Today we visited the Cabrillo National Monument on the tip of the Point Loma peninsula. It was an incredibly beautiful San Diego day. We hiked down the Bayside Trail and identified many native plants. We discovered how the Kumeyaay Indians traditionally used these plants.
Imagine you are Kumeyaay Indian living a hundred years ago. What would you do if you had a toothache? Here's a short video that shows some of the plants we found...some are even described by our friends...and how the Kumeyaay would treat a toothache.
Share what you learned today by posting a comment to our class blog.
Mark Twain puppet
Last month we studied the biography genre. We read a biography about Abraham Lincoln together. The students chose and researched a famous person by themselves. In class they took notes on index cards and then used the notes to create a short speech. Students created puppets at home and practiced their speeches. The speeches were then presented to the class the first week of March. Here are the audio files from those presentations.
If you'd like to ask a question please post a comment.
Monday's Presentations
Tuesday's Presentations
Wednesday's Presentation
Thursday's Presentations
Friday's Presentations
The Three Sisters Garden was installed in our school garden last year. Unfortunately, the raised bed wasn't deep enough and the plants did not grow or produce. So, we decided to hold a fundraiser and add another layer of bricks to the raised bed. We raised enough money to add another layer of bricks and more dirt.
Last Wednesday we held a brick decorating event in the garden. Students decorated the bricks with all kinds of images.
If you'd like to know more about a Three Sisters Garden, you can watch the short video that I've included here.
Three Sisters Garden, Class of 2008-09
Decorating a brick
In class we are reading a book called Indians of the Oaks by Milicent Lee. This books has two tales to tell. In the first tale a young white boy comes to live with the Kumeyaay, also known as the Diegueno, of Southern California. The second tales is the story of a young girl from the same tribe who learns a new kind of medicine when she falls ill and is cared for by a white doctor.
This is a fabulous book because as you read these tales you learn interesting facts about the traditional lifestyles of the Kumeyaay Indians.
What interesting facts have you learned about the Kumeyaay? Please share them in a comment.
After the reaction
What happens when you combine baking soda and vinegar? You get a chemical reaction. In this case a whole new substance was created. When the baking soda and vinegar combined they created a gas called carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide gas inflated the balloon.
Can you find any other examples of chemical reactions? If you find an experiment we can try in the classroom, please post your idea here.
RSS Feed