Story plays and kelp forests!

Today brought a pair of year-end Celebrations of Learning in the Elementary Division. Tomorrow will be the 1/2 classrooms' year-end presentations; Monday brought Temescal Creek's (3rd grade) publishing party, which I unfortunately saw only briefly and in passing.

In Cerrito and Strawberry (4th/5th grades), the classrooms held a combined showcase of their work and learning during the current Oceans Unit. One portion of Strawberry Creek was transformed into a kelp forest, while Cerrito Creek centered around a tidepool. Both classrooms featured student-written animal reports, with additional activities including a "seagull dissection" emphasizing the impact of the pacific trash patch, live krill for inspection, paper plate models depicting the relative amount of water, land, etc covering the earth's surface, and ocean-related poetry.

In Sweet Briar Creek (Kindergarten), students finished their literature unit on Fairy Tales by putting on a Story Play titled "Good vs. Evil", which they had collectively written. At the conclusion of the play, they answered questions from audience members that ranged from "How did you resolve disagreements about what ideas to include?" and "What parts of this play remind you of other fairy tales?" to "What flavor cake did they eat at the end?"

Images from my day

In Kindergarten math, students practiced skip counting by 25 using a sequence of motions to develop body-concept connection. 

Next came a visit at the Laurel Creek General Store, where students went shopping for items, paid for their purchases,  counted their change and checked their receipts!

Some students did self-correcting puzzles to match coin shapes, names, and values.

Other students practiced adding sequences of coins.

Over in the Art Room, parent volunteers helped silk-screen on Walk-athon logos for next week's event.

In a combined Spanish/Music class, Rennea and Kim taught children songs and dances from throughout Central and South America.

In the Depot, tables were set up nicely for Temescal's Family Day Tea event.

Strawberry Creek (4/5) students worked on building memory boxes for their  Oregon Trail unit.

In Blackberry Creek (K/1), students continued working with the "size of the problem" concept from the Zones of Regulation curriculum. This sequence of lessons helps children match their emotions and reactions to the events and issues they encounter.

Middle School students worked in the art room to prepare for their upcoming Fashion Forward year-end event. This was a massive hit two years ago, and we're all thrilled to see it return!

Back in the Depot, families enjoyed the aftermath of the Temescal event.

Yeah, Bike-to-School Day!

Over at the Chaparral House, Laurel Creek students delivered plants they had germinated in pots they had painted, and sang a few songs to bring some sunshine to the residents.