We have had so much fun in our online classroom these first two weeks of May. Today was our Golden State Gathering. This was a fun way to share our knowledge of famous Californians. After preparing slides filled with images of our Californians’ lives and sharing their significance, each Californian was invited to the Golden State Gathering. This was to be a special celebration of our great state. Each person invited needed to bring a gift that represented their lives’ work and something they appreciate about California.
Students baked, designed, wrote songs and musical pieces, coded, and created. It was truly a celebration of creativity. As you can see from our smiles, we had a great time.
We have also been busy writing poetry. Students are learning so much about the different types of poems as they compose together with poetry partners each day. Here are just a few of the stellar poems filling our online classroom.
Little Sister
By: Eric Yeh
I have a little sister,
Annoying as can be.
The worst of the 7-year-olds,
Oh, woe is me!
She leaves her books everywhere,
On which I always stub my toe.
She once mimicked me for three hours straight,
And always asks me about things she doesn’t know.
She is a whole new level of annoying,
So bad it should be banned.
Only other people with little siblings
Could ever understand.
Masterpiece
By: QiQi Lin
It’s different from the others.
That’s what makes a masterpiece unique.
From time to time,
Changing quick,
Dreams escaping
Never ending
Roll of a dice,
It’s never the best.
The puzzle pieces
Might not line up,
All those escapes gone wrong,
Can’t erase,
Colored outside of the lines,
Don’t care.
Because it’s mine.
I can dare to be imperfect,
Yet beautiful.
After years and years of writing books with my mistakes,
Along with millions of challenges
And millions of hardships,
Even though I occasionally
Trip
And stumble
I get over them.
Countless years and losing my path,
My masterpiece is finally done.
The Parts of a Tree
By: Mahima Wuppalapati and Aidan Chew
Branches of all shapes and sizes,
Pink-spotted arms reaching out for one another,
Twisted fingers of an old witch that try to untangle themselves,
A crimson flower clutching a branch for dear life.
Trunks of all shapes and sizes,
Their toes taking a dip from a nearby swamp,
Tall trunks, reaching for the sky,
Huddling in celebration that winter has clomped passed.
Leaves of all shapes and sizes,
Orange leaves lighting a path,
The canopy leaning over the trunk of the tree,
Leaves and blossoms form a tunnel.
Piano Music
By: Olivia Song
The piano
Big, majestic, and bright.
Sleeping or singing in churches, homes, and performing halls.
Originally called the clavichord, working hard to earn a newer, modern name overtime.
The piano
Wood like coffee, welcoming you to enjoy the sweet and bitter music.
The book stand reserved for piano books to perch on,
Two origami crystal blue swans watching from above.
Eighty-eight black and white keys playing wondrous music.
The piano
Beautiful, harmonious sounds coming from shy strings inside.
Beckoning you to listen closely, for you can hear beats of a metronome accompanying instrumental music.
The piano
Designed with sleek maple and spruce wood.
A cushioned bench calls to you “come and relish my comfort for your body!”
Thirty-six black keys raised over fifty-two white keys.
The piano
Terrific and marvelous
Living for more than centuries,
Waiting for every single human to enjoy its music.
Hope
By:Anika Dutta
The sun is setting,
The rain is thundering,
Dark clouds are rolling in.
For now all is black and stormy,
For now everything is desolate.
Now, everyone is divided,
All alone in their house,
With nothing to do but stare,
At the destruction that is there.
But, people must remember,
That all is not lost.
For now people are singing with each other,
To remind themselves that they are still strong.
A dove with a twig flies by,
And people still remember
That something that comes from the rain
Is a rainbow.
In reader’s workshop we have been devouring fiction fan favorites as we focus on the skills of comparing and contrasting characters, setting, plot, and theme. This week our mentor texts that supported our work were “Marble Champ” and “Eleven”. Take a look at some of our thoughts.
Lupe in “Marble Champ” and Rachel in “Eleven” have many things in common. Like Lupe, Rachel has a problem that makes her feel helpless in a way. In the same way that Rachel has a family that helps her get through her day, Lupe’s family supports her. Similarly, both Rachel and Lupe were underestimated or misunderstood. One last way they are alike is they are both diffident.
While Lupe in “Marble Champ” and Rachel in “Eleven” are quite similar, they are also different in many ways. Rachel’s family helps her by making her birthday night special, which motivates her to get through the difficult day at school. However, Lupe’s family helps her by training her and they cheer her on. Lupe’s problem is she can’t do sports, but she takes control of that and fights it by training her thumb to play marbles. On the other hand, Rachel’s problem is she speak up for herself and that makes her feel helpless. Unlike Lupe, Rachel doesn’t take control of her problem and she just goes with it. Rachel was misunderstood by her teacher, Mrs. Price, when she tried to say the sweater wasn’t hers. She did not try to make herself clear, but she just agreed to her teacher after a few seconds and shoved the sweater to the side of her desk. Conversely, Lupe underestimated herself at being bad at sports. She tried a lot, but she could not do it. That is, until Lupe tried marbles. She was great at it.
Lupe in ”Marble Champ” and Rachel in “Eleven” have many similarities. Like, Rachel, Lupe has a stable supportive family. Similarly, both Rachel and Lupe have a problem which leaves them feeling helpless. In the same way, Lupe and Rachel are self conscious and diffident. One final way both of them are alike is, both girls are underestimated and misunderstood in their stories.
While Lupe “in Marble Champ” and Rachel in “Eleven” are quite similar, they are different in many ways. Firstly, Rachel’s family is supportive since her Mama is going to bake her a cake, while her father is going to come home early. On the other hand, Lupe’s family is supportive since her brother helped her win the marble competition by providing her with tips on how to shoot a marble. Lupe’s father and mother were supportive since they agreed to go to the marble competition with her. Furthermore, Lupe’s problem made her feel helpless, since she felt she was bad at sports no matter how hard she tried. In contrast, Rachel felt helpless since she couldn’t bring herself to tell her teacher, Mrs.Price, that the ugly red sweater that smelled awful wasn’t hers. Also, she cries in front of the class which makes her feel helpless and embarrassed. Finally, Rachal is self conscious and diffident because she was forced to wear an ugly red red sweater that smelled like cottage cheese in front of her entire class. Conversely, Lupe is self conscious because she can’t beat anyone at sports no matter how hard she tries, even though she is great academically, she can’t find herself to succeed, which makes her self conscious.
Finally, in math we have been working with coordinate graphing in all four quadrants. Students designed Coordinate Cities and shared their math knowledge in their creations.
Coordinate City One
Coordinate City Questions
It’s been a great start to our last full month of school, and I couldn’t be more proud of each and every Olympian. So glad you come to school each day!
What a gift our year together has been! 
In math this week we have been exploring geometry. We have examined lines, quadrilaterals, regular and irregular polygons, as well as interior and exterior angles. As part of our lesson, students chose to either go on a home scavenger hunt for examples of various shapes or design some type of building/room with all the shapes. Take a look at the results of some of our architects