Hello Crew! I apologize for getting this newsletter out so late in the month. We are wrapping up the end of the semester, which ends on January 30th. I can’t believe we are already half way finished!! I want to say that I am very proud of this crew. They have come a long way since the beginning of the year. We are having fun, and learning in the process. Here are some updates:

 Expedition

Our last case study, It’s Elemental, is all about the subatomic world, chemistry, and the periodic table. The students have identified substances and physical and chemical changes as they experimented with reactions. They have created a model of an atom and will be linking art with the elements. We are also in the building phase of our Rube Goldberg project, in which the students are building complex machines that will “turn a page”. They are solidifying their knowledge of force and motion and honing their engineering and collaboration skills. The end of the month will wrap up this expedition and in February we will begin our Social Studies Expedition. Details to come!

Math

The students are working with transformations and similarities. In this section students are learning how to transform shapes by flipping, turning, and sliding them on a coordinate graph. They are describing movement on a graph using coordinates and expressions. And finally, they are comparing shapes and using similarity to find missing side lengths of polygons, especially triangles.

Reading

We are breaking down the process of writing quality responses to literature. We are doing this in class as the students finish up their last book club book. In January we will be moving forward to and all-class read that relates to the Social Studies Expedition.

Writing

The students are writing short responses to literature based on the reading that they complete for that day. We are also spending 15-20 minutes free-writing in our writer’s notebooks. These free writes and responses to literature will be used (separately) to create longer pieces as we move forward. A final informative writing assignment will accompany the students’ Rube Goldberg project.

Upcoming Fieldwork

I am currently working on solidifying dates for fieldwork related to our next expedition. Our kick-off will include a walk through downtown Truckee. I will need about 5 volunteers to accompany us. Volunteers will be active participants. Please contact me if you are interested. I am also working on putting together a trip to Sacramento to visit the Capitol and a trip to San Francisco to visit Angel Island, Chinatown, and to offer our services to the community.