Hello Families,
Before I launch into a recap of our learning from before Spring Break and after, I should highlight a few upcoming events.

Next week, we’ll celebrate Readathon with a week of reading related events!
Monday, 4/22 – Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.): A gong will be run periodically throughout the day and everyone on campus will stop everything and read their book.
Author visit by Natasha Tripplett
Tuesday, 4/23 – Transformation Tuesday: Come dressed up as a favorite book character or author! (Halloween costume rules apply – please keep the gore, weapons, and masks at home.)
Last day to bring in book swap donations!
Author visit by Michael Leali
Wednesday, 4/24 – Book Swap
Thursday, 4/25 – Author visit by Christina Newhard
Friday, 4/26 – Readathon! Wear pajamas, bring books, a sleeping bag/blanket, a pillow or a stuffy (about the size of your Temescalian’s torso, from their shoulders to their waist), and be prepared to read all day long! Please remember to label all of your items and the entirety of your books/blankets/sleeping bags/pillows/stuffies need to easily carried by an individual Temescalian from the gate to the classroom. (The cozy items shouldn’t be the focus of the day; reading should be!)
If you’d like to join us to read a passage from a favorite book or poem, please sign up here: Readathon Guest Reader Sign-Up

Visiting Authors:
Please click on this link to see the visiting authors and order books from them! If you use the links on the page, you’ll be able to get 15% off AND authors can sign them too!
Readathon Book Orders
Authors visiting Temescal Creek:
Monday – Natasha Tripplett
Tuesday – Michael Leali
Thursday – Christina Newhard

We’re collecting books for our annual, highly anticipated, K-8 Book Swap now through Tuesday, April 23rd. Please consider donating your gently-used, K-8 appropriate books! You can hand your donation to the administrator at pick up or send them in with your child in a labeled bag. There will also be a bin at the front gate if you want to drop them in there. Though all children will get the opportunity to choose a book to take from the swap regardless of whether or not they brought one from home, this is a great time to clean out those bookshelves and bring in books with which your family is ready to part. It’s also a great time to talk about the reciprocity of a swap; the idea that when we have enough, we have enough to share; and that the more books that people bring in to share, the more books from which we’ll have to choose!

Whew! That was a lot of information. I also want to point out that we have a field trip coming up on Thursday, May 16 from from 11:00am – 1:00pm. More details to come, but if you can join us, please let us know!

Now let’s dive into a recap of the events in Temescal Creek!

Pi Day was a celebration of the irrational number that never repeats or ends, but helps us figure out a circle’s circumference. We spent time in the morning learning about this constant number and measured around round things in the classroom to see if that circumference really was 3 and 1/7 x the diameter.

We also created “pi puns” where we illustrated things that had the word “pi” in it, or sounded like pi. We first brainstormed, and the kids got to work creating their own pi puns! Some people drew pineapples, pythons, and a few even drew the Empire State Building! These Temescalians are so creative!

We had to celebrate by eating pie, of course! Some were bought or homemade, and each one was greatly appreciated! Each Temescalians got to choose up to 3 kinds of pie to try!

We had Buddies and our 6th grade buddies helped us create pop up cards of our local animals that we’re currently researching in their habitats. (The 6th graders came up with this idea, and with a little scaffolding from the 6th grade teachers, they led this whole Buddies time!)

We got to welcome our re-entry to school with a solar eclipse! While we were not in the path of totality, we still were able to see a bit of the sun covered. Because not everyone had their own eclipse viewing glasses, we made our own pinhole cameras! (We also watched a video talking about why we shouldn’t look at the sun. If the sun can burn your skin, it can certainly burn your retinas…)
JPL: How to Make a Pinhole Camera
NASA’s page on the solar eclipse

We also went to Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. The naturalist brought us out to the wetlands and we got to see plants that were used long ago, as well as take in the natural surroundings. A parent even pointed out a grebe gulping down a fish!
Inside the visitor center, we got to see a diorama of an Ohlone village, recreated artifacts that were used, and dioramas of habitats containing plants and animals.

That’s it for now. Looking forward to celebrating Readathon with you next week!

Upcoming Events:

April
19 – Last day to order books from visiting authors. (Order from Mrs. Dalloway’s, a local bookstore and get 15% off of each book! Please click on this link to purchase your books now!
22-26 –  Readathon (please look at the top of this post for the details of this week)
23 –  Last day to donate books for the Book Swap

May
10 – Half Day, dismissal at 12:20pm for 3-5 grades. Bring lunch and we’ll eat before sending the Temescalians home
16 – Field trip to the UC Botanical Garden from 11:00am – 1:00pm (parent chaperones/drivers needed! More details to come!)
19 – A Day in the Park (Sunday)
27 – Memorial Day (no school, no childcare)
31 – K-3 Beach Day, 9:00am – 2:00pm (parent chaperones/drivers needed! More details to come!)

June
7 – Last day of School (minimum day, school ends at 12:20pm)