HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

REMINDER:
Parent-teacher conferences start tomorrow so there is NO SCHOOL on Thursday or Friday.


Today we kicked off Halloween with our school-wide Halloween parade. We saw the most creative and fun costumes from kindergarten all the way to 8th grade! What a wonderful way to get into the Halloween spirit.

The kids finished their sugar skulls with Julianne this morning and also experimented with coloring on black paper with white pencils. Many students drew themselves in their costume, while others chose to draw some spooky scenes.

We finished up typing the rough drafts of our stories during Writer's Workshop and we're getting very close to polishing them up!

The students of Strawberry Creek cashed in their "Seconds Time"-- the time they have left over from transitions during the day-- to have 11 minutes and 49 seconds of choice time this afternoon. Some played games outside while others chose to draw and read inside.

We met with our Laurel Creek buddies today and celebrated Halloween by making Halloween cards. The buddies worked together cutting, writing, drawing, and coloring-- they made some pretty SPOOKtacular cards!

Have a frightenly fun Halloween tonight and we'll see you at conferences! 

Halloween is Tomorrow! EEK!

Homework:
 No homework in 4th grade math due to tomorrow's Halloween festivities.
5th Grade Math: Math Packet and candy wrappers. See Cerrito Creek's blog.

Reminders:
Parent/Teacher Conferences this week, 11/1 & 2.

Halloween Parade:  The Halloween parade at TBS will begin at 8:45am on Tomorrow, October 31.  The students should come to school in costume or have little to do to prepare.  Costume guidelines for the parade and while at TBS:  No masks or "violence."   So, even if a student is dressed as a pirate, police officer or similar iconic figure, no weapons may accompany the costume while at TBS.  Save the masks, gore or weaponry props for events outside of school.  Thanks!

Today we started off with the last of the state shares. We heard about Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Missouri.

In math today we started with a skip count by 6's around the room. After writing them on the board, many of the students recognized the pattern of the numbers. In class we worked on finding the factors of 100, 200, and 300. 

Today's Math Club focused on how to cut a cheese wheel with 3 (and only 3) straight slices into different numbers of pieces; the problem is on this week's Puzzle Page.  Students shared their ideas for "cutting the cheese," particularly figuring out how to cut a wheel into 8 equal pieces with only 3 straight cuts. Some students worked on the Movin' and Groovin' problem, and after lunch, we worked more on the Frogs & Toads problem, looking for patterns in how to move (e.g., slide/hop/slide hop, frog/toad/frog/toad).  No math club next week because Sima has professional development, but we will meet again on Nov. 13.

We started off Writer's Workshop with some writing shares from last night's homework. We heard some creative and interesting stories! We spent the rest of the time checking over Wordly Wise and working on writing complete sentences.

Cultural Studies:  With a focus on the experience of the Colonists and American Indians of the East Coast, we re-watched the historical timeline movie (15 minutes) of the period, and compared it to a similar length segment about the same time period from "The Story of US."  The latter being a flashier version of historical film making.  Our goal was to uncover the motivations of England and the Colonists, and the relationship with Native tribes.  The movies led to a rich discussion about these moments in time as well as comparing the power of cinema in forming our perspectives.

Scrap Wood Collection:  During our choice activities on Friday's we want to include carpentry projects as an option and are ready to begin collecting scrap wood.  Scraps of all sizes can be useful  and pine or other "soft" wood are ideal (oak and hardwoods are not easy to work with).  If your fingernail can easily make an impression, it is usually the right type. Tool donations would also be great, although we will have a basic set for the kids to use.

Homework:

4th Grade Math:  Option 1 and Option 2 (both are multiplication practice pages)
5th Grade Math:  See Cerrito Creek's blog.

Writing Homework:  15 minute quick write.  OR, work on your story revision from class for 15 minutes.  Go to "strawberryfiles@gmail.com,"  pw: strawberry1310, or work on new ideas in your writer's book.

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences this week, 11/1 & 2.

Halloween Parade:  The Halloween parade at TBS will begin at 8:45am on Wednesday, October 31.  The students should come to school in costume or have little to do to prepare.  Costume guidelines for the parade and while at TBS:  No masks or "violence."   So, even if a student is dressed as a pirate, police officer or similar iconic figure, no weapons may accompany the costume while at TBS.  Save the masks, gore or weaponry props for events outside of school.  Thanks!

Halloween and Scrap Wood

Reminders:

We posted a blog about our ZONES videos, however it may have gotten overlooked because of the post right after it. Just wanted to let you know you can check out your child's 4 different faces of 4 different zones in a previous post! Enjoy!

Halloween Parade:  The Halloween parade at TBS will begin at 8:45am on Wednesday, October 31.  The students should come to school in costume or have little to do to prepare.  Costume guidelines for the parade and while at TBS:  No masks or "violence."   So, even if a student is dressed as a pirate, police officer or similar iconic figure, no weapons may accompany the costume while at TBS.  Save the masks, gore or weaponry props for events outside of school.  Thanks!

After the parade, school resumes (smile) and students will change out of their costumes.  

Scrap Wood Collection:  During our choice activities on Friday's we want to include carpentry projects as an option and are ready to begin collecting scrap wood.  Scraps of all sizes can be useful  and pine or other "soft" wood are ideal (oak and hardwoods are not easy to work with).  If your fingernail can easily make an impression, it is usually the right type. Tool donations would also be great, although we will have a basic set for the kids to use.

We started off our day with our first every CerritoBerry Geography Bee. Students worked together in small groups to answer a variety of state geography trivia. It was awesome to see them work together and share the knowledge they've accumulated from their state research!

We dedicated most of the math class today to reflect on our work so far. Students thought back to the activities they've done in math class in the past few months and identified their own strengths and challenges. This activity provided us with some valuable insight into their feelings towards math and who they feel they are as learners.

We continued to work on publishing the stories in Writer's Workshop today. Half the class worked on typing their stories while the other half participated in science. Many of the students have chosen to revise their work by adding descriptions, juicy vocabulary, and a variety of sentences.

We ended the day with some great state shares from Florida, Indiana, and Iowa! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Mitosis and photosynthesis crossword puzzle.

 Revising stories.

Elections! Zones!

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Lattice Multiplication Sheet
5th Grade Math: Math packet
Other: Please work on Wordly Wise (lesson 3) for 15-20 minutes

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences next week, 11/1 & 2.
Sign up online! 

We started the morning off by learning about some more state history: Massachusetts, Michigan, Connecticut, and Louisiana!

In math we learned another way to multiply-- LATTICE! Many of the kids were excited to learn this fun way of multiplying and found themselves successfully multiplying 2 and 3 digit numbers. We'll continue to learn and practice more methods of multiplication and add more tools to our wonderful math toolbox.

Our class meeting today focused on electing out Student Council Representative. After our nominations last week, seven students chose to prepare a short speech explaining why they would make a good student representative. We heard some very convincing and well-thought out speeches and the vote was very close. We'll announce our elected representative tomorrow.

After hearing our speeches we directed our attention to another Zones of Regulation activity. Today we identified different tools we can use to move from zone to zone. Whenever someone is feeling a little down, hyper, angry, sad -- or whatever!-- they can chose a tool to get them back on track and record it with a sticker. We're hoping to become conscious of what tools work best to get ourselves back to green. You'll see in the picture below that we came up with a variety of ways to regulate our emotions.

Science:  During our first botany conversation on Tuesday we made a list of what "we" as a class already knew about plants.  A few students said that they know plants grow, but were not sure how they grow.  This led to today's brief lesson for half the class (the other half tomorrow) about mitosis (the dividing of cells).  We also reviewed some of the main cell parts by looking at images taken by an electron microscope. 

 

During Word Study we learned a new Bingo game based on our word patterns from Words Their Way. 

ZONES Videos

Over the past few weeks we've taken pictures of ourselves in different zones. We have compiled the pictures into a slideshow along with some mood-setting music. Enjoy!

Writing, Botany, and State Shares!

Homework:
4th grade math: multiplication practice sheet Option 1 and Option 2.  Tonight's options are based on the level of multiplication each student is currently ready for.  Most students have option 1.
Science Homework:  Cell diagraming follow up activity.

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences next week, 11/1 & 2.
Sign up online at:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/_79 

This morning in Strawberry Creek we focused on reflecting our work and participation over the past few months. We are working on a creative way to share the students' reflections and thoughts of their work for you at conferences next week. Hopefully, with a bit more time and thought, we'll be able to give you a good sense of how your child is feeling about their academic work here in Strawberry Creek.

In math we continued to practice multiplication. Some students worked on double digit multiplication while others strengthened their skills in single digit multiplication. 

Writing: We took advantage of our split class today and went to town writing our final drafts of our chosen stories. We were able to conference with one another and began typing out our stories.

Science:  We identified cell parts, discussed their functions and colored in a diagram to represent the location and basic shape of the organelles. 

At our afternoon circle we learned some interesting facts about Arizona, Idaho, Maryland, Delaware, and Illinois (thanks to our state experts!). 

Botany

Homework
4th Grade Math:  Students brought home work in progress with the standard multiplication algorithm with the goal of completing the equivalent of one page from the packet.  The rest will be reviewed and worked on tomorrow in class.

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences next week, 11/1 & 2.  Sign up online at:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/_79

Optional: Some students took home their writing books to finish the rough draft of their stories. Please make sure to bring these books back tomorrow!

We started the morning off with some wonderful state shares-- we learned about Montana, Maine, Mississippi, and Minnesota.

4th Grade Math:  Students were introduced (or re-introduced) to the standard multiplication algorithm today.  We are currently focused on single digit factor by 2 or 3 digit numbers.   

Botany & Photosynthesis
We kicked off our botany study with a recap of photosynthesis by watching a Study Jam video many students were familiar with from last year covering the basic idea of the process.  A shared reading followed discussing plant cells and detailing the cell parts that participate in photosynthesis (chloroplasts).  This was followed by a video with a more sophisticated version of the process including terms and processes that go beyond the basic concept, including a deconstruction of the chloroplast to reveal thylakoid stacks and chlorophyll molecules, and the ATP & NADPH cycle. Whooee!  We quickly jumped out of our comfort zone with terminology, but definitely helped establish that there is much more going on inside the plant cell than expected.  We re-grounded ourselves with a final activity demonstrating the process of photosynthesis in a model using Cheerios (Oxygen), raisins (Hydrogen) and chocolate or butterscotch chips (Carbon) in a game format.  The students created water and carbon dioxide molecules that they deconstructed in the photosynthesis process to create a glucose molecule, water and oxygen.

  

Building molecules.

 Making Glucose!

 

Homework
Math Homework: 4th Grade- Option 1 and Option 2 are in same file, and both include the numeral matching page and key:  Roman Numerals Practice

Work on Wordly Wise for 15-20 minutes (Lesson 2 OR Lesson 3 if you've finished lesson 3).
Review your state facts

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences next week, 11/1 & 2.  Sign up online at:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/_79

Today in math we started with a brain teaser. The students were posed with the question: A man builds a rectangular house. All sides of the house are exposed to the south. A huge bear walks by. What color is the bear? Why? 
After some thought the students figured out that the house would have to be in the North Pole and polar bears live in the North Pole. Therefore, the bear would be white! It was fantastic to witness their brains working to figure out how to use logic to solve the problem.  We introduced Roman Numerals through a video and some practice problems on the board. Small groups worked on the 9-Lines while the other students worked at their station of choice.

Our morning in Strawberry Creek was based around writing and words! We worked on getting one step closer to publishing by revising and editing our stories. We also used the morning to introduce our new spelling program, Words Their Way. Words Their Way introduces word sorts with different word patterns. We will focus on sorting the words each week, using them in games, and practice writing them as well. With some extra time left over, we began working on Lesson 3 of Wordly Wise.

Busy editing and revising!

Word sorts!

Elbow deep in word sorts.

We had Art with Julianne this afternoon and celebrated Lucas's 10th birthday! Have a wonderful Monday night (stay dry!).

Pick-a-Party Booklets and Humpty Dumpty

Pick-A-Party booklet confusion:  At the end of today we sent the students home with a green booklet about Pick-A-Parties.  After handing them out during dismissal, we realized that there was an address label on the backside with each student's name.  While this does not affect the information in the booklet, we can understand this might cause confusion.  Please keep the booklet you receive (your child's name or not).  We have more copies in the classroom for students we did not get the booklet to.  Sign up for Pick-A-Parties begins Sunday, October 21st at 6pm and end on October 26th at midnight. 
Go to:  www.biddingforgood.com


Today in Strawberry:  We began our day with Cerrito for a song and round of charades about nursery rhymes.  After snack and our state spelling test, we continued the nursery rhyme theme during writing workshop. 

Our current focus is the revision process in writing.  As a way to explore what this looks like we used the classic rhyme of "Humpty Dumpty."  After reciting the poem and sharing what images come to mind it was clear the rhyme expressed much more than is contained within this four sentence story.  Students shared visions of complex and entertaining character traits of Humpty (of which there are few in the original poem other than the implication that he is breakable and possibly clumsy), an elaborate setting (much more than a just a wall), and all manners in which the King's horses and men tried to put him together again. 

Next, in pairs the students were given one line of the poem with the goal of elaborating on that moment, for example telling the story about the first line, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall." However, not being allowed to complete the poem, they had to stay within the moment of that one line and describe everything not there in the original text.  This led to explaining character motivation (why he was on the wall), describing setting elements (what the wall was made of and the surroundings), character interaction (other characters being introduced), and much more. 

It was clear that story book illustrations drove much of what our initial class discussion embodied, especially a theme of eggs and frying pans.   However, the students' revised lines broke the boundary of the illustrations and led to new ideas and even plot direction.  This is the goal for the revisions of the student's own stories next week, to expand and elaborate on characters, setting, vocabulary and plot.

Have a great weekend!

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Practice problems and problem solving.
5th Grade Math: Math page (Cerrito's Blog)

Practice Spelling-- REMINDER: State Spelling Quiz tomorrow!

4th Grade Math:  Today we began with an outdoor game of Odd & Even.  Back inside we worked as a class to reinforce math skills, introduce the use of a variable in math represented by a letter, and thought out problems with answers that are not directly obvious, such as:
 Two men play five games of chess.  Each man wins the same number of games.  There are no ties.  How is this possible?
The students chose new math stations to work at today.  Stations include measurement, time, an introductory activity with fractions, algebraic thinking and other problem solving activities.

The Berkeley School participated in the Great California ShakeOut Drill, of which there were 9 million participants this year. Our students did a great job getting under the tables to protect themselves and moving to the much safer Solar System.

Our class meeting focused on a discussion around the formation of our Student Council (which will be led by Sima and Kate on Tuesday mornings). Our class will nominate and elect one representative that will participate in the student council meetings. All of the students nominated multiple people that they thought would be good candidates. After tallying the nominations, every student was nominated at least once!

After taking a look at everyone's state map this morning, we used some time in the afternoon to put finishing touches on our state maps. Students finished coloring, made corrections, and added details to enrich their maps. They also started a reflection that focuses on their strengths and challenges in regards to the state maps and their efforts that they put in to the map and research.

We also took a look at some artifacts this afternoon-- a replica gun and some obsedion arrowheads. Students were asked to "See, Think, and Wonder" about these artifacts. We then transitioned to a brief discussion about Native Americans, colonists, and the finding of America. We finished the afternoon with a short movie following the timeline of Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish Mission system, as well as the establishment of French and later English colonies.  

Homework:
5th Grade Math: Math pages (Cerrito's Blog)
4th Grade Math: Multiplication Flashcards    Please cut out and write the answer to the multiplication facts on the back (use a calculator to be certain you are correct, or have an adult check them for you). Then sort them into two sides of your envelope-- ones that you know and ones that you're working on.

State Spelling- Quiz on Friday.

This morning we went through a "gallery walk" of all the maps. We were able to see all the wonderful themes, colors, and facts that were carefully and creatively incorporated into every map. We will focus on reflecting back on the maps and the research that we have been doing the past few weeks tomorrow.

During Writer's Workshop students picked a piece of writing that they have been working on (Spot Writing, Sandor's Missing Story, poems, Story Starters, etc) to edit and a revise.  Each student will select 3 writing goals to focus on during the revision process.  Goals may include vocabulary development, use of figurative language or focusing on character traits (among others). 

We met with our Laurel Creek buddies today and took advantage of the beautiful weather outside! We had a "Book Picnic" where the older buddies read the little buddies some of their favorite stories.