Reminders:
- Tomorrow (Thursday) is our exciting all day field trip to Mission Dolores. Please make sure your child packs a snack, a lunch, a water bottle, sunscreen, layers, and wears good walking shoes, since we will be walking back and forth from BART.
- Plan to attend the Social Skills event this coming Monday, Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Depot.
Homework:
- No homework tonight except 30 minutes of reading!
Math:
Fourth grade math's question today was: What are increasing sequences and how do they happen in real life? Students discovered patterns of increasing number sequences, extended the sequences, and worked on word problems that show how increasing patterns occur when plants and animals grow, when we save money in a bank, etc.
Sharing:
Each day we start morning meeting with a greeting, activities, and sharing in circle. Some classroom jobs, like Poetry Elf, Current Events, and World Traveler present information they've discovered, and students can ask questions or make comments. We all learn interesting facts, for instance discussing our country's debt, or that Iran does not have crosswalks. Other students may have something special to share, like today when Anne returned from a trip to Hawaii, or Jesse found a book about California missions. Games like "Rare Birds" or "Three truths and a lie" help us learn more about each other, and build community.
Science:
In our study of ecology, we have been learning about
ecosystems, and students documented and shared their own personal ecosystems yesterday, and learned about biomes. Today we talked about what a
system actually is (a set of parts that work together to accomplish something), watched a cool
video of one example of a system, and acted out our own system. We had a series of presentations about mutual, symbiotic relationships in nature by small groups, who explained how for example the Egyptian plover bird and the crocodile help each other, or how bacteria in our guts help us.
Social studies:In the classroom today we reviewed and explored the world of the Missions. Using a variety of costume pieces and props, I traveled with the students into the past and explored some of what we know about the Missions, padres, neophytes (Mission Indians), soldiers, and production of goods and trade. From beads, bells and religious paintings, to tallow, cow hide and weapons, a convoluted and conflicting tale emerges as we unravel the economic, social and cultural impact of Spanish colonization in California through the Mission System.
Padre Jeff entices Native Americans to join him with gifts of beads and fancy fabric.
Maybe your Strawberry Student can explain how each item ties to the Mission presentation today.
Following the presentation, the students worked in groups to work on problem situations that might have been faced by Padres, Mission Indians and Soldiers. The problems bring up different perspectives and biases that need to be considered when imagining how to deal with situations that did come up at the Missions. The kids did a great job thinking of solutions that not only might have happened, but were directly connected to the experience we are trying to empathize with and understand.
