WEEKLY UPDATE

February 24th to February 28th

On Monday we had circle, the questions were "What is your goal for the rest of the school year?" and "What did you do over break?". In art we made symmetrical black light flowers. We had Monday Workday we had to do Science Fair, Maya Angelo poem, and lesson 8 homework for math. 

On Tuesday in social studies we did an atlas worksheet. In math we learned how to analyzing  equivalent expressions adding and subtracting. We had FLASH and talked about consent and sexual abuse. In art we continued making symmetrical black light flowers. 

On Wednesday we voted on Mr Hills classes President, our presidents are Lelia and Sylvie and our Secretary is Hymn. In social studies we voted for Mr Hill and Mr Browns joint class government heads and completed our atlas worksheets. The trumpets preformed.

Reminders: 

This Friday there will be a movie night in the gym from 5:30pm to 8:00pm.

Language Arts:

Currently in language arts we are working on something called the reading challenge. The challenge will go until the end of the school year and during this challenge each student will be required to read 8 books. Each book has a due date and there is a due date every 3 weeks starting in January. The dates are 1/17, 2/7, 2/23, 3/13, 4/3, 4/24, 5/15, 6/8. There are 24 different book topics that students can chose from including fantasy, horror and history.  

History:

In Social Studies we have been learning about geography, by studying an atlas. We worked with our table partners on a worksheet/scavenger hunt in which we used the atlas to help us. We have also been learning about Black Lives Matter. We watched a video about The Terrible Transformation. The Terrible Transformation is how slavery came to America. We also studied The Birmingham Children’s Crusade of 1963, learning about how kids stood up for their rights and changed history forever.  

Weekly Update 2/13/20

In Language Arts and Social Studies students completed and pitched their ideas for a class constitution. Students worked in groups on designing a constitution from the ground up, based on our U.S. Constitution, but one that would apply to our two classes, the Avocados and the Sloths. Students pitched their ideas to both classes, and then used a ranked choice voting system to adopt a constitution. We are now in the process of improving the chosen constitution before implementing it after mid-winter break.

To not break up the constitution project, I pushed Black Lives Matter back to this week. We started on Tuesday and completed a KWL (What do you know; what do you want to learn) regarding Black Lives Matter. In this unit, we will learn about the who/what/where/when of the Black Lives Matter movement, cross-cultural communication, the Birmingham Campaign against segregation in 1963, and finish with a lesson focused on Black Women and their achievements. We will finish the unit right after break.

In math we are finishing up a unit on expressions. Learning how to simplify and expand expressions using the Properties of Operations. Those include the Associative, Commutative and Distributive Properties. We also learned to add, subtract and factor expressions. When we get back we will do some review then take an assessment. Students can stay active during the break by spending time on Math IXL, focusing on expressions.

For science this week, we talked in FLASH about self-esteem, stereo-types and friendship. Students got to share stories about their first day at Cascadia and how making new friends can be hard.

From the Library

Join us for Cascadia's first parent/child book club. The theme for the first book will be racial equity. You can either read the adult book and participate in an adult-only discussion OR read the middle grade novel with your child and participate in the parent/child book discussion. The kid book selected is recommended for ages 8 and up, but you know your kids best! You can also read both books and float between discussion groups. We will discuss issues of racial bias, injustice and how we can dismantle systems of racism.

Who: You and your Cascadia student (probably for grades 3 and up)

What: Read Blended by Sharon Draper or How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi

Where: Cascadia Library 6:00-7:30 pm

When: Thursday, March 5th

Why: Because these conversations are essential in recognizing and dismantling racism.

Have a wonderful mid-winter break.