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!