4th Grade Math: No homework this week. Optional: take home long division page. The students have been learning long division in math recently. We will continue practicing and learning alternate methods for long division after the break.
5th Grade Math: Finish 2 pages of geometry work. If you do not have a compass that is okay.
Book Swap: Collect books to bring in for the book swap. Please deliver the books to the office by Wednesday. The swap is on Thursday.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Partridge is our visiting author tomorrow. If you have a book by her you would like signed, please bring it to school tomorrow.
Reading 20 minutes (don't forget to record your reading in the planner)
Upcoming Events:
Author Visit: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30, Betsy Partridge.
Field Trip, April 9: Super EARLY departure of 7:30am. WOW! Yes, we have an early departure for a long drive to the New Almaden Quicksilver mining museum.
Readathon, April 11: A day of reading. Students may come in pajamas and bring sleeping bags, pillow, a stuffed animal and of course, books for a day of lounging and reading. Adults are welcome to join us to read.
Schedule for Readathon:
- 8:30-8:45 - Set up cozy reading spaces
- 8:45-10:00 - Reading time with active break
- 10:00-10:20 - Special snack for Readathon
- 10:20-11:00 - 2nd Reading time
- 11:00-11:45 - PE
- 11:45-12:15 - Recess at the park
- 12:15-12:45 - Lunch
- 12:45-1:00 - Read aloud
- 1:00-1:30 - Reading with Buddies
- 1:30-2:00 - Choices
- 2:00-2:15 - Jobs and Dismissal
Today in Strawberry: Activism, mercury and trash.
Activism: We had several discussions to set up our next big project. The students first helped connect the 5 different topics we learned about last week: The environmental movement and John Muir, Japanese-American Internment during WWII, Rosie the Riveter and Women's Rights, the National Far Workers Association and Cesar Chavez, and the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley during the 60's.
The next step was to create a collective brainstorm about the important information and questions we still have about the movements and events.
Mercury: We also learned about the element of mercury today, and watched informative videos about how mercury is used. One video showed it act as an amalgam with gold - fascinating. From historic movies about the quicksilver business of California, to the impact on the San Francisco Bay from the Gold Rush period from Saving the Bay, the students had a well rounded presentation about the uses and problems of mercury.
Trash: The conversations about the impact of mercury on the Bay, and the activism and Civil Rights issues of the past led to the discussion of the impact of plastics on our environment, and unknown health risks to people. The students met to discuss possible next steps, and to use the activist movements of the past to help us. We also discussed how the Japanese-American internment occurred before the Civil Right Movement in the US, and pondered if that is why people did not protest as they do today?
