What a week!

Since returning from spring break, we’ve truly hit the ground running! This week has been packed with learning, creativity, and community engagement/service—and we couldn’t be prouder of all the hard work and joy your students brought to each moment.

One of our biggest themes this year is tree equity. As part of our persuasive writing unit, students have been diving deep into their research, synthesizing facts we’ve gathered throughout the year, and crafting persuasive essays to convince cities to plant more trees. It’s been incredible to see the way they’ve organized their thinking and worked on powerful arguments to support environmental and community change.

And we didn’t just write about trees—we planted them too! We had the amazing opportunity to get outside and give back to our community by planting trees right across the street from our school, in front of Berkeley Way Mini Park. The once-empty area is now lined with native, drought-tolerant trees including California flannel bush, Spice Bush, Western Redbud, California Buckeye, and Coast Live Oak. It was such a beautiful, hands-on experience to connect with the earth, and one we know students will remember. We were also thrilled to be joined by the 8th graders and the Blackberry class in this effort—it was a successful planting day!

In addition to all the environmental work, we also hosted our first ever Bake Sale this week—and it was a hit! Students explored financial literacy in action: pricing items, handling money (for some, it was their first time!), and using their creativity to advertise and pitch their sale to other classes. The participation was incredible and we were blown away by the delicious cookies, muffins, and other treats that families helped bake, buy, or donate. Thank you to everyone who supported this fundraiser—it truly wouldn’t have happened without you!

We also brought some real-world math into the mix by counting (and recounting!) the funds raised. Students tallied bills and coins, multiplied to find totals, added everything together, and even subtracted to figure out how much extra we raised beyond our original goal. It was such a joyful and educational project—and a proud moment for this determined group.

To top it all off, we were wowed by the Temescalians in this Friday’s assembly! From drumming to rocking out to Believer by Imagine Dragons, our students shined on stage. You can relive the performance (or watch it for the first time!) at this link:
🎶 Watch the Temescal Performance 🎶
Bravo, Temescalians!

Looking ahead, we’re excited for next week’s Read-a-Thon and our field trip to Coyote Hills Regional Park. Thank you for being such an engaged and supportive community—we can’t wait for all that’s to come!

With gratitude,

Aly