Hello Families,
We have another fun week of spirit and learning. Before diving into a recap of our week’s learning, I’d like to highlight some upcoming events.
We’ll be celebrating Pi Day on Wednesday, 3/13 since there’s no school on the actual Pi Day (3/14). If you’d like, please send in a pie for us to share. We’ll talk about how pi is applied, as well as fractions as we cut the pies into smaller pieces to share. Not to worry, everyone will be served reasonable pieces of pie, but the more pie we have, the greater variety to sample!
We also this will be a short week because we have Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday, 3/14 and Friday, 3/15. There is childcare available. Please contact Daniel Simms if you need childcare.
We loved seeing everyone’s efforts to participate in Spirit Week!
Monday – Rainbow colors
Tuesday – Power Clash
Wednesday – Anything but a Backpack
Thursday – School colors (navy, seashell white, and depot red)
Friday – Pajamas
Bobby Berk, the bobcat, came through with the TBS boosters and handed out bobcat and paw print shaped allergen free cookies!
We talked about measurement in math, and first explored why I might organize the measurement labels in a certain way. We discussed the customary system (that we use in the U.S.) and the metric system (that is used everywhere else in the world). Ask your Temescalian what they know about the customary system vs. the metric system.
We tried to see how many cups of 250 mL would fit in 1 liter container. (The answer is 4 groups of 250 mL = 1 liter, which is 1,000 mL) We went through the practical life steps of using another vessel to pour into the measuring cup, to lower our eye to look at the level of water “at eye level” to ensure the accuracy of the measurement, and the finesse needed to pour liquid carefully.
We also talked about the difference between measuring mass vs. weight. We gave the example the an iPhone has a certain amount of mass. However, the weight is how much gravitational pull is being exerted on something. Because the gravitational force is different on Earth vs. our moon, the iPhone will weight something different even though the mass has not changed. To measure mass, we use a balance scale. To measure weight, we use a bathroom scale. If you bring your Temescalian to the grocery store, they can help you guess how much different produce weighs.
We used balance scales to first estimate and then find the actual mass of classroom objects. We talked about how estimates are important because you learn from when what you thought doesn’t match what actually is. Mistakes/errors are actually really important to give you context and schema for future times that you encounter similar situations. If you guessed that a pencil is 10 grams, but it’s actually 4 grams, it helps you figure out how much mass other things have in relation to that pencil.
The Middle School had a Sustainability Showcase where middle schoolers rethought items that would typically end up in the landfill and find new ways to use them. There were stations where people made candles, melted down broken crayons, reused bags to turn it into material for weaving/crocheting/knitting, corks, plastic bottles and bags. There was even a room dedicated to reused fabrics and food items.
Upcoming Events:
March
13 – Pi Day celebration (bring in a pie to share if you’d like!)
14 & 15 – Parent Teacher Conferences (no school, childcare available)
April
1 to 5 – Spring Break (no school, no childcare)
13 – TBS Block Party
22 to 26 – Readathon! (more information about activities and guest authors to come, but start culling your bookshelves for gently used books that you might want to donate to the Book Swap!)