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.

     Hello family's of room 274 and 275, this past week we had a blast! We have been working on simplifying and expanding algebraic expressions. In science we have been doing FLASH. We were also translating Article one of the constitution, and Article two section two paragraph two of the constitution, and Article 3 section paragraph. Tomorrow we will have a field trip to the Living Computer Museum & Labs, we will be learning about the history of computers, microcomputers, minicomputers, robotics, big data & AI, self-driving cars, mainframes, 80's computers, internet of things, game makers, and digital studio.


In math we have been doing Algebra. Most recently, we have been writing and evaluating equivalent expressions. We have also investigated the difference between the two. For example, an equation can be solved, but an expression asks to be simplified, or expanded. Another topic related to Algebra is our class algebra based role-play! 

Weekly Update 1/22/20

Science: 

I have assigned the science fair project today and all fifth grade students are required to participate. A packet was given to each student and they will be given time each Monday during class but will need to spend time at home to work on it. The packet is also available on Schoology.

It is due March 27th, and we will have a fifth grade science fair in school the following Monday, the 30th. The PTA Science Fair is the 1st of April and students are encouraged to participate and use the same project but are not required to participate or attend the night time event.

Please feel free to email me at jdhill@seattleschools.org if you have any questions. 

Math:

We started this week with our algebra unit. We are working on finding equivalent expressions and simplifying expressions. I also gave each student their Math IXL username and password again and directed them to spend time practicing each night that they do not have written homework.

Language Arts: Students started off January by finishing up and publishing their narrative writing. They shared and read each others' stories, and some students will be submitting stories to the Write out of this World writing contest put on by MoPoP. Students have also started the their reading challenge! Students have soft deadlines posted in their project packets, and I'm excited to see students already reading outside of their default genres.  

Social Studies: I'm excited to tell you that we have started social studies. I decided to start with civics this year, as history is being made as we speak! Students have been working on reading a primary document, the Constitution, and translating it into easy to understand language. Students have also been exploring book resources as well as online resources, helping them compile and comprehend the types of sources they will be using to learn about government and history. 

Weekly Update 1/17/19

Math 

In math we just finished percent's and started a new unit. We were doing simple interest and even did a little business project. In the project we did mark up, discounts, inventory, loans and interest. We even made an advertisement for what we were selling.  

We were doing how to find percent's of numbers and how to convert fractions into percent’s. We did percent proportions. We took a number of something out of another number and we would see then the percent of the smaller number. Like a fraction. We did percent change and percent error. We then did some percent’s with money. We did percent mark-up and mark down. We also found what the selling price was if there was some kind of percent mark-up or mark down. After that unit, we took the chapter 3 assessment.  

Now we started a new unit with algebraic expressions. We know how to now write those expressions depending on the situation. We learned to make those expressions and then fill in the variables and solve problems. We learned to also correctly evaluate algebraic expressions. 

Science 

In science we are working on patterns of Earth and Sky. We were looking at an artifact that had constellations for the seasons. One part was missing. We found it out by using the simulation on the computer. We could see constellations at different times of the year. After we finished that, we did A project where we picked a constellation and wrote all about it. We took the constellation and labelled each star on it how far away it was from Earth. We also drew it. We looked at planets and did a little about light years and stars how far away stars are from Earth. We did a scientific explanation about why we can’t see the stars in daytime. Also it was about the artifact that we figured out what constellation was on the missing piece of it. 

We investigated stars and how far away they are. We also looked at constellations and took notes on which months you could see a certain constellation. We now are investigating patterns that some constellations make. We are asking a question about a star or constellation and then investigating and taking notes on that constellation or star. 

We use the simulation a lot to find constellations and investigate them. 

12/11/19 weekly update

       This week in Mr. Hill and Mr. Browns class, we had our Shakespeare performances. In math we learned how to use the percent equation. In science we worked on the ISS webquest. We also did a lot of NaNoWriMo writing.

         ISS webquest: due Friday 

1000-3000 word section: due 

Pages 153 and 154 in math: due Friday

Shakespeare article 

Last week we had Shakespeare after months of practicing we finally had our show lets see what some of the actors have to say about the experience. 

Klio says “It was very stressful, and I learned that the class talks a lot it was interesting when you switched the actors” 

Amelie or Olivia in the play says “I felt like it was very fun and it helped me make friends and I love acting I think our class did our best and made it really funny” 

Maddy or Malvolio in the show says “the experience was very exiting and very fun it was also sometimes scary when you had to recite your lines in front of all the people” 

Vivian or Clown in the play says “I liked it a lot because it was a chance to get to know people and it was very fun and you got to learn about Shakespeare while having fun” 

Science blog, 12-11-19 

By: Sylvie 

Recently in science we have started a new unit, patterns of earth and sky. So far, we have looked at a few ancient artifacts. Then we shared what we saw. After this, we got our assignment. A museum had an artifact that they wanted to put on display, but It had a missing piece. They want us to find that missing piece. It is a circular object cut into four pieces. There is a square in the middle. Some observations that we have so far are that inside the square is day and outside night. This Is because we think the inside has suns, the outside constellations for the seasons. The seasons because there are houses and plants. The plants look like the seasons. One has buds(spring) one no leaves(winter) on full bloom(summer) and one with some leaves falling(fall). We think the missing part shows a spring constellation because that is the part that is missing. That is what we have done so far in our new unit, patterns of earth and sky. 

Math Blog 

By: Hymn

Date: 12-10-2019 

This week in math we have been learning about percent's and how to find it. We also learned how to find the part and the whole, here are the equations. Multiply I'm tuning it to * ok? Part = percent * whole, percent = part/whole, and whole = part/percent 

Weekly Update 11/13/19

Hello, family's of Mr. Hill, and Mr. Browns class. In Shakespeare we finished blocking everything, it's going so great. In Mr. Hills class we got new jobs. Such as electing secretary etc. In LA we read many short stories. Some of which students wrote, they did such a good job. In math we worked on finding the proportional relationship using graphs. In science we made a scientific explanation. In music class, we worked on the thriller flash mob. Mr. Browns class had a short story festival.

The students of Mr. Brown and Mr. Hill’s classes have started Shakespeare and are close to their performance date. Mr. Brown’s class will be performing on Tuesday, December 3rd, and Mr. Hill’s class will be performing on Thursday, December 5th. We hope all the families and friends of the cast will be able to make our evening shows, at 7 pm. Make sure to show up early, for the actors are required to be at the stage by 6:15. Each class will also be performing a matinee show for other students at Cascadia on the same date as their evening show. Your student should have gotten a list of what items of clothing they are expected to bring to school for their costumes. Also, a PDF version has been sent to your email. Please bring your costumes to school as soon as possible because we are starting dress rehearsals soon. Thank you all so much for your support and we will see you at the show! 

Brown's Homeroom 

This year in homeroom, we are grateful to have Ms. Lee’s class as our buddy class. The most recent visit from Ms. Lee’s class was, two weeks ago. The students either collaborated or did separate paintings of pumpkins with their buddies. 

 

This activity was inspired by the painting style of Yayoi Kusama. But the colors were not just brown and yellow, a couple of examples are green, black and red. For more information, ask your student. 

Language arts 

This past week, in language arts, we have been working on our stories. We have the choice of doing nanowrimo, short stories, or graphic novels. We have been focusing on how to write a good story, learning how to create an interesting character, and how to create a conflict (so far). We have also learned Stop, Notice & note, where we can better understand books that we are reading. Stop notice & note is where we find different kinds of things that come up in the books we read, such as: Memory moment, Aha moment, Again & Again, Contrasts and contradictions, words of the wiser, and tough questions. Using stop notice & note, we have analyzed multiple short stories. 

Science blog 

By: Sylvie 

Recently in science, we have been working on how dissolving works. In the beginning of the unit, we worked on learning how solid objects dissolve in a liquid. Generally, the liquid was water when we were investigating. We learned that sugar and citric acid dissolve in water in one of our experiments. Pepper does dissolve a little, but not very much. We were doing all of this to find out what ingredients would not leave sediment in salad dressing for Mrs. Harold, the president of Good Foods Incorporated.  

After writing a scientific explanation to Mrs. Harold, we moved on to what happens when you mix a liquid with a liquid. We figured out so far that liquids do not dissolve in other liquids, they just mix or separate. We learned that oil and water do not mix, they just separate, while vinegar and water mix together. This is some of what we have learned in science in the past unit.