes:
Please keep full masks, weapons, and gore at home.
Also, please talk to your Temescalian about whether their costume is truly a costume or cultural appropriation. You can find more resources on this link to an article on pbs.com about this topic.
After the parade, we’ll be changing directly into street clothes, so please send your Temescalian to school in something they can easily change into.