Saturday, May 17, 2008

Composting at CLC (Pictures)








Composting at CLC

The learners were given a challenge on their overnight to Coloma Outdoor Discovery School (CODS) to go back to their community and take action to help the environment. They chose reducing litter and composting. They came back to school to realize
that due to construction, the previous food waste composting program
that the school was working on through Allied Waste had for all intents
and purposes, had been "scrapped". The fourth grader decided to try to
rally interest and provide education around composting again. In their own
words:
C.H.: Why is it important to compost?
It is important to compost because
soil is the #1 thing that we lose every year and compost turns food
into soil. In an article Susan Lang says, "Around the world, soil is
being swept and washed away 10 to 40 times faster than it is being
replenished, destroying croplands around the size of Indiana every
year." You can make a compost bin at your house. You can't put meat or
dairy in it because animals can get in it. We can compost meat and
dairy here at school because our waste goes straight to Allied Waste
services to make compost. The upper graders had already brought
composting to our school, but then when the construction started, we
stopped using the compost bins.
A.K. and E.M.: Announcements
The fourth graders took on composting as a project. We had many different elements. One of them was to announce what we were doing. We announced in pairs right before
lunch to tell everyone about the composting. We did that for a week.
Our announcement basically reminded people to compost and gave tips
like to reduce waste by having a reusable lunchbox. The announcements
really helped.
C.V.: Composting Skits
The fourth graders at the SCCLC have been composting and wanted a fun way to show the younger kids at our school how to use the compost bins. We thought of different ways,
and in the end decided that we would make up skits. So we got into
groups and started making skits, one for each of the three K/1
classrooms. We practiced and tried toincorporate fun into our skits. Two of the groups had superheroes in their skits. We used props like trash cans and biodegradable bags
that we would use for the K/1 bins. We hope that after our skits the
K/1s will know and understand composting better. The more people that
compost, the more quickly the effects will show.
A.F. and C.H.: Monitoring
During lunch we have monitors standing by the compost bins and helping people decide where to put their food scraps. Before we did this, the trash cans were always full and the compost bins only had one or two things in them. Now the trash cans barely have anything in them and the compost bins are full! There is a huge difference and we are really helping the environment. We are also trying to reduce waste by reusing plastic bags. We are planning on doing this the rest of the year.
Our next step is to lower the food waste because we are lucky we have this
much food. Kids all over the world need food, and it's wasteful to get
rid of it. Now we are going to give away extra food to ourafterschool
program instead of composting it or throwing it away, so they can have
some snacks.


It was great to see the learners noticing all the
interconnections between their choices and environmental impact, both
good and bad. Many have concluded through this process that composting is a
wonderful way to help the earth, but waste and consumption are really part of a
larger complex problem. They continue to meet at least once a week to
check in with the progress and think about ways to continue to help the
environment and continue a successful program at school. To show
reducing waste in action, Marty, our beloved lower grade PE teacher,
gave a demonstration of his wastefuel powered car. He described the difference between using "regular" gas, biofuel, and wastefuel. He explained the rising food costs in relation to the increased demand of biofuels among other environmental topics.
Learners filtered oil from the local, popular Coyote Cafe, and poured this fuel into Marty's modified gas tank. They were amazed to see the leftover oil from frying tortilla chips being filtered and used to power his car.

It has been a wonderful experience seeing the learners really thinking about environmental issues and exploring ways they can make a difference. I believe this group will continue to work on and tackle these issues once they leave our
classroom and head to the "upper grades" and, hopefully, beyond.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Persona Link

http://books.google.com/books?id=fDJfjjefKagC&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=Boyhood+Days:+Ygnacio+Villegas'+Reminiscences+of+California+in+the+1850s&source=web&ots=wdXnrpZ5yW&sig=w8J2yJVh0jw0hkMfE7q6TEOm7XQ&hl=en#PPA73,M1

Monday, April 21, 2008

POM OPEN DISCUSSION

We should be well into our current POM by now. I created this discussion for families that might have questions or ideas about the current problem. Please post them in the comments section here so we can share with one another.

THE LATEST 4TH GRADE NEWS

CODS (See newly posted photos on previous blog.)

Their experiences continue to be a regular conversation point in our class meetings and lessons. One of the challenges presented at CODS was for learners to come up with a way to help their community as a “Miner of the Future”. Keep your eyes out for more information of how the 4th graders are meeting this challenge. They are planning on wearing their CODS green bandannas on Monday (and/or green shirts if they have them.) to help kick off this project. (A reminder: if you happen to have any of the shirts and dresses from school, we’d love for them to be returned so learners can have them available for next year.)

ROPES/PLPs

We know that learners are working very hard on their ROPES projects. We did a check-in on Monday and most reported good progress and a few butterflies. We’ll continue to be available to chat with learners about questions and feelings they have. We’ll schedule some in class sharing time in late May early June, so that everyone can showcase their hard work. Thank you for your facilitation and support of your learner during this big undertaking. We hope that it has been a rewarding experience for all, and welcome your feedback about the process.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We jumped right into focused work, by committing a large portion of the beginning of the week to the District Writing Assessments. All learners will have time to complete the assessments, which focus on one type of writing genre (summary of informational text). We’ll be putting our finishing touches on our in class summaries in the next week or so as well. We continue to work on word work with Kim Holl, as well as editing tips on conventions such as proper use of commas, capitalization, etc., and other topics through mini-lessons and writing conferences. Our last round of book groups will start in a couple of weeks. We’ll be reading some great novels and picture books that tie into important events surrounding many different Californians in the late 19th and early 20th century.

SCIENCE
(See “Science Rocks!” blog below.)

MATH

Math has been filled with the study of fractions, decimals, and percents. Learners have been discovering ways to add fractions with the use of a clock face. We have learned several new games to support these concepts. Many of these games are in the learners homework folders, so please encourage them to play some of them at home in the next few weeks. We also created posters that compared different sized fractions. The learners have learned a lot the past several weeks (pictures to follow). We will be moving into division next! We’re also continuing math studies in geometry and other areas. We plotted coordinates (x,y) on a coordinate grid to copy a design and then made our own designs using blank grids. We then explored this concept in SS using longitude and latitude to find ports of call in 1849. We also solved some math problems involving the number of people using the Panama Route vs. the Golden Horn Route, and then used that information to draw conclusions about those routes.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We’re slowly tying up the Gold Rush unit of study and moving forward in time. We don’t want to forget to thank Christian, Carmen’s dad for preparing and presenting an interesting lesson about the Gold Rush and it’s effect on California. The learners were able to use their new information from their visit to Coloma to address the interesting questions that Christian posed. In the next few weeks, learners will be choosing important people in history to focus on as part of a larger project that will hopefully synthesize much of the information we have learned this year. We will also begin to learn about SF after the gold rush in order to support the milestone in June.

FAB & SEL

We are using our Wednesday FAB time to focus on some important things. Christina, our beloved instructional assistant, is running a six-week unit on Social Emotional Learning. Although, classroom meetings and SEL language are used in the classroom, we’re sure these SEL related activities will be enriching for the learners and the classroom culture. Lucia is continuing to share her interest and talent in music and history. She’ll be focusing on preparing our merry group of sailors as they prepare for the Age of Sail through song, dance, and sailing lore and skills. We hope to have some other experts help us get us “ship shape” come June.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please send us an email at clc4@gmail.com. Thanks again for all of your support, from helping in the classroom and other school activities, to supporting field trips, to being your child’s cheerleader for ROPES and at least one thousand and two other things!

Warm regards,

Lale & Elysha

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Science Rocks!




Our class has been studying rocks and minerals for the past couple of weeks. Stacy came by one day with bags full of her family's collection of rocks. She shared the collection of metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks with the class. The children had very good observations that led them to note certain characteristics of these different types of rocks.

On another day the class used crayons to demonstrate the rock cycle. The learners each started with their single color igneous rocks (no grains, layers, or streaks). They made shavings of their "rocks" which represented erosion and combined and pressed different pieced together to create a layered, grainy sedimentary rock. They exposed these rocks to some more pressure and to heat which created metamorphic rock. They seemed to have a lot of fun creating pressure on their individual samples. It's not everyday that you get to stomp up and down on your work. You may seen their metamorphic rocks when they brought them home last week. The learners will continue to explore rocks and minerals in the upcoming weeks.

CODS: A Miner's Life
















As you have heard and seen from your children, as well as from the parent chaperones, this trip was an amazing experience. It was so impressive to watch the children explore so many different facets of learning on so many levels. They should feel very proud of their accomplishments over the three days. Thank you so much to Vivian, Denise, Neil and Ross for being chaperones; to Amy for being backup; and to Pam, Sonya, and Amy for driving "stagecoaches". Thanks again to each and every one of you for supporting this trip. Watching them read your creative letters on the second day was very moving. They absolutely loved them! I witnessed many special moments like this throughout our time in Coloma.
From the moment the learners stepped beyond the "School in Session" sign, they were transported to 1849. They tackled many challenges and enjoyed many experiences similar to miners California searching for riches years ago. Making a shelter that can withstand the elements, bartering and buying supplies, making cornbread, singing, and learning about the hardships of mining towns Dry Diggin's or Humbug were just some of the fun to be had the first day.

CODS: Monroe Ridge Hike





Our second day included a hike that featured a lot of environmental education, including a professor walk, where the children learned facts about many native plants and then had the chance to teach that fact four times.  The naturalists showed evidence of the positive and negative impacts of the Gold Rush on the original inhabitants and on the natural landscape. A silent solo hike and eating an apple, core, stem and all, was also a part of the adventure. This wonderful day culminated in an evening talk under a large tree by the river. A local Native American culture keeper, Kimberly Shiningstar, held the learners captive with powerful stories, songs, drumming, and  facts about her life and her people.

CODS: KP, Gold Panning, Play Photos









Friday, March 7, 2008

A Visitor From the Russian American Company







Last week, we decided to go against logic and send a "message in a bottle" to one of the Commandants of the Russian American Company which was settled in the 1800's. There was a rumor that this has been the way CLC learners have reached people from history that are lost in time. Lo and behold, on Monday morning Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangel, an Estonian admiral, husband, and leader at Fort Ross appeared in Room 11! Baron von Wrangel is noted for helping foster good relations with the Alaskans, Coast Miwok, other local tribes and the Russians, as well as helping with conservation measures for a quickly disappearing otter population. He told us of his history, explained how his lineage is connected to Inga's (hence the strong familial resemblance), and described his life at Colony Ross. The learners, having studied his bio earlier, had interview questions for him as well. He took the time to write everyone's name in Cyrillic alphabet, but then he was off, back to sea to try to find a way back to his family and life 1800's. We are so grateful to have visitors like the Baron visit us and help us get a taste of what life was in the past. Later, Christine and Lale spent PE time with the learners learning the troika, a celebratory Russian dance. The learners reprised the dance with Christing the next day, with many learners dressed in clothing of the time period. Alas, Fort Ross was sold to John Sutter after a period of just about thirty years, and not to soon after, John Sutter's name would be famous for something else. Next week we'll continue to look to the sea to study how "Argonauts" sailed from places all over the world upon the news of gold in California. The Gold Rush is on!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

February Update

We hope everyone had a wonderful President’s Week.

DATES TO NOTE:
Thursday, February 28 6:00 pm Community Meeting Math Information Night
Elysha will be presenting with Fran about POM and problem solving at the CLC. We hope you can make it. Learners are welcome to attend.

Tuesday, March 4 STAR Writing Test
Please make sure that your learner is on time for school that day. It’s only a one day assessment.

Monday, March 24 – Wednesday, March 26, CODS Gold Rush Overnight

UPDATE:
Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on and what’s coming up in our classroom.

LA
We ended a round of book groups facilitated by Patti, Sandee, Jacqui, Laurel and Emma right before our break. Thanks, ladies! The learners had weekly assignments and meetings and after the books were finished, each group worked together to create an informational poster that included historical background, vocabulary discussed during the reading, a description of the narrator and his/her point of view in the story, and other literary elements. We are working on informational writing in Writer’s Workshop. Minilessons have included finding important facts and phrases and avoiding copying words and organizing work chronologically. We’ve critiqued sample student summaries and we’re currently using an article on Fort Ross to practice writing summaries in groups and independently. Learners will be choosing articles and writing summaries in the next couple of weeks.
Kim Holl, our school Reading Specialist, will be running a word work/reading seminar with the fourth graders. Learners will work with Kim in small groups on Tuesday mornings. In Kim’s words, “Students at this level need to learn to visually take words apart and put them back together quickly. We will be starting with single syllables and moving very quickly into longer multisyllabic words. This process is about pronunciation, not word meanings. We will be working on these skills in isolation first,. Later they will have the opportunities to put it together in context.” Learners continue to work on word roots and affixes meanings and other skills that dovetail with this work.


Math
Learners have been working on problem solving through practice MARS tasks. We are helping them to prepare for the MARS testing that will be taking place next week. We have also been working on decimals, percents, and fractions and their relationship to one another. We’ve used 100 grids to create designs and then label the percent and fraction shaded. In the next few weeks we will begin to order and compare fractions on a number line. We will look at how to reduce and simplify fractions through “peanut buttering” (stay tuned for more details about exactly what this is) and will explore equivalent fractions. We be concurrently introducing and working on geometry as we continue work on decimals and fractions.


Social Studies
We have been exploring settlers in the 1800’s. Californios, the Donnor Party, the Russians, Alaskans, Kashaya, and Coast Miwok of Fort Ross, are some of the people we have looked at through discussions, informational articles and reading historical fiction as book groups and as read alouds We are sending a message in a bottle, hoping for the bottle to time travel and reach a very special Commandant at a certain Russian settlement. We hope he can make it so that we can interview him about life at Fort Ross. We are moving into the Bear Flag Revolt and the Gold Rush as we prepare to be miners of the past.

Coloma Overnight
We will be ready to go by 7am, Monday, March 24. We will be returning sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 (est.) on Wednesday, March 26. Please read over your yellow handbooks with your learners, if you haven’t already done so. Remember that there is a DVD available to borrow that shows every detail of the trip if you are interested or think that your child may be feeling nervous and may feel more secure seeing what will happen. A question that came up in class more than once when going over the handbook was in regards to bringing a stuffed animal or blanket. Toys are not allowed, but if you know that your learner will be comforted and is very used to a sleeping “item”, they can bring it. Please remind them that these items should be for sleeping and not playing purposes during the trip. There is limited car space for packing, so please keep that in mind. This field trip does require a detailed medical form. It should have come home with the handbook. Please return them as soon as you can. You can return them in the envelope in my folder, or your child can return it to me directly. (I will have some school approved first aid items with me for scrapes btw.) Direct all questions about this trip to Lale.

FAB
This is the last week of some “FAB”ulous enrichment classes. We want to thank Emma (again), Lucia Sanchez, Sonya Sigler, and Sharon Collier, for providing these experiences for this round. After next week’s LAB break, the learners will switch groups and experience different activities.

LAB
Our scientists will be exploring rocks and minerals starting next week. We will make connections to Social Studies as we explore the Gold Rush. More information will come shortly.

Learner Updates
Don’t hear it only from us! We regularly post updates from learners about fourth grade happenings. You can check it out on our website. Here’s the direct link

http://v3.scclc.net/class_4/default.aspx

It can also be accessed through our class homepage if you click on learner updates.



Thanks for reading!

Lale and Elysha

Monday, February 25, 2008

Dear Families,

This year we are trying to gather feedback in a different way. We have created an online survey for you to answer questions specific to the fourth grade. At the end of that survey, you will automatically be redirected to a short individual survey for both Elysha and then Lale. Please take a moment to complete this survey. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=3pcw2gfxa1zkw0y395557

Please don't hesitate to ask if you have questions. I will also add this link to our class website (on the educators page).

Best,
Elysha and Lale