Cerrito Creek

What are you grateful for? Students began the day brainstorming three things that they are grateful for, an activity they will do once a week for the next seven. This is part of the mindful schools curriculum, which I have taught for the last few years. Check out their website to get a sense of it.

We are trying to read and discuss a poem a day. These two took on a longer poem by teaming up, switching readers each stanza. I like to think of poetry as the "mother genre," where language is most potent and intentional.

Students shared their summaries and illustrations of Chapter 9 from Island of the Blue Dolphins. This illustration shows the protagonist tossing necklaces into the sea, a symbolic act of saying goodbye and moving forward after the tragic first chapters of this historical novel.

We are making a California quilt to deepen our understanding of the state's geography. Each student received a 14x14 square and is responsible for one patch of the quilt. They will fill it with relevant geographical information, of course including roads, cities, rivers and mountains, but also Indian reservations, state parks (so many of which will close next summer!), and more. We will sew the patches out of fabric after we have created our templates on paper. Who knows, you may even have chance to buy the quilt at the auction...

Homework:
Read chapter 10 of Island of the Blue Dolphins and do summary
Study spelling words
Math:
Students in fourth grade have been calculating addition and subtraction in preparation for a study of number patterns, using the JUMP math curriculum, which features lots of checking in with students.  A few students tried their hand at quite complicated sequences.  We also learned a new game, Go Fish Ten, which would be great to play at home for kids still working on combinations that add to ten:  the rules can be downloaded here.  The other game we learned, Blackbeard's Treasure chest, helps students with graphing skills.
No 4th grade math homework tonight.


Fifth graders took an assessment today as the finale to our first unit. They worked independently on the three-question quiz to show their knowledge of multiplication strategies, factoring, and division strategies. Their homework is to write a reflection on the first unit. How's math class going so far? What was easy for you this unit? What was most challenging? 1-2 paragraphs in their math notebooks.