What is Adaptation?

Home Assignments:

1. 
5th Grade Math: No math homework
4th Grade Math: No math homework

2.  Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night. Tonight's Fort Ross reading qualifies as reading time too.

NEW weekly schedule:  We have a new schedule for specialist classes.   PE is now on Tuesday and Friday. Take a look. 

MAP - Today was our trial run with MAP testing on computers.  As with every technological experience we experienced our share of snafus today.  Fortunately, today was practice testing.  Some students experienced almost flawless connectivity and success getting to the testing pages, and others met with difficulty.  We have adjusted the wifi system in the classroom, and are ready to roll tomorrow.  We do expect the process to run much more smoothly.  

Today in Strawberry:  In Cultural Studies, the Students practiced writing written responses in sentence form using evidence to show their thinking.  We also viewed student presentations about California Tribes, and have many more to go.  

What is adaptation?  During science today we linked our study of Fort Ross to the study of the marine ecosystem of the kelp forest.  Specifically we are studying the relationship of the sea otter to its habitat and the adaptations that make the otter successful.  Students worked in groups to share information they studied about the otter to prepare for a "game show" about otters.

Home Assignments:

1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: Boxed In or MADS (should be in their binder) - Today we spent time on our fraction assessment and learned to play Boxed-In, a multiplication fact array game.

2.  Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night. Tonight's Fort Ross reading qualifies as reading time too.

Upcoming Dates

Tomorrow - Thursday, September 26, 6:00-7:00pm  - Fort Ross Chaperone Meeting

Conversation About Teasing

Home Assignments:

1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: Square-o-Rama & fractions - Watch your time.  Move on to the fraction practice if you have time after the square-o-rama.  

2. Fort Ross reading:  Pages 239-241 in Fort Ross booklet.  Write answers to questions 1-11 in your notebook.  You do not need to write complete sentences for these questions - one word or short answers are okay.

3.  Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night. Tonight's Fort Ross reading qualifies as reading time too.

Upcoming Dates

Tomorrow - Thursday, September 26, 6:00-7:00pm  - Fort Ross Chaperone Meeting

Today in Strawberry:  This afternoon during our class meeting we discussed "friendly" teasing, and when does it feel like real teasing.  The kids made many great points, and concluded with how to get help.  Please ask you child about the conversation.  While not everyone participated, and likely not everyone has experienced teasing this year, we want to keep an open conversation going.  As one student pointed out (after we shared about who has either seen or been affected by teasing this year so far), "If that many people have experienced teasing in just four weeks, then what will it be like in a few months!"  

Our apologies for any confusion.  Yesterday's post did not go through.  Photos from yesterday are also below.

Home Assignments:

1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: Finish work from class on mixed and improper fractions.  

2. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates

Thursday, September 26, 6:00-7:00pm  - Fort Ross Chaperone Meeting

Today in Strawberry Creek - 
During Reader's Workshop today the students went on a picture walk through a folk tale.  They made predictions and wrote questions on sticky notes and shared their book with a partner.

Yesterday in Strawberry Creek -
For writer's workshop today we made our Fort Ross journals.  We will use the journals prior to the trip to record what we learn about the time period of the 1800s.  The journals will accompany us on the trip as well.

 Hammering holes for the binding stitch.

 Sewing the binding together.

 Applying masking tape to the cover - a stage of the process to create a faux leather antiqued journal.

 California Indian tribe research continued.  The students have recorded information and are now using the computer to create a presentation slide show.

 Research included printed information as well.

Strawberry is Nut-Free

First Buddies!

Thank you all who were able to attend Back to School Night las night.  Those who were not will be receiving the information folder by mail that includes TBS info and Classroom info.  I will also make the classroom info available on the blog shortly.

Photos of our time with our Buddies are below.  

Reminder:  Thursday, September 26, 6:00pm, Fort Ross Chaperone Meeting.

There were a few topics we did not have time for last night that I would like to bring to everyone's attention:

MAP testing week of September 30:  In the TBS portion of the packet is an informational sheet about this testing program being done online.  This replaces the previous standardized testing that occurred at TBS in the past.  Today the kids learned how to log in to the TBS MAP site, and learned about the nature of the test.  They seem excited.  To make testing successful, each student will need head phones to plug into the computer and a calculator.  Please let us know if your child will need us to provide these, otherwise, please send these into school by September 30 labeled with your child's name.

Rubric in the packet:  Please take a look at the reflection rubrics for MATH and WRITING in the classroom side of the packet.  This is one way students reflect on their learning, and make plans for progress.  Similar rubrics, on a smaller scale are used during projects to help students aim high.

Stewardship:  This year Strawberry Creek will be involved with the Shorebird Nature Center at the Berkeley Marina, and possibly other local environmental/ecological organizations to support the ongoing effort to maintain a healthy shoreline and stream environment.  This is currently taking shape in the teacher planning stage, and will launch in October to become an ongoing component of our work this year.  Similar to field trips, we will be soliciting adults to help out, but we hope most of our destinations will be within walking distance to keep with our classroom environmental agreements.

Important Parent/Guardian only information about Fort Ross!  Please see "Important Reminders About Fort Ross" to see examples.  An email with more info about this was sent today - it is important the kids are unaware of the details.

Other Fort Ross notes: There are events, dates, times in the, "Important Reminders About Fort Ross" in the Back to School packet.  The packet also includes a packing list and draft schedule for the trip.  We will go over everything with the kids over time and send copies home again later.

Lastly, please take a look at the volunteer form in the packet - fill it out and send it in if you were not here last night.  There will be an email later to the Fort Ross Chaperones who were not at Back to School Night to help them rank the role group choices.  Chaperones will learn of their role group placement early next week.

We met with our Buddies today to interview each other and read a few books.

Have a great weekend!

Tonight is Back to School Night!

Hope to see you tonight!  6:00-8:00pm

Back to School Night is Tomorrow!

Strawberry is Nut-Free:  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math:  No homework tonight.  The students learned to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators - a big step with fractions!  They were amazing.    

2. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19: K-5 Back to School Night (tomorrow!)
6:00-7:00pm Thursday, September 26:  Fort Ross Chaperone Meeting (for chaperones                                                           as arranged after Back to School Night) 

Tuesday, September 24 - Photo Day 

Today in Strawberry Creek - We dove further into our research about California Indians, held a class meeting with lively discussions about class pets (yes, the conversation has started again), and the Zones of Regulation.  More to come on that soon.

 Researching websites of California Indian tribes and bands.

 Locating what region, modern cities and geographic landmarks are within the original tribal areas.  Students discovered that some tribes joined with others and do not necessarily live in the same areas today.  We also noticed a gap between L.A. and S.F. along the Mission chain where very few tribes have a presence today.

Students explored the websites to discover how the websites can be used.   Similar to a city website, the tribal sites often had links to current political issues, community events, civil service and historical information.

Presentation about Ohlone culture

Strawberry is Nut-Free:  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math:  Adding and Subtracting fractions (we had a little extra time at the end of class today, so some students completed this at school).

2. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Fort Ross Chaperone Meeting (for chaperones as arranged after Back to School Night):  6:00-7:00pm Thursday, September 26

Photo Day: Tuesday, September 24 - Please note that the forms were sent home with the wrong date circled.

Today in Strawberry Creek -

We began our day with a special presentation about Ohlone Indian traditions, stories and dances explained with historical background by Wicahpiluta Candelaria (Luta).  Luta discussed the impact of the Mission system in California, the Gold Rush and the danger of misinformation and stereotyping in modern culture related to Native People.  He also answered questions from the students.  

 Students joined a bear dance.

Strawberry is Nut-Free:  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: Parts of Rectangles worksheet:  Option 1 or Option 2 (the only difference is the backside)

2. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Photo Day: Tuesday, September 24 - Please note that the forms were sent home with the wrong date circled.

Fort Ross:  We are closing in on the number of chaperones needed to make Fort Ross a success. Thank you for all who have expressed an interest so far.  See the summer letter for more details about the responsibilities of chaperones.  At Back to School Night, we will briefly discuss the responsibilities, explain the job/role playing groups, answer any questions about the trip, and hope to fill any last chaperone spots open.  That is also when chaperones will inform us of their interest in job/role playing groups.  One note, adults are not assigned to the same group as their child.

Today in Strawberry Creek - The students began the 2nd phase of a writing project began last week, and are crafting descriptive lines for a poem about their summers.  During Word Study we studied there, their and they're, and practiced applying the correct homophone in different situations.  The students have selected a "just right" chapter book for reading time, and we are holding our first teacher/student reading conferences about their selection.  Lastly, the last part of the day we talked about California Indians, and watched an informative video about the theory of the migration of people across the Bering land bridge during an ice age.  We followed the video with a creation story from the Modoc people of Northern California involving Mt. Shasta and how people came to be.  Using the varying versions of how the first people came to live in North America we shared ideas about how and why stories are part of cultures.  The students noted connections to stories from other parts of the world as well.  Spanish Missions came up in our conversation, and the impact on mostly coastal communities.  We are now on to studying discreet groups of California Indians by first locating the current tribe via websites.  The students made great progress uncovering websites with information about the tribes today.  

Kuskov Visits Again

Reminder:  Strawberry is going Nut-Free on Monday, September 16:  Please see this letter for more details.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Photo Day is Tuesday, September 24.  Also, please note that there are no dress codes for photo day as suggested on your form.  That ended up on the TBS form accidentally. 

Fort Ross:  We are closing in on the number of chaperones needed to make Fort Ross a success. Thank you for all who have expressed an interest so far.  See the summer letter for more details about the responsibilities of chaperones.  At Back to School Night, we will briefly discuss the responsibilities, explain the job/role playing groups, answer any questions about the trip, and hope to fill any last chaperone spots open.  That is also when chaperones will inform us of their interest in job/role playing groups.  One note, adults are not assigned to the same group as their child.

Today in Strawberry Creek - We began the day with our first Cerritoberry meeting - Strawberry and Cerrito Creeks together.  We talked about our hopes for the year together followed by a game of Giants, Wizards and Elves at the grass field.  Other activities today included personalizing our writer's books and experiencing our first Academic Flex time, during which we had another visit from Ivan Kuskov.  Kuskov erupted from the time-portal-closet carrying a list with names of students in their assigned jobs for the Russian American Company in the Militia, Hunter, Cook, Gardener and Artisan positions.

Collage - decorating writer's books.

Games during choices.

CA Geography

Reminder:  Strawberry is going Nut-Free by Monday, September 16:  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: Roman Numerals sheet or play MADS again (or both if you like).  Some students chose to save the numerals sheet for in class work, and others finished it in class today.  MADS rules and cards if you need another set.  Today in Math we divided our time between finishing the What is One? project, took pre-assessment and introduced Roman numerals.  

2. Magazines & Photos - We will collage over our writer's books in class tomorrow.  Students may bring in items to use in their collage.  We will also have magazines available in the classroom.

3. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Photo Day: Tuesday, September 24 - Please note that the forms were sent home with the wrong date circled.

Fort Ross:  We are closing in on the number of chaperones needed to make Fort Ross a success. Thank you for all who have expressed an interest so far.  See the summer letter for more details about the responsibilities of chaperones.  At Back to School Night, we will briefly discuss the responsibilities, explain the job/role playing groups, answer any questions about the trip, and hope to fill any last chaperone spots open.  That is also when chaperones will inform us of their interest in job/role playing groups.  One note, adults are not assigned to the same group as their child.

Today in Strawberry Creek - We began our first multi-step writing project with prewriting activities involving topic lists and idea webs to expand on our topics.  We also had our first Art class in split groups, during which half of the students remained in class to continue CA geography activities.  We introduced a text book to the kids - the first experience with an actual text book for most - and began a map making lesson of California.  The text book was used as reference, as we studied its organization and structure, identified key information, and explored maps, charts and diagrams.  

 Appying for Fort Ross jobs (Tuesday) using our television set from last year's play.

 What is One?  Making fractional reltionships.

 Reading our Just Right Books.

 CA geography.

 Using the Oh, California text book as reference.

 Drawing maps of California - we started with the 4 major regions.

Class Agreements!

Reminder:  Strawberry is going Nut-Free by Monday, September 16:  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: Cut out the green game cards and play a round of MADS. Please keep the cards and rules in the envelope inside your RED math folder in the binder.  We will play again!   MADS rules and cards if you need another set.

2. Magazines & Photos - We will collage over our writer's books in class this week.  Students may bring in items to use in their collage.  We will also have magazines available in the classroom.

3. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Photo Day: Tuesday, September 24 - Please note that the forms were sent home with the wrong date circled.

Fort Ross:  We are closing in on the number of chaperones needed to make Fort Ross a success. Thank you for all who have expressed an interest so far.  See the summer letter for more details about the responsibilities of chaperones.  At Back to School Night, we will briefly discuss the responsibilities, explain the job/role playing groups, answer any questions about the trip, and hope to fill any last chaperone spots open.  That is also when chaperones will inform us of their interest in job/role playing groups.  One note, adults are not assigned to the same group as their child.

Today in Strawberry Creek - Today was our second day of PE, first of Spanish for 4th grade and Music for 5th.  We took a virtual journey around California via Google Earth to look at the geography of the state and take a sneak peek at Fort Ross.  Technology has certainly brought many wonderful experiences right to our finger tips.

Agreements:  After several sessions discussing our agreements, student committees working on rewording them, and a final teacher edit with student input, we agreed to agree!

Here is what the 2013-2014 Strawberry Community Agreements look like this year:

Strawberry Creek students and teachers

agree that to build a supportive community,

be environmentally aware

and encourage learning, we will:

Listen – everyone is worth hearing from

Treat each other fairly – don’t swim with the “selfish”

or threaten or bully or put people down

Cooperate and respect others and their belongings

Be thoughtful about how we talk about each other (including school work), and careful not to “yuck someone’s yum”

Understand everyone needs to work at his or her own pace

Not be afraid to ask for help, and be there for others when they need it too

Learn from errors – encourage growth!

Try not to waste anything:

water – turn off the faucet

paper – use only what you need

cans & bottles – recycle, recycle, recycle!

compost – worm bin or green bin, it’s a renewable resource!

gas – bike or walk to school if or when you can

electricity – out goes the light!

Acknowledge the school has a budget for materials and it isn’t endless.

Follow the rules ‘cause they’re there to help.

and . . .

Represent!  Set a good example.

Photo Day Information Change

Strawberry is going Nut-Free by Monday, September 16:  A student in Strawberry Creek is highly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)

4th Grade Math: No homework tonight - we had a short math class due to the all school assembly.  Here is a note about for 4th Grade Math that has also been emailed to you.

2. Magazines & Photos - We will collage over our writer's books in class this week.  Students may bring in items to use in their collage.  We will also have magazines available in the classroom.

3. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Photo Day: Tuesday, September 24 - Please note that the forms were sent home today with the wrong date.

Fort Ross:  The students applied for their role playing groups for Fort Ross today.  The trip is Nov. 11-12, and includes much preparation, this first being a crucial step.  Another important step is to hear from everyone interested in being a chaperone on the trip. A number of parents  have already offered to be chaperones.  Even though will discuss the trip at Back to School Night on September 19, please let us know if you are interested in being a chaperone before then.  See the summer letter for more details about the responsibilities of chaperones.  At Back to School Night, we will briefly discuss the responsibilities, explain the job/role playing groups, answer any questions about the trip, and hope to fill any last chaperone spots open.  That is also when chaperones will inform us of their interest in job/role playing groups.  One note, adults are not assigned to the same group as their child.

Strawberry is going Nut-Free by Monday, September 16:  A student in Strawberry Creek is highly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.  Please see this letter for more details.

Home Assignments:
1. 
5th Grade Math: packet due Friday (please see the side link to the Cerrito Creek blog)
4th Grade Math: Crack the Code - due Tuesday.
In 4th Grade math we have been learning routines and practicing math related activities that will be part of our year together.  The recent assignment, "What is One," is an exploration into fractions and the concept of "one whole" as it relates to the math we will be exploring this year.  The students analyzed their "one" object by breaking it into parts in a web.  The total parts created the "whole" for this object that we are now using to build understanding of the purpose of the numerator, denominator and how to make a fraction of an amount, such as 1/3 of 12.

2. Magazines & Photos - We will collage over our writer's books in class this week.  Students may bring in items to use in their collage.  We will also have magazines available in the classroom.

3. Summer Artifact - We are still sharing summer artifacts this week.

4. Reading (every night)– Read for at least 20 minutes each night.  The students should record the title and pages they read each day in their homework planner in their binder.

Upcoming Dates
K-5 Back to School Night: 6:00-8:00pm Thursday, September 19

Today in Strawberry:

 Class Agreements: Student committees took on sorting through the notes from our class agreements group brainstorm and came up with the main points to propose to the class.

 Agreement categories today included, how we care for each other, the environment and our classroom.

 Ocean science:  We kicked off our study of the ocean and kelp forest that will be ongoing this Fall, with a look at earth and its resources.  Using an apple to model the earth, we sliced away fractional parts of the apple in accordance with the approximate proportions of resources.

 The fractional relationships were also drawn on a paper plate chart.

Lake Anza Success!

What a great day for the lake!  It was a terrific way to end our first week.

Photos from our day:

Have a great weekend!