China Town

We had a terrific outing today in San Francisco's China town thanks to Kevin Wisney as our tour guide.  Kevin planned a route that took us in and out of alleys and past historical buildings while telling stories of the evolution of China town and the people who made a difference.  Photos below.

Homework

4th Grade Math:  Homework problems (due Weds.) Please note that the problems are challenging and the expectation is that students try them, but not that they can solve all of them.  Optional memorize PI (for Friday).

5th Grade Math:  2 pages in your skills packet (20 minutes worth)

Reading 20 minutes  (don't forget to record your reading in the planner)

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Puberty Ed. is next week.

 Entering under the gate to China Town.

 Grant Street, China Town!

 Waverly Place:  Building in the background built with bricks from the 1906 destruction, including klinker bricks that were scorched in the fire following the quake.

 Alley to fortune cookie factory.

 Kevin provided a selection of Dim Sum from a local restaurant at lunch in Portsmouth Square.

 Cityscape.

 Playground at St. Mary's square.

China Town Field Trip Tomorrow!

Homework

4th Grade Math:  Homework problems (due Weds.) & Optional memorize PI (for Friday)Today in 4th grade math we learned to use the circumference and diameter or circular objects to find PI.

5th Grade Math:  2 pages in your skills packet (20 minutes worth)

Handwriting or Typing Practice (15 minutes):  Handwriting in workbook or go to "http://strawberry.typingclub.com/strawberry/" and enter your first name and the password, "strawberry"

Reading 20 minutes  (don't forget to record your reading in the planner)

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Field Trip tomorrow - Walking Tour of China Town,  Tuesday, March 18. 
• Puberty Ed. is next week.

Field Trip Details:  We will be walking quite a bit (with many pauses) as this is a walking tour led by a professional tour guide.  During lunch we will have a sampling of Dim Sum, however the students should still bring a lunch and snack with them.  Since they are carrying their lunch, it is best to keep it simple, and relatively compact.  Water bottle is a must!

We will have students plan with a buddy if they want to share a backpack between them for the day.  Please be sure to bring:

• Good walking shoes
• Water bottle!
• Snack & Lunch
• Jacket
• Day pack
• Hat
• Sunscreen

Measuring the circumference of a plate to find Pi.

 Measuring the circumference of the table.

Calculating Pi (Circumference ÷ Diameter)

Calculations came super close:  3.12, 3.15, 3.16 etc.

HOMEWORK
4th Grade Math: Complete 2nd. page (both sides):  Decimal homework.  A few students have the Advanced Decimal homework (due Wednesday).

5th Grade Math: Finish math class work & reflection work.

Reading 20 minutes


UPCOMING EVENTS

• Conferences, Thursday and Friday, March 13 & 14
• Field Trip - Walking Tour of China Town,  Tuesday, March 18.  Field trip will be at your conference.

Tonight: Puberty Ed. Event / Particle Size Matters

HOMEWORK
4th Grade Math: Complete 1st. page (both sides):  Decimal homework.  A few students have the Advanced Decimal homework (due Wednesday).

5th Grade Math: Finish math class work & 2nd page of packet.

Grammar:  Pronouns worksheet (from lesson today)

Reading 20 minutes


UPCOMING EVENTS

• TONIGHT:  Puberty Education info. event, Monday, March 10, 7:00-8:00pm
• Conferences, Thursday and Friday, March 13 & 14

Today in Strawberry:  This morning the students began assembling their binder/portfolios for conferences this week.  They are creating goals to focus on for the next month and reflecting on their understanding and effort on projects.  We had the next installment in grammar lessons focusing on pronouns, followed by an extended writing workshop on persuasive writing.  

Chemistry:  This brought of final lesson in a series related to density and volume.  In previous demonstrations we found that something is going on when to liquids are mixed together of different densities (alcohol and water) to make the resulting volume less than expected.  The same was true with rock salt and water after shaking the jar to dissolve the salt.  While not all the salt dissolved, the water level actually went down.  In today's activity the students added materials to baby food jars in succession:  marbles, corn kernels and sand.  Each time filling the jar with the material before adding the next.   The end result could be seen within the jar:  the corn migrated into the gaps between marbles, and the sand filled in the rest.  The learning goal:  particle or molecule size differences can help explain the change in volume that happened in the previous experiments.  The water molecule is smaller than the alcohol molecule, so when combined less space is taken up by the mixture.  While the difference is small (about 3 milliliters in our test) it is measurable. 

Chemistry photos:

 Filling the jar with marbles by the "scoop."

 Predicting how many scoops of corn will fit into the jar with the marbles.

 Shaking the jar of corn and marbles.

 Marbles and corn kernels.

  Adding sand.

 Recording data and observations.

  

Any more space?  How about if we add water?

Some students pointed out there was already something in between the grains of sand: air.

Photos: Self Portrait Paper Puppets & Decimal Dog

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Puberty Education info. event, Monday, March 10, 7:00-8:00pm
• Conferences, Thursday and Friday, March 13 & 14

Decimal Dog: During 4th grade Math today the students participated in a participatory lesson on decimals called Decimal Dog.  While the students form decimal numbers called out, Decimal Dog stands watch at the decimal point (see photo).  The class helps to place digits in the wrong place before Decimal Dog takes a bite.

 Learning how to place the last digit can be confusing.  Acting out the numbers helped the students become familiar quickly with the place value alignments of tenths, hundredths and thousandths.

While half the class were in charge of the digits forming decimal numbers, the other half recorded the numbers called out on white boards.  Later, students proposed challenge numbers for the digit holders to solve.

Art Class with Julianne:  Here are Strawberry Creek paper self portraits. Students are going to create scenes of how to make friends and invite others to do things.

Have a great weekend!