Biography Projects Due Monday!

(Text of email sent out yesterday.)
Dear Families,

On Monday (when the home project is due) Strawberry students will begin presentations to the class about their projects between 10:15 and 11:45 am.  It is possible that not all students will present during that time block on Monday, so we will follow up on other days as needed.  That said, the classroom presentations are open to you (parents/family) to join as part of the audience (This is different than the April 4 evening event (5:30-6:30) whereall of the projects will be set up around the classroom for viewing and talking with the student researchers).  If you would like to join us on Monday in the audience, please be in touch and we will be sure to have your child in line to present toward the beginning of the time block.

The presentation: The students were given a checklist of the type of information they will need to plan to present to the class starting on Monday about their home project.  While they do not need to write a script for themselves, they are expected to practice telling about their project using the checklist to guide them.  Students for whom their project is a presentation (slide show, character presentation) do not need to alter their plans based on this checklist.

Reminders:
Monday, April 1:  biography home project due. Please make sure your student brings in his/her project and is ready to present on Monday.

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

April 11: Sacramento Amtrak Field Trip: Strawberry Creek will be going to the California Train Museum in Sacramento as part of our Westward Movement study on Thursday, April 11, 2013.  Please note the late return time from this trip as 5:00pm with pick up at the Berkeley Amtrak train station.

Biographies:  We spent our class time trying to finish up our biography work. Many students finished their final draft and were able to make a cover page. We'll make our final progress on Monday, with the hope of having 22 final drafts completed on Tuesday!

Muttville: Today Kate, a long-time volunteer of Muttville, came in to talk to Strawberry about the organization that we've chosen to support. Kate also brought in her own dog, Hendrik, who started out as a foster dog from Muttville. We're looking forward to learning more about Muttville and their dogs!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jumping Jacks & Pulse Taking

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Place Value homework assigned on Wednesday, due tomorrow.
5th Grade Math: math packet

Presentation Preparation:  Today the students were given a checklist of the type of information they will need to plan to present about their home project.  Presentations will take place Monday and Tuesday.

Reminders:
April 1:  biography home project due. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

April 11: Sacramento Amtrak Field Trip: Strawberry Creek will be going to the California Train Museum in Sacramento as part of our Westward Movement study on Thursday, April 11, 2013.  Please note the late return time from this trip as 5:00pm with pick up at the Berkeley Amtrak train station.

Science: Today the students continued to learn about the circulatory system, and used stethoscopes to measure their pulse rate after different levels of activity, from stationary to jumping.

Cultural Studies:  We had a short presentation today with movie and slides comparing and contrasting the representation of Native Americans in some historical tellings of the westward movement (Oregon Trail) that often leave out the Indian experience.  We also considered the fears or exaggerations expressed in artwork of the time period about Indians, and contrasted this to the actions of the United States government toward Native peoples during the mid to late 1800s. The students have also been introduced to advertisements of the time period about the opening of "Indian Land" to be sold to any takers, as well as advertisements about the commerce of slave trade.  We discussed how advertising can often influence cultural perspective, and how people can come to devalue the experience of others when it becomes commonplace to see such representations.

Biography Project sensory experiment

 Perimeter and area scavenger hunt

Science - Jumping Jacks and pulse monitoring

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Place Value homework due Friday
5th Grade Math: math packet

Reminders:
April 1:  biography home project due. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

April 11: Sacramento Amtrak Field Trip: Strawberry Creek will be going to the California Train Museum in Sacramento as part of our Westward Movement study on Thursday, April 11, 2013.  Please note the late return time from this trip as 5:00pm with pick up at the Berkeley Amtrak train station.

Cultural Studies: Today we began our introduction to the Oregon Trail. Through a discussion based on photographs, students discussed their thoughts and ideas about the Oregon Trail, the effects on the land and the people in the West, and the hardships families may have faced. We will dive deeper into our study of the Oregon Trail later this week.

Science: Strawberry Creek welcomed Madelyn (Hannah's mom) into our classroom to teach us more about the circulatory system. With some fun with balloons and stethoscopes, students listened to their heartbeat and explored the difference between stiff and flexible arteries.

Homework
4th Grade Math: No homework tonight due to in class assessment. There will be homework tomorrow.
5th Grade Math: Math packet
Science: Finish circulatory system questions that were started in class.

Reminders:
April 1:  biography home project due. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

April 11: Sacramento Amtrak Field Trip: Strawberry Creek will be going to the California Train Museum in Sacramento as part of our Westward Movement study on Thursday, April 11, 2013.  Please note the late return time from this trip as 5:00pm with pick up at the Berkeley Amtrak train station.

Math Club:  We welcomed two third graders to math club today, Hannah and Talia, who tried out the Wheel Shop problem, stretching their algebraic thinking and number fluency, and played Oddball, another version of Poison/Nim.  Many of the 4th and 5th grade students enjoyed working on the different Sudoku puzzles, and Sima shared a strategy of keeping track of which numbers are possible in any given square using dots.  Finally, we all puzzled over one of the several "Liars & Truth Tellers" problems. This is a great one to talk about at the dinner table:  

There is an island in the middle of the ocean where there are two kinds of people: the liars and the truth-tellers.  The liars always lie. The truth-tellers always answer the truth.  You come to a fork in the road and need to know which way to turn to the village. Someone is at the intersection and can answer one yes or no question. You do not know if she is a truth teller or a liar. What should you ask her to learn which way to go?

Next math club is in two weeks, unless more than 10 students sign up to come next week.

Science: We began to learn about the circulatory system today. We experimented with our own hearts and blood-- exploring the different places to check our pulse, the strength of our heartbeat, and the role gravity plays in our bodies circulatory system.

Homework
4th Grade Math: Area sheet
5th Grade Math: Math packet

Reminders:
April 1:  biography home project due. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

April 11: Sacramento Amtrak Field Trip: Strawberry Creek will be going to the California Train Museum in Sacramento as part of our Westward Movement study on Thursday, April 11, 2013.  Please note the late return time from this trip as 5:00pm with pick up at the Berkeley Amtrak train station.


Biographies, Wordly Wise, Crosswords!
This morning we focused on revising and editing our biographies in small groups. While meeting in groups, students also worked on Wordly Wise and a digestive system crossword.

Happy Friday

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

Reminder: The biography project is due on April 1st. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

Today in Strawberry:  We continued to plug away at our biographies, and can feel the home stretch in full swing.  The students have accomplished quite a bit, and most are wrapping up their essay with a conclusion and will be ready for the rewriting process next week.

Biography Fair Evening, April 4

April 4, 5:30-6:30pm:  Biography essay and home project fair.
We are holding an evening event on April 4 that will be similar to a science fair set up with the Strawberry students stationed by their projects and essays about famous Americans.  Guests will get a chance to visit the projects and talk to the researchers about the person they studied.  There will be light snacks provided.  This is the same evening as the Wildcat dinner/dance event in the Depot.  Families with students in Wildcat will still be able to visit Strawberry and attend the Wildcat event.

Homework:
4th Grade: No math homework
5th Grade: Math packet

Science Homework: Human Digestive System diagram

Reminder: The biography project is due on April 1st. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

Field Trip Forms:  Most everyone filled out the field trip form to Sacramento at conferences, but a few are still out there.  Here is a link to the form.

Conferences/Portfolios:
It was wonderful to meet individually with all of you this past weekend. Please make sure to send your child's portfolio and writer's book back to school with them this week. Thank you!

Biographies and Afternoon Reading:
We split the class this afternoon to spend some focused time on our biographies. It is great to see the wonderful progress that all the students are making towards finishing their essays!
While one group of students were working on biographies, the other group took advantage of the beautiful weather this afternoon and read outside.

Health:
We dove into the digestive system this afternoon and learned about all the ways our body breaks down food to give us energy. Next week, we'll begin talking about our circulatory system!

Homework
4th Grade Math Homework:  Area of Parallelograms
5th Grade Math: Math packet

Reminder: The biography project is due on April 1st. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

Field Trip Forms:  Most everyone filled out the field trip form to Sacramento at conferences, but a few are still out there.  Here is a link to the form.

Conferences/Portfolios:
It was wonderful to meet individually with all of you this past weekend. Please make sure to send your child's portfolio and writer's book back to school with them this week. Thank you!

Buddy Day:
It was a perfect day for rainy day board games with our Laurel Creek buddies today!

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Big Square, Little Square
5th Grade Math: Math packet

Reminder: The biography project is due on April 1st. Please make sure your student is making progress on his/her project to be ready by then!

Field Trip Forms:  Most everyone filled out the field trip form to Sacramento at conferences, but a few are still out there.  Here is a link to the form.

Conferences/Portfolios:
It was wonderful to meet individually with all of you this past weekend. Please make sure to send your child's portfolio and writer's book back to school with them this week. Thank you!

Science: We began our journey through the human body today. First stop- the digestive system! Students watched an introductory video to the digestive system and worked on a word search. Many were enjoying the conversation about the passing of "waste" out of the body!

Reading Workshop: Students continued to work on making different connections in our read aloud about Johnny Appleseed as well as their own independent reading. We checked in with students about having a "just right" chapter book that they keep here at school-- it would be helpful to check in at home to make sure they're reading each night for 20 minutes as well!

Happy Pi Day! 3.14159265359......

Reminder: No school tomorrow, 3/15 and Monday 3/18 due to Parent Teacher Conferences.


We hope you had an enjoyable Pi Day today! Strawberry Creek was rockin' with celebrations. In math, students worked to measure circles around the room to try and find pi (3.14).

To end our day and begin the five-day weekend (!!) we celebrated the success of each and every Strawberry students' Moment in Time writing with a Publishing Party! Everyone shared a portion of their story with the class and then we had a celebratory toast. And of course, Pi Day would not be complete without.... PIE! We shared a berry pie and appreciations with one another before heading off for the wonderful weekend.

4th Grade Math Homework: Multiplication and division story problems and Not Fair shape activity
5th Grade Math Homework: Math packet

Reminder:  Conferences are Friday, March 15 and Monday, March 18.

Biographies: Students hammered away on their biography essay today. Many have finished a rough draft of multiple paragraphs for their essay. We're looking forward to reading and editing them to get them back for revisions next week.

Puberty Ed: Today Ms. Devine taught Strawberry students all about the changes that girls go through during puberty. Strawberry students practiced compassion and maturity today, despite the sometimes uncomfortable material.

4th Grade Math:  No additional assignments.  Perimeter and Area packet due tomorrow.
5th Grade Math:  packet

No additional homework:  We checked in about the home projects today.  Students should use tonight to work on or plan their projects further or plan, make lists etc.

Math Club: We celebrated "Pi Day" in Math Club today with circle problems and ollalieberry pie, even though Pi Day is actually on Thursday, March 14 (3.14).  Students measured the diameter and circumference of many round objects, looking for patterns, and found that the circumference was a little more than 3 times the diameter--a key to why the mysterious number Pi is so important.  Other students pulled apart a pizza problem, figuring out how much to charge for differently sized pizzas and slices given the cost of a small pizza and its area in square inches.  Next math club on March 26.

Puberty Ed Day 2:  Today Ms. Divine's class focused on changes that happen for males.  She answered questions students had written from yesterday, and collected more questions at the end of class.  Ms. Divine has a way of introducing and explaining facts that might normally make kids squirm, but the Strawberry students are doing great as seen in their high interest and focus. 

4th Grade Math:  Students are bringing home the perimeter and area packet to correct and complete for Wednesday (no math tomorrow).
5th Grade Math - packet
 
Words Their Way: Finish writing the book organized sort in spiral notebooks - and write an OPEN SORT (where you choose the sorting method).

Biographies: Students worked on their thesis paragraph for their biography essay this morning. The hope is that they can finish a rough draft of their thesis and one other body paragraph by the end of this week.

Health Education: Today the fourth and fifth grade started puberty education with Jen Devine. All nerves and awkwardness aside, everyone was very respectful and mature. Ms. Devine provided students with a brief overview of what happens during puberty and how our bodies change during this time. She will be here until Thursday, continuing the unit on puberty.

Categorizing body changes

Have a great weekend.

Don't forget to work on your home project if you planned to do so over the weekend.

Cerritoberry - Today we extended our time in small groups working on our Black American History topics:  Sports Legends, Music, Dance and Poetry & Art.  We have one more meeting in groups before we wrap up this fun and informative activity.

Wordly Wise: Today students showed their knowledge of their words in our Story Sentence quiz. We've been practicing how to write a sentence that explains the meaning of the word by telling a sort of story. The results were great!
Some examples of sentences today were: 
"I was receiving numerous calls and I had to pick up the phone many times."
"The fog was so dense that Maria couldn't see her own outstretched hand."
"The mother hugged and kissed her daughter to console her."
"Without oxygen, which is vital to our lungs, we cannot survive."




Kudos to all the Strawberry Creek students-- they're becoming masters at creating rich, detailed sentences!

Homework:

4th Grade Math Homework:  Perimeter & Area.  Students began this packet in class, and are being asked to work on two pages for homework - but not to finish the whole packet.  We will work on it in class.
5th Grade Math Homework: Math packet

Wordly Wise: Please study the words and definitions from lessons 9 and 10 for our quiz tomorrow.

Reminder:
Students should be working on their biography projects at home over the next couple of weeks. There is not any specific deadline until April 1st, when the project is due. Please check in with your student to make sure their project is moving along. 

Remember--tomorrow is Fancy Day!  Students are invited to dress up tomorrow.  It should be a lot of fun. Students should also bring a change of clothes and shoes, if necessary, to participate in PE and recess.

Class Meeting: Today we heard from different students about the two organization Strawberry Creek would like to support: Muttville and Wildcare. After listening to the research that the students found, the class voted and (with only two more votes!) we will be supporting Muttville during out Walk-a-Thon.

We dove deeper into our study of the human body today-- focusing on systems and important organs (heart, skin, lungs, esophagus and stomach, and the brain). In groups, students read about the role and function of the different organs and wrote letters to the Human Body Corporation to defend their importance as an organ. Check out the letters that were written in class-- some are pretty humorous!

Math Night Tonight 6:00-7:30

Please join us for math night tonight in Strawberry and Cerrito classrooms.

No assigned homework tonight.

Math Night for 4th graders in the Strawberry Creek classroom:  Our itinerary will include student led activities and games between 6:00 and 7:00, followed by a group activity or two starting at about 7:00 to wrap up our evening together.

Biography Home Project: Home Project planner. Students were sent home with approved plans, and may get started on their projects.  Below is a list of project ideas inked to internet sources of examples for students to get ideas:

Biography Scrapbook
Biography Bottle Dolls
Accordion Timeline
Interview Movie

Our Buddies read their recently published stories to us today.

SAGE presents to Strawberry

Homework
4th Grade Math:  Tangram puzzles.  Solve the Tangram shapes puzzles and create your own.   Link to Tangram pieces if needed.

5th Grade Math: packet

Wordly Wise:  Finish lesson 10.

Reminder:   Math Night is this Wednesday from 6:00-7:30pm.

Biography Project: The biography Home Project planner was due today.
Below is a list of project ideas inked to internet sources of examples for students to get ideas:

Biography Scrapbook
Biography Bottle Dolls
Accordion Timeline
Interview Movie

Today in Strawberry:  The students are developing their thesis idea for their biographical essay.  We are calling the "thesis" the main ideas they want to tell about their person.  The goal is to include something that they have learned about the person's personality or experience that is part of why or how they found success.  An example we discussed was about George Washington Carver who is famous for his scientific inventions as well as his generosity of spirit and action.  The students have developed a thesis idea of their own, are supporting it with 4 or more pieces of evidence, and are beginning to write a paragraph about their thesis.  Some students have discovered that they need more evidence, and are looking for more information before writing.

A note about our writing process for this project:  Now that the students know their person, and have most of their research done, we are working from the main idea backwards.  This means we are leaving the introductory and concluding paragraphs for the last stage of the writing process.  At each stage of the process, after gathering evidence for the particular body paragraph we are working on, the students will write a rough draft of that particular part. 

SAGE (Students Advocacy for Global Education):  This afternoon we had a visit from two students from Acalanes High School who are members of SAGE (a student "club" at their school).  One of them also happens to be Jeff's niece.  They were on campus today to present to the Middle School as a possible service project to support for the TBS Walkathon.  For Strawberry it was a chance to hear and see first hand how students can be involved in hands-on service, fundraising and community education.  Hopefully it will inspire our class as we delve further into our service activities this Spring.

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Mirror Symmetry Worksheet
5th Grade Math: Math packet

Wordly Wise: Please finish lesson 10 OR review the words from lesson 9 and 10 to prepare for our quiz on Friday.

Biography Project: The biography Home Project planner is due tomorrow. Please make sure parents and students have had a chance to discuss the plans for this project (i.e. time management, supplies, support needed, etc) and bring in the sheet tomorrow. The goal of this project is for students to use their creativity to demonstrate what they have learned about their famous American.
Below is a list of project ideas inked to internet sources of examples for students to get ideas:

Biography Scrapbook
Biography Bottle Dolls
Accordion Timeline
Interview Movie


Reminder:   Math Night is this Wednesday from 6:00-7:30pm. 

At the end of class today we introduced to the students the upcoming Puberty Education class that begins next week.  If you have any questions, please let us know.

Math:
We got colorful in math class today and worked with our pattern blocks to make symmetrical shapes. We also prepared geometrical math posters for Math Night.

We continued to work hard on our biographies, focusing on the main idea and thesis portion on our essays.