February 6-10

Well, another week has passed. The first full week in February. We made self-portraits, walked our way through 2 field trips, attended an assembly, and made advertising bake sale posters with our buddies.

Monday:

Julianne came in to help us create our February self portraits inspired by the collage art of Romare Bearden.

Community Meeting. Kate came in to read us the story Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes. We discussed the power of words and how they can both hurt and heal. Kate left us with the 3 questions: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? as our Social Rule of the week.

Writing News from the Weekend:

Block Construction creation from Monday afternoon work time:

Tuesday:

We had our first field trip to the West Branch Berkeley Public Library! The students met librarian Nora, heard 2 stories, received a tour, and checked out books using the self-checkout machine. We will be returning in a few weeks for the children to get their official library cards.

We took a quick detour through the playground on the way back. Once we arrived back at school, the children looked at their new books and played some games.

Wednesday:

We began preparing for our upcoming trip to the Post Office. We talked about the important information needed to send something through the mail. The children worked on carefully writing and spacing the addresses on the envelopes for a special surprise mailing to family members.

Terry and Tommy learned about 2 letter sounds this week. The letter P, which is the Popping Flag sound and the letter T, which is the ticking watch sound.

A highly-embellished Kapla block construction:

Thursday:

 Some students began creating puppets and decided to have a puppet show. They have made puppets and scenery so far and are beginning to write the script. We will bring you more information on this wonderful child-driven project as it develops.

Our math focus has been on sequencing and recognizing pattern in numbers. We are working collaboratively to fill in a 100's board and using skip counting skills to find short-cuts.

We had precious moments during book time, when children were challenged with finding and reading 3 "just right" books and 1 choice book.

We had some time for sharing....
 

K/1 Playscape Council representatives Kailamae and William went over the revised playscape agreements and showed us some new materials in both the front and back yards.

Friday:

Free Friday had a special visitor this week. Sam, a graduate of Laurel Creek and a current 2nd grader in Sweet Briar, came to share some information about the Service Learning Student Council. 

We headed off on our walking trip to the A Station Berkeley Post Office. Branch Manager Susan greeted us and began the tour. Students had clipboards and pencils to check off items that they found on a post office scavenger hunt. We met Chuck, a veteran mail carrier and mural artist who answered burning questions about the important role of the mail carrier.

Block area work:

Later on Friday afternoon our Strawberry Creek buddies joined us to begin making posters as a part of our advertising efforts for an upcoming bake sale. The students in Strawberry recently visited the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito and were inspired to raise money to support their work in helping animals in need. The bake sale will be held Thursday, March 8th after school in the labyrinth. We may call upon you as bakers to help make some (nut-free) delicious goods to sell!

We hope everyone has a lovely, restful weekend.

Take care,

Lyssa and Ben