Burke's Program Snapshots 2016-2017

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BURKE’S

SNAPSHOTS

A glimpse into our K-8 program through the 2016-2017 report cards.

2016-2017 Program Snapshots, Version 1.1 Published October 13, 2017

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

ABOUT OUR

PROGRAM A GLIMPSE INTO TEACHING AND LEARNING AT BURKE’S Burke’s academic program is grounded in educational best practices while also meeting the evolving needs of our students.

As a school that values dynamic and nimble curriculum, Burke’s empowers its teachers to constantly reflect upon, revisit, and re-envision what they are teaching and how it is being delivered and applied. This document, titled Burke’s Snapshots, offers a historical glimpse of the “Materials Covered” paragraphs that were part of last year’s report cards, and presents a peek into how Burke’s teachers engaged students in rigorous and joyful learning during the 2016-17 school year.

With new teachers joining the Burke’s faculty this year, fresh units designed by teachers based

on professional development workshops, and specific time devoted to cross-grade/crossdiscipline collaboration, students will experience many new and innovative units alongside the Burke’s traditionally celebrated learning themes. Two examples of innovative new curricula that will span grade levels and disciplines in the 2017-18 school year are a new simulation-based environmental sustainability project in Upper School science and a series of new social justice and personal identity units in the Lower School.

Mike Matthews Director of Curriculum and Program Innovation

HOW WE THINK ABOUT CURRICULUM Burke’s curriculum development is based on the Understanding

by Design (UbD) framework. This model for designing and implementing curriculum begins not with activities, skills, and content, but instead with thinking about the “enduring understandings” we want our students to come away with and how students use and apply these enduring understandings in realworld situations, both now and throughout their lives. With this well-established and dynamic approach, teachers are empowered to design engaging, relevant, and purposeful units that will best prepare our students for the future.

BEYOND THE

SNAPSHOTS

The grade level snapshots don’t capture all of the exciting and emergent curriculum that Burke’s teachers are developing and refining. To get learn more about this important work, we invite you to visit the “Our Plan in Action” page, which uses the lens of our Strategic Plan to share some of the ways Burke’s teachers are challenging our students to learn in new ways, to envision themselves in what they learn, and to understand more deeply.

Building Resilience through Outdoor Education

Google Takes Students Around the World and Back in Time Deepening our Commitment to Service Learning Page 4

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The “Hour of Code” Stretches to a Full Week at Burke’s

H.E.A.R.T. Class Solidifies SEL Curriculum in Upper School These six examples are just a few of the many initiatives featured on the “Our Plan in Action” page on the Burke’s website. Click on any image to learn more or click here to visit the “Our Plan in Action” page.

Mindfulness Takes Root in the Classroom at Burke’s

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GRADE LEVEL

SNAPSHOTS Within each grade level, snapshots are organized alphabetically by discipline.

Click on an image to jump to that grade’s snapshot.

KINDE R GAR T E N

F I RS T G RA D E

S E C O ND G RA D E

THIR D GR ADE

FO U RT H G RA D E

F I F T H G RA D E

SIXTH GR ADE

SEVE NT H G RA D E

E I G H T H G RA D E

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SERVING O UR COMMU NITY Kindergart eners volunteer at the Richmon Neighborhood d District Center, sorting fo o d a s part of the center’s food pa ntry program.

SNAPSHOT OF

KINDERGARTEN

A glimpse into Kindergarten at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

Kindergarten Art Snapshot of September through January Kindergarteners continued exploring the Elements of Art: line, shape and color. They examined the works of Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian and his use of vertical and horizontal lines, geometric shapes, and primary colors. They also studied American abstract artist Frank Stella, who, like Mondrian, utilized simplified lines and both primary and secondary colors to convey his creative vision, rather than rendering reality. Students were fortunate to be able to attend Frank Stella’s retrospective at the de Young museum where they were further inspired by his works of art. They took this inspiration back to the art room where they created their own abstract compositions using masking tape, acrylic paints, wire and cardboard.

Snapshot of February through June Kindergarten students spent the second half of the year creating three-dimensional art including abstract wire sculptures inspired by the work of Frank Stella and realistic rooster sculptures in honor of the Lunar New Year. Students learned how to shape and mold tinfoil into 3D forms and use masking tape to attach pieces together. They also worked with plaster to cover the rooster’s body, which hardened overnight. They studied color theory and learned that complementary colors stand out next to each other, and are on the opposite side from each other on the color wheel. Finally, they were treated to an art lesson on how to draw proportional portraits by guest artist Jim Caldwell, who showed them how to divide the face and measure the correct alignments in order to draw facial features.

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Kindergarten Language Arts & Social Studies Snapshot of September through January The goal of the kindergarten language arts curriculum is to help students develop an appreciation of reading and writing as they acquire skills in this area. Through varied and direct instruction, kindergarteners learn to read, write, listen, and speak, including building phonemic awareness (the manipulation of sounds) and letter recognition. Instruction is differentiated to meet the needs of and challenge each individual student and includes comprehension and early decoding strategies.

Students are developing an appreciation of reading through shared, independent, and small guided reading group experiences. Writing instruction includes fine motor strengthening and letter formation.

In addition, students are taught the writing process in a sequential manner. They are taught to draw in detail, label, and write through mini-lessons, shared writing, and independent application. Listening and speaking skills are reinforced during Morning Meeting, presentation of work, and sharing times.

In social studies we focus on similarities and differences so that our students can be positive members of our community, which values diversity and inclusion. We explore a variety of topics such as family configuration, gender, and physical differences. Our social emotional learning curriculum includes friendship, courage, ways to make a difference, and how to be an ally. The girls learn to discuss their feelings and how to handle various social situations through role play, conversation, and strategies from the Toolbox curriculum.

Snapshot of February through June Kindergartners have learned letter sounds and sight words and continue to work on applying these skills into their individual work. In small groups, games, and activities, girls practiced a variety of concepts such as phonemic awareness, short and long vowels, decoding words, word families, and letter blends. Reading instruction was differentiated to meet the needs of each student and included strategies to solve unfamiliar words and work on summarizing, fluency, and comprehension. The students are becoming avid readers! Writing instruction focused on letter formation and applying concepts of print, such as spacing, using uppercase and lowercase letters, and recording the sounds you can hear in words. In Writer’s Workshop, students worked on “how-to” books, persuasive writing, and poetry. The class continued to practice whole body listening and speaking skills, such as making eye contact and responding to others when sharing with the group.

In social studies we focus on similarities and differences so that our students can be positive members of our community, which values diversity and inclusion. We explore a variety of topics such as family configuration, gender, and physical differences. Our social emotional learning curriculum includes friendship, courage, ways to make a difference, and how to be an ally. The girls learn to discuss their feelings and how to handle various social situations through role play, conversation, and strategies from the Toolbox curriculum.

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Kindergarten Library Snapshot of September through January What is a library? How does the Library help me grow and learn? Those are the starting point questions for kindergartners to consider. Kindergartners practiced many beginning research skills—how to access prior knowledge; define words; discuss library organization; brainstorm; use multiple sources; generate notes orally; tab information; collect data; and draw conclusions. Literary experiences allowed kindergartners to develop knowledge and nurture understanding. Moving through many parts of the collection, students considered the roles of authors, illustrators, and publishers; the parts of a book; the importance of title; and different genres (picture stories, wordless books, concept books, folktales, fables, poetry, and nonfiction). In follow-up activities, kindergartners utilized information and ideas to make meaningful text-to-self connections. Students were encouraged to make satisfying book selections. Finally, to empower themselves as learners, kindergartners used a questionnaire to reflect on what they had learned and liked in Library. To maximize learning, students were encouraged to practice self-direction; show respect for people, space and materials; and contribute to the class community.

UNITS/ACTIVITY EXTENSION: What Is a Library?/Tour and Brainstorm; Five Senses/Sensory Activity; Names—Identity and Data Collection; Colors/Imaginative Drawing; Numbers/Class Halloween Counting Book; Visual Literacy/Look Again Book; Alphabet/Research and Sharing; Big Sister/Little Sister/Snack Recess with Fourth Graders; and Bedtime Books/Rock Doll Connection Activity; Nobel Peace Prize Winners/Connection Activity.

Snapshot of February through June What is a library? How does the library help me grow and learn? Those are the questions that kindergartners have considered throughout the year. Emphasis is on learning how to learn. Students begin to develop competence, curiosity, connection, and confidence. They practice many beginning research skills—how to access prior knowledge, brainstorm, use multiple sources, generate notes orally, choose subject of interest, and share information. As for literature appreciation, kindergartners experience the power of literature to nurture understanding and develop knowledge. Moving through many parts of the library collection, students consider the role of authors, illustrators, and publishers; different genres (picture stories, folktales, poetry, nonfiction, especially biographies, and beginning chapter books); and literary elements (characterization, setting, and theme). Students also learn to make satisfying book selections. In many follow-up activities, kindergartners utilize information and ideas to make meaningful text-to-self connections. Finally, students reflect on their favorite library activities and their favorite book of the year. Students are encouraged to practice self-direction; show respect for people, space and materials; and contribute to the class community.

UNITS/PROJECTS: Nobel Peace Prize Winners (Wangari Matthai, Martin Luther King, and Malala)/ Connection Activity About Personal Dream; Women in Natural Science and Art (Jane Goodall and Beatrix Potter/Observation and Bookmarks; Stories Similar and Different—Ducks/Discussion and “Determination” Response Activity; National Poetry Month; Recycling/Idea Response Activity; Lost Teeth/Data Collection; Kindergarten Recap/Memories and Favorite Book Reflection.

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Kindergarten Makery Snapshot of September through January The curricular themes for kindergartners emerge from their work in both core and special classes.

In the Makery, they use various tools and materials to create products, practice skills, or represent concepts learned in all their classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, and flexibility, which help them develop creative confidence.

For the year’s initial Makery theme of “new tools from old”, the students crushed, sorted, and melted old crayons for remolding into new crayons. Throughout the semester, they used a wide range of tools and materials from the physical (cardboard, paper, fabric, glue) to the digital (websites, computer applications) to the dual digital/physical (iPads, robots, cameras). What they made also ranged widely, from stop-motion animations to paper-engineered pop-up cards, and programs for teaching Beebot robots to follow their commands.

Snapshot of February through June The curricular themes for kindergartners emerge from their work in both core and special classes.

In the Makery, they use various tools and materials to create products, practice skills, or represent concepts learned in all their classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, and flexibility, skills that help them develop creative confidence.

Their Makery projects this semester were varied. They made a stop-motion animation of the first letter of their names, using cardboard, markers, and a stop-motion app. The students made puppets out of a variety of craft materials and attached the puppets to white gloves for performances. They experimented with making green screen movies featuring the puppets.

In conjunction with the approach of spring, they were introduced to a California database of flower images, which they consulted in a project to draw flowers using the Brushes app on the iPads. As an offshoot of their study of Beatrix Potter in Library, the students used several instructional videos to make step-by-step drawings of hedgehogs and chickens. Like Beatrix Potter, they dressed their animals in clothes.

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Kindergarten Mathematics Snapshot of September through January Through hands-on exploration, games, and direct instruction, the girls are asked to show and communicate their thinking, reasoning, and make connections between concepts in order to be mathematical thinkers. Students work independently and collaboratively to discuss and describe their findings. Real-world applications help connect their learning beyond the classroom. The Counting Jar explores counting, creating, representing, and recording quantities; connecting number words, numerals, and quantities; and developing, analyzing, and recording visual images for quantities up to 10. We explored materials such as pattern blocks in games like Fill the Hexagon, Geoboards, and clay, and used them to make a variety of 2D shapes. Throughout the exploration, the focus was on describing and comparing 2D shapes, as well as combining 2D shapes to fill a given space or to make another shape. During our Measurement unit, students identified the longest dimension of an object, compared lengths of different objects, and developed strategies for measuring the length of an object using nonstandard units.

Snapshot of February through June Students explored different ways to compose and decompose numbers as they viewed, created, and recreated arrangements of numbers to 20. Students practiced addition and subtraction within 5 through games like Race to the Sun and Fill My Treasure Chest. They acted out and solved story problems and played games that involved counting, comparing, and finding the total when a small amount is added or taken away. We explored 3D shapes by identifying them and looking for them in our environment. We described, compared, and made them out of connecting cubes, clay, and Geoblocks. There was also a focus on looking carefully at the 2D faces of 3D shapes and on combining 3D shapes to make other 3D shapes. Students practiced creating surveys and collecting data. They worked on ways to present and sort their data and used it to solve problems. Students used a scale to measure and compare the weight of two objects.

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Kindergarten Music-K Snapshot of September through January The girls started the year learning the group conventions necessary for music making including making a group circle, finding personal space, moving in space safely, listening, and taking turns. In December, this extended to beginning choral conventions (sitting and standing as a group, watching the conductor, and getting comfortable singing in front of an audience) as the girls prepared for their first Holiday Sing Along.

Through a variety of songs and games, the girls have been building their musical understanding of concepts including beat/rhythm, low/high, loud/quiet, and fast/slow. Instrument exploration began with the girls classifying percussion instruments as wood, metal, or skin; and exploring xylophones while learning how to care for them. The girls are being guided to match pitch using a light, wellsupported tone with many opportunities for group and solo singing.

Snapshot of February through June Since January, the girls have explored music near and far. A video concert of a cappella group, “Sweet Honey in the Rock,” introduced songs from the Civil Rights era and “Step It Down” games from the Georgia Sea Islands. These delightful games allowed everyone to work with a variety of partners, create their own dance expressions, and appreciate the dance moves of others. The girls especially loved “Draw Me a Bucket of Water” in which a team of four turns into a bucket with a jumping frog! At Lunar New Year, the girls tried on traditional lion costumes and played cymbal rhythms.

During a unit based around snow, the girls used the idea of mittens to learn proper xylophone mallet technique. We sorted names into mitten rhythm groups by number of syllables, listening carefully to each name’s exact rhythm. The girls paired to create a xylophone snowflake dance. This helped promote careful listening and cooperation. Working with the concepts of melodic line, high/low, and fast/slow, the girls danced with beautiful long streamers as they listened to classical Chinese music. This followed our melodic singing of the ever-changing red line on each page of the book, The Squiggle. Playing Irish spoons and drums, the girls listened to a variety of Irish songs and tunes, practiced steady beat, and improvised their own spoon rhythms. After Spring Break the girls danced to the music of Vivaldi, learned about the composer’s life, and were introduced to the rondo musical form (same/different) that he used to compose the piece “Spring.” The girls focused on the concepts of high/low and beat/rhythm with games, vocal play, and xylophones. They worked on songs related to classroom projects and prepared for their first “Stepping Up Day” by creating secret song lyrics for their teachers.

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Kindergarten Physical Education Snapshot of September through January Kindergartners are having an exciting year exploring how they move in the world around them through exploration and guided discovery, key elements of our approach to kindergarten P.E. Kindergartners are learning concepts of spatial awareness and keeping an “own space.” Through games such as, “I See” and “Five Count,” kindergartners learn that space increases and decreases depending on how they move. Every class has a consistent warm up routine which involves components of physical fitness such as flexibility, aerobic strength, and muscular strength. We are learning and practicing locomotor skills, creative movement, and playing games that involve running, jumping, and throwing.

In kindergarten, we assess students on their effort and willingness to try new activities.

Snapshot of February through June This semester kindergartners were busy learning about their bodies and how physical activity can benefit them. The girls learned how to identify the heart and how it is used in relation to movement with a special emphasis on it being a muscle. In addition, the girls practiced traveling in various directions at differing speeds, throwing objects, and kicking stationary objects.

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies as they apply to learning and performance of physical activities: • Identify and describe body parts including the head, shoulders, neck, back, chest, waist, hips, arms, elbows, wrists, hands, fingers, legs, knees, ankles, feet, and toes.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities: • Travel forward and sideways while changing direction quickly in response to a signal • Kick a stationary object using a simple kicking pattern.

• Animal walks.

• Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: Identify that the heart is a muscle located in the chest and explain that the heart beats faster and becomes stronger with physical activity.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Sustain moderate to vigorous physical activity.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

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Kindergarten Science Snapshot of September through January Kindergarteners began the year focusing on what science is and how scientists learn and work. As a scientist’s most important tools are her own senses, we explored these in depth. Through hands-on activities, we investigated sight, hearing, smell, and touch.

Students then studied another key concept for scientists: the states of matter. During this unit, the girls gained a basic understanding of solids, liquids, and gases and began to explore the experimentation process. We conducted many experiments where students were able to see chemical reactions and learn how to combine and alter states of matter.

We next began a unit on the human body, particularly focusing on the integumentary and immune systems. Students learned how the brain controls our emotions and the important role skin plays in keeping us healthy. They engaged in simulations to see how germs spread and explored how DNA makes us unique. They also spent time understanding skin color and learned how and why everyone’s skin is different. Exploring the science behind both feelings and appearance, this unit connects to the social and emotional learning being done throughout the school.

Throughout these topics, kindergartners are practicing observing, making predictions, gathering information, creating hypotheses, building scientific models, following multi-step directions, and communicating their scientific ideas out loud and in pictures.

Snapshot of February through June This spring kindergartners have focused on several life science topics, beginning with human body and health topics. Using games, models, and experiments, they investigated questions including, “How do skin and bones help us? Why do people have different skin colors? Why are teeth different shapes?

How can we keep our bodies healthy?” We then began investigating “bugs” and other garden creatures such as isopods and worms. Major focuses of the unit included observation of live animals, scientific drawings, designing and carrying out simple experiments, categorizing and sorting, comparing, and describing life cycles. Throughout, the students have practiced communicating their ideas aloud, in pictures, and with writing.

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ODING C E V I T A R O COLLAB the Osmo e students use d ra g trs fi , ry e k In the Ma e coding skills. ic ct ra p d n a rn a coding app to le

SNAPSHOT OF

FIRST GRADE

A glimpse into First Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

1st Grade Art Snapshot of September through January First graders explored a range of emotions and feelings in this SEL unit. We began by reading How Are You Peeling, Foods with Moods by Saxton Freymann. They noticed how his food sculptures conveyed a clear expression, which was a great way to start a conversation about their own feelings. Next, they selected a fruit or vegetable to transform into a character. They drew eight different versions of that character expressing a wide range of feelings. Their favorite feeling was brought to life using clay. Once the characters were glazed, the students discussed the feelings they selected and their relationship to the Zones of Regulation explored in class with Ms. Khan, the K-2 Learning Specialist. They wrote and illustrated stories about the “triggers” that led their fruits and veggies to have those feeling in the first place.

Snapshot of February through June First graders spent the second half of the year painting and working with clay. They created colorful ceramic sea creatures using paper templates and flattened pieces of clay known as slabs. They began by drawing simple contour lines of their chosen sea creature on cardstock. Students placed these cut out paper templates on top of flattened clay slabs. Using a clay tool, they traced around the edge and removed the excess clay. Paper towels were bunched up and placed underneath each creature in order to add dimension. They used clay attachments and various textures bring the sea creatures to life, and glazed them with realistic colors. Finally, students painted colorful ocean habitats on canvas boards, using acrylic paints, sponges, and q-tips to create underwater layers and textures.

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1st Grade Language Arts & Social Studies Snapshot of September through January The goal of the language arts curriculum in first grade is to help students solidify their reading and writing skills as they work toward greater independence in these areas. During independent work, guided reading groups, centers, and whole group lessons, students practice the skills needed for reading. These are phonemic awareness skills, short vowels, consonants, consonant digraphs, and glued sounds (-am, -an, -all), as well as the study of sight words. Reading comprehension strategies are interwoven throughout the curriculum. This semester, there is an increased focus on summarizing and comprehension skills through discussions, written reflections and ‘just right’ reading books.

Students use a variety of literature to practice these skills.

Writer’s Workshop focuses on generating ideas, sequencing stories, and following conventions (mechanics, usage, and sentence formation). Students practice their writing in many different formats throughout the day, i.e., informational writing, peer review, editing, and personal narratives.

First grade social studies focuses on community. By working on the social emotional skills of the individuals in the classroom, we created group norms and talked about the elements necessary for a strong community. Zones of Regulation, The Toolbox, and Kimochis curricula, which focus on social emotional skills, were used to teach tools and strategies for effective problem solving and communication. Students also learned about role models and allies starting with adults such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Dr. Jane Goodall. We moved on to how children can make a difference and become “change makers.” The girls came up with their own ideas for making change in their community.

Snapshot of February through June First graders are learning to read! Through independent work, word study, guided reading groups, centers and whole group lessons, students continued to practice sight words, single-silent-e long vowel spelling patterns, and were introduced to commonly used suffixes (e.g. -ing, -ed, s) and r-controlled vowels (e.g. ar, ir, or). Reading comprehension strategies were practiced throughout the year. Writer’s Workshop continued to focus on generating ideas, sequencing stories, and following conventions (mechanics, usage, and sentence formation). First graders practiced their writing in many different formats throughout the day, i.e.,“how to” instructional writing, peer review, editing, personal narratives, and poetry, as well as fictional stories.

First grade students focused on Social Emotional Learning this year. Through Zones of Regulation, Kimochis, and Toolbox, students learned how to identify feelings, work through challenging social situations, and regulate their emotions. All of this learning culminated in the creation of their own SEL/regulation “Zones Toolbox” to bring with them to 2nd grade.

Inspired by Earth Day, the class studied birds in social studies. They learned about birds in the local community, what birds eat, and how to keep them safe. Students made bird feeders, window decals, bird masks, and drew pictures of local birds.

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1st Grade Library Snapshot of September through January How can I grow as a researcher, reader, and learner? That is the presenting question for first graders in Library this year. In a “Stone Soup” unit and one on the 2016 election, students practiced research skills—how to brainstorm; use multiple sources; tab information; and generate notes orally. Literary experiences also allowed students to develop knowledge, practice reading strategies, and deepen understandings—how to compare similar stories; use fiction and nonfiction for purpose; consider important lessons; and nurture empathy. To effectively use what was learned, first graders created class “Stone Soup” recipes and offered advice to the future president, in both cases, engaging in decision-making based on a rationale. To further independent reading, students were encouraged to use tried-and-true rules to select “just right” books. The Catwings series has been the class read-aloud.

Finally, to begin empowering themselves as learners, students reflected on what they have learned and liked in Library. To facilitate learning, students were encouraged to practice self-direction; show respect for people, space and materials; and contribute to the class community.

UNITS/PROJECTS: Stone Soup Books/Compare Versions and Create Recipes; If I Were President/ Brainstorm Advice for Future President and Offer Rationale; Beginning Readers/Choosing “Just Right” Books; Author Study Carl Sandburg and The Huckabucks/Popcorn Party; Moe the Dog in Tropical Paradise/Pleasure Reading Beach Party; Ocean Life/Shark Study. Reading Aloud: Catwings series by Ursula LeGuin/Suggest Chapter Headings.

Snapshot of February through June Throughout the year in Library, first graders have been answering the question: How can I grow as a researcher, reader, and learner? In so doing, students develop competence, curiosity, and confidence.

To gain experience with the research process, students practice many skills—how to ask starting point questions; gain, recall, and share information from multiple nonfiction sources; generate notes orally; and make research-to-self connections. Students hear different kinds of books read aloud—picture books, biography, and nonfiction science books. For independent reading, students are encouraged to choose “just right” books, using some helpful “rules.” In sharing the Catwings series as a read-aloud, students focus on theme and lessons learned. Finally, to empower themselves as learners, students reflect on their literary preferences and interests. Students are encouraged to practice self-direction; show respect for people, space, and materials; and contribute to the class community.

UNITS/PROJECTS: Apollo 11/Research-to-Self Connection and Makery E-Book Project; Sharks and Ocean Neighbors/Thinking Routine; Penguins/Research and Sharing. Read Aloud: Catwings series by Ursula LeGuin.

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1st Grade Makery Snapshot of September through January The Makery curriculum for first-graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, and flexibility, which help them develop creative confidence.

For a community project this semester, each student embroidered a burlap rectangle which was glued to a larger piece of material, and each signed her name below the rectangle. This quilt now serves as our cover for the Maker cart. As part of learning about programming and design, the students worked with TurtleArt, a block based application to make designs and patterns. They made designs and created effects—by either following an example or creating their own. During Hour of Code week, first graders used a coding application for the Osmo (a collection of learning materials for the iPad) in which the student moves a character through the digital world by putting together physical blocks that are “seen” by the iPad’s camera.

Snapshot of February through June The Makery curriculum for first-graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, and flexibility, which help them develop creative confidence.

This year, students worked on a variety of digital and non-digital projects. They used the application Googol Choo Choo to create their own city, complete with buildings, people, cows, and a transportation system. They used a variety of media tools and techniques to produce ebooks on an imaginary trip to the moon. After experimenting with overlaying drawings done on clear plastic on top of photos of themselves, they used that layering technique to produce images of their faces looking out through astronaut suits—images that were used as their ebook covers. The moon trip ebooks also incorporated details provided in their voice recordings.

In their music/Makery sharing project, the students worked on creating musical instruments in the woodwind, string, and percussion families.

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1st Grade Mathematics Snapshot of September through January The first grade math curriculum focuses building number sense through writing and recognition of numbers up to 65, as well as ordering and comparing whole numbers up to 20. The first half of the year focuses on strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems and number combinations up to 15. Students learn to identify which operation to use in story problems and practice using varied tools and strategies for solving them. They strengthen their skills through various games such as Tens Go Fish, Counters in a Cup, and Five-in-a-Row. Measurement is practiced through standard and nonstandard units. Students are able to choose different objects, lengths, and distances around the classroom to practice measuring. They use these different sized units to compare the results. Most recently the class practiced collecting, organizing, and analyzing data.

They had the opportunity to create their own survey and interview their peers, depicting the results visually.

Snapshot of February through June Throughout first grade, students work on developing strategies for counting accurately. They have repeated practice with the counting sequence, both forward and backward, and with counting and keeping track of sets of objects. Students use contexts such as fingers on students, dots on Ten Cards, and cubes in towers of 10 to represent numbers as tens and ones. Students learned to identify which operation to use in story problems. They strengthened their skills with addition and subtraction through various games such as 10s Plus and Rolls 10s to 100. They compared 2-digit numbers to determine which is greater than or less than the other and used knowledge of place value to add and subtract 2-digit numbers. Students focused on collecting, recording, and representing data as they developed their own survey questions and collected data.

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1st Grade Music Snapshot of September through January The girls started the year reviewing music making conventions including forming a group circle, moving safely with a sense of personal space, listening, taking turns, and working with a variety of partners. In December, this extended to reviewing choral conventions (sitting and standing as a group) and focusing their voices into the ‘vocal blender’ by watching the conductor as the girls prepared for the Holiday Sing Along. During group and solo singing opportunities, the girls focused on matching pitch and using a light, well-supported tone.

Melodic music reading started with the girls distinguishing staff lines and spaces. After being introduced to the solfege with hand signs for sol, mi, la, and do pitches they started learning their placement on the staff. They are beginning to read simple songs written in the music staff. In January the girls were introduced to the rhythmic vocabulary ta (quarter note), ta-te (eighth notes), and ta rest as the class derived the rhythm of a poem. Using xylophones and other percussion instruments the girls are beginning to play simple accompaniments and melodies to songs using their growing skills

Snapshot of February through June This semester started with the girls decoding rhythm syllables from Chinese New Year red banner sayings, and then writing the traditional notation of quarter, eighth notes, and rests. They prepared for their trip to the San Francisco Symphony by looking at pictures of the four orchestral instrument families. We discussed the different ways we listen to music depending on where we are (Davies Symphony Hall versus in the car or hanging out at home). After the concert the girls delved more deeply into how instruments produce sound. We watched a video of “Peter and the Wolf” to continue learning about the orchestral families and individual instruments, and learned about its composer, Prokofiev. An instrument search game featuring Britten’s “A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” introduced additional instrument facts. At music room stations, girls explored strings, woodwinds, and brass and experimented with producing sounds. In Makery they built a variety of instruments to play at their music sharing.

With “The Wolf Game,” the girls reviewed and practiced steady beat accompaniments, figured out the ‘so, mi, la’ melody and prepared to read ‘do, re, mi’ melodies by playing the introduction on xylophones. After the music sharing the girls continued to practice and solidify skills with songs about space. They ended the year preparing for “Stepping Up Day,” creating secret song lyrics for their teachers.

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1st Grade Physical Education Snapshot of September through January Our first graders are off to an exciting year of having physical education class everyday! Concepts such as spatial awareness and keeping a “safe space” were practiced through activities like tag and mirroring. Every class has a consistent warm up routine which involves the components of physical fitness such as flexibility, aerobic strength, and muscular strength. Through a variety of games including volleyball and “Not in My Backyard,” students explored various ways to dribble, throw, and catch, and discovered ways in which they can make their hearts beat faster.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities: • Throw underhand and overhand.

• Catch a self-bounced ball or one thrown to them.

• Dribble continuously with pads of fingers.

Snapshot of February through June First graders were an active bunch this semester! They learned different running games, manipulative skills such as throwing and catching scarves, ball handling in football, and handling a scooper in lacrosse. The girls participated in various games and activities that helped to illustrate the difference between “heart pounding activities” and “heart resting activities.”

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies as they apply to learning and performance of physical activities • Identify examples of underhand and overhand movement patterns.

• Identify the hand position when receiving a football from the quarterback on a running play.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities: • Using all locomotor skills, travel in straight, curved, and zigzag pathways while changing speeds in response to tempos, rhythms, and signals • In football start a play, pivot, hand off to running back.

• Scoop up a ball using a scooper.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Identify physical activities that cause the heart to beat faster and stronger.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Is resilient when faced with challenge.

• Sustain continuous movement for increasing periods of time while participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity.

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1st Grade Science Snapshot of September through January First graders began the year by studying food and plants. They explored food webs and predator-prey relationships through several simulations, focusing on how organisms are connected in complex, interdependent systems. The girls also learned about fruits and vegetables, nutrition, and making healthy choices for a balanced diet. We discussed how much of our food comes from the soil and studied plants that we eat. Students then engaged in exploratory projects and experiments in and outside the classroom as we shifted into a broader study of plants. Essential questions of the unit included: “What are the basic parts of a plant?”, “How do seeds travel?”, and “What do plants need to grow?” The girls practiced the skills of sorting and categorizing, organizing information with tools such as Venn diagrams and charts, creating scientific diagrams, and communicating their scientific ideas out loud and with pictures.

Our next unit focused on forces and motion. Through hands-on investigations, first graders learned about simple physical concepts such as push/pull, magnetism, gravity, and friction. They also learned about experimental design by devising and carrying out experiments using balls and ramps. Skills practiced in this unit included making predictions, observing, recording data in a variety of ways, evaluating if a scientific test is a fair one, drawing conclusions from evidence, creative tinkering, and working in groups.

We are now studying air and wind. First graders have begun exploring the properties of air using both experimentation and projects. Some learning objectives of this unit include the students’ understanding that: air is matter, air exerts pressure, and air interacts with objects.

Snapshot of February through June First graders have studied a variety of topics this spring. They started by exploring weather and the water cycle. Next they investigated outer space, focusing on our Earth and solar system. Through simulations, models, books, and at-home observation, first graders learned about the planets in our solar system, how the movement of the Earth causes seasons, and how and why the Moon appears to change shape over time.

They wrapped up the year by learning about the ocean as a habitat, especially focusing on mollusks.

They also explored how oil spills can harm ocean life. Skills and concepts addressed during this unit included sorting/classifying, living vs. non-living things, environmental actions, drawing conclusions, questioning, and scientific drawings.

Throughout all our science classes, first graders practiced collaborating with classmates and communicating their ideas.

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PUBLISHIN

G

PA R T Y Students share a joyful momen t as they share writing at the se their cond-grade pub lishing party.

SNAPSHOT OF

SECOND GRADE

A glimpse into Second Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

2nd Grade Art Snapshot of September through January Second graders worked on various art projects inspired by American modern artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.

While examining her famous paintings of flowers and shells, students noted that many of her works were abstract, due to the up-close perspective which she used to paint her subjects. They practiced drawing their own shell and flower close-ups using real flowers and shells and a magnifying glass.

Students used acrylic paint and charcoal pencils to capture intricate details and colors while practicing blending and shading techniques. They gained additional drawing and painting skills while enlarging various items from the storybook, The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett, in order to decorate the stage for the second grade play.

Snapshot of February through June Second grade students spent the second half of the year practicing illustration skills and working with clay. After completing a hand-sewn felt project, we welcomed Christie Matheson, author and illustrator of children’s books, to share her creative process and show examples of her latest book project involving various watercolors of birds. We also explored the work of Laura Zindel, a nature illustration artist and designer who combines her passion for ceramics and into unique housewares. Students went on to create their own ceramic bowls by rolling out slabs of clay and draping them over molds.

They practiced drawing multiple versions of the same bird in order to gain confidence and achieve a sense of satisfaction. Finally, they transferred their bird drawings onto the ceramic bowls and painted them using watercolors.

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2nd Grade Language Arts & Social Studies Snapshot of September through January The goal of the second grade reading program is to inspire a love of reading. The year started with learning strategies to choose a good book. Developing reading fluency is an important part of second grade, and therefore students are working on using punctuation and reading in meaningful phrases while thinking about what is happening in the story to help them decide what voice to utilize. The girls continue to solve words using a variety of strategies including reading words part-by-part, looking for words inside of words, and making a guess based on what’s happening in the story or what would make sense. As they become more proficient readers, they are building on their comprehension strategies. Students continue to summarize in order to encourage careful reading. They are practicing making connections from the text to their background knowledge and own experiences in order to deepen understanding. Students are learning to infer character traits and motivations with supporting evidence from the story. They are also paying attention to the lessons that the author wants to teach them. Our students participate in many writing experiences. The second graders are beginning to write independently: developing ideas, using graphic organizers to prewrite, and editing for descriptive words and clarifying details in their writing. They keep journals and have regular Writing Workshop times, and they conduct beginning levels of research writing both in social studies and in independent projects. They are working to incorporate craft skills into their stories, such as interesting beginnings and endings, dialogue, and sensory details. We encourage students to use writing as a tool for thinking and communicating in all areas of study.​ In the beginning of second grade, students focused on getting to know the other girls in their class. They engaged in a variety of activities to help them establish connections with each other by noticing similarities and differences. Second graders created class agreements and discussed how they can be kind and respectful members of their community. Through conversations, read alouds, and role playing, students explored what it means to be an inclusive classmate and ways to be an ally and support others. Students also make a connection between community members’ rights and responsibilities to their own roles as citizens of various communities—the classroom, the school, San Francisco, and beyond. The girls investigated life in 1620 both from the perspective of the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims. Reading texts and exploring multimedia resources helped them make connections between their daily lives and the daily lives of those who lived long ago. The girls also examined photographs of historical artifacts to make inferences about the resources that the Wampanoag used, researched their theories, and delivered brief oral presentations to the class. Through role-playing activities, they gained a sense of how different groups of people come together to build community.

Snapshot of February through June Language Arts - The girls’ interest in and enthusiasm for our literature studies this year improved their oral reading skills. They love adding expressive voices and emphasizing the characters’ emotions and actions in the text. As they became more familiar with different types of books, the girls learned to recognize features of nonfiction books, using them to deepen their understanding about a topic. The students asked factual and critical thinking questions before starting research for their project about “Women Who Made a Difference” project. These questions guided group discussions and girls found evidence from the texts to use in writing their e-books. In Writer’s Workshop, they explored different types of writing including fiction, nonfiction personal narratives, poetry, and historical fiction. We emphasized making a plan for a story to help them sequence and expand on their ideas. Bringing the BURKE’S PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

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2nd Grade Language Arts & Social Studies Continued writing process full circle, both classes have worked on revising in conferences with a teacher and proudly publishing a completed book.

Structured Word Inquiry enabled students to investigate the structure of words to understand the reasons why words are spelled the way they are. These questions guided our investigations: What does this word mean? How is it built (base word + affixes)? What other related words can we think of? What are the sounds that matter? Through guided discussions in small groups, students made hypotheses about words using evidence based on words they know and etymological information.

In social studies, second graders continued to focus on communities. They listened to stories and read books about strong girls who persevered in difficult situations, identifying traits that helped these girls.

We studied a woman who made a difference in small groups, then presented information about her historical significance. In the Makery, partners worked to create an e-book based on their research to reflect the traits these women exhibited and how they could strive for these traits in their own lives. At points in the process, the second graders stopped to reflect on how the partner work was progressing what was going well and what they needed to work on.

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2nd Grade Library Snapshot of September through January How can I grow as a researcher, reader, and learner? That is the presenting question for second graders in Library this year. In poetry, election, and 1620 units, students practiced research skills—how to brainstorm; make predictions; use multiple sources; generate notes orally; tab information; differentiate conjecture and fact; use research for purpose; and make decisions. Literary experiences also allowed students to develop knowledge, practice reading strategies, and deepen understandings—how to differentiate fiction and nonfiction; sample different genres; appreciate characterization; identify literary preferences; and nurture empathy. To use what was learned, second graders worked independently to make text-to-self connections; in pairs to create poems; and with the class to share information and ideas. To further independent reading, students were encouraged to choose “just right” books. To empower themselves as learners, students used a questionnaire to reflect on their literary preferences.

UNITS/PROJECTS: Community/”Two Friends” Poems, Poetry Selection, and Poetry Sharing; Election/ Research, Campaign Posters, and Advice; Massachusetts, 1620 (Wampanoag and Pilgrims). Reading Aloud: Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama and Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen.

Snapshot of February through June Throughout the year in Library, second graders have been answering the question: How can I grow as a researcher, reader, and learner? In so doing, students develop competence, curiosity, connection, and confidence. To gain experience with the research process, students practice many skills—how to assess prior knowledge; ask different kinds of starting point questions (factual and critical thinking); use multiple sources, individually and as a group; generate notes orally; highlight information in a printed source; prioritize information and ideas; make research-to-text connections; and use information and imagination to demonstrate understanding. Second graders also experience the power of literature to nurture ethical behavior and empathy as well as to inspire. Students hear many books read aloud with special emphasis on historical fiction and biography. To effectively use what has been learned, second graders work in groups to create reports about important American women.

To further independent reading, students are encouraged to choose “just right” books. Finally, to empower themselves, students also use a questionnaire to reflect on what has been learned and to grow as learners.

UNITS/PROJECTS: Girls Who Made a Difference/Learning Cards on Kindness; Women Who Made a Difference/Collaborative Research Project; Life Along the Oregon Trail/Discussion and Reflection.

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2nd Grade Makery Snapshot of September through January The Makery curriculum for second graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, flexibility, and, for the first time, project management.

Experimenting with media production, the students used Stykz, a flipbook-style animation program, to create short, stick-figure cartoons. By incorporating music with a license to reuse, they learned about digital citizenship, copyright, and attribution. As a collaboration with Library, where they wrote advice to the U.S. president-elect, the students used the app Storybook Creator to create QuickTime movies offering advice. They wrote the advice in Library, recorded it in their own voices, drew appropriate pictures, and exported all the pieces as a Quicktime movie—thus learning to produce media, as well as manage files. Working with WeDo Legos, they each designed an animal and, using the block programming application Scratch, programmed it to move through control of the motors and sensors.

Snapshot of February through June The Makery curriculum for second graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, and flexibility, which help them develop creative confidence.

In the second semester students used digital tools: SketchUp, Illuminations Math Website, Book Creator and non-digital materials: cardboard, paper, plastic, beans, stuffing, and felt in a variety of projects. They created fanciful geometric shapes and buildings in SketchUp, designed their own fidget tools, made Zuni-style shakers for the spring concert and created an e-book with a partner from content and research done in Library and Social Studies.

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2nd Grade Mathematics Snapshot of September through January The Grade 2 math program relates math to everyday life experiences whenever possible. We continue to build upon the conceptual and practical skills mastered in Grade 1, with the intention of assuring greater depth and complexity of understanding of number sense. (For instance, the relationships between addition and subtraction are discussed as the children expand their knowledge of numerical operations.) During math discussions, second graders are developing and teaching each other strategies to show their thinking when problem solving. During our fractions unit, equal parts of a whole were considered when looking for two identical three-dimensional shapes (two triangular prisms or two rectangular prisms put together to create a cube) that made a different geoblock. To make the base ten system and place value more tangible, the girls solved problems about stickers sold in strips of tens and ones at “Sticker Station.” This work is the foundation for more efficient strategies to solve two-digit addition and subtraction story problems, such as decomposing numbers and using an open number line to add tens and ones. Students studied odd and even numbers in the context of partners and teams (i.e, if you split 11 people into teams, you will have one left over which means 11 is odd). Through investigation and exploration, the girls practice coin values and equivalencies. Using mini-clocks, students are learning to tell time to the nearest half hour. Explorations take place in whole class and in small, differentiated group situations, as well as on an individual basis.

Snapshot of February through June The girls continued to develop their communication and problem-solving skills through explaining and showing their thinking in class discussions and on paper. When studying linear measurement they measured different objects in the classroom using sides of the ruler, inches, and centimeters, and explored why the two units yield different counts. In our investigation of data collection and analysis, students enjoyed collecting lost teeth data from both second-grade classes. They made representations, interpreted, and compared this information and were excited to notice the similarities and differences. They explored the concept of division by dividing items into equal groups, such as 13 pennies between two girls. Students developed more advanced strategies to add and subtract twodigit numbers and were introduced to applying these to three-digit numbers. They are continuing to share approaches and trying a variety of tools and efficient strategies. Some examples are subtracting in parts, adding tens and ones, keeping one number whole when adding, and using an equation you know to find a solution more quickly.

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2nd Grade Music Snapshot of September through January The girls started the year with folk dances and name games, building cohesiveness and reviewing the group conventions necessary for music. They began using an ‘active listening protocol’ (notice, question, speculate) designed to broaden their listening experiences, develop musical vocabulary and align with 21st-century skills of critical thinking and cultural understanding. After reviewing the melodic reading of sol, mi, and la with hand signs and staff notation, they located do in relation to sol and mi and then re. They listened for the pattern mi re do in familiar songs. The review of rhythmic notation ta (quarter note) and ta-te (eighth note) rhythm patterns led to the introduction of ties (like a musical plus sign), ta-ah (half note), and ta-ah-ah-ah (whole note) values and rests.

In December, the girls reviewed choral conventions (sitting and standing as a group, focusing their voices into the ‘vocal blender’ by watching the conductor) as they prepared for the Holiday Sing Along. They strove vocally for correct use of heavy and lighter tones, clear articulation and air support for intonation. In January, the girls explored a Japanese hand-clapping game, “O-Mochi-O.” They transferred the beat onto tall ‘mochi’ sticks and played rhythms from the game’s lyrics on large Taiko-style drums. In preparation for their play, the girls learned several songs, listening carefully for entrances and rhythm of words.

Snapshot of February through June This semester began with preparations for the 2/3/4 Spring Concert, “Honoring the Caretakers.”

After workshops with visiting Plains-style drum leader, Neena McNair, the girls continued to work on the songs and dances she shared. They also developed pieces introduced during their Three Sisters studies. Learning the melody for “Grinding Corn” strengthened and expanded everyone’s melodic understanding. In Makery each girl chose Zuni symbols and color schemes for the rattle she made.

Everyone’s singing grew stronger and more in tune as they worked on concert songs. I was impressed with the independence they showed as they played the stick tapping game for “Grinding Corn.”

After the concert the girls reflected on their performance, learned about Wilma Mankiller and other famous Native American Women, and watched video of some of the more challenging Plains-style dancing. In May, the girls ended the year writing a “secret” song celebrating their classroom teachers and learning which was shared at the final Lower School assembly.

They are taking more responsibility and trying new things, building their rhythmic and melodic notation skills, solidifying their sense of beat and rhythm, and developing stronger, more in-tune singing voices. These skills lay the foundation for further musical success in third grade!

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2nd Grade Physical Education Snapshot of September through January Second graders are re-visiting concepts of spatial awareness by playing a variety of tag games such as “Lion King Tag” and “Infinity Tag” and by using different kinds of equipment such as hula hoops, jump ropes, and peacock feathers. Every class has a consistent warm-up routine which involves the components of physical fitness such as flexibility, aerobic strength and muscular strength. Through a variety of games including volleyball and “Not in My Backyard,” the girls explore manipulative skills such as dribbling, throwing, striking, and catching. Other skills such as “ready position,” “bump,” and “hand grip” were also introduced in volleyball. Comparing how hard our heart is pounding before and after high-energy activities helps us learn what makes our hearts beat faster. Students are also learning about ways in which they can increase their core strength.

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies: • Define “open space” • Explain key elements when throwing for distance • Identify the roles of body parts not directly involved in catching objects.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns: • Throw for distance and height using opposition.

• Dribble a ball with hands demonstrating proper form.

• Catch an object thrown by a stationary partner.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Practice simple core-strengthening exercises.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Perform core exercises for core strength and endurance.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

Snapshot of February through June This semester second graders learned different running games, manipulative skills such as throwing and catching scarves, ball handling in football, and handling a scooper and a lacrosse stick. The girls participated in various games and activities that helped to illustrate the difference between “heartpounding activities” and “heart-resting activities.” In addition, second graders explored ways to increase their heart rate through different exercises.

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies as they apply to learning and performance of physical activities: • Identify the hand position when receiving a football from the quarterback on a running play.

• Identify the hand position on a lacrosse stick when scooping up a ball.

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2nd Grade Physical Education Continued Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities: • Catch a gently thrown ball above/below the waist by absorbing force with fingers pointed up and down • In football start a play, pivot, hand off to running back. As a running back, able to cut back and spin while running with football.

• Scoop up a ball and beginning to cradle with a lacrosse stick.

Demonstrates fundamental principles of maintaining balance.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Compare and contrast the function of the heart during rest and physical activity.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Sustain continuous movement for increasing periods of time while participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

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2nd Grade Science Snapshot of September through January Second graders began the year by studying how adaptations help animals survive. Topics we focused on included fat as insulation, specialization of birds’ beaks, and camouflage. We also looked at how natural selection leads to successful adaptations spreading through a population. The unit concluded with an Invent-an-Animal project where each child created her own animal and the girls worked together to build a large scale, multi-habitat collage for all of their invented creatures.

The students then began a study of the human body. Through simulations, hands-on activities, and the building of scientific diagrams and models, second graders explored many systems of the body.

These systems included the skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, integumentary, nervous, and immune systems. Our work focused on the major parts and functions of these systems and how they connect and rely on each other to keep our body healthy. We also linked this unit to the social and emotional learning being done throughout the school. Ultimately, the goal was for students to gain an understanding and appreciation of the amazing capabilities of the human machine.

Through these two units, the students practiced the skills of observation, comparing and connecting, predicting, gathering and organizing data, recognizing patterns, using nonfiction texts and images for research, labeling diagrams, collaborating with classmates, and communicating their ideas in words and pictures.

Snapshot of February through June Second graders began the spring with an investigation of acid-base chemistry. They combined common household materials such as baking soda, salt, lemon juice, and others, looking for reactions. They also observed how juice from purple cabbage changes color in the presence of an acid or a base, and measured the amount of vinegar that will react with a given amount of baking soda. Through these hands-on experiments, they compared physical changes with chemical reactions; learned about acids, bases, and neutrals; and explored indicators. During this study, they also practiced lab safety, making predictions, planning experiments, observing carefully, organizing information, noticing patterns, drawing conclusions, communicating their ideas aloud and in writing, and collaborating with classmates.

This was followed with a mini-unit on measuring. Linking in with their math studies of measurement, students learned to use tools to measure weight and temperature using metric units. The main questions throughout this study were “Why do people measure?” and “Why are standard units useful?”

The year concluded with a study of maps and landforms. Students examined many different kinds of maps, learned to identify a variety of landforms, and created their own two- and three-dimensional maps of real and imaginary places.

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ELD O N T H E F I wing the javelin

thro dents practice u st e d ra -g d ir Th ucation class. d E l a c si y h P as part of their

SNAPSHOT OF

THIRD GRADE

A glimpse into Third Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

3rd Grade Art Snapshot of September through January In conjunction with their social studies and science unit on California native plants, third graders created stylized versions of their native plants in order to make design motifs. They also examined the art of the Japanese Mons, which are family crests. They learned that royalty and samurais used these crests as a form of identification. Merchants, artisans, and everyday people used family crests later on. Many mon designs incorporate a plant theme, therefore each student created her own mon using her California native plant as inspiration. Students created a simplified “motif,� or pattern, repeating it multiple times in a circular shape to create a unique design. The patterns created were both symmetrical and asymmetrical. Students transferred these patterns onto silk hoops and learned the art of silk painting.

Snapshot of February through June Third-grade students explored the art of silk painting and weaving during the second half of the school year. First, they designed motifs based on their California native plants, traced patterns on silk hoops, and outlined them with resin in order to paint both inside and outside of the motifs with silk inks. Next, they wove on simple cardboard looms, threading the warp (vertical lines that make up the weaving structure) and weaving the weft (yarn strands into the final product known as the web).

Students worked with earth-tone colored yarns, to reflect the natural dyes and pigments used in more traditional weaving folk arts. The process enabled them to develop their fine motor skills and practice patience. Many students experimented with new weaving techniques and designs that showcased their outside-the-box thinking.

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3rd Grade Language Arts & Social Studies Snapshot of September through January Third graders have been busily reading and responding to literature and developing their abilities to talk and write about reading. Students practiced habits of strong readers, including selecting “just right” books, building stamina, and using skills to strengthen their reading comprehension. Whether listening to read alouds, sharing books with partners, silently reading on their own, or responding to literature, they steadily grew in their abilities to make fuller use of what they read. Third graders also began to make an increasing number of connections between texts and were guided to think about the interrelated skills of visualization, prediction, inference, asking questions, and making connections as they read.

In Writers’ Workshop, third graders continue to explore various genres, allowing them to experience the value of elaborating on their thinking and being mindful of the organization and structure of their written work. As part of our most recent focus on persuasive writing, students are spending time reading and analyzing what makes a strong persuasive piece. Through craft lessons and peer and teacher conferences, they are moving closer to creating their own persuasive pieces for publication.

Throughout this process, students are in the process of writing various drafts and are using feedback to revise their work. In word study, we incorporated a new Structured Word Inquiry into our program.

This inquiry-based approach explores by both meaning and sound, rather than spelling patterns exclusively. This program also nurtures curiosity as students explore relationships between structure and meaning, emphasizing understanding rather than memorization.

As our study of San Francisco history continues, we have been exploring and thinking about the experience of immigrants. Students began this study by investigating their own heritage, summarizing and synthesizing that information to share with their classmates. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience, we looked through the lens of Chinese immigration to San Francisco. Through historical-fiction read alouds, a field trip to Chinatown, and lessons and activities in the classroom, third graders are exploring overarching questions about why people immigrate, what their experiences are in their new homes, and how immigrants enrich the culture in their new land. As our study of San Francisco history continues, we have been exploring and thinking about the experience of immigrants. This unit connects with our broader social studies theme, “the dangers of a single story,” which we began exploring through our Ohlone unit earlier this year.

Snapshot of February through June The goal of the third-grade language arts program is to nurture a love of reading and writing while solidifying the skills needed to become independent in both. Readers’ Workshop consisted of minilessons followed by reading with a focus (e.g., making inferences, asking questions, or observing characters). Notes were later used to write journal entries, engage in conversation with a partner or small group, or participate in class discussions. We also studied historical fiction and nonfiction through read alouds about San Francisco.

In Writer’s Workshop, students produced persuasive and informative articles about a subject of their choice. Collaborating with partners and in small groups, students gave and received revising and editing suggestions. We also explored various styles of poetry.

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3rd Grade Language Arts & Social Studies Continued In word study, we continued to use Structured Word Inquiry in conjunction with learning common spelling patterns. Through this approach, students learned that English spelling is a highly ordered system for representing meaning that can be investigated and understood through scientific inquiry.

This program also nurtures curiosity as students explore relationships between structure and meaning, emphasizing understanding rather than memorization.

Following our study of immigration to San Francisco, we continued to learn about the changes our city has experienced over time. We focused on geography, population growth, landmarks, and neighborhoods.

We also discussed stereotypes and discrimination experienced by minority groups throughout our city’s history, including the impact of harmful propaganda and the importance of considering issues from multiple perspectives. In small groups and accompanied by parents, students spent a full day of exploration in San Francisco. Integrating social studies and language arts, each group returned to school with copious notes and memories. These were the inspiration that led to the creation of an interactive Google Map of free places to visit, designed as a gift to new Burke’s families welcoming them to the city.

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3rd Grade Library Snapshot of September through January How can I grow as a reader, researcher, and learner? That is the presenting question for third graders in Library this year. To develop competence, curiosity, and confidence, students practiced many research skills—how to negotiate the Library’s collection; evaluate nonfiction text features; take different kinds of keyword notes; organize information and ideas; and cite sources. To experience the power of literature to feed imagination and nurture empathy, third graders read books both as a class and independently. Areas of focus included different genres (realistic fiction, nonfiction, and folktales); literary elements (e.g., characterization); text-to-self connections; and wise book selection. A project done in conjunction with the Makery allowed students to apply information and ideas, especially through creative letters that consider audience. To empower themselves as learners, students reflected on their own literary preferences and interests.

UNITS/PROJECTS Independent Reading—Girl Books/Letter on Personally Designed Stationery; Library Organization—Fiction and Nonfiction; Independent Reading—Boy Books/Postcard to an Imaginary Boy Pen Pal; Independent Reading—Pourquoi Tales/Written Response and Group Discussion; Independent Reading and Research—Nonfiction Country Books/Blog Activity. Reading Aloud: Clementine by Sara Pennypacker/Chapter Heading Suggestions.

Snapshot of February through June Third graders have been answering the question: Who am I as a reader, researcher, and learner? In so doing, students develop competence, curiosity, connection, and confidence. To gain experience with the research process, students practice many skills—how to identify a topic of interest; employ a KWL model to pursue knowledge acquisition; evaluate nonfiction books; take different kinds of keyword notes; organize information; combine information and imagination; and cite sources. To experience the power of literature to feed imagination and to nurture ethical behavior and empathy, third graders read books both as a class and independently. Areas of focus include different genres (nonfiction country books, mysteries, and nonfiction animal books); literary elements (setting, and theme); literary awards (the California Young Readers Medal); text-to-self connections; and wise book selection.

Projects, some done in conjunction with the Makery, allow students to apply information and ideas, especially through blogs that consider audience. To empower themselves, students use a rubric and a reflection tool to consider what has been learned, set goals, and grow as learners.

UNITS/PROJECTS Independent Reading and Research—How I Learned Geography--Nonfiction Country Books/Blogs; Literature Appreciation—Older Picture Book Nominees for the California Young Readers Medal/Voting; Independent Reading--Mysteries; Independent Reading and Research— Nonfiction Animal Books/KWL Model. Reading Aloud: The Gold Cadillac.

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3rd Grade Makery Snapshot of September through January The Makery curriculum for third graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, problem solving, coding, and project management.

The students have been using their new Google Classroom accounts and their Google Drive accounts to learn about file management and social media. These sites are open only to users with KDBS.org accounts and thus are safe places to learn how to create positive digital footprints as community members and as scholars.

They have been learning to use various media design tools—such as Pages (word processing), Comic Life (comic pages from digital photos), Google Sites (Web page-creation), and Preview (image viewer)—which are on the Makery’s computers and iPads. As they use assets from different applications throughout the arc of a project, the students have been learning to manage files and projects.

Snapshot of February through June The Makery curriculum for third graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes. As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, and flexibility, which help them develop creative confidence.

This semester, the third-grade students worked jointly in science and Makery to create objects— ranging from a light-up safety hat to a spin art maker— that use an electric circuit. They showed off their plans and designs at the Circuits Circus.

The students are using Google Classroom as a platform for posting and reflecting on projects that they work on jointly in Library and Makery, with the first project being their travel blogs. Using a teacherdesigned template, each student creates her own website to which she posts artifacts that show the process she has followed, the products she has created, and her reflections on what she has learned.

Their teachers will address comments directly to the students on the website.

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3rd Grade Mathematics Snapshot of September through January In our “Equal Groups” unit, the class investigated properties of multiplication and division and the inverse relationship between these two operations. We listed items that come in groups of 2 to 12, played skip-counting games, highlighted multiples on 100 charts, discussed patterns and relationships, and created pictures to represent multiplication and division problems. Each student created a set of array cards and used them to build an understanding of area and gain fluency with multiplication combinations with products up to 50. Students developed strategies for solving multiplication and division problems and used multiplication and division notation to communicate their understanding using language such as, factors, dimensions, area, multiples, and product.

We then turned our focus to addition and subtraction and the base-ten number system to 1,000.

Students constructed charts illustrating 1,000 and used this visual model to locate numbers in the context of puzzles and stories. They practiced estimating and rounding 2- and 3-digit numbers and explored various strategies for adding and subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers. They generated and solved story problems and riddles, compared lengths and heights, and calculated traveling distances with a focus on finding differences. Using Xtramath and other apps, students continued to develop fluency with facts.

Snapshot of February through June Through our study of geometry, we focused on finding all possible arrangements of four squares, called tetrominoes, and used transformations (flips, turns, slides) to prove whether or not two shapes were congruent. Students used tetrominoes to cover the area of an 8x10 grid, discussed the meaning of area, and calculated the area of various rectangles. Students measured both perimeter and area of an irregular shape: their footprint. The class moved on to building triangles and quadrilaterals, exploring their characteristics and relationships. Students also learned about acute, obtuse, and right angles.

Students worked with connecting cubes and arrays to deepen their understanding of multiplication.

They worked toward developing fluency with multiplication combinations through 10x10. Fluency with facts means that facts are quickly accessible mentally either because they are immediately known or because the calculation used is effortless.

In our “Fractions and Decimals” unit, students divided rectangles into equal pieces and labeled equal shares as fractions of a whole. Students ordered fractions by size and found different ways to combine fractions to make a whole. Decimals and decimal notation were introduced in the context of sharing money. Students solved problems with items that can be split into fractional parts and ones that cannot, discussed the meaning of equivalent fractions and decimal notation, and examined the relationship between fractions and decimals while solving problems with and without a calculator.

Students continued to practice addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts using a variety of games including Motion Math and other apps. They used estimation and other strategies to make problems easier to solve (e.g., solving 96 + 145 as 100 + 141), considered strategies to add more than two numbers, and practiced solving addition and subtraction problems with more than one step.

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3rd Grade Music Snapshot of September through January The girls began the year building toward a respectful learning community with folk dances and the Chinese Lion Dance Salutation. In a beginning unit with recorders, the girls strove to play with a light tone and tonguing, and to use their left hand on the top for correct fingering. The purpose of this short unit was to introduce the recorder and build positive interest and appreciation for the instrument while previewing skills they will use in their fourth grade recorder experience.

Using school recorders, they reviewed the melodic reading of sol and mi on the music staff, and ta (quarter note) and ta-te (eighth note) rhythm patterns as a group from written notation. As the girls began using the note names of the treble clef lines and spaces they also learned more about the history of written notation. In December they moved on to prepare for the Holiday Sing Along, working towards best singing posture, blend and appropriate use of heavy and light vocal tone.​ Starting the Chinese Lion Dance unit in January, the girls learned new sixteenth note rhythm patterns (taka-tiki and ta-tiki), played drum, cymbal, and gong rhythms; and listened to traditional music. After learning basic steps, each girl worked with a partner to bring emotion and life to the dance, as both the head and tail of the lion. Working with Ms. Gold, our theater specialist, the girls explored the clown and helper roles of the Lion Dance Buddha and developed action ideas with classmates. The unit culminated in the Lion Dance Parade at school. Afterwards the girls reflected on their own personal learning as well as the cultural significance of the Lion Dance.

Snapshot of February through June This semester began with preparations for the 2/3/4 Spring Concert “Honoring the Caretakers.” After workshops with visiting Plains-style drum leader Neena McNair, the girls practiced the two dances she shared. Drumming for “Gathering Song” helped all strengthen their steady beat and ensemble skills. The girls learned about Native American protocol, respecting the drum, honoring the plants and animals that our instruments were made from, and feeling our connection to the elements so we can take better care of the earth around us.

3B developed poetry/instrument explorations saved from the fall.

3A recreated its virtual field trip into the past, using writing and paintings from the classroom, and adding sound through careful choice of instruments and vocal effects.

The girls’ singing grew stronger and more in tune as they worked on the many songs in the concert.

Afterwards they reflected on their performance, learned more about Wilma Mankiller and other famous Native American Women, and watched video of some challenging Plains-style dancing. In May, the girls wrote the traditional grade level ‘secret’ song to share at the final stepping up assembly.

They are taking more responsibility and trying new things, building their rhythmic and melodic notation skills, solidifying their sense of beat and rhythm, and developing stronger, more in-tune singing voices. These skills lay the foundation for further musical success in fourth grade!

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3rd Grade Physical Education Snapshot of September through January This semester third graders learned and practiced different exercises that help increase muscular, aerobic, and core strength. These exercises include calisthenics, laps, stretches and planks. We learned and practiced the skills of “bumping”, “serving”, “ready position”, and proper hand grip of a racket, in badminton and volleyball. Through other games like “Not in My Backyard”, and “Infinity Tag”, the girls explore throwing, catching, striking with a racket and dribbling. Many of these skills will transfer to the Circus Arts unit, such as using an underhand movement pattern when juggling.

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies: • Explain and demonstrate the correct hand position when catching an object.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns: • Dribble a ball with hands demonstrating proper form.

• Throw and catch demonstrating proper form.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Name and locate the major muscles of the body.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Perform increasing numbers of strength and endurance activities.

• Perform exercises for core strength and endurance.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

Snapshot of February through June This semester third graders participated in cooperative activities requiring small groups to achieve an agreed upon goal. These activities included, but were not limited to, circus arts, soccer, football, lacrosse, and tag games. In circus arts they improved their dexterity and balance while learning and practicing juggling different objects, holding certain balance positions in acrobatics, and riding a unicycle.

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies as they apply to learning and performance of physical activities: • Explain how changing speed and changing direction can allow one person to move away from another.

• Understand the cascade pattern for juggling three objects.

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3rd Grade Physical Education Continued Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities: • Chase, flee, and move away from others in a constantly changing environment.

• Throw for distance demonstrating correct form.

• In football, start a play, pivot, hand off to running back. As a running back, able to cut back and spin while running with a football.

• Scoop up a ball and cradle while running with a lacrosse stick.

• Catch a ball while moving.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Describe the changes in heart rate before, during, and after physical activity.

• Stretch correctly for certain muscle groups.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Sustain continuous movement for increasing periods of time while participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

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3rd Grade Science Snapshot of September through January Third graders started the year by exploring how they are connected to their environment. Inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program, students engaged in a community mapping project and tried to identify areas where they could influence change. The classes explored local problems affecting people, animals and the environment. They did research and read articles about local issues, and ultimately created a poster campaign to educate Burke’s students, parents, teachers, and community members about how we can all help make change.

Students also investigated plants, concentrating on native plants, seeds, and plant needs. The native plant study connects with the classroom study of the San Francisco area and Ohlone people. We then shifted our focus to edible plants and began a unit on food literacy. The girls examined the story behind their food and considered ways that food can nourish individuals, families, and society. They also explored seasonal, local food; compared local and industrial food systems; and evaluated the effect of their food choices on people and the environment.

In third and fourth grade, students have half-class science biweekly in addition to weekly full-class science. During this time, we focus on design thinking and engineering. We have started to delve into simple machines by experimenting with wheels and axles. The girls engaged in creative tinkering projects where they used this knowledge to build moving vehicles.

Through these topics, third graders practiced doing research, using evidence to support ideas, sorting and categorizing, making predictions, engineering through trial and error, and drawing scientific diagrams.

Snapshot of February through June Third graders explored electricity this spring, beginning with hands-on tinkering and experiments to investigate different kinds of circuits and culminating in the Circuit Circus. Each student had to design and build her own electrical creation, showcasing her knowledge of electrical circuits. In addition, the girls developed skills in the areas of brainstorming, prototyping, iteration, flexible problem-solving, perseverance, and giving and receiving constructive feedback. They also practiced communicating aloud, in writing, and with diagrams.

The third graders went on their first Burke’s outdoor education trip to the Marin Headlands in April. A major theme of the trip was how animals, plants, and people are connected in a watershed. This trip is also a rite of passage for the students from a social-emotional perspective.

In half-class time, the third graders have built and experimented with pulley machines. We rounded out the year by investigating magnets and concluding our native plant garden study. Skills and concepts include scientific drawings, observing changes over time, and appreciating and reflecting on nature.

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INVENTION

CON

VENTION Fourth-grade st udents design, build, and share inventions desig ned to solve eve problems as pa ryday rt of the Inventi on Convention.

SNAPSHOT OF

FOURTH GRADE

A glimpse into Fourth Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

4th Grade Art Snapshot of September through January Fourth graders concluded their body image unit by writing letters to their future seventh-grade selves, offering encouragement, advice, and ways to maintain positive feelings and self-acceptance towards their physical appearance. The letters will be returned to students in seventh grade when they re-examine this topic. Next, we began a mask-making project. Students examined the forms and functions of masks from different cultures and across time periods. They brainstormed and sketched ideas reflecting on the themes of transformation, protection, and celebration. In small groups, students developed communication skills and trust while carefully plastering each other’s faces. Once the plaster masks hardened, each student trimmed her own mask and used recycled objects and foil to create attachments and extensions. Students learned how to paint in layers beginning with the base coat, or first layer, continuing with medium areas, and finishing up with details and touch-ups. The masks will be decorated even further with glitter, glow in the dark paint, feathers, fabric, and beads.

Each mask will reflect the unique personality and creativity of the student.

Snapshot of February through June Fourth graders spent the second half of the year working on a multi-layered plaster mask project. After an examination of masks from different cultures and across time periods, each student brainstormed and sketched out her ideas reflecting the theme of transformation, protection, and celebration. In small groups, students developed communication skills and trust while carefully plastering each other’s faces. Once the mask hardened, students used cardboard and tinfoil to create various attachments and extensions that brought their three dimensional projects to life. Students practiced painting in layers beginning with the base coat, continuing with medium shapes and finishing up with details and designs. The masks were decorated even further with glitter, glow-in-the-dark paint, feathers, fabrics, and beads. The masks reflected the unique personality and creativity of the students.

They went on to share their creations proudly during the arts festival and grandparents and special friends day.

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4th Grade Language Arts Snapshot of September through January After much discussion and inquiry about great books this fall, we continued to focus on responding to reading in written form. Through critical reading of independent reading books and read aloud books, fourth graders have been strengthening their comprehension skills of visualization, prediction, inference, and questioning author’s purpose in a variety of formats which include Post-Its, journaling, graphic organizers, and creative writing. We introduced Notice and Note “signposts” that alert readers to noteworthy moments in their books. These signposts for both fiction and nonfiction text help the class better understand and respond to character development, conflict, point of view, and theme.

Learning first to spot these signposts and then to question them enables the students to explore any text, finding evidence to support their interpretations. With this new way of actively reading the class is learning to engage their thinking and move beyond simply summarizing a story. We used independent reading books and read aloud to consider point of view and different perspectives, as well as to think more critically about issues such as socialization, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, and how people express their emotions.

The fourth graders recently began personal and expository essay writing. We explored ways to create a thesis statement and delved into more “paragraphing” practice, creating a thesis statement and supporting it with relevant details and anecdotes. The class used a “hamburger” model to learn the structure of a paragraph, which includes a topic sentence, supporting detail sentences, and a concluding sentence. A “boxes and bullets” structure was used to outline an essay, with a boxed thesis statement and bullets to plan out supporting details. We looked at language usage in writing through revision and editing. The fourth-grade writers are becoming more mindful of their word choice, using more precise language (e.g., thoughtful, compassionate, considerate instead of nice) and varying their sentence fluency (creating more complex sentence structures), through mini lessons and examination of various author’s writing styles.

In word study we are continuing to use the principles of scientific inquiry or “structured word inquiry” to approach our word work, which looks at how English spelling represents meaning. In small groups the fourth graders investigate words, vocabulary, and Greek and Latin roots to assist their spelling development. They are guided by four questions: • What does the word mean?

• How is it built (identifying bases and affixes)?

• What are other related words?

• What are the sounds that matter?

The students are also building upon their dictionary and thesaurus skills as an added resource in their writing.

Snapshot of February through June We ended the year by synthesizing much of what was learned in the first semester in terms of being active readers and intentional writers, always being mindful of thinking about the text we are reading, and considering purpose and audience when composing written work. Much of the focus in reading BURKE’S PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

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4th Grade Language Arts Continued this last part of the year was on nonfiction text. The girls looked at the unique features of expository writing, activating their own schema to help promote understanding. They gleaned main ideas and supporting details, visualized to promote understanding, utilized strategies discussed when reading challenging text, and used context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. The girls effectively organized and presented information gathered using a variety of nonfiction resource materials, did notetaking and outlining with nonfiction text, and engaged in collaborative discussions (e.g., one-on-one, in small groups, and teacher led) focused around nonfiction topics (such as extreme forms of weather).We continued to identify mood in fiction text and figurative language to enhance description and writing style.

The girls are becoming more adept at providing evidence to support their assertions as they read. They completed a multiple paragraph report (that included an introduction, body, and concluding paragraphs), which was a biography of a famous Californian, wrote personal essays and research presentations, and did historical fiction journal writing from the perspective of a persona they created. In addition, the girls did grammar and word inquiry, practiced their outlining skills, test-taking skills, and oral-presentation skills focusing on visual aids, eye contact, voice projection, and considering your audience.

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4th Grade Library Snapshot of September through January How can I consolidate what I have learned about being a reader, researcher, and learner? That is the presenting question for fourth graders in Library this year. To further develop competence, curiosity, and confidence, students practiced many research skills—how to use the computer catalog; find books on shelves; find information in books; use nonfiction text features; evaluate a book for “fit;” skim material; highlight; take different kinds of keyword notes; organize information and ideas; pose starting point questions (factual and essential); make and defend a thesis statement; and cite sources.

To experience the power of literature to feed imagination and nurture empathy, fourth graders read books both as a class and independently. Areas of focus included different genres (fantasy, historical fiction, and nonfiction, including biography); literary elements (e.g., characterization); the Newbery Award; text-to-self connections; and wise book selection. Projects, several done in conjunction with the Makery and in the classroom, allowed students to apply information and ideas, especially through persuasive arguments that consider audience. To empower themselves as learners, students use rubrics to reflect on what has been learned.

UNITS/PROJECTS Big Sister/Little Sister/Video and Book Sharing; Independent Reading—Animal Fantasy/Animated Interview; Independent Reading—Newbery Award Winners/3-D printer Symbol; Election/Research and Advice to Future President; Independent Research/Curiosity Project; Independent Research/California Hall of Fame Nomination. Reading Aloud: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo and Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko.

Snapshot of February through June This year fourth graders have been answering the question: How can I consolidate what I have learned in Lower School Library about becoming a researcher, reader, and learner? In so doing, students develop competence, curiosity, connection, and confidence that will carry them to Upper School. To gain experience with the research process, students practice many skills —how to select an area of interest; take different kinds of keyword notes; organize information and ideas; construct a persuasive argument with a thesis statement and supporting evidence; pose different kinds of questions (factual and essential); answer questions in different ways; make research-to-self connections; and cite sources. To deepen appreciation for the power, potential, and purpose of literature, fourth graders read books both as a class and independently. Areas of focus include different genres (e.g., biography and historical fiction); literary elements (e.g., setting); text-to-self connections; and wise personal book selection. Projects, some done in conjunction with the Makery, allow students to apply information and ideas, especially through persuasive arguments that consider audience. To empower themselves, students use rubrics and reflection tools to consider what has been learned, set goals, and grow as learners.

UNITS/PROJECTS Independent Reading and Research/California Hall of Fame Nomination; Independent Reading—Fiction/Self Reflection on Setting; Independent Reading--Fiction/ Recommendations from Classmates; Topics in Science/Activity With Factual and Poetic Answers.

Reading Aloud: Chasing Secrets.

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4th Grade Makery Snapshot of September through January The Makery curriculum for fourth graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes.

As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, problem solving, and project management. A large part of their technology education this year has been piloting one-to-one Chromebooks, which they are using in their homerooms. They are managing files in the cloud as there is no local storage on the Chromebooks.

For the project, “Hello, Little Sister,” a collaboration between Library and Makery, each fourth-grade student introduces herself to her Burke’s Little Sister and shares a picture book she enjoyed in kindergarten. The students wrote scripts from Library notes, created storyboards, shot movies with a partner, and edited them individually in iMovie. They learned framing techniques that filmmakers use, like close-ups and cutaway shots.

In collaboration with Library, students used Green Screen, an iPad app, to make an animated movie featuring a scripted interview of an animal from a fantasy book being interviewed by themselves as a puppet.

In Mathery, a collaboration of Math and Makery, the students deconstructed commercial card games by playing them and listing their parts. Then, they created storyboards and prototypes of their own card games (which had to include multiplication in some way). Their games were field-tested by teachers, parents, and Upper-School students—giving their designers real feedback.

The students practiced file management by using Google Classroom and Google Drive to receive, complete, and hand in assignments. They uploaded media from computers and iPads to Google Drive and Google Classroom. They managed media from two online accounts, TinkerCad and Artstor. They are learning the new Google Sites app (wiki- and webpage creation) in order to create a website on which they will display and reflect on two projects they make in Library and Makery.

Snapshot of February through June The Makery curriculum for fourth graders emphasizes two related goals: 1) learning to use a variety of media, materials, and tools; and 2) learning the skills needed to make, share, find, solve, protect, and learn. Content and learning goals for different projects often come from core and special classes.

As they make, the students practice the skills of attention, perseverance, problem solving, and project management. A large part of their technology education this year has been piloting one to one Chromebooks, which they are using in their homerooms. They are managing files in the cloud as there is no local storage on the Chromebooks.

In Mathery, a new class this semester that combines math and Makery, the fourth graders worked with digital tools and hand tools to create shapes, measure perimeters, and ultimately fashion 3D objects representing a Newbery Award book—along with a case for displaying the objects. They became skilled at measuring, cutting, and what we call “knibbling” which is a machine Mr. King made that cuts cardboard and plastic like a jigsaw but more safely.

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4th Grade Makery Continued The girls continued to learn and practice file management skills as they curated their own folders on the school server and in the suite of Google applications we use: Drive, Classroom, and Sites. They managed media from online accounts—TinkerCad and Artstor. For a second year, they worked on their digital portfolios, this year using a new platform—New Google Sites—for posting and reflecting on two libraryMakery projects, the Newbery 3D project and the California Hall of Fame nomination biography. Each student creates her own website on which she posts artifacts that show the process she has followed, the products she has created, and her reflections on what she has learned. Their teachers address comments directly to the students on the website.

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4th Grade Mathematics Snapshot of September through January Investigating and creating effective survey questions prepared the students to gather and organize two sets of data, which they, in turn, analyzed and represented in a graph, line plot, pie chart, or double bar graph. This allowed students to use critical thinking skills as they determined whether their questions allowed them to collect numerical data. Rubrics provided the girls an opportunity to self-assess their participation, accuracy, and efforts with the data projects.

We continued with our multiplication journey by introducing the “break apart” strategy. We introduced a variety of multiplication and division strategies to allow each student to find the “tool” that works best for her. The alternative strategies included the lattice method, identifying “powers of ten,” Russian Peasant method, and box multiplication, as well as using place value disks to help students solve division problems, sometimes with a remainder. The disks also helped students see multiplication as an inverse operation to division. Once this connection was made, we introduced additional division strategies, such as using the inverse operation with multiplication fluency facts to break apart problems. These experiences allowed the girls to investigate which method they found to be most efficient and effective when multiplying and dividing 2-digit numbers by a 1-digit number.

In order to support risk taking when problem solving throughout the multiplication and division units, Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math was reintegrated to set the tone when we returned from winter break in January. Revisiting discussions regarding growth mindset encouraged the students to embrace research on how mistakes grow the brain, take risks, and think deeper by persevering when challenged.

Snapshot of February through June We revisited addition and subtraction with double- and triple-digit numbers. After solving these problems tangibly using place value discs and discussing the concept of regrouping, we introduced the U.S. standard algorithm. After creating a class resource of all the various strategies that we have for adding and subtracting, the students practiced solving problems with the goal of deciding which strategy is the most efficient and effective for them personally.

With a focus on larger numbers, we learned the standard, word, and expanded form through one million. In conjunction, we returned to our multiplication strategies. Working with double-digit numbers, we reviewed the “break apart” method that relies on solving multiplication problems by place value in order to prepare for the introduction of the algorithm. After much practice with the algorithm with double- and triple-digit numbers, we were curious about the division algorithm. In preparation for our practice with long and short division, we reviewed our division facts by thinking of them as the inverse of basic multiplication facts through 12. We ended the year practicing both forms of the division algorithm with an emphasis on what strategy works best for the individual mathematician.

Experiences with the algorithms for all four mathematical operations will be useful tools as more complex, multi-step problems are presented in the Upper School.

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4th Grade Music-4A Snapshot of September through January The year started with class-wide musical leadership opportunities: Lower School Assembly song leading, and adding special harmony parts to familiar songs. Preparing for the play, the girls put their vocal skills to use singing songs from a wide variety of styles and cultures. As the girls prepared for the Holiday Sing they again demonstrated leadership in a variety of ways: narrating or playing special instrument accompaniments, using their candles with care, and modeling good attention and singing.

On recorders the girls started with a review of technique (breath, hand position, fingering, and tonguing) and notation (treble clef pitch names and ta and ta-te rhythm patterns). Through a steady stream of songs, the girls learned notes from low to high D. Songs were learned by ear to strengthen aural skills and through written notation to facilitate music reading.

Snapshot of February through June This semester began with preparations for the 2/3/4 Spring Concert “Honoring the Caretakers.” After workshops with visiting Plains-style drum leader, Neena McNair, the girls practiced the two dances she shared. They were very proud of the drumsticks they made and used. Drumming for “Chumash Welcome Song” and “Round Dance” helped all strengthen their steady beat and ensemble skills. Some girls sang special lead parts during the Native American songs. Others helped lead the dancing. The girls’ singing grew stronger and more in tune as they worked on the many songs in the concert. They learned about Native American protocol, respecting the drum, honoring the plants and animals that our instruments were made from, and feeling our connection to the elements so we can take better care of the earth around us.

This concert was truly a culmination of the girls’ learning throughout the year. For their original five- movement piece based on “Island of the Blue Dolphin” both sections worked from the same prompts, yet developed wonderfully different creations. Putting both group’s ideas together was quite musically satisfying. After the concert, each girl completed a written reflection and rubric on her own performance, learned more about Wilma Mankiller and other famous Native American women, and watched video of some challenging Plains-style dancing.

As the school year drew to a close, the girls learned two final fingerings on recorder, low F and low C. They added Recorder Rainbow bands acknowledging further achievement of songs and skills. The class prepared special songs for their final Lower School “Stepping Up” Day, learned the “Upper School Song” and “Burke’s Pledge” to ready them for their first Pansy Day, and wrote their “secret song” celebrating their teachers and time in fourth grade.

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4th Grade Physical Education Snapshot of September through January This semester fourth graders learned and practiced different exercises that help increase muscular, aerobic, and core strength. These exercises include calisthenics, laps, stretches and planks. We learned and practiced the skills of “bumping,” “serving,” and “ready position”, and proper hand grip of a racket, in badminton and volleyball. Through other games like “Not in My Backyard,” and “Infinity Tag,” the girls explore throwing, catching, striking with a racket, and dribbling. Many of these skills will transfer to the Circus Arts unit, such as using an underhand movement pattern when juggling.

Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies: • Explain the similarities of underhand movement patterns and how they apply to various activities.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns: • Dribble a ball with hands demonstrating proper form.

• Perform an underhand roll for distance and accuracy.

• Throw and catch demonstrating proper form.

• Strikes a moving object with a manipulative consistently.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Recognize the location and role of 6 muscle groups.

• Explain why flexibility is valuable when performing physical activities.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Perform exercises for core strength and endurance.

• Practice a skill and sustain continuous movement for increasing periods of time.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

Snapshot of February through June This semester fourth graders participated in many cooperative activities requiring the whole class to achieve an agreed-upon goal. In the fourth-grade circus arts demonstration they participated and took responsibility for themselves individually and as a group. They learned, practiced, and demonstrated a wide variety of skills in circus arts; they learned and practiced balance through riding unicycles, rolla bollas, and feather balancing. They also learned and practiced ball control in football, lacrosse, and other activities.

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4th Grade Physical Education Continued Demonstrates knowledge of movement concepts and strategies as they apply to learning and performance of physical activities: • Explain the difference in manipulating an object with a long-handled implement and a shorthandled implement.

• Understand the cascade pattern for juggling three objects.

Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities: • Catch a ball above the head, below the waist, and away from the body.

• Scoop up a ball, cradle while running, and beginning to throw with a lacrosse stick.

• Catch a ball while moving.

• Safely set up and take down equipment.

Demonstrates knowledge of fitness concepts and principles: • Stretch correctly for certain muscle groups.

• Identify components of physical fitness in certain activities and games.

Demonstrates effort to maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance: • Sustain continuous movement for increasing periods of time while participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity.

• Is resilient when faced with challenge.

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4th Grade Science Snapshot of September through January Fourth grade started the year with a unit on female puberty. The curriculum focused on the biology behind puberty and menstruation, emotions about growing up, and practical information about the physical changes of puberty.

We next began a study of buoyancy. Students engaged in hands-on and inquiry-based experiments around floating and sinking and explored concepts of buoyant force, density, and displacement.

Through these explorations, along with data collection and analysis, students were able to develop a working understanding of these terms. They then drew on these experiences to design and build mechanically powered boats.

Students started to plan for the Invention Convention. They began to learn about the design process, innovation versus invention, and how to prototype an invention that solves a problem. Fourth graders have been studying simple machines, investigating where we use simple machines in everyday life, and experimenting with levers. They will use a simple machine as part of their inventions.

During these studies, fourth graders practiced the skills of making predictions, collecting data, measuring and weighing objects, observing patterns to draw conclusions, engineering through trial and error, and communicating their scientific ideas to one another.

Snapshot of February through June Fourth graders began the new year with the Invention Convention. Working alone or with a partner, students used the design process to make a prototype of an invention that solves a problem. Each invention also had to incorporate a moving part or simple machine such as pulleys or wheels and axles. In this project, fourth graders had to practice problem-solving, flexible thinking, and planning.

They also demonstrated their ability to apply principles of constructions such as how to make an object structurally stable.

We also spent science time preparing for our trip to the Coloma Outdoor Discovery School. At Coloma, fourth graders hiked and learned about the natural history and ecosystem of the foothills region. They also discussed environmental issues and actions they can take to make a difference.

After a mini-unit on water conservation, we concluded the year with a study of tides and intertidal ecosystems. Each fourth grader researched a Bay Area intertidal animal and contributed to a class field guide. We also visited Richardson Bay Audubon Center to see the intertidal in real life. Concepts we studied include how the moon causes the tides, how to use tide charts, survival challenges animals face in the intertidal, common adaptations to survive those challenges, predator-prey relationships, and major groups of invertebrates. Skills practiced this spring unit include communicating ideas aloud, doing research with books and online, taking notes, synthesizing information, making connections, scientific drawing, and factual writing.

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4th Grade Social Studies Snapshot of September through January Social Studies provided a stage for critical thinking, strategic planning, and understanding diverse experiences and perspectives. We started our study of California by introducing its four regions.

Groups were assigned to research and present each region via Google Slides. Upon presenting their region, each group then planned how to showcase their area on a large-scale topographical map of California. Individual students shared a home extension project of a map of California showcasing the regions, as well.

The Balclutha field trip allowed the girls to have an inside perspective on daily life on a ship, as we read about the early European explorers travels to North America, which was the precursor to the creation of the California Missions. Our “Voyage to America” simulation provided the opportunity for students to employ the thinking that was used by the missionaries to pack appropriate supplies for their arrival and survival in California.

We are studying Native Americans’ connection to the earth through stories of mythology and tales.

Students are aware of both the Native American and missionary perspective before, during, and after the Mission Period. In tandem, both sections are also preparing to participate in servicelearning projects to better understand the connections that Native Americans have to the earth as we encourage them to be stewards of the environment.

Snapshot of February through June In cooperative learning groups, the students continued to grapple with how different human experiences, both individual and collective, shape the past, present, and future. The hands-on, interactive experiences at Coloma equipped the students with detailed accounts of the various historical perspectives of the people of the Gold Rush. In pairs, students researched one of the class’ questions about the time period, then presented their findings to the class using a format of their choosing. Some pairs used infographics, while others performed reenactments. As the students processed the effects of the Gold Rush on California’s native people, economy, and landscape, there was a collective desire to make an impact. Directly following the trip, each student of the class created action plans for a cause they were most passionate about. In the last month of school, the students created and enacted action plans in the hopes of making some kind of difference to make our world better.

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USEUM M Y R O T S I e EGYPTIAN H design interactiv

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SNAPSHOT OF

FIFTH GRADE

A glimpse into Fifth Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

5th Grade Art Fall Snapshot The Visual Arts program connects art with the world around us. It opens a world beyond textbooks for students to explore and builds a foundation for creative thinking. Exploring and practicing the inward significance art can portray through story, intention, and thoughtfulness are three areas of focus in the girls’ journey as 21st-century learners this year. Students are encouraged to explore new techniques, seek deeper meaning in their art practice, and establish a personal approach to their work. We also explore how the arts can cross disciplines to create an exciting statement.

The fifth-grade Visual Arts class will be carrying over their fourth-grade sketchbooks, which they will use to brainstorm, plan, express ideas, and draw, and in which they will be able to see their work progress. In the fifth grade, students look at and interpret several historical and multicultural art practices in different media. The girls start out the year by studying Color Theory and then learn about the annual celebration of Dia de Los Muertos traditions by participating in the building of an Upper School altar in collaboration with the fifth-grade Spanish class. In addition, we learn about new and exciting media such as paper quilling, wire sculpture, metal repoussé, clay hand building, encaustic wax painting, and textiles.

In addition, the girls learn appropriate art studio etiquette and practice “critique” while learning about polite and respectful ways to ask questions and comment on others’ work.

This year the girls will also continue using their digital portfolios in Art, creating a page where they can post images and reflect on their artwork.

Winter Snapshot We started the second trimester of fifth-grade art by visiting the Rosicrucian Museum’s Egyptian collection. This was the jumping off point for a collaboration between Art, Humanities, and Makery.

In Art, we created sarcophagus accordion books that contained a step-by-step explanation of the Egyptian mummification process. Each unique book was elaborately decorated with gold, bronze, and silver, following the color scheme of Egyptian tombs. In the Makery, the girls explored a number of new media, using both traditional and technical skills to build and work with cardboard, paper, and clay as well as Scratch programming.

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5th Grade Art Continued Spring Snapshot In the final trimester of fifth-grade art, the girls continued to refine their paper-quilling skills by creating paper-quilled animals of their choice that we mounted and put on display for the 2017 Arts Festival. In the latter half of the trimester we began our exploration of soft sculpture and sewing. The girls learned several basic embroidery stitches and we took on the “Tuna Can Pin Cushion Project.” The project had basic instructions, but the girls were free to get as creative as they wanted with the pin cushion design and decorative elements. Each girl’s pin cushion then became part of a larger collaborative project that was then displayed with the second grade imaginary friend soft sculptures during this year’s Arts Festival.

Students are required to keep a digital portfolio of all their work this year and every year in Upper School thereafter. These portfolios are a great way to show their artwork to family and friends.

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5th Grade Drama Spring Snapshot Upper School Drama classes provide opportunities to develop self-esteem and self-confidence through skill-building exercises involving the body, voice, and imagination. In addition to being an outlet for self-expression, drama class provides a safe environment to explore emotions, as well as the opportunity to increase self-awareness, self-discipline, and skills of observation and listening, in both partner and group contexts. All classes begin with warm-up exercises to bring awareness to the body and voice and to increase focus and concentration. Students then move on to various improvisations and scene work.

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5th Grade French Fall Snapshot We started fifth grade by learning the basic salutations, the alphabet, and the French sound system. To practice the latter two, we learned to say and write colors, numbers, and the names of some animals.

Students learned how to talk about their families, as well as les parties du corps. They studied the verb “avoir” in both contexts. The students created bandes dessinées (comic strips) using what they had learned.

We started to touch on simple grammar concepts such as the agreement of articles and adjectives with nouns.

All along, we have sung, played, and laughed.

Winter Snapshot This trimester the fifth graders learned how to formulate questions and responses. By using the question forms, they were able to learn more vocabulary, including different fruits, school materials, the rooms in a home, colors of the rainbow and numbers. We also worked on a special project preparing a family tree, which was an opportunity for the students to learn the names of different family relations and share their family tree with the class. They learned new songs to help them with pronunciation, verb conjugation, and overcoming shyness.

Spring Snapshot The trimester began with the vocabulary of the face and the body. To work on pronunciation, we learned the songs “Les Parties du Corps” and “Savez-Vous Planter les Choux” and added guessing games to help every student feel comfortable participating orally in positive and negative call and response. With the same learning method, we learned the rooms of the house and names of domestic animals. We also learned the vocabulary of classroom supplies, accompanied with a song called “Boîte en Plastique” and learned to spell numbers up to 70. We read several stories at the end of each class and started to read and write entire sentences using the verbs “être” and “avoir.” We also had a cooking day making crêpes from Bretagne. We also made our first book in French that includes the song lyrics and work we covered over the year.

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5th Grade Humanities Fall Snapshot Reading - Discussing and writing about literature is our current focus. A critical skill that students are learning is asserting claims based on the content in any book. Once they assert that claim they must bolster it with appropriate text-based evidence.

To begin this process, we worked on choosing reading material suitable for each student’s reading level. Next, in every class we analyze book structure and form (such as plot, themes, setting, characters, or repeating objects). We also applied the methods learned to our history studies so students can learn how the humanities subjects are integrated rather than separate. Applying their developing ability to reflect on their chosen reading, students compose weekly “reader responses” in which they present a claim about characters, plot, or theme together with supporting evidence from the text. As the year progresses, students’ ideas and claims will become more complex through feedback, modeling, and class interaction.

Writing and Grammar - The effective communication of independent ideas requires structure, grammar, and organization. Using the “Writer’s Workshop Model,” students brainstorm, draft, revise, and collaboratively edit before “publishing” their final drafts. Our work on writing began with several assignments in which students reflected on who they are and how they see themselves. Other assignments focused on essay and paragraph structure, moving from the macro level of introductory paragraph, body paragraphs, and conclusion to the micro level of topic sentences, supporting content and concluding sentence.

The girls are excited by the opportunity to demonstrate how they have embraced these learnings in our next big project, a work of historical fiction created around a strong character in a time period of their choosing. This assignment is designed to combine the elements of creation, research, peer analysis and editing in a positive and supportive environment.

Students practice new grammar skills in ten minute “quick writes” focusing on complete sentences which contain both subject and verb. We are also working to identify and eliminate run-on sentences or fragments. Appropriate use of punctuation, including commas and capitalization, has also been a focus.

History - This trimester, we began a journey through ancient Egypt, assessing the historian’s claims in our textbooks and exploring the relationship between geography and culture. Why was access to a river so important? Students are engaged in an appreciation of ancient Egyptian culture by writing in their journals about daily life and the mummification process. Our exploration of ancient Egypt will continue next trimester as we seek to make sense of the old with our newly learned analysis techniques.

Winter Snapshot Reading - This trimester, we continued to explore the deep connections between reading and writing.

Students were pushed to articulate their understanding of both fiction and non-fiction reading content and demonstrate that understanding through their writing. Much of the trimester’s reading focused on our textbook, A Message of Ancient Days, and on independent research sources. In their writing, students analyzed and synthesized what they had read to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and topics. Students also applied their skills of analysis and synthesis to other ancient periods through Page 72

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5th Grade Humanities Continued the creation of historical fiction writing. In addition, students were required to read independent books of their choice nightly and record their progress in a reading log. Learning about symbolism and theme through our class read of The Egypt Game is leading to the third trimester’s “book groups,” which are designed to encourage students to reflect on their reading, apply these concepts, enhance their working vocabulary, and articulate their opinions in groups both skillfully and rationally.

Writing and Grammar - Our writing this trimester was focused on continuing to build a foundation for concise narrative writing. In grammar we worked on writing simple and complex sentences, using common and proper nouns as well as punctuating dialogue. In addition to grammar, we stressed concepts such as the elements of a story (developing conflict, how to show action, building to a climax, and presenting a resolution), differentiating between scenes (with dialogue and detail), and summarizing the narrative and actions. In addition to ongoing practice, students demonstrated their understanding of these concepts through two major compositions: a historical fiction story and an explanation of a facet of Ancient Egyptian culture. Each of these projects required students to research, synthesize, write, edit, and publish their work. The historical fiction piece obliged the students to research their topic thoroughly, and then synthesize their understanding of a time and place in history into their character’s landscape, perspectives, and responses to events. Students wrote, edited, and published their final work and then read parts of it aloud to the class. The Ancient Egyptian culture composition was a collaborative effort, with each student required to write an independent composition before her group’s collaborative effort was drafted, edited, and presented to the class.

History - This trimester brought an end to our sojourn with the people of Ancient Egypt. During this trimester-long journey, we focused on “six elements of culture,” a technique designed to encourage critical analysis of historical and contemporary events through geography, government, anthropology, important events, sociology/lifestyle, and the economy. Students collaborated to create a curated “museum exhibit,” applying and demonstrating their understanding of all six cultural elements. With insightful ideas and guidance from the Makery Facilitator, students designed an Egyptian Museum as they created artifacts and worked in groups to answer essential questions and present an aspect of Egyptian culture. From the ancient world, we then applied the six elements to contemporary U.S. culture through an overview of how U.S. geographic regions and boundaries affect our society. Next trimester will bring the class back in time to Ancient Greece.

Spring Snapshot Reading - In Book Group discussion this spring, students have been encouraged to reflect on their fiction and nonfiction reading, apply the concepts they have learned, enhance their working vocabulary, and articulate their opinions skillfully and rationally. Reading Greek myths, students practiced discerning and developing a thorough understanding of themes and symbolism, gathering evidence to support claims, and identifying relevant vocabulary. We ended the year focusing on “high level” skills, including making character claims with supporting text evidence, analyzing plots, and recognizing themes and motifs. We compared and contrasted plot elements and themes across two novels, Number the Stars (historical fiction set in WWII Occupied Copenhagen) and Breaking Stalin’s Nose (historical fiction set in post-WWII Stalinist USSR).

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5th Grade Humanities Continued Writing and Group Work - The focus in writing this trimester was on re-drafting, refining, and polishing, especially within the Greek Plays project. Although students were responsible for their own lines, the collaborative nature of the project required them to interact with respect, have productive and focused discussions, take turns, and support and encourage each other.

The process included the following steps: 1. Negotiating and drafting a group-based charter that defined success and guidelines for addressing conflict 2. Reading multiple depictions of a particular myth 3. Synthesizing and deducing the elements of the myth, preparing a truncated class “slideshow” presentation of the myth 4. Multiple individual re-tellings of the myth within the group to provide different perspectives and approaches 5. Writing individual Diary Entries, in character, to demonstrate understanding of the themes of the myth 6. Drafting the play as a group with each student taking responsibility for writing her individual scenes and lines 7. Designing props and costumes8. Practicing and performing.

History - After learning about the importance of culture and its elements (geography, important events, anthropology, sociology, government, and economy) in our study of Ancient Egypt, we investigated how these cultural elements facilitated the creation, growth, and uniqueness of the United States in a “State Research Project.” This project required students to research, analyze, and explore the original inhabitants of her state; individuals who played a prominent role in shaping its historical or cultural development; current inhabitants and how they govern; geography; economy; and other idiosyncrasies of the state. Students searched online and in the library and were required to take detailed notes that formed the foundation of a class presentation using a variety of media such as posters, slideshows, and videos.

We then applied the analytical processes refined on the tangible components of Ancient Egypt and the United States to the classical myths of Ancient Greece. Students learned that the Ancient Greeks considered their gods to be active participants in society. We investigated the Titans, the Olympians, city-states, and how gods were honored through the Olympics, literature, theater, art, and architecture.

We discussed how Greek myths portrayed women in society and in the pantheon of the gods, and analyzed what those portrayals say about Greek attitudes toward women and the roles those attitudes play in today’s society.

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5th Grade Mandarin Fall Snapshot During the first trimester, the fifth-grade Mandarin course focused on building foundational Chinese language skills. Students learned the Pinyin phonetic system, which includes 21 initial consonants, 37 compound vowels, four tones, and a neutral tone. Students also learned to greet, count from 1 to 1000, ask and answer questions about days of the week, dates, and people’s birthdays and nationalities. Students also learned some classroom expressions like “Teacher, I have a question,” or “Teacher, may I go to the restroom?” To practice and use the things they’ve learned, the girls created, memorized, and acted out skits.

Culturally, students learned about the background story, significance and celebrations of one of the most important Chinese traditional holidays, the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Winter Snapshot During the second trimester, the fifth-grade Mandarin course continued to focus on building the students’ basic language skills. The class topics included introducing one’s family, describing colors and asking many questions. We reviewed how to use the “yes or no” question word “ma” and learned questions with the special question words “shén me” (what?), “shuí” (who?), “nǎ guó rén” (what nationality?), “zěn me” (how to...?), and “jǐ” (how many?). The students learned and practiced how to use proper sentence patterns to ask and answer those questions in complete sentences. Students also learned a few measure words and how to use them correctly according to the accompanying nouns.

Culturally, the Spring Festival celebration was introduced, and students learned the Chinese Zodiac animals. For projects, each student wrote a poem describing their perfect world and gave an oral presentation in class. The girls also learned and memorized the lyrics of a Chinese pop song with many new vocabulary words and performed at the Upper School Assembly!

Spring Snapshot During the third trimester, the fifth-grade Mandarin class covered the following topics: talking about one’s favorites (animals, drinks, fruit, activities, holidays, seasons, school subjects); asking and answering questions about age, school, grades, jobs, and languages people speak; and measure words for different nouns. In grammar, we focused on learning the verbs xǐ huan (to like), zuò (to do), chī (to eat), hē (to drink), qù (to go), shuō (to speak), yǒu (to have), dǎ (to play certain sports), shàng (to attend school or a certain grade). Students also learned the usages of xiǎng and huì, which, when used in front of verbs, indicate respectively “would like to do” and “being able to do” something.

Students completed two main projects. For the first project, students worked in two groups. One group wrote a skit, and the other group wrote a fairy tale story. Each group created an iMovie and presented it in class. For the second project, each student wrote a speech about herself or her family and gave an oral presentation in class. Students also translated and learned “The Rainbow Song” and performed with the fifth-grade Spanish and French students at the Upper School Assembly.

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5th Grade Mathematics Fall Snapshot Students began the year with Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math. Through short videos and lowfloor, high-ceiling tasks, students learned important growth mindset messages to persist with openended problems, to embrace mistakes and challenges, and to think visually.

During our unit on Roman Numerals, we learned how to convert from Hindu-Arabic numerals to Roman numerals and vice versa.

During our Whole Number and Calculations unit, we learned how to read and write numbers up to the billions in standard, word, short word, and expanded forms. We learned how to identify both the place value and value of a digit given its position within a number, and solved equations, such as how many millions = 300 ten thousands. We learned how to round numbers to a given place value. Using our knowledge of the place value system, we added and subtracted large numbers using multiple approaches such as breaking numbers apart, using a number line, and the traditional algorithm. We solved multi-step word problems involving addition and subtraction. We found factors and multiples of numbers, and determined whether a number is prime or composite. By listing all the proper factors of a number we determined whether it is perfect, abundant, or deficient. We used sets of clues to solve number puzzles. We learned divisibility rules for the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10 and wrote numbers to satisfy a set of conditions involving divisibility rules. We used the array (or box) model to multiply numbers, and learned how to double one factor and half the other to find equivalent expressions.

This trimester we also started Course 2 of a block-based drag and drop coding course on code. org. We started with some “unplugged” activities, one where we had to write an algorithm (a set of instructions) using a set of predefined commands to reproduce a drawing. Another activity involved arranging a set of individual instructions to create a paper plane. Each student has her own account on code.org and is working through each stage of the course at her own pace to create programs to solve problems.

Winter Snapshot We continued with our Calculations and Whole Numbers unit and looked at different methods to multiply numbers with up to two-digit multipliers. These included the array model, the lattice method, and the traditional algorithm. We used the Big 7 method to divide numbers. We learned about square numbers and how to write expressions involving repeated multiplication using exponents. We went on to evaluate and compare expressions involving exponents. We followed the order of operations to simplify expressions and organized our work using a top-down approach. We learned mental math strategies to add expressions like 148 + 98, to subtract expressions like 1400 – 89, and to multiply expressions like 55 x 21. We learned how to use a bar model to solve word problems.

During the unit on Fractions, we found equivalent fractions by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by the same number. We learned how to find the greatest common factor (GCF) of a set of numbers by listing all the factors and by using prime factorization and drawing a Venn diagram. Similarly we found the least common multiple (LCM) by listing multiples and by using prime factorization and drawing a Venn diagram. We solved word problems involving the GCF and LCM. We learned how to write fractions in simplest form and used them to create a Simple Message project where letters corresponding to fractions in simplest form revealed the answer to a riddle. We learned Page 76

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5th Grade Mathematics Continued how to compare fractions by finding a common denominator and then found their difference. We learned how to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number and vice versa. We learned how to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with like and unlike denominators, including subtracting mixed numbers when renaming is required. We solved word problems involving fractions and mixed numbers.

We continued working through the stages in Course 2 of the block-based drag and drop coding course on code.org. Since the course is self-paced, some students have completed each stage in Course 2 and have moved to Course 3. During the Hour of Code week, we learned how to convert numbers written in base 10 into binary and vice versa. Students wrote their birth date in binary and then used beads to make binary birth date bracelets.

Spring Snapshot In the Decimals unit, we learned how to read and write whole numbers to the billions place and decimals to the millionths place and identified the value of a digit given its position within a given number. We compared, ordered, and rounded decimals. We learned the importance of lining up decimals by place value when performing addition and subtraction and to estimate the sum or difference. We learned how to multiply decimals and to determine where to place the decimal point using estimation and by counting the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. We learned how to mentally multiply and divide whole numbers and decimals by powers of ten. We learned the traditional algorithm for division and how to perform division involving decimal dividends and divisors and to find the quotient correct to one or two decimal places. We learned how to find the unit price of an item, for example, the price per pound of apples when given the cost of 3.5 pounds. We also calculated the mean average of a data set.

In the Percents unit we shaded a 10-by-10 grid to show fractions out of 100 and to convert them to percents. We practiced and built fluency in finding percents and equivalent fractions with halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, and tenths. We looked at the relationship between fractions, percents, and decimals. We learned how to convert between the different forms and how to write fractions as decimals and percents using equivalent fractions and using division. We learned how to find 1%, 10%, 20%, and 5% of a number and to use combinations of these to find the percent of a given number and to calculate a tip.

We completed the trimester by drawing and labeling bar models to find the fraction of a number and to solve word problems involving fractions and percents. We also used this approach to introduce word problems involving ratios.

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5th Grade Music Fall Snapshot The primary goal of fifth grade Music is to broaden each student’s understanding of the fundamental concepts of the expressive arts (rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, and form) while building confidence and proficiency of musical expression in the application of these concepts both individually and in ensemble. Activities this fall have included rhythmic skill games, improvised group movement, choral singing, and playing Boomwhackers and the Orff chromatic barred instruments. Specific areas of choral skill development include studying solfège, practicing two-part harmony, and conducting the down beat and the up beat. Students are developing an increased understanding of the harmonic structure of the Circle of Fifths with study of the I - V harmonic progression in Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy” and the I - IV - V 12-bar blues progression of Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues.” We are also in the process of building a repertoire of traditional and popular styles of choral music to be performed in the Upper School Winter Sing.

Winter Snapshot The focus during the Winter trimester was on the development of choral performance skills such as poise, stage presence, singing posture, vocal projection, range, proper breath support, tone production, facial expression, body language, and focused eye contact and on the preparation of repertoire for the Upper School Winter Sing. The girls also enjoyed learning and performing the choreography for the finale, “Rise.” Watching the video of the Winter Sing concert, the girls completed a performance skills rubric to identify personal areas of strength and areas for continued growth.

We are now continuing our vocal music study as well as exploring compositional skills with the GarageBand application for iPads.

Spring Snapshot During the Spring trimester we focused on the further development of two- and three-part harmony singing skills. We also explored music composition with the iPad GarageBand application, practicing the process of selecting sounds, editing, recording, and layering tracks. We continued the semester with the preparation of the Tsakonikos dance with Orff instrumental accompaniment to present as part of the Greek Plays performance. The school year culminated with practicing the Burke’s Pledge, School Song, and Fifth Grade Reflection for the Pansy Day ceremony.

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5th Grade Physical Education Fall Snapshot With Mr. Hetzel, students took their first fitness tests in Upper School, setting a baseline for their physical fitness going forward, and recorded their efforts on their own Schoology pages for reference as they set new goals for themselves in the next trimester. Students ran a 50-yard sprint on the grass, jumped as high as they could reach on a vertical jump tester, and reached for their toes as far as they comfortably could for ten seconds to determine their flexibility. Softball and disc (Frisbee) were introduced as a means of learning transferable skills related to throwing and catching with a focus on power, accuracy, and control. Students also began understanding the basic rules of the games for modified game situations. Students learned how to “get in a pickle” and how to run the bases for softball and how to relay the disc between players and switch their grip on the disc so as to throw on both the right and left sides of the body. Other activities included throwing and catching individually, in pairs, and in groups, as well as challenges for accuracy, distance, and coordinating within groups.

The girls developed the best grip for both backhand and forehand disc throws and began to learn how to pivot back and forth between them. In softball, they learned the mechanics of the overhand throw for power and accuracy. They also learned safe and proper catching form and techniques depending on the level of the catch. In “EPIC” (Engaged Play Inspiring Creativity), students created games of their own, working together in small groups to vote on a system of governance to make decisions; creating activities with rules; using non-violent communication techniques to express their needs, listen to the needs of others and resolve conflicts; supporting each other’s brainstorming ideas by using “Yes and…” statements; giving feedback to another group; and improving on a prototype idea with the feedback provided.

Ms. Bryant introduced a wide variety of basic skills and fundamentals in the volleyball unit. The focus at the fifth grade level is on basic skill acquisition, fundamental movement patterns, and general concepts of the game. This sets the foundation for the girls to develop their skills and learn team play concepts over the next three years.

Routine fitness exercises included active and passive stretching; agility, balance, and coordination exercises; and abdominal and upper/lower body strength exercises.

Winter Snapshot With Ms. Bryant, we completed the badminton unit and are currently progressing through the basketball unit, which will be completed in the coming weeks. A wide variety of basic skills and fundamentals were covered in the badminton unit. The focus at the fifth-grade level is on basic skill acquisition, fundamental movement patterns, and general concepts of the game. This sets the foundation for the girls to develop their skills and learn team play concepts over the next three years, and as such, scrimmage situations are not part of the fifth-grade course work. In badminton we focused on learning the racket grip, on shuttle contact both independently and with a partner, on overhand striking mechanics (using hand-fed shuttles and on live hits), and on contacting the shuttle when dropped from the hand for a serve. By the end of the unit the girls had chances to work together for consistent contact, helping each other to keep a rally going. We ended with the challenge of trying to break their previous consecutive record for an entire class period.

With Mr. Hetzel, students continued to apply skills over a wide range of movement forms in soccer, fitness, disc, sprinting, jogging, walking, softball, lacrosse, and stretching. Students played games BURKE’S PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

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5th Grade Physical Education Continued and participated in activities to become competent at specific skills and increase agility, balance, and coordination. Alignment was reinforced as students practiced stretching postures to develop strength, stamina, and flexibility. Locomotor movement forms for dance were introduced to help students become proficient at moving in a variety of directions and coordinated patterns and at a variety of speeds. Fitness activities were used on a regular basis as part of our warm-up before and after stretching. Students worked together in groups through “EPIC” (Engaged Play Inspiring Creativity) to develop specific motor skills, as well as social-emotional skills and non-violent communication strategies for resolving conflicts.

Spring Snapshot With Ms. Bryant we addressed a wide variety of basic skills and fundamentals in the basketball and flag football units. The focus at the fifth-grade level is on basic skill acquisition, fundamental movement patterns, and general concepts of the game. This sets the foundation for the girls to develop their skills and learn team-play concepts over the next three years. In basketball, we focused on becoming comfortable with the ball on both sides of the body, passing, and catching passes, and we began to develop shooting form from close range. In flag football we learned how to use flag belts and focused on lots of “flag-tag” activities to develop agility when running with the football and on tackling the flag off of the runner. We learned correct throwing grip and worked on the mechanics of throwing and on hand position to catch the ball. We even had physical fun working on the concept of blocking and trying to keep an opponent away from our passer.

With Mr. Hetzel, students built on the dance skills developed in the second trimester and used those movement forms and patterns to begin to set original dance movements to music at their own pace as part of structured warm-up exercises and games. In Circus Arts, students were given the chance to hone prior skills or learn new ones with an attitude of “structured freedom and exploration,” choosing such skills as walking on progressively taller stilts; learning to mount a unicycle while leaning against a wall, using the handrail for support while inching along, holding the arms of supporters at a slow walking pace, holding just one supporter’s arm at a jogging pace, and finally going it alone the length of the gym floor; juggling balls or clubs solo or with a partner; spinning disks on a stick; dancing to music; clowning while working on timing and humor; balancing objects such as a peacock feather or a broom on a finger; hula-hooping while throwing and catching a ball or dropping a ball into a cup; balancing on a rolla-bolla while throwing and catching with a partner; or spinning a “diablo” on a string and making it do tricks. In the fitness segments of class, sprinting form was emphasized with a focus on the ready position, techniques for enhanced acceleration, and completing the sprints at full speed. As a continuation of their Humanities study of Ancient Greece, students participated in “The Greek Games” as a way to experience a mild level of competition in the spirit of the Olympic Games with good will and respect for each other. The games involved tug-of-war, learning to pass a baton and using it for running relay races, and standing balance wrestling (front foot of each wrestler touching while holding each other’s wrists). Floor hockey was introduced as students learned the basic skills of how to hold the hockey stick and how to maneuver the stick safely around others and gain control over movements so that the stick could become a controlled and agile extension of the body. Students practiced dribbling, passing, and trapping the hockey puck and, as part of the Greek Games, created an obstacle course through which they navigated the puck. Students continued to Page 80

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5th Grade Physical Education Continued practice the 15-stretch routine that they learned for the first time at the beginning of the year and that has now become familiar enough for them to lead it on their own. Students practiced fitness exercises throughout the year to understand how incremental gains are achieved over time.

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5th Grade Science Fall Snapshot Fifth-grade work this fall began with defining systems and exploring how systems work. We started by looking at the bicycle as an example of a system. We listed its subsystems (parts), explored how the subsystems worked together, and defined the functions, inputs, and outputs. This gave us a framework to further understand how energy flows through a system and how systems are regulated by feedback loops.

Students applied their understanding of systems to build a 3D functional model of the cell. They explored the structures and functions of a cell’s organelles by choosing an analogous system to help them visualize their understanding. The cell unit included activities that showed similarities and differences between plant and animal cells, and students also learned to isolate their own DNA. As we explored the content we also focused on the processes and skills that scientists use to understand the world: lab safety, questioning, predicting, making observations, collecting data, and communicating results.

Winter Snapshot During the second trimester of fifth-grade Science, we continued our application of the processes and skills that scientists use to understand the world: lab safety, questioning, predicting, making qualitative and quantitative observations, collecting data, and communicating results. Students applied those skills to our Chemistry and Digestion units.

During the Chemistry unit they learned about the structure of an atom, described patterns in and organization of the Periodic Table, learned different clues for or evidence of a chemical change while exploring mini-experiments, explored and used the Law of Conservation of Matter to explain how the earth has limited resources, described how elements interact with one another, and built 3-D ball-andspring models of molecules to demonstrate chemical bonds and how molecules can physically look different from one another. For the Atom Project, students researched an element, built a 3-D model of it, and presented their findings to the class.

During the Digestive System unit, through demos, students explored what factors are important when designing experiments. Then they ran three digestive experiments: two determining whether the given unknowns were sugar or starch and one determining the function of the chemical amylase. They used the information from these experiments to create a definition of enzymes as a introduction to our digestive system unit. With a working definition of digestion and enzymes, students explored and identified the functions of the digestive system’s subsystems (organs).

Spring Snapshot During this final trimester, students explored the structure and function of some human body systems – nervous, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and reproductive – and how these systems interact and support each other.

Next, we explored the digestive system through a series of laboratory experiments. We learned about many stages of digestion, beginning with the role of saliva in turning starch into sugar. We learned about how the cardiovascular system works together with the digestive system and the respiratory Page 82

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5th Grade Science Continued system to transport nutrients and oxygen/carbon dioxide, respectively. We then connected these molecules back to the function of cells as we learned about the important role of supplying oxygen to our body’s cells to burn fuel for energy.

Students designed a product inspired by the functions of the nervous system, using biomimicry (an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies). They created an infographic poster outlining the problem their product solves, the biological strategy from which it is inspired, how it relates to the nervous system, and an engineering drawing of their prototype.

We ended the trimester with an exploration of reproductive strategies in nature, the structure and function of the reproductive system, changes during adolescence, and health. An excellent series of presentations by UCSF physicians provided a valuable hands-on experience for many of the systems we studied.

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5th Grade Spanish Fall Snapshot This first trimester, students have begun learning vocabulary essential for conversation and description – greetings, numbers, the letters of the alphabet, and basic bartering terms. We have begun learning about the gender of nouns, using the definite and indefinite articles together with vocabulary for classroom objects. We have also begun practicing noun-adjective agreement using colors. Students practice pronunciation through oral drills, basic conversation, and song. Cultural study has included a focus on the Mexican tradition of celebrating Día de los Muertos by constructing mini-altars to honor loved ones who have passed.

Winter Snapshot This second trimester in Spanish, students have continued learning vocabulary essential for conversation and description. The main topics we have covered are clothing, colors, and descriptive adjectives. The students also learned how to express likes and dislikes by using the verb gustar and have created iMovies as a means of assessment. They have practiced putting together all of the grammar elements we have learned so far to construct complete sentences for their project creating a fashion magazine. They have also learned the subject pronouns in combination with the conjugation of the irregular verb ser.

All projects and assessments emphasize the rules for pronunciation and basic sentence structure in Spanish with an emphasis on noun-adjective placement and agreement. Students also continue practicing Spanish via role-playing, singing, and playing games for vocabulary acquisition.

Spring Snapshot This final trimester, students have learned the subject pronouns in combination with the conjugation of the irregular verb ser. They have practiced putting together all of the grammar elements we have learned so far to construct complete sentences in Spanish. In-class activities have included learning songs and raps to help with the memorization of pronouns and the conjugation of the verb ser.

Vocabulary units covered have included family and body parts. As part of our cultural study, each girl chose a Spanish-speaking country to research and created a presentation for the class. Throughout the trimester, we have continued daily oral drills to improve pronunciation and practice conversation.

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DESIGNING

SO

LUTIONS In a chemistry lesson that cha llenged students consider enviro to nmental sustain ability, sixth gra used chemical ders reactions to cre ate edible wate r bottles.

SNAPSHOT OF

SIXTH GRADE

A glimpse into Sixth Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

6th Grade Art Fall Snapshot The Visual Arts program connects art with the world around us. It opens a world beyond textbooks for students to explore and builds a foundation for creative thinking. Students are encouraged to explore new techniques, seek deeper meaning in their art practice, and establish a personal approach to their work. We also explore how the arts can cross disciplines to create an exciting statement.

The sixth graders will continue to use the sketchbooks they received in fifth grade to to sketch and draw as well as see how their work has progressed. They sketch, brainstorm, communicate, express ideas, and reflect on their own work. For reflection on their work, they will use Digital Portfolios that allow them to post photographs of their work and write reflections online.

Sixth grade started the year off in art working in collaboration with the Spanish language program by taking part in the Upper School Día de los Muertos Altar. Students learned about Día de los Muertos and displayed their metal repoussé art. Art practice in sixth grade for the remainder of this year will include studying a variety of artists, media and practices, such as painting, grid drawing, metal repoussé, papier maché, observational drawing, soft sculpture, wire sculpture, and assemblage as well as encaustic painting.

Students will also learn about appropriate art studio maintenance and art critique etiquette, which includes polite and respectful ways to comment on others’ work.

Winter Snapshot During the second trimester of sixth grade Art, we continued our work with Grid Drawing. Girls chose a famous piece of art and re-created it using the Grid Drawing method. They finished the painting using various watercolor media: pencils, tubes, cakes, and liquid. The next part of this Grid Drawing project was to recreate an image of their choice. The choices ranged from family photos and selfies to magazine images, animals, and other famous pieces of art.

The second part of the trimester was spent studying pop artist Wayne Thiebaud. The girls were given the challenge of creating a clay “3D Dessert” piece with a hidden purpose (e.g., jewelry box piece of cake). The girls revisited working with clay and all the fundamentals of hand building. I look forward to displaying these pieces at the Arts Festival later this spring.

In addition, the girls maintain a Visual Art Online Digital Portfolio where they post images of current work at different stages and write a reflection paragraph about their work and process.

Spring Snapshot In the final trimester of sixth-grade art, the girls explored drawing using the grid drawing method and studied the artwork of local Pop artist Wayne Thiebaud. Students learned how to use their “eye”, drawing what they see, not what they know. They also learned about perspective and horizon lines while practicing a sample drawing before diving into their own work. Students were given the freedom to choose their subjects for the grid drawing project as well as for the Wayne Thiebaud 3-D clay dessert project, in which they made cupcakes, cakes, macarons, and other desserts out of clay.

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6th Grade Art Continued In the later half of the trimester, we partnered up with the language teachers and Makery for a collaborative “Influential Women 3D Collage-Stop Motion Animation” project. The girls worked diligently to make sure the collage, stop motion animation, and language portion were all ready in time to be showcased at this year’s Arts Festival.

Students are also required to keep a digital portfolio of all their work this year and every year in Upper School thereafter.

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6th Grade Drama Spring Snapshot Upper School Drama classes provide opportunities to develop self-esteem and self-confidence through skill-building exercises involving the body, voice, and imagination. In addition to being an outlet for self-expression, drama class provides a safe environment to explore emotions as well as an opportunity to increase self-awareness, self-discipline, and skills of observation and listening, both in partner and group contexts.

Drama and Music classes collaborated at the beginning of the year on a multi-media Melodrama project. Students were placed in groups to compose music and create scenes in the theatrical style of melodrama. These performances were performed live before an audience of the assembled sixth grade. Collaboration began again in December to prepare for a Cabaret event which took place in April. The goal of these collaborations is to bring together the skills taught in each of the two classes in preparation for performance. Since then, drama classes have focused on improvisational skills and scene work.

The time spent in drama class focuses on exercises to bring awareness to the body and voice, as well as to increase focus and concentration. Students work on improvisations and scene work as a way to awaken the imagination, learn creative risk-taking, and develop skills of communication and collaboration, as well as be introduced to technical skills related to the craft of acting.

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6th Grade French Fall Snapshot Sixth grade started with a review of the material from fifth grade. We then covered the nationalities and discovered countries and their capitals. We learned how to greet strangers and to ask them where they are from and their ages. We’ve learned how to talk about our daily routines, our families, and les parties du corps. We practiced correct usage of two central verbs – avoir and être. We have played and laughed.

Winter Snapshot This trimester the sixth graders learned how to formulate questions and responses. By using the question forms, they were able to expand their vocabulary to include open-air activities, sports, the calendar, how to tell time, and how to talk about the weather – basically your average small talk! They also learned the parts of the body using a song to assist them with their pronunciation. The sixth graders are especially responsive and enthusiastic about learning French through songs, so they learned to conjugate the key irregular verbs être and avoir in the present tense through educational songs. They were very excited to learn about the winter Carnaval of Québec and to learn that our Canadian neighbors also speak in French!

Spring Snapshot In the third trimester of sixth-grade French, students have continued their review of several verbs (être, avoir, faire, and aller) and the conjugation of various regular and irregular verbs. We also sang various French verb songs. The vocabulary for the term included daily activities and leisure pastimes, people, possessions, emotions, health, and locations. Students practiced constructing interrogative and negative sentences using the verb être and learned to ask informational questions using different interrogative pronouns. They can now find their way around in any Francophone country!

This trimester’s project was the Projet de fameuses françaises, for which the students selected a famous French woman from history, researched her life, wrote her biography in French in the present tense, and created a stop-motion animation of her achievements with a voice-over in French. We ended the year with a brief look at poetry from La Fontaine’s Fables and at the musical contributions of musette singer Frehel (1891-1951).

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6th Grade Humanities Fall Snapshot We began the year with geography – drawing and interpreting different kinds of maps; learning the continents, oceans, and locations of a number of countries; reviewing land and water forms; and locating with latitude and longitude. The students did internet research on different countries using the NoodleTools program for note-taking and citing sources, and then prepared Google Slides presentations or travel brochures using Pages to share their learning with the class. They made a cover, wrote a letter convincing a friend to visit the country, and attached their citations. We concluded by considering cultural universals and diversity, situating ourselves by drawing individual “culture flowers,” and a final test. We have also spent some time learning about topics related to the presidential election: the three branches of government; discriminating between fact and opinion; and some examination of the issues and the major parties’ positions. We are currently studying the five major religions of the world, covering the basic history, beliefs, and practices of each as well as examining the purpose of religion altogether. The girls are doing book research by committee on various aspects of each religion in order to present their findings at a simulated professional conference.

In English, students have read Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street. After discussing various aspects of Cisneros’s style, especially figurative language – simile, metaphor, personification, and alliteration, they wrote vignettes in imitation of her poetic style. The class recently began reading Karen Cushman’s Catherine Called Birdy, a work of historical fiction that takes place in the Middle Ages, with a focus on reading comprehension; vocabulary development; and historical learning. They have also received instruction on how to write complete and thorough answers to questions that reference the text. The girls have Reading Logs in which they record various responses to literature and answer comprehension questions. In addition to their vignettes, the girls wrote character sketches of one another (with an emphasis on organizing information) and an assigned piece about a place that is home (with an emphasis on using sensory detail). Much writing now occurs in the class “Writer’s Workshop,” in which students generate their own topics; conference on work in progress; and revise, edit, and publish their stories for the classroom library. Writing lessons thus far have focused on choosing topics; conferring; making revisions; varying word choices; using complete sentences; openings or “leads;” adding description, feeling, and visual details; clear transitions and transitional words; and procedures for proofreading. We also have regular lessons in spelling, English grammar, and mechanics, thus far focusing on sentences (subjects and predicates; run-ons and fragments); end punctuation; a review of cursive handwriting; homophones; capitalization; and maintaining consistent tense throughout a narrative.

Winter Snapshot The second trimester found the sixth grade learning about the history, beliefs, and practices of the five major religions of the world. In committees, they did research using books on various aspects of each religion and presented their findings at a simulated professional conference.

We began our study of medieval history by looking at how years and centuries are numbered and at the meanings of A.D., B.C., C.E., and B.C.E. We discussed the decline of the Roman Empire and learned about the Norman Conquest of England. In pairs, the students drew a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the events of 1066. After an introduction to feudalism, the girls built 3-D models of Page 90

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6th Grade Humanities Continued the feudal system. From there, we began our study of the first estate of medieval society, the nobility, learning about chivalry, heraldry, castles, and how knights were trained. Students designed personal heraldic shields and heard stories about King Arthur and Sir Gawain. After a test on the nobility, we turned our attention to the medieval village, learning about the conditions of peasant life, homes, farming methods, jobs, and marriage.

Literature this term has been historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. We read Karen Cushman’s Catherine Called Birdy, focusing on reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and historical learning, with instruction on how to compose complete answers to reading comprehension questions that reference the text. Next we read E.L. Konigsburg’s A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, a novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine, focusing particularly on vocabulary development, as well as reading comprehension and history.

After publishing personal narratives before the winter break, the girls began writing fiction in January with instruction focused mostly on plot and character development. In spelling and English, we have covered rules for plurals, singular and plural possessives, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions and prepositional phrases, sentence combining, comma usage, and quotation marks.

Spring Snapshot The third trimester found the sixth graders in the Makery constructing a variety of models, displays, and written plaques to create a museum exhibit on European medieval life. They proudly presented and explained their displays to school visitors. Subsequently, they continued exploring the Middle Ages by studying the influence of the Roman Catholic Church; comparing Romanesque and Gothic architecture; and learning about life in the monasteries, concluding with a “Monastery Day” to experience being monastics silently writing and illuminating manuscripts. We read A Boy of Old Prague, a work of fiction concerned with life in the Jewish ghettos, and wrote essays on prejudice after finishing the book. Concluding our study of the Middle Ages, the girls investigated cultures that thrived during the same time period outside of Europe, and wrote research papers on a number of societies around the world. A study of the Renaissance followed, focusing on the rise of the Italian city-states and the Medicis; humanism; art (especially of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo); scientists; the printing press and other inventions; and the Protestant Reformation. The unit concluded with a test.

After finishing A Boy of Old Prague, the girls split into book groups to read one of four novels all set during the Great Depression. They learned about the Great Depression, and as they read, wrote a variety of reflections in their Reading Logs, mastered new vocabulary, and discussed the books in their groups.

The trimester began with finishing the lengthy fiction stories begun last term. In addition to the essay on prejudice, the girls wrote a tour of a medieval monastery and a diary of a monk in connection to studying life in the monasteries; expository paragraphs; a book for a Burke’s kindergartener; and the five-paragraph research paper. Through paragraph and essay writing, they were introduced to the essay form with an emphasis on precise word choice and using specific examples. In a unit on poetry, students read and wrote a number of different kinds of poems.

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6th Grade Humanities Continued In English, a unit on etymology included learning a number of Latin and Greek roots and applying them to spelling. Other lessons this term included reviewing comma usage and punctuating interjections.

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6th Grade Mandarin Fall Snapshot The sixth-grade Mandarin class reviewed the main content from last year, including family members, nationalities, food and drinks, colors, animals, and hobbies. Students learned how to address extended family members and talk about people’s jobs. The main project the girls worked on was an extended family tree poster accompanied by an oral introduction of all the family members. The girls also worked in two groups to create, memorize, and act out skits which they videotaped and made into iMovies.

Winter Snapshot During this trimester, the sixth-grade Mandarin course covered the following topics: time expressions, describing activities one enjoys doing in different seasons, inviting friends, and making plans.

Students reviewed and learned asking and answering questions using many different question words.

We also learned more complex sentences linked by “cóng… dào…” (from a certain time to a certain time or from one place to another ), “de” (how well one does something), “yīn wèi” (to explain why), “hái shì” (“either” in negative statements and questions), and “huò zhě” (“or” in positive statements).

Culturally, we reviewed the Chinese Zodiac animals and learned more vocabulary and expressions relating to the Spring Festival celebration. The main project students worked on was to memorize a Chinese pop song and learn how to use the vocabulary and expressions from the lyrics. The girls created their own choreography and performed at the Upper School Assembly!

Spring Snapshot During this trimester, the sixth-grade Mandarin course covered the following topics: time expressions, daily activities, school subjects, breakfast food and meals, vocabulary from skits, and writing assignments. The students learned how to describe the activities that they do in a day and to express what school subject they have during each class period. In grammar, we focused on the special question words zěn me (how?), jǐ diǎn (what time?), nǎ (which?), and sentences linked by cóng… dào… (from… to…); de shí hou (when; during), yǐ qián (before) and yǐ hòu (after).Students worked on three main projects during this trimester. For the first project, students worked in two teams, and each team wrote a skit and created an iMovie. For the second project, each student wrote about one typical school day, took pictures of her activities, made an iMovie/PowerPoint, and gave an oral presentation in class. For the third project, each student wrote about a woman or girl and then created a stopmotion animation of her life with a voice-over in Mandarin.

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6th Grade Mathematics Fall Snapshot Students began the year with Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math. Through short videos and lowfloor, high-ceiling tasks, students learned important growth mindset messages to persist with openended problems, to embrace mistakes and challenges, and to think visually.

During the Algebra unit, students learned to represent unknown numbers with variables. They learned to write algebraic expressions to express the relationship between two quantities and create a pictorial representation thereof using a bar model. They also evaluated algebraic expressions by substituting numerical values for the variable. Students went on to extend their understanding of algebraic expressions to algebraic equations with up to three variables and solved equations using the bar model and applying the four basic operations. Students also learned to use graphs to show relationships described by algebraic expressions and used a graphical method to solve linear equations, such as when they found the epicenter of an earthquake.

During the Fractions and Decimals unit, students reviewed the rules for checking whether a number is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, or 10. They reviewed the relationships between fractions, decimals, and percents. They practiced how to rewrite a fraction as a decimal and vice versa. Students went on to learn about negative and positive rational numbers, both in fraction and decimal forms, and compared rational numbers using concrete and pictorial representations, such as the vertical and horizontal number lines. Students created Personal Timelines using negative integers to represent events that occurred before they were born and positive integers to represent events that occurred after they were born.

During the Operations of Fractions unit, students solved word problems involving addition and subtraction with fractions or mixed numbers with unlike denominators. Each student created her own Magic Square so that each row, column, and diagonal added up to the same mixed number.

Winter Snapshot We began this trimester by exploring and learning how to multiply and divide fractions and mixed numbers. In the Percentage unit we used the bar model to find the percent of a number. We also learned to break a percent into landmark percents (1% and 10%) and calculate the percent of a number mentally. We also learned how to use a bar model to calculate the base price when the discount rate, or the tax rate, and the total amount were given.

For our Hour of Code, we learned how to count in binary. Some students then used the ASCII code to write a message. During our Ratio and Proportion unit, we learned to compare up to three quantities and to write ratios in simplest form. We practiced drawing bar models to solve word problems with up to three quantities. We also learned how to set up a proportion and solve it by using either the crossproduct method or the equivalent fraction method. We used the per-serving information on the labels of various beverages to calculate and compare the amount of sugar in an 8 fluid ounce serving of each drink.

During the Rate and Speed unit, we explored different strategies for solving rate problems such as using the unit rate to solve for any amount or solving a proportion. We solved problems that involved constant and variable rates, and we applied our knowledge of rate to solve speed, time and distance Page 94

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6th Grade Mathematics Continued problems. We learned how to set up a proportion knowing the speed when solving for a given time or distance, as well as the formula distance = speed x time . We also learned how to interpret and apply the average speed to solve real-life applications. Students used an online tool to create a road/air trip to different cities in the world leaving from and returning to San Francisco. They then created a puzzle to find a missing distance, speed or time based on their trip.

Spring Snapshot During the Geometry unit, we explored the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter and learned that this ratio is called π;, approximately 3.14. We also learned that the equivalent fraction used for π; is 22/7 and when it makes more sense to use 22/7 instead of 3.14 for π;. We learned how to calculate the circumference and area of a circle when the diameter or the radius was given. We learned how to find the diameter or radius of a circle when given the circumference. We also learned to find the perimeter and area of a semi-circle and a quarter-circle. We practiced visually breaking up a circle into quarter-circles or repositioning quarter-circles when finding the area and perimeter of complex figures.

We moved on to a unit on Volume of Prisms and Cylinders and learned how to differentiate between a rectangular prism, a cube, and a triangular prism. We learned that the volume, which is the capacity of a 3-D solid, is calculated by finding the area of the base and multiplying it by the height of the prism, which is the distance between the two parallel faces in a given prism. We also learned that the volume of a triangular prism is half the volume of a rectangular prism because the area of a triangle is half the area of a rectangle, and that the volume of the cylinder is found by multiplying the area of the circular base by the height of the figure. We applied this knowledge to find the volume of composite figures comprised of prisms and cylinders.

In the unit on Construction of Triangles and Quadrilaterals, we learned to classify triangles by their sides and angles, and we looked at the properties of the family of quadrilaterals. We learned how use a ruler, protractor, and set square to construct triangles and quadrilaterals given information regarding their angles and sides.

In the Angles unit we learned to identify adjacent angles, vertically opposite angles, and angles at a point. We also learned the properties of supplementary and complementary angles. We learned how to find the sum of the interior angles of a polygon and found a general formula, (n–2) x 180º where n is the number of sides of the polygon. We solved problems to find missing angles.

In the Data Handling and Analysis unit, we learned to compute and solve problems involving the mean, median, mode, and range of a data set. We learned the difference between a population and a sample and identified the difference between convenient and random sampling methods. We analyzed the data collected in science class of various pollutants and created bar graphs, histograms, stem-and leaf plots and box-and-whisker plots. We learned how to find the lower and upper quartiles as well as the inter-quartile range in order to identify outliers.

In our Probability unit, we played games to record the experimental probability of an event. We learned how to compute the theoretical probability of the same event. We played a dice game called the Doggie Derby which students soon identified as an unfair game. We drew a sample space to find BURKE’S PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

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6th Grade Mathematics Continued the number of outcomes for finding the sum when rolling two dice numbered 1-6, and used it to find the theoretical probability of each sum occurring. Based on these probabilities, students made a theoretically fair version of the Doggie Derby game and played their version.

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6th Grade Music Fall Snapshot The curricular emphasis in sixth-grade Music is on the development and refinement of skills of creative expression through movement, voice, and composition. A collaborative project in music and drama classes in the fall was based on the exploration of the characters and themes of Melodrama. Working in small groups, students created an original melodrama scene and composed a soundtrack using the GarageBand application on the iPad. As part of the ongoing focus on applied performance skills, the girls will have a series of dance instruction sessions taught by a guest instructor. The instruction is an overview of the origins and basic fundamentals of ballet, modern, and jazz.

We are also in the process of building a repertoire of traditional and popular styles of choral music to be performed in the Upper School Winter Sing.

Winter Snapshot The curricular emphasis in sixth-grade Music is on the development and refinement of skills of creative expression through movement, voice, and composition. The focus during the Winter trimester was on the preparation of the repertoire for the Upper School Winter Sing and the development of choral performance skills such as poise, stage presence, singing posture, vocal projection, range, proper breath support, tone production, facial expression, body language, and focused eye contact.

Students took part in the selection process of their repertoire by nominating songs with messages that they felt represented the school’s mission “to educate, encourage, and empower girls.” Watching the video of the Winter Sing, the girls completed a performance skills rubric to identify personal areas of strength and areas for continued growth. Since the Winter Sing, we have been involved in the process of preparing for the sixth-grade Cabaret.

Spring Snapshot The curricular emphasis in sixth-grade Music is on the development and refinement of skills of creative expression through movement, voice, and composition. The primary focus during the Spring trimester was on the final preparation for the Cabaret. The music and drama teachers direct this arts performance project in collaboration with a guest choreographer. Working in small ensemble groups, students are guided through the process of selecting a song and integrating the elements of vocal performance, choreography, character development, and staging in the creation of their final presentation. The trimester continued with composing with the Mac GarageBand application and MIDI keyboard. Students created a “sound story” by selecting, editing, arranging, and inputting loops and keyboard library sounds. The school year culminated with practicing the Burke’s Pledge, School Song, and Sixth Grade Reflection for the Pansy Day ceremony.

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6th Grade Physical Education Fall Snapshot With Mr. Hetzel, students learned transferrable skills such as throwing and catching both a softball and a disc (Frisbee) with a focus on reinforcing learning across units and gaining more autonomous control over skill development, as well as on identifying movements and alignment of the body that require adjustments in order to throw in a more fluid and effective manner. Activities in both units included throwing individually, in pairs, and in groups. Students also participated in challenges for accuracy, distance, and coordinating throwing for timing the catch and aiming at a moving target in large and small groups as well as individually. Students developed the best grip for throwing a disc backhand and forehand and practiced switching grips quickly and pivoting back and forth between them. Students also practiced the three catching techniques depending on level of the catch: “hamburger,” “alligator,” and “texting.” In softball, they continued to identify and refine the proper mechanics of throwing, catching, and batting. Good form was emphasized and transferable skills were recognized, reinforced, and consciously practiced. Through “EPIC” (Engaged Play Inspiring Creativity) activities, students created unique games that they then taught to another small group for fun, for feedback toward improving their game concept, and to practice communication and organization skills. The EPIC learning model also helps to develop the social/emotional skills necessary to express ideas and needs in an assertive manner that respects the process of collaboration with its inevitable conflicts and resolutions.

In the volleyball unit with Ms. Bryant, we reviewed, practiced, and further developed a variety of the basic skills and strategies of volleyball. The volleyball skills focused on and assessed at the sixth-grade level include overhand serving motion from 20 feet with a Volley-Lite, tracking the ball and positioning yourself correctly in relation to its flight, and playing a forearm pass to a target. Following their assessment, the girls filled out a self-assessment checklist ranking their progress on each skill and had the opportunity to reflect on where they had made the most progress and what remained a challenge for them. The proficiency levels (Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Mastery) were explained in student-friendly language on their self-assessment.

Fitness exercises in each P.E. class for sixth grade include active and passive stretching; agility, balance, and coordination exercises; abdominal and upper/lower body strength exercises; and daily running.

Winter Snapshot With Ms. Bryant, we completed the badminton unit and are progressing through the basketball unit. A variety of the basic skills and strategies have been reviewed, practiced, and further developed in each unit. The badminton skills focused on and assessed for sixth grade are long service mechanics, correct overhand clear motion, and underhand lift motion. The girls also worked with a variety of partners to maintain a rally for as long as possible and counted their hits to try to beat their personal records. We ended the unit with the challenge to reach the target of 50 in a row with as many different partners as possible. The levels progressing through Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Mastery were explained in student-friendly language as in the previous unit.

With Mr. Hetzel, students increased the application of transferable skills to movement forms as applied to fitness activities, lacrosse, locomotion, stretching, softball, soccer, and disc. Students were assessed as they demonstrated the use of transferable skills across diverse movement forms Page 98

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6th Grade Physical Education Continued by filming each other and identifying those skills in the act of using them. By freezing their motion using video, photos, specialized apps, and other technology, students were able to then draw on those images with arrows and label to show lines of force, movement, and resulting effects, and explain how each of the skills was being demonstrated at that moment in time. Students set fitness goals for themselves based on their preliminary fitness results, and each student chose a personal fitness activity to document and complete by the third trimester in an effort to foster long-term planning of personal fitness. Fitness exercises were woven into the fabric of each class around warm-up and stretching activities. Students began the dance unit and applied dance skills to EPIC (Engaged Play Inspiring Creativity) activities in small groups, culminating in self-assessment and feedback for other groups based on movement forms and overall impressions for constructive criticism and encouragement.

Spring Snapshot With Ms. Bryant, we completed the basketball unit this trimester, reviewing, practicing, and further developing a variety of the basic skills first introduced last year. The basketball skills focused on and assessed were ball handling skills, passing technique unopposed, and basic set shot mechanics from close range. In the flag football unit, a variety of the basic skills and strategies were also reviewed, practiced, and further developed. The flag football skills assessed were the center-quarterback exchange (snap), running with the football and trying to avoid the tackle, and passing and catching (while stationary). We also had fun breaking out touchdown dances and celebrating our scores in style.

Following their assessment in both units, the girls filled out a self-assessment checklist ranking their progress on each skill and had the opportunity to reflect on where they had made the most progress and what remained a challenge for them. The levels progressing through Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Mastery were explained in student-friendly language for their self-assessment. Cognitive tests at the end of each of these units allowed the students to demonstrate their knowledge of basic rules and important points of technique.

With Mr. Hetzel, students continued working on the dances that they had begun in the second trimester, incorporating movement forms as they continued the process of applying conceptual ideas to choreography and floor patterns. Students continued with dance by playing games such as “Dance Charades” in which one half of a group creates a dance and the other half attempts to guess what it’s all about. Circus Arts was a project-based skill application in which students were given an opportunity to work collaboratively and individually to pursue personal goals in areas of interest. Students chose the skills they wanted to work on, with an emphasis on transferable skills that have been an integral part of their ongoing skill development. In the fitness segments of the class, sprinting form was emphasized, with a focus on techniques for enhanced acceleration and completing the sprints at full speed.​Floor hockey was introduced as students learned the basic skills of how to hold the hockey stick, how to keep the blade in maximum contact with the floor, and how to maneuver the stick safely around others and gain control over movements so that the stick could become a controlled and agile extension of the body. Students practiced dribbling, passing, trapping, and shooting the hockey puck and created an obstacle course through which they navagated the puck. Students frequently practiced the now-familiar warm-up routine of 15 stretches that, after two years, they can do anywhere in a standing position. Fitness activities focused on a comparison with previous achievements this year.

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6th Grade Science Fall Snapshot Sixth-grade work this trimester focused on exploring the processes and skills that scientists use to understand the world: lab safety, developing testable questions, making well-reasoned predictions, making qualitative and quantitative observations, collecting data, and communicating results with detail and clarity. Students worked with independent, dependent, and controlled variables and practiced conducting “fair tests.”

As a bridge to our outdoor education experience, students explored solar energy, heat transfer, and the differences between weather and climate. Included in this lesson were the following topics: radiation, conduction, convection, factors that create wind, the water cycle, worldwide rainfall and precipitation trends, air pollution, and the greenhouse gas effect.

The trimester culminated in two projects. In the Solar Oven Design and Build Project, through a series of hands-on investigations and demonstrations, students examined how heat gets transferred through conduction, convection, and radiation. Students applied their understanding of these topics in an engineering-design challenge, building a solar oven. Their objective was to design and build a solar oven that would successfully melt the chocolate and marshmallow of a s’more. In the Biome Project, each student was assigned a biome to research. Students then presented to the class what they had learned about the biodiversity and climate of their assigned biomes and how they are impacted by climate change.

Winter Snapshot A major focus of the second trimester was the Toshiba ExploraVision competition, a project that integrated science content, technology skills, and principles of engineering. Working in groups, students engaged in the “Design Thinking” process, envisioning their chosen technology twenty years into the future, articulating the breakthroughs that would need to happen to make their technology a reality, and exploring both the positive and negative consequences of their invention. From prototyping to presentation skills, the ExploraVision project challenged students to think critically while engaging them in cutting-edge science. Students’ final papers communicated the technology that they had created, along with past and present technologies that informed their ideas, breakthroughs required to make their technology a reality, and potential consequences of their inventions. As a collaboration with HEART class, students designed prototypes of their innovations using TinkerCad and 3-D printing and embarked on creating a story arc for their upcoming TreeTalks (TedTalks).

As a part of our exploration of earth science and a bridge to our outdoor education experience, students explored the atmosphere. Included in this unit were the following topics: layers and gas content of the atmosphere, factors that create wind, the water cycle, worldwide rainfall and precipitation trends, the green house effect, characteristics of biomes, and indoor and outdoor air pollution. Students explored these topics through demos, interactive computer games, drawing maps, and creating air pollution sensors using simple circuits to collect data for analysis.

Spring Snapshot In the third trimester, we explored igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, looking at the unique properties that are related to how each is formed and what it is made of. This led to our study Page 100

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6th Grade Science Continued of the rock cycle, looking at how rocks change over time in predictable ways and how geologic events affect the shape of Earth’s surface.

Students learned about the recent history of the Bay’s formation. We also investigated Earth’s geologic history using the Earth Primer app, an interactive e-book that explores everything from Pangaea to volcanoes, plate tectonics, and erosion, to investigate the evidence of the supercontinent’s geological structure and evolution. We relied upon our understanding of convection from our past units (water cycle, wind, and heat transfer) to understand how the convection currents driven by the earth’s interior contribute to the theories of Plate Tectonics. Students went on-line to gather current data on recent earthquakes and described plate boundaries. We also learned about different types of landforms that result from these plate boundaries.

We ended the unit with a design-and-build earthquake-resistant structures challenge using the design elements that we researched and materials such as pasta, hot glue, gumdrops, and washers.

Structures were tested for their stability on an earthquake-simulating shake table.

Students continued their work on an ExploraVision extension in HEART class. We shifted from sharing an engineering paper with engineering peers to sharing work with a lay crowd. We created TreeTalks in a TedTalk format. Students learned five different story-telling structures and adapted their ExploraVision project “story” to one of these. The sharing process culminated in a video-taped TreeTalk, where students gave oral presentations in their ExploraVision groups.

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6th Grade Spanish Fall Snapshot This term in sixth-grade Spanish, students have reviewed the sounds of the Spanish alphabet, numbers (0 - 100), and vocabulary that includes daily greetings, days of the week, and months and seasons of the year, restaurant terms, adjectives, and colors. In addition, students have studied the geography of Central and South America. The students have also reviewed the three irregular verbs ser and estar (to be) and ir (to go) and have learned the singular possessive adjectives. Cultural topics included a study of La Llorona and the creation of a decorative skull for the Día de los Muertos altar.

This term’s projects were the writing of a script set in a restaurant and its dramatic delivery. The four skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading comprehension) have been emphasized throughout the trimester, and quizzes and projects are designed to assess students in these four areas.

Winter Snapshot In the second trimester of sixth-grade Spanish, students have continued their review of the conjugation of regular -ar verbs. New material included four irregular verbs (estar, tener, ser, and ir), expressions of necessity, the different uses of ser and estar, and the prepositions a and de. Vocabulary this term included destinations, numbers to 1000, professions, and more adjectives to enrich the creativity of the term’s projects. This term’s creative projects were la alfombra roja (“The Red Carpet”), in which the students took the roles of famous celebrities and journalists, and Mi lindo futuro, a look into the future.

Spring Snapshot In the third trimester of sixth-grade Spanish, students have continued their review of several irregular verbs (tener, ser, estar, dar, and ir) and the conjugation of regular -ar verbs. The students have also learned the regular verbs from the second and third groups (-er and -ir). Vocabulary for the term included feelings, emotions, health, and locations. This quarter’s project was the Latina famosa proyecto, for which the students selected a famous Latina from history, researched her life, wrote her biography in Spanish, and created a stop-motion animation of her achievements with a voice-over in Spanish. We ended the year with a brief look at poetry in Spanish and at the musical contributions of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez (1971-1995), reading about her life and viewing the film Selena.

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6th Grade Study Skills Fall Snapshot During this first trimester in Study Skills, we have continued to work hard to improve math skills by completing homework, practicing math facts using IXL, and revising quizzes and tests. We also worked to refine good study habits by advocating for herself, raising one’s hand in class, and asking specific questions when one does not fully understand. When time allowed, we also practiced to improve reading skills using Lexia.

Winter Snapshot Continuing our work from the previous trimester, we used our time in Study Skills to improve math skills by completing homework, practicing math facts using IXL, and revising quizzes and tests. We also regularly work to improve reading skills by completing the fluency, decoding, comprehension, and word analysis tasks in the Lexia reading program.

Spring Snapshot This trimester, we previewed future concepts and vocabulary in math and humanities, completed homework assignments, studied for quizzes and tests, and practiced applying reading and word analysis strategies.

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E FA I R G A T I R E H L C U LT U R A dy of world

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SNAPSHOT OF

SEVENTH GRADE

A glimpse into Seventh Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

7th Grade English Fall Snapshot Students arrived at school on the first day having read the novel Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka and having tracked three different themes found throughout the book. After rich discussions, brainstorming, and other preparation, students applied the many steps of the writing process to create a formal paragraph response to Ties that Bind based on one of the themes in the novel. They crafted outlines on which they received oral and written feedback, wrote first drafts that also received oral and written feedback, and then handed in a final draft. We then switched gears and began an in-depth study of grammar. Integrating art into the English classroom, we implemented the P(arts) of Speech unit, which included two main components. First, using a diverse selection of paintings, we asked students to identify the eight different parts of speech within the art pieces.

Students completed exercises demonstrating their ability to identify the multiple parts of speech and compose original sentences while studying a painting. Students were also given other opportunities to practice applying their knowledge of the parts of speech via a computer program called No Red Ink and more traditional grammar assessments. The second component of The P(arts) of Speech unit included time spent in the Makery. Working in small groups, students focused on one part of speech.

Each group chose a symbol that they felt best represented their part of speech. They then wrote a persuasive paragraph together, making their case for that symbol. They then crafted the symbol into a 3-D model using the 3-D printer, among other cool Makery tools, and each group produced multiple copies of the symbol. The unit ended with a Grammar Olympics, in which students essentially “coded” sentences using the different symbols, crafted “real time” Mad Lib sentences, faced off in timed symbol/English translation contests, and participated in other fun exercises.

Winter Snapshot We began the second trimester continuing our work with the historical fiction novel Keeping Corner

by Kashmira Sheth. Students explored the events of 1918-1919 India, including World War I and Gandhi’s independence movement, to look at the cultural and historical aspects of the novel. The final lens through which students analyzed the book was characterization; students explored different personality/character traits of the main characters and used textual evidence to support their findings.

Throughout the unit, students kept journals that housed their work, dabbled in some creative writing in the voices of the characters, brought scenes to life in illustrations, and wrote thoughtful literary essays on personality traits of one character in Keeping Corner. Students continued to develop their ability to craft thesis statements and topic sentences, develop context for textual evidence, and analyze the text to support their theses.

In the last few weeks of the trimester, the class broke into five different book groups, each exploring a different culture or historical period. The book choices are Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, White Lilacs by Carolyn Meyer, Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang, A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass, and The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. These novels focus on a variety of themes including cultural clashes, prejudice, coming of age, and courage in the face of hardship. As students progress through their novels, they meet regularly with their book group to share their thoughts through written letters, discussion questions, and illustrations. Through teacher-directed instruction and individual in-class writes, students are furthering their critical thinking skills and ability to go beneath the surface in literature and put the results of this work into writing. In our final trimester, this analysis and context work will lead to in-class writes as well as longer literary essays that incorporate textual evidence Page 106

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7th Grade English Continued and analysis. We will continue working on the skills needed to write a literary analysis essay for the remainder of this year and throughout the eighth-grade year. With this in mind, we emphasize that students should be patient with their learning process, as it takes much time and practice to become proficient in these skills.

Besides reading and writing, we have begun our unit on Greek and Latin roots. As of the end of February, the girls have a knowledge of 32 roots and an understanding of how roots are the building blocks for many English words. They have been learning words derived from these roots, and developing the skills to correctly use them in sentences.

Spring Snapshot Our final trimester opened with the wrap-up of our book group unit. Each girl was assigned a book (with some input) from the following five options: Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, White Lilacs by Carolyn Meyer, A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass, Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang, and The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The unit ended with final book discussions and letters to the authors of the books.

This trimester, each student selected a book of her choice to read and focus on for her Independent Reading Project (IRP). Over a seven-week time period in which students managed their own time with a few required teacher check-ins, students read their books and crafted projects ranging from book reviews to comic books, postcards, and scrapbooks and shared them with their classmates during an in-class gallery walk.

Towers Falling focuses on Deja, a student whose family currently lives in transitional housing in Brooklyn. Starting at a new school in the fall of 2016 with a sweeping view of where the Twin Towers used to be, Deja learns that she will be embarking on a unit focused on the events of 9/11/01. Through their work in and out of class, she and her classmates learn about being an American, understanding aspects of community, and learning about personal identity and the identity of others.

We used the novel as a touchstone in our final unit of the year, also reading nonfiction and watching documentaries about Islam, homelessness (as Deja’s family is trying to move themselves out of it), and the idea of community. The unit revolved around the following three essential questions: “What does it mean to be an American?”, “What are our rights?”, and “What is community?” Our guest speakers Fariha, Maana, and Yasmeen came to talk with the girls about being young Muslim women attending college in San Francisco. Students wrote prolifically, engaged in discussions, asked questions, read, and engaged in a service-learning project. We partnered with Hamilton Families and conducted a toiletries drive to donate to families in transitional housing in San Francisco. Finally, as we closed out the trimester, students wrote their final essay, in which they analyzed a symbol from our unit.

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7th Grade French Fall Snapshot We started the year by setting the tone of our class to one of active listening, speaking and note taking in French. We strive for a French-only classroom! We reviewed previously studied grammar and vocabulary within the theme of “exploring the diversity of the Francophone World.” Students read about and listened to Francophone speakers discussing their lives and interests. Students practiced presenting themselves orally and in writing. We reviewed previously studied material (including vocabulary, regular and irregular verbs, and question formation) by introducing new skills and vocabulary. For example, we studied expressions with avoir and être to practice the use of these essential verbs in preparation for the passé composé. Students finished the trimester by learning the formation and use of the passé composé with both être and avoir. They taught the class, creating lessons and worksheets on the passé composé, with the notion that to teach something is to truly understand it. The girls continue to work on speaking only French in class and improving their listening and reading comprehension as well as their self-expression. They worked on a Comic Life project showcasing their understanding of the passé composé.

Winter Snapshot We began the trimester by strengthening their understanding of infinitive verbs in preparation for the futur proche verb tense. Students worked on formulating questions and responses to expand their speaking abilities while also increasing their vocabulary to include professions, parts of the body, and locations found in a city or town. They also learned and improved their introductions in both the formal and informal formats through acting out dialogues. They also improved their auditory comprehension of French through dictation exercises and songs.

Spring Snapshot This trimester the students continued to expand their vocabulary with words and expressions pertaining to sports, musical instruments, family, and items of clothing. They learned how to talk about shopping for clothes. The students learned when and how to use stress pronouns, adjectives of comparison, and ordinal numbers. (To practice listing items in numerical order, we played the American game The Price is Right.) We also covered vocabulary related money, the many usages of the pronoun on, regular -re verbs, and the imperative form.

In addition, the class planned a project based on the entrepreneurial qualities of various animals and how these qualities can pertain individually to each student. After learning how to describe our qualities in French, each student had to create her own superhero. To expand on the entrepreneurial project, we then decided to present our superheroes to the world, writing our own song, singing and performing it, recording it in the music studio and learning to craft a CD in the Makery.

We ended the year by viewing, discussing, and writing about the French film The Red Balloon (Le Ballon Rouge).

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7th Grade History Fall Snapshot The Four Worlds of History: Breaking the world down into political, economic, cultural, and social spheres of influence. It is an exercise in how each of these worlds are interconnected and have an influence over each other.

Imperial China: Understanding of the cultural, political, social, and economic growth of China’s imperial state throughout the Tang, Song, Yuan (Mongol), and Ming Dynasties.

Arabian Peninsula (600 c.e.): ​The environmental features and adaptations of the people that live there.

Transfer Goals: Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of coming into contact with foreign cultures. Understanding how the world is an interconnected system. Understanding that bias and perspective can influence how we view a culture.

Winter Snapshot During this trimester we continued to learned about the religion and culture of Islam. We studied Islam’s spread, its Golden Age, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Students worked on a documentbased question (DBQ) essay examining how Islam was able to spread so quickly. In working on this essay, students had to state a claim, back up that claim with evidence, and then explain how the evidence backed up the claim. Next, students worked on identifying Islamic contributions to world civilization and created models or representations that were incorporated into a mini-museum outside the classroom. Each model or representation was accompanied by an informational write-up using the DBQ structure explaining the contribution’s purpose and importance. We then studied the events leading up to the Age of Exploration, with the Ottoman Empire’s capture of Constantinople cutting off Europe’s trade with Asia.

Next we began to study the Age of Exploration, mercantilism, and colonialism. After an introduction to the time period, students were divided into groups and assigned a particular culture impacted during this time period. The groups explored and researched their assigned cultures, and in the upcoming trimester they will use their research to write narratives about their assigned cultures and create Google Earth Tours including voice narration and imported text and pictures. Students will then explore the various tours completed by their classmates in order to gain a better understanding of the cultural interactions and legacies of the age.

Spring Snapshot During the third trimester we continued to study the Age of Exploration, mercantilism, and colonialism. After an introduction to the time period, students were divided into groups and assigned a particular culture impacted during this time period. The groups explored and researched their assigned cultures and used their research to write narratives about their assigned cultures and create Google Earth Tours, including voice narration and imported text and pictures. Students then explored the various tours completed by their classmates in order to gain a better understanding of the cultural interactions and legacies of the age.

Finally, the girls worked on their Cultural History Projects, each exploring her family’s unique past.

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7th Grade History and brought their stories to the extended Burke’s family. This project entailed research, interviews, story-telling, and good old-fashioned maker construction.

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7th Grade Mandarin Fall Snapshot The seventh-grade Mandarin class started the year reviewing and studying common classroom and daily expressions that enable students to speak only Mandarin in class. We then focused on the following topics: vocabulary and questions for pen pal letters; describing daily and weekend events and activities; describing different weather and feelings. Culturally, we dove deeper, reading and learning more about the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinese. Each student wrote and delivered a speech about a topic of her choosing. We also started a pen pal program with the seventh-grade Mandarin students at Cathedral School for Boys.

Winter Snapshot During this trimester, the seventh-grade Mandarin students received pen pal letters and wrote their own responses. We studied many vocabulary words and expressions from the pen pal letters. To practice speaking and listening, students usually ask each other questions or have conversations at the beginning of classes. They continue to work on speaking only Mandarin in class and improving the flow of their sentences. Students practiced communicating with peers, orally and in writing, about many different topics and what’s happening in their lives. In grammar, we continued to focus on learning and practicing usage of verb tenses, specifically the simple present tense, present continuous tense, future tense, present perfect tense, simple past tense, and past continuous tense.

Another creative project the students worked on was to write and perform in their own version of The Wizard of Oz. They edited all of scenes in iMovie and presented their production at the Upper School Assembly!

Spring Snapshot During this trimester, the seventh-grade Mandarin course covered the following topics: vocabulary and expressions that describe locations; furniture and objects in a room; rooms in a house; and buildings in a school. In grammar, we focused on sentences that describe locations or indicate existence, using words like zài, shì, and yǒu; shàng (above), xià (under), zuǒ (left), yòu (right), lǐ (inside), wài (outside), qián (front), hòu (behind), zhōng jiān (in between), duì miàn (opposite from), páng biān (beside), fù jìn (nearby).

For projects during this trimester, each student made a video of herself describing a room and presented it in class. Students worked in two groups, each writing and creating a school campus tour with iMovie. To retain previously learned materials and foster a habit of thinking and using Mandarin regularly, the seventh-grade students started to describe a picture every rotation and gave an oral presentation in class. In addition, students continued their correspondence with pen pals at Cathedral School for Boys.

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7th Grade Mathematics Fall Snapshot Students began the year with lessons from Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math. Through short videos and low-floor, high-ceiling tasks, students learned important growth mindset messages to persist with open-ended problems, to embrace mistakes and challenges, and to think visually.

During our Factors and Multiples unit we explored the relationship between factors and multiples of a number and, after reviewing the concept of prime and composite numbers, we used the prime factor tree to find the greatest common factor (GCF) and the least common multiple (LCM) of two or three numbers. We used prime factorization to write numbers using exponential notation and find their square roots or cubic roots by dividing the exponents by two or three, respectively. Students practiced finding the square or cube of numbers given in exponential notation by doubling or tripling their exponents, respectively. Students also applied their understanding of square roots and cube roots to solving real life applications such as finding the height of a cube when the volume is given or the side of a square when the area is given.

During our Real Numbers unit, we graphed numbers on the number line and then ordered and compared them. We used a number line and properties of real numbers to perform operations of real numbers. Students wrote their own word problems involving negative numbers, and then solved another student’s problem. In the -1, 2, -3, 4 Problem of the Week (POW), we wrote and evaluated expressions by following the order of operations. We evaluated expressions with Absolute Value and rounded whole numbers as well as decimal numbers to a given place value.

In our third unit, we learned to convert statements given in words into algebraic expressions using variables. We also learned to evaluate algebraic expressions and formulas by substituting a constant for the variable.

Winter Snapshot This trimester, we learned to convert statements given in words into algebraic expressions using variables. We learned to evaluate algebraic expressions and formulas by substituting a constant for the variable. We also practiced writing algebraic expressions to represent real-world situations.

In our second Algebraic Expressions unit, we simplified expressions by applying the Distributive Property and combining like terms. We created Magic Squares so that the sum of each row, column, and diagonal was equal to the magic sum. We created “Monomial, Binomial” puzzles that showed the relationship between factored expressions and expanded expressions.

During our Equations unit, we bridged pictorial and abstract representations of problems as we transitioned from drawing bar models to writing and solving algebraic equations. We used strategies such as removing parentheses and rewriting equations without fractions before solving them. Using pattern blocks to create patterns, we explored their changing perimeters and represented these relationships with tables, graphs, and equations in our Multiple Representations Mobile projects.

We began our Ratios, Rate, and Speed unit with a review of simplifying ratios and writing ratios of three quantities. Again, we made the connection between pictorial and abstract representations, using bar models, proportions, and algebraic equations to solve ratio problems. Our lesson on average rate led to an interesting discussion of the cost per square foot of an apartment in San Francisco. We Page 112

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7th Grade Mathematics Continued concluded the unit by applying our understanding of distance, rate, and time to find the average speed of two legs of a journey.

Spring Snapshot During our Percentage unit, we expressed quantities as a percentage of other quantities. We researched facts about food insecurity, both locally and nationwide. We found the part and the base by finding landmark percents, writing proportions, and solving equations. We manipulated the percentage change formula to solve for the original and new values. We concluded the unit by using efficient strategies to solve problems involving discounts and sales tax.

We began our Graphing unit with an introduction to the coordinate plane by reading the coordinates of longitude and latitude in maps. We graphed linear equations using a table of values, such as when we collected data comparing the length of a Slinky and the number of pennies stretching it out. We found the slopes of lines, including horizontal and vertical lines. We explored how equations written in slope-intercept form provide information such as the initial value and the rate of change.

During our Proportions unit, we looked at state maps, used the scale factor to estimate their actual areas, and then found our percentage error. We considered direct proportion as a special case of linear equations and solved these types of problems with equations and proportions. We solved word problems that involved scale factors and direct proportions.

We began our Geometry unit by finding right triangles with integer lengths. Comparing the legs and hypotenuse of each right triangle allowed us to notice that a^2 + b^2 = c^2. After proving the Pythagorean Theorem visually with area models, we used it both to solve for the missing side of a right triangle and to test whether a triangle is a right triangle. We built scale models of the TransAmerica Pyramid, and used the Pythagorean Theorem and scale factor to estimate the height of this San Francisco landmark. We concluded the unit with our “Love Stamp” project, in which we recreated Michael Osborne’s design for the US Postal Service by using the Desmos online calculator. After creating the design, we found the area and perimeter of each region.

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7th Grade Physical Education Fall Snapshot In the volleyball unit with Ms. Bryant, the basic skills of volleyball were reviewed and new skills were practiced. We started to develop our skills against opposition as well as independent skills.

While a wide variety of game skills were covered, the volleyball skills focused on and assessed in the seventh grade included serving from 30 feet with a regular volleyball and setting and spiking the ball.

Scramble games were introduced briefly as we began to talk about game play. The girls were given the opportunity to watch themselves performing their skills on video and identified areas to improve either independently or with a partner to observe and give them feedback. Skills were assessed at one of the following levels – Emerging, Developing, Proficient, or Mastery.

With Mr. Hetzel, students learned to personally identify additional transferrable skills in addition to the ones identified in sixth grade for both softball and disc (Frisbee). For instance, the softball throwing motion uses “opposition,” where the throwing arm and the opposite leg move forward in unison, and students transferred this skill to a forehand throw of a disc. Increasing the balance and stability gained with opposition then allows students to manipulate objects with greater ease; for example, to create spin on the object being manipulated for subtle changes in the flight of the object in the air. Students continued to refine their throwing and catching skills so as to gain more power and accuracy. Activities included throwing individually, in pairs, and in groups, as well as challenges for accuracy, distance, and coordinating with groups. Students reviewed and practiced the best grips for both backhand and forehand throws as well as switching the grip while pivoting around a stationary object and then around a moving defender. Additional throwing techniques such as the “hammer” throw, and the “lawnmower” throw were introduced and encouraged through modified game play. They also reviewed the three catching techniques to be used according to the level of the catch, and began to learn the one-handed catch. Students learned how to curve the disc around a stationary object and how to run “cutting patterns” for coordinated group movement. Finally, they began mini-games of Ultimate Disc in preparation for next year when they will be engaging in a variety of spirited group challenges.

Routine fitness exercises for seventh grade P.E. included active and passive stretching; agility, balance, and coordination exercises; and abdominal and upper/lower body strength exercises. Running activities included agility and distance runs.

Winter Snapshot With Mr. Hetzel, students refined transferable skills across a variety of applications such as lacrosse, fitness activities, sprinting, softball, soccer, and disc, as well as challenges and modified game situations in which defensive and offensive positions were also introduced and practiced. Using technology, students videotaped themselves to be able to see their own movement, alignment, and skill form while increasing proprioception. Students labeled isolated images with specific transferable skills as part of a self-assessment process. A detailed explanation of each transferable skill was elaborated upon in an effort to articulate the complexities of the skills carried out in the moments caught by the camera. Students contemplated meaningful personal fitness activities and set goals to work on and achieve later this year. Fitness exercises were incorporated into lessons around warmup and stretching activities. The dance unit was introduced and students began the process of using dance as a narrative device, working in small groups to create dances and choose how to organize and set them to music.

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7th Grade Physical Education Continued This trimester with Ms. Bryant, we completed the badminton unit and are currently progressing through the basketball unit. The sixth-grade skills and strategies were reviewed, practiced, and further developed in both units before additional skills were introduced. As in volleyball we started to develop skills against opposition as well as independent skills. While a wide variety of badminton skills were covered, those focused on and assessed for seventh grade are the smash, net play, and backhand strokes. We also worked on movement on court and moving an opponent around the court. The girls ended the unit with an opportunity to challenge each other and accept challenges and began to learn how game play works in preparation for game play in Challenge PE next year.

Spring Snapshot With Mr. Hetzel, students continued developing the dances that were started in the second trimester with an emphasis on telling a story through dance. Each dance was given a name and followed a narrative structure. Once the dances were finished, groups presented them for feedback. Students worked on Circus Arts skills, pushing themselves to achieve their best in areas of personal interest. They each developed a concept and worked with others to create a participatory game for their classmates to try using circus arts equipment and related skills. Floor hockey skills were practiced as students manipulated the hockey stick to maintain maximum surface area of the blade on the floor and safely maneuver the stick while maintaining control of its position; practiced basic skills of puck handling (dribbling, passing, trapping). Students practiced a daily stretching routine of 15 stretches, which after three years has become a solid foundation of warm-up stretches that can be done standing anywhere.

With Ms. Bryant, we finished the basketball unit begun in the second trimester and completed the flag football unit. In each of these units, we reviewed the sixth-grade skills and introduced and practiced new skills, both against opposition as well as independently. While a wide variety of skills were covered, the basketball skills focused on and assessed in seventh grade included finishing on a lay-up from the right and left sides and with a mid-range jump-shot and further developing one’s range of dribbling moves against live defenders. We also looked at defensive positioning and movement concepts. In flag football, the skills assessed were punting, kick-offs, understanding basic pass routes, and passing and receiving while running a pass route. The concepts of pass rush and blocking as well as how to defend a receiver were introduced to lead into game play next year. Cognitive tests at the end of each of these units allowed the students to display their knowledge of strategies and technical aspects of the seventh-grade skills.

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7th Grade Public Speaking/Writer’s Workshop Course Snapshot Public Speaking/Writer’s Workshop meets once in each six-day rotation. The goal of this class is to introduce the seventh graders to the challenges and opportunities of public speaking and provide them with time to work on various writing projects. During the course of this school year, each student will select a topic; research, write and edit her speech; and then deliver her speech at an Upper School assembly.

At the start of the term, we engaged in a number of activities to familiarize the girls with public presentation as well as the importance of listening. We shared memories of the speeches from last year, watched a few TED talks and discussed what made them interesting. The students received handouts such as “Elements of an Effective Speech” to provide them with guidance on the process.

The seventh graders also received tips from the current eighth graders, who emphasized how important it was to relax and enjoy the process from start to finish. The girls were also assigned to watch a TED Talk of their choosing as homework so that they could familiarize themselves with this rich resource.

In the class, students meet with the instructor regularly in the weeks leading up to her speech. In the first conversation, we discuss topics; in the second conversation, we review her outline. In our third meeting, the teacher reviews the first draft, and in our fourth meeting, we review the second draft and the student reads the speech aloud. In the fifth meeting, two days before the speech, the girls practice in front of their peers and receive constructive feedback based on the performance rubric. The rest of the class period is devoted to Writer’s Workshop, during which girls work independently on writing assignments for their classes as well as on researching and writing their speeches.

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7th Grade Science Fall Snapshot The Introductory Physical Science (IPS) curriculum that students will be completing over the course of seventh and eighth grades emphasizes three forms of active learning: solving problems, experimenting, and effectively communicating the results of a scientific investigation through writing. The girls began their study of physical science with a comprehensive lab safety unit and worked with their new learning teams to generate a class contract that set norms for how to ensure constructive participation from everyone. The students then learned to use Bunsen burners safely and effectively, captured gases produced by chemical reactions, and analyzed the precision of most of the measurement tools we will use this year. In the conclusions to their lab reports, students applied the concepts they learned to novel situations in the real world. Students also honed their lab-report writing skills by incorporating peer and teacher feedback into the second draft of their second lab report.

The Upper School Counselor joined us for a month-long unit entitled “Full of Ourselves,” a wellness curriculum with the goal of building positive self-image, self-advocacy, and self-care skills. For the culminating project in this unit, each student wrote an advocacy letter to an organization asking them to do a better job empowering women.

Winter Snapshot After finishing the Full of Ourselves unit at the end of the first trimester, we returned to our study of chemistry. This trimester we emphasized reading measurement tools to the correct level of precision.

Students practiced finding the volume of square and rectangular solids using rulers and of irregular solids using the water displacement method in graduated cylinders. Practicing using single-pan triplebeam balances to measure mass gave students an appreciation for electronic balances. Students learned to pool grade-wide data to design histograms of the appropriate scale in order to be more confident in their results. Analyzing these histograms to make meaning out of the results of our experiments was perhaps the most challenging skill we built this trimester. We performed a series of six experiments that taught us that, while volume can change dramatically, mass can neither be created nor destroyed within a closed system. We then merged our study of volume and mass by introducing the concept of density. Finally we practiced following the rules of significant figures when multiplying and dividing measured quantities.

Spring Snapshot Having practiced the measurement of mass and volume exhaustively during second trimester, students began their study of “characteristic properties,” physical or chemical attributes that remain the same regardless of the mass or volume of any given pure substance. These characteristics include density, melting temperature, boiling temperature, flammability, and solubility in water. Students analyzed histograms of grade-wide data in order to support their ideas. Students now have five useful tools with which to distinguish between similar pure substances. When three or more of these tools are combined, students may be able to identify which specific substance they have encountered.

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7th Grade Spanish Fall Snapshot The students began this first trimester reviewing basic concepts from sixth grade such as regular verb conjugation. They have completed Chapter Four from our new program, Asi Se Dice, focused on food and ordering at a restaurant. The girls have learned the construction acabar + de + infinitive to express the immediate past and ir + a + infinitive to express the immediate future. The girls have also studied the progressive tense and have demonstrated their ability to describe action with -ing ending on verbs.

Also, the girls have created colorful paper quill art forms around themes related to Día de los Muertos ( Day of the Dead) to contribute to the community altar.

There have been several quizzes and one major chapter test in Spanish. The girls have demonstrated their proficiency by creating movies, answering questions, and performing short skits using specific vocabulary and grammar. The girls work on listening comprehension skills using their access to the online activities of Asi Se Dice as well as by completing assignments from their accounts with Señor Wooly, an internet site providing music videos as a means to teach grammar and vocabulary. The girls continue to work on the goal of speaking only Spanish in class.

Winter Snapshot This second trimester in Spanish, students have studied vocabulary for expressing emotions, places in a city, and prepositions of place. Class activities included asking, giving, and following directions through skits, a student-created scavenger hunt and several map activities. As part of the unit, students also completed a movie entitled “una visita a mi ciudad” in which they discussed five of their favorite places in San Francisco We have also begun a sports unit from Chapter 5 in our textbook, Asi Se Dice, and the students have written and presented paragraphs on their favorite sports.

Grammatically, we have been focusing on learning stem-changing verbs, specifically e-ie and o-ue stem-changers, and using the new verbs in more complex sentences and questions.

Throughout the term, students have been assessed on their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills and have had many class conversations in Spanish. Students are continually working on their fluency and pronunciation and ability to formulate sentences for conversation in class.

Spring Snapshot This trimester, students continued their study of irregular stem-changing verbs as well as constructs that use the infinitive form of the verb. Students also studied the difference between the uses of two verbs for “to know” (saber and conocer), and they learned the uses and placement of the direct object pronoun. Throughout the trimester, students used their Señor Wooly accounts to access music videos and to work independently on assigned listening comprehension and grammar activities.

They also wrote, memorized, and performed a mock interview with a famous person as a way to demonstrate their ability to ask and answer complex questions. Towards the end of the trimester, we read a short novel written in the present tense entitled El escape cubano, about a Cuban family who decides to escape to the U.S. on a raft. Prior to reading the novel, the girls read about Fidel Castro and communist Cuba and engaged in discussion of the effects of communism on the Cuban people – all in Spanish! The girls were given creative license to present a final project demonstrating their comprehension of the novel, and they created some great projects!

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7th Grade Study Skills Fall Snapshot During this first trimester, we have worked to develop good study habits, including writing assignments in the planner, checking Schoology daily, and meeting with teachers as needed. We also revised writing assignments and practiced regularly to improve reading and math skills using Lexia and IXL.

Winter Snapshot During this trimester students completed assignments, studied for quizzes and tests, revised written work including English essays, history reports and questions, and science lab reports. As in the first trimester, students were also able to conference individually with particular teachers to gain a better understanding of the concepts they were learning.

Spring Snapshot This trimester, students prioritized tasks by setting short and long term goals; studied and reviewed math, science and English concepts; drafted and revised English and science lab reports; and practiced their public speeches as well as other oral presentations.

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7th Grade Electives Advanced Vocal Ensemble The focus of the seventh-grade Advanced Vocal Ensemble is on the development and refinement of a repertoire of unison and two- and three-part arrangements, with special emphasis on balanced ensemble singing. Vocal technique exercises are practiced to further develop each student’s vocal range, proper breath support, and tone production. Students took an active part in the process of choosing their repertoire. Performances included singing for the Lower School Assembly, our Spring Vocal Spotlight concert​, and a choir exchange program with the Richmond Senior Center Choir.

Art The Visual Arts program connects art with the world around us. It opens a world beyond textbooks for students to explore and builds a foundation for creative thinking. Students are encouraged to explore new techniques, seek deeper meaning out of their art practice, and establish a personal approach to their work. We also explore how the arts can cross disciplines to create an exciting statement and portfolio of work.

Students in the seventh grade have the opportunity to choose the medium in which they will work during their Arts rotation. Choices include paper quilling, ceramics, clay hand building, painting, plein air watercolor and pastels, papier mâché mask-making, sculpture, hand sewing textile work, basket weaving, encaustic painting, and drawing.

This year, each student will create an online digital portfolio featuring the work during her time in Visual Arts as well as a reflection on each piece of art submitted. As a class we also discuss appropriate art studio etiquette and maintenance, as well as polite and respectful ways to comment on others’ work during critique time.

Seventh grade artwork will be displayed during the Arts Festival in May.

Glee The focus of Seventh Grade Glee is on developing a repertoire of two- and three-part vocal arrangements with a special interest in choreographed show choir selections. Our rehearsal process focuses on the development and practice of choral performance skills such as poise and stage presence, singing posture, vocal projection, range, proper breath support, tone production, facial expression, and body language. Students are actively involved in the process of choosing their performance repertoire and creating their choreography. Performances included the traditional singing of the “Carol of the Bells” with the Eighth Grade Art of Singing elective and members of the faculty for the Upper School Winter Holiday Assembly and the Upper School Winter Sing.

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7th Grade Electives Continued Music Studio A primary goal of the Upper School music curriculum is to broaden each student’s musical understanding and appreciation of the creative process. In Music Studio, each student is given the opportunity to explore her process of artistic expression as a musician, arranger, and composer.

The focus of the class is on the exploration of the relationship of music and film and applying the elements of an effective film trailer. Utilizing iMovie and GarageBand, students created a film trailer by developing and filming an original storyline and composing the soundtrack.

Photography In Photography class, students learned how to operate a digital single-lens reflex camera and adjust its settings manually. An emphasis was placed on how the camera can be used to explore creative photo composition by playing with focus, motion, lighting, texture, and angles. Students also learned how to enhance their photographs on the computer and to optimize them for printing.

Play Production Upper School Drama classes provide opportunities to develop self-esteem and self-confidence through skill-building exercises involving the body, voice, and imagination. In addition to being an outlet for self-expression, drama class provides a safe environment to explore emotions, as well as the opportunity to increase self-awareness, self-discipline, and skills of observation and listening, both in partner and group contexts. All classes begin with warm-up exercises to bring awareness to the body and voice and to increase focus and concentration. Students then move on to various improvisations and/or scene work.

Seventh-grade students choose between either Theater Exercises and Improvisation, Play Production, or Scene Study. This Winter, the Play Production class gave students the opportunity to read, rehearse, and perform scenes from 5 full-length plays. Scenes from these plays were performed on the last day of class for an audience of other seventh-grade arts elective students.

Scene Study Upper School Drama classes provide opportunities to develop self-esteem and self-confidence through skill-building exercises involving the body, voice, and imagination. In addition to being an outlet for self-expression, drama class provides a safe environment to explore emotions, as well as the opportunity to increase self-awareness, self-discipline, and skills of observation and listening, both in partner and group contexts. All classes begin with warm-up exercises to bring awareness to the body and voice and to increase focus and concentration. Students then move on to various improvisations and/or scene work.

Seventh grade students choose between either Theater Exercises and Improvisation, Play Production, or Scene Study. This Winter, the Scene Study class gave students the opportunity to read, rehearse, and perform three full-length plays: Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Middle Class by Brad Slaight, and The Secret Life of Girls by Linda Dougherty. Scenes from these plays were performed on the last day of class for an audience of other seventh-grade arts elective students.

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7th Grade Electives Continued Sewing Students have learned the basics of hand stitching and using the sewing machine, serger, and a variety of sewing tools. They have completed a reversible bag and a pair of pajamas made from a standard flat pattern; learned how to implement the flat-fell finish, satin stitch, and rolled hems; and gained an awareness of the importance of exact measurement and cleanness of line in their work.

Theater Exercises The seventh grade Improvisation elective class provides opportunities to develop self-esteem and self-confidence through skill-building exercises involving the body, voice, and imagination. In addition to being an outlet for self-expression, Improvisation class provides a safe environment to explore emotions as well as the opportunity to increase self-awareness, self-discipline, and skills of observation and listening, both in partner and group contexts.

All classes begin with warm-up exercises to bring awareness to the body and voice and increase focus and concentration, as well as to wake up the imagination. Students then move on to various improvisations and scene work. This work is oriented both toward introducing and developing acting skills with an emphasis on spontaneity, focus and concentration, and toward the development of individual as well as group trust.

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TA K I N G C E N T E R S TA G E Eighth graders perf

orm on stage, p rovide instrume accompanimen ntal t, and work beh ind the scenes to produce the an nual eighth-gra de musical.

SNAPSHOT OF

EIGHTH GRADE

A glimpse into Eighth Grade at Burke’s through the 2016-2017 report cards.

8th Grade English Fall Snapshot Students arrived to English class on the first day of school having completed a summer reading assignment—reading a selection of novels that took place during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and one that took place during the Great Depression. We began the school year with small group discussions about these novels and spent much time talking about and finding examples of themes, including injustice and resilience, as well as doing in-depth character studies. After review of the books, we engaged in talks about moving from a “silo” mindset towards writing towards a “jigsaw puzzle” mindset. Our summer reading unit finished with each student crafting a brainstorm or outline in class (on which they received oral feedback from me and their peers) for a short, in-class, formal response. Using textual evidence, students crafted what was essentially a body paragraph, using the skills they had begun to hone in the seventh grade.

Students then embarked on reading The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Essential questions, originally crafted by W.E.B. DuBois (and slightly tweaked for our purposes), as well as the themes of injustice, coming of age, and loneliness/isolation, acted as lenses through which to view and interpret the text. To begin the unit, we familiarized ourselves with life in Europe in the 1930’s and 1940’s, including information about the Nazi rise to power as well as a ‘scavenger hunt’ through the Anne Frank House website. As the girls progressed through the diary, they learned about its larger historical and political context through lectures, documentaries, and news articles; we had many class discussions; and students responded to the text with a series of responses to prompts and questions. The girls engaged in various Thinking Protocols – routines developed for students to more visibly showcase their thinking during a unit or lesson. Thinking Protocols also help students begin to understand why they think what they do and how to deepen their critical thinking. These Thinking Protocols are used in small group, whole class, and individual activities in order for the girls to develop a more in-depth understanding of their critical thinking process and to deepen that process.

The unit will end with another formal response to the text based on the essential questions, character development, and/or themes. Students will visit the Holocaust Memorial at the Legion of Honor and a Holocaust survivor will come to Burke’s to speak to the eighth grade.

Winter Snapshot The second trimester has been packed with activities. We finished up our Diary of a Young Girl unit with a visit from a local Holocaust survivor. Mr. Elbaums’s visit clearly had an impact on the girls, as they wrote reflective and insightful responses afterwards.

After winter break, we engaged in a brief creative writing unit, where students wrote stories inspired by various children’s book illustrations from books published around the world. Students reviewed the Story Arc, and, in pairs, wrote deeply engaging stories or poems ranging from eight to twenty pages long.

Next, we began our current unit, studying the novel Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky. With thoughtful engagement, students have crafted annotations, engaged in discussions, written journals, and worked together to understand essential questions including “how does community impact the individual?”, “how does the individual affect his/her community?”, and “what does it mean to be who we are?” As the unit continues, students will continue to work on writing skills, as well as complete Page 124

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8th Grade English Continued research and write a letter with concerns and suggestions about integrating transgender or genderfluid students into the Burke’s community.

Spring Snapshot At the start of the third trimester, we finished up our Gracefully Grayson unit with formal letters written to a school administrator or an elected official that explore the students’ own concerns and/ or suggestions in regard to including transgender students in middle school communities. Students completed their own research to help support their ideas, and the letters were either delivered to our administrators or mailed out to the elected officials.

After finishing our Gracefully Grayson unit, students entered the exciting and challenging world of Shakespeare. To begin the unit, we studied the structure and content of several sonnets, including the rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter. After bolstering their understanding of Shakespeare’s language, the girls entered the highly dramatic world of young love and age-old feuds through Romeo and Juliet. We read the entire play, and students were required to choose three of the five acts to annotate in depth. In class, we periodically worked in small groups to further develop the skills of deep annotation and analysis of passages and also used reading aloud and even improv to further our understanding of the play. We also had several discussions fueled by the students’ own questions about the text, as well as teacher facilitated. We were fortunate enough to have our Upper School counselor, help facilitate a discussion about Romeo’s and Juliet’s suicides. Throughout the unit, we focused on themes of love vs. hate, individual vs. society, fate vs. chance, as well as Shakespeare’s wealth of figurative language, particularly similes, metaphors, allusions, personification, and puns (referred to as S.M.A.P.P. in class). The unit ended with a project that required students to illustrate and analyze one S.MA.P.P. from the book and with a detailed letter to any character of the student’s choice.

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8th Grade French Fall Snapshot We started the year by setting the tone of our class to one of active listening, speaking and note taking in French. We strive for a French-only classroom! We reviewed previously studied grammar and vocabulary within the theme of “exploring the diversity of the Francophone World.” Students read about and listened to Francophone speakers discussing their lives and interests. Students practiced presenting themselves orally and in writing. They worked on a research project and presentation on a Francophone country, including culture, art and cuisine. We reviewed previously studied material (including vocabulary, regular and irregular verbs, and question formation) by introducing new skills and vocabulary. For example, we studied expressions with avoir and être to practice the use of these essential verbs in preparation for the passé composé. Students finished the trimester by learning the formation and use of the passé composé with both être and avoir. The girls continue to work on speaking only French in class and improving their listening and reading comprehension as well as their self-expression. Thematically, we studied and wrote about the award-winning Belgian film Hop (2002), as well as the art of René Magritte. Students are beginning to understand how many sophisticated ideas they can communicate with their existing skills and knowledge in French.

Winter Snapshot This trimester the eighth graders focused on dialogue and developing their conversational skills around the ever-popular topic of food. Using a question and response technique, they expanded their vocabulary to include all aspects of shopping for food at a European open-air market, buying and selling pastries at a boulangerie, preparing a shopping list for the supermarket, and the items one might find on a restaurant menu. They even designed the menus for their own imaginary bistros.

The students were also introduced to different aspects of Francophone culture, such as the French filmmaker Jean Cocteau’s famous film La Belle et La Bête, a story that they knew mainly through Disney. In addition, they were very excited to learn about the winter Carnaval of Québec and to learn that our Canadian neighbors also speak French!

Spring Snapshot In the third trimester of eighth-grade French, students continued their practice of all the major verb tenses: the présent, the passé composé, and l’imparfait. We also continued with the partitive, using the vocabulary about food and groceries, and the direct object pronoun. We worked on listening and writing comprehension doing dictations and created short stories aimed at establishing contrasts in point of views, values, and behavior with the characters of the stories. We analyzed and performed/ sang a poem by Jacques Prévert (la chasse à l’enfant) and had class discussions about school and education in general in the 1930’s in France and connections to current issues in the United States.

Finally, we composed a conjugation song about vegetables that we recorded in the music studio, performed in front of other students, and turned into an original music video.

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8th Grade History Fall Snapshot The Four Worlds of History: Breaking the world down into political, economic, cultural, and social spheres of influence. This is an exercise in how each of these worlds are interconnected and have an influence over each other.

Research Project: Students, in groups, were assigned topics to research within the scope of early United States history (1760-1800) and presented their finding to the class. Students were also asked to find a connection between their topic and the 2016 election.

The electoral process and party system: U ​ nderstanding the process of electing officials in the United States and discussing the party systems of this country and other governments around the world.

Transfer Goals: Understanding the interconnectedness of the world and the fact that certain themes in history repeat themselves.

Winter Snapshot This trimester we looked at the formation of the U.S. Constitution and some of the main issues involved in its creation. We then began to explore the Constitution itself in order to gain a better understanding of how our government works. We examined the goals of the Constitution as stated in the Preamble and discussed the principles of our government. We then looked at the Articles of the Constitution and what is contained in each one. The students then took a more in-depth look into the first three Articles to study the qualifications, duties, processes, and powers of each of the three branches of the U.S. government. Finally the students learned about the judicial system and how the Supreme Court fits into it.

We then took a deep dive into the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution) in order to gain a better understanding of the concerns that our founding fathers had, the reasons that they chose to incorporate certain rights into the Constitution, how these rights have been interpreted through the years, and how they affect us today. Students participated in a series of Socratic Seminars in order to help unpack these amendments and related court cases.

Spring Snapshot At the start of this trimester, we took a deep dive into the Fourth Amendment’s protection of privacy by examining a Supreme Court case in order to gain a better understanding of how this fundamental right has been interpreted through the years, including in our more technological age. Students wrote an essay taking a position on whether or not the government violated the petitioners’ Fourth Amendment rights when using technology to investigate suspected criminal activity.

Next we studied the growth of this country and how the fragile union gave way to sectionalism and ultimately to the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War. We looked into the reforms and reconstruction amendments initiated after the war and the challenges encountered in enacting those reforms.

Finally we took an in-depth look at the various cultures that make up the United States. Students researched different groups of people that make up the population of the current United States in order to identify what it means to be an American. Students researched key areas of their assigned BURKE’S PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

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8th Grade History Continued culture in order to tell a compelling and thoughtful narrative of that group’s American experience. They presented their findings to the class in mini-documentaries that explored the connections, differences, and patterns regarding the experience of the many cultures that make up this diverse nation.

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8th Grade Mandarin Fall Snapshot The eighth-grade Mandarin class started the year reviewing common classroom and daily expressions that enable students to speak mainly Mandarin in class. We then reviewed previously learned materials and grammar concepts. Next, we focused on learning about the following topics: vocabulary and questions for pen pal letters; describing weekend and vacation events and activities; and the usage of verbs and their tenses, specifically the simple present tense, present continuous tense, future tense, present perfect tense, simple past tense, and past continuous tense.

In addition, each student wrote and delivered a speech about a topic of her choosing, and the students continued their correspondence with pen pals at Cathedral School for Boys.

Winter Snapshot During this trimester, the eighth-grade Mandarin class practiced how to describe many different things, including a family photo, people, animals, food, places, events, feelings, and school life. In grammar, we continued to review previously learned material and concepts, include different types of words and their usages: question words, measure words, verbs and their tenses, conjunction words, adjectives and adverbs. We learned the preposition “duì” in expressions like “duì… guò mǐn” (allergic to…) and “duì… hěn hǎo” (nice to…) and “gěi” in expressions like “gěi ... dǎ diàn huà” (make a call to someone).

For projects, each student wrote and delivered another speech about a topic of her choosing. Students also worked altogether as a class to create a music video about friendship and presented it at the Upper School Assembly. In addition, students continued their correspondence with pen pals at Cathedral School for Boys.

Spring Snapshot During the last trimester, the eighth-grade class reviewed the main topics and grammatical concepts learned throughout the Mandarin course. We talked about food, clothing, hobbies, vacations, weather, traditional Chinese festivals, Western holidays, school life, feelings, extended family members, traveling, and outdoor trips.

The main project students worked on was “My Autobiography.” Each student reflected on her life, identifying and writing about the memorable moments since birth and what she hopes will happen in the future. Each student then each created an iMovie and presented it to the class. This project required students to put together everything they had previously learned. It was a challenging and rewarding way to end the Mandarin course. The girls did a great job!

The eighth-grade students were invited to teach the third graders some basic greetings, common Chinese characters, and the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals. In addition, students continued their correspondence with pen pals at Cathedral School for Boys. We went on a field trip so that they could meet, play games, and communicate with each other in person.

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8th Grade Mathematics Fall Snapshot Students began the year with lessons from Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math. Through short videos and low-floor, high-ceiling tasks, students learned important growth mindset messages to persist with open-ended problems, to embrace mistakes and challenges, and to think visually.

During the exponents unit, students applied their understanding of exponent properties to simplify expressions with positive, negative, and zero exponents. We converted numbers from standard form to scientific notation and vice versa, and simplified expressions written in scientific notation. We learned to simplify products and quotients of radical expressions.

During our Linear Equations unit, we wrote linear equations in slope-intercept form and played Diamond Collector to practice identifying the slope and the y-intercept. We also learned to write equations of parallel lines, and to write equations using function notation. Students made scatter plots of a set of data and determined whether the data had a positive correlation, negative correlation, or no correlation. We also learned to draw a line of best fit and used two points on the line to write an equation to model the data. We performed a linear regression using the Desmos online graphing calculator and compared the equation found by hand to the equation found on the calculator. We used our models to make predictions by interpolation and extrapolation.

Winter Snapshot To complete the Linear Equations unit we learned how to write linear equations in point-slope form, and standard form. We also learned to write equations of perpendicular lines, as well as vertical and horizontal lines. Students practiced writing linear equations in different forms by creating a design made up of linear equations by hand and then reproducing the design using an online graphing calculator on desmos.com. Since the online graphing calculator gave immediate feedback, students were able to revise equations when necessary as they progressed through the project. We completed the unit by wring and graphing linear equations to solve word problems.

During the unit on Solving and Graphing Linear Inequalities, we solved one-step and multi-step inequalities. We solved compound inequalities as well as absolute value equations and inequalities.

Considering “or” as a union of inequalities and “and” as the intersection of inequalities, we explored how these words affect the solution set. We calculated the absolute deviation and graphed linear inequalities in two variables. To complete the unit we wrote and graphed linear inequalities to solve word problems, and wrote and solved absolute value equations and inequalities to solve word problems.

During the unit on Linear Systems, we solved systems of linear equations by graphing, substitution, and elimination, including situations where students had to multiply one or both equations before eliminating a variable.

Spring Snapshot We completed the unit on Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities by learning how to solve special types of linear systems that had one solution, no solution, or infinitely many solutions. We completed the unit by graphing, writing, and solving systems of linear inequalities and applying the skills learned to solve word problems.

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8th Grade Mathematics Continued We returned to the unit on Exponents and Exponential Functions and graphed both exponential growth and decay functions and identified their domain and range. We compared exponential functions by describing them as vertical shrinks, vertical stretches, or reflections in the x-axis. Given a function table or graph, we identified whether the table or graph represented an exponential function, and if it did, we wrote the rule. We solved problems involving compound interest and depreciation and completed the unit with the M & M activity that demonstrated both exponential growth and decay. We performed an exponential regression using an online graphing calculator.

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8th Grade Physical Education Fall Snapshot “Challenge PE” allows students to have a team experience with a set team for the year, competing in fun activities, challenges, and scrimmages against other teams. Each student is encouraged to identify her own role on her team and to gain comfort in figuring out how she can best utilize her individual strengths to contribute to the success of their team while also upholding the team pledge that each team made together at the beginning of the year.

The skills of softball, ultimate disc (Frisbee), and volleyball were reviewed briefly, but the focus of eighth grade is applying the skills and knowledge gained over the years to game play. In all activities, students had many opportunities to compete in game-like situations and skill challenges in which we could assess how well they worked together strategically and applied their skills tactically.

In volleyball with Ms. Bryant, we progressed through small-team scramble games on to full-team short court games, adding serve and serve-receive tactics as well as introducing the basic concept of rotation and switching. We ended with each team qualifying for either the gold or silver bracket based on their results and completing a mini-tournament in their bracket on the full court.

In softball and disc with Mr. Hetzel, students played in modified game situations, applying the skills developed over the previous years and creating new tactics to best fit the strengths and challenges of their unique team. Emphasis was placed on students’ sense of fair play and good sporting behavior, with students refereeing and settling conflicts themselves whenever possible. The softball and Ultimate disc unit culminated with small-sided games, tournaments, and a round of finals.

Students took on the responsibility of monitoring their individual daily needs of stretching and running to maintain a basic level of fitness depending on how they were feeling after a weekend of relaxation or an active and strenuous week of activities outside of school. Students engaged in fitness exercises to build balance, strength, and stamina, and to minimize the potential for injuries.

Winter Snapshot Skills and expectations were reviewed briefly, with the focus of eighth grade on applying the skills and knowledge gained over the years to engage positively and productively in game play and structured student-centered cooperative and creative activities. Opportunities were created to assess students’ ability to work together and how well they applied their skills cooperatively, strategically, tactically, and creatively.

With Mr. Hetzel, students reviewed soccer skills and completed the soccer unit with small-sided games culminating in a tournament. Indoor soccer was played as well for a futsal-like experience.

Emphasis was placed on fair play and good sporting behavior while maintaining a high level of positive engagement. In the lacrosse unit, students enjoyed team challenges in a modified team game in which attackers and defenders were separated while attempting to score or defend multiple goals at once. Students set goals for fitness tests and continued to develop their fitness as a part of their participation in class activities. As a start to the dance unit, students had a unique opportunity to learn dance with choreographer Jo Kreiter (Flyaway Productions), working together to engage in unique dances illustrating socially relevant themes such as being an ally and self-determination.

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8th Grade Physical Education Continued With Ms. Bryant, the fundamental skills of badminton were reviewed briefly. The students had opportunities to refine their skills and court sense in two-against-one situations and progressed to queen-of-the-court style play against players from other teams. We progressed to pool play by entering each student into one of six pools and learning how round robin pools work. Based on points accumulated, the teams played a series of head-to-head matches in either Division 1 or Division 2 to determine a Finals champion. We are currently working through the basketball unit and have progressed from individual challenges and small-sided games to various five-on-five game situations.

Spring Snapshot With Mr. Hetzel, students were given the freedom at the start of every class to practice the stretching routine of 15 stretches at their discretion; after four years, this routine has become second nature and something they will be able to draw upon throughout their lives. Students wrote reflections to explore the successes and obstacles that can arise while attempting to maintain their fitness.

Students constructed a dance piece of their own creation, working as a team to determine the music, choreography, movement forms, floor patterns, timing, and so forth. In a team sprinting challenge, achievement was measured by improvement based on sprinting times from September, and students used their math skills to determine an average percent improvement for each team. Students engaged in a spirited day of competitive pansy planting, learning gardening skills, and helping beautify the school grounds for own Pansy Day. With Ms. Bryant, in the basketball and flag football units, after a brief review of fundamental skills, the students had many opportunities to compete in game-like situations and controlled scrimmages where we could assess how well they worked strategically together and applied their skills tactically.

In basketball we progressed from finishing challenges to half-court small-sided games (1 on 1, 2 on 1, 3 on 2). Then we moved on to full-court challenges and full-court games and ended the unit with each team playing in Championship, Final Four, Sweet Six, or Elite Eight Games. In flag football we worked on kick-off coverage and returns and then on developing plays and learning to pass-rush and pass protect; these plays were then further developed by playing modified scrimmages and “four-down football.� The unit culminated with each team being drawn into and playing in one of our three Bowl games.

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8th Grade Science Fall Snapshot The goal of the first trimester was to finish the chemistry narrative the students began last year. This involved learning that each solvent has a characteristic relationship with each potential solute. For example, sugar is highly soluble in water, but not soluble at all in isopropyl alcohol. Learning teams put together all they knew about characteristic properties (smell, flammability, density) to learn what they could about an unknown liquid. They then learned how to use the characteristic property of boiling point to separate the unknown liquid into its pure components using fractional distillation. To follow up, they performed the same smell, flammability, density, and solubility tests on each component. All groups were able to identify that the mystery liquid contained water and at least one kind of alcohol.

Students went on to practice techniques for separating solids, such as floating, sinking, filtering, dissolving-then-evaporating, and chromatography. Students learned that some substances that appear to be pure, like water, can be broken down further by more extreme techniques like electrolysis. By separating water into distinct tubes of gas, students were able to recognize that water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. We reconfirmed this relationship with a “bang” by applying a flame to a hydrogen balloon to observe how violently hydrogen reacts with oxygen to re-form water.

Finally, students observed the persistence of elements by oxidizing, dissolving, and precipitating copper. By understanding that elements combine in predictable proportions to form compounds, students have laid the groundwork for understanding how to balance equations.

Winter Snapshot Having discovered that molecules of water are made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen at the end of first trimester, we were ready to move on to a study of the atomic model. Students learned about the 2000-year history of atomic theory up to our current understanding of the electron cloud.

Through preparation for Element Day, each student became an expert on one element on the periodic table. As a final preparation for high school chemistry, students learned to use proportions to balance chemical equations. Then we shifted our focus from Chemistry to Physics, beginning with Newton’s third law of motion. During this journey, students encountered forces such as gravity, the normal force, friction, magnetism, lift, and wind resistance. Students learned to use proportionality constants both to calculate forces and to represent them using vectors. Students gained practical skills using spring scales and Vernier electronic force sensors to measure forces.

Spring Snapshot Students began their final trimester working with the Upper School Counselor to study male and female reproductive anatomy and physiology, birth control methods, sexually transmitted infection information, and an exploration of the factors that affect decision-making regarding sexual activity.

Student followed up this learning by sharing their This is Me books with fourth graders as they helped the fourth graders imagine the impending changes that will happen in the next four years. We followed up our study of Newton’s third law of motion from second trimester by working with vectors and frictionless tables to derive Newton’s first law. Students then engaged in two group projects in order to demonstrate their understanding of Newton’s laws. They created machines that utilized chemical, mechanical, solar, magnetic, electrical, and thermal energy for our annual Rube Goldberg competition at the Arts Festival. Aerodynamics, weight, and pressure were the key concepts to consider when designing and building the final project of the year: bottle rockets.

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8th Grade Spanish Fall Snapshot Students started the year in eighth-grade Spanish with a review of the present tense of the regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs. Irregular and stem-changing verbs are also a part of this review. In addition, we have studied the differences between the uses of ser and estar, and the verbs that follow the gustar construction such as fascinar, encantar, importar, and faltar. The creative project of the term was a film remembering a loved one for our observation of Día de los Muertos. Students used the Stop Motion animation app to create their films, which they accompanied with a voice-over of their reflections.

Throughout the term, brief one-on-one conversations with the teacher provide valuable practice and assessment for the students’ speaking abilities. In the area of cultural studies, we have looked at the legend of la Llorona and her impact on Latin American culture and the figure of Santa Cecilia and her importance to music of the Spanish-speaking world.

Winter Snapshot Students began the second trimester of eighth-grade Spanish with a review of regular verbs in the preterit tense. They also learned the preterit form of 15 irregular verbs. We then studied the regular and irregular forms of the imperfect past. The other grammar points of the term were a review of the direct object pronouns and the present perfect tense. We also started our murder-mystery novel, La chica de los zapatos verdes, analyzing and discussing characters and plot developments in Spanish. The two large creative projects of the quarter were el cuento de hada (fairytale) and Los papeles de La chica de los zapatos verdes. In el cuento de hada, each student wrote her own fairy tale employing the two forms of the past tense and using the interactive app, Toontastic, giving her fairytale her own voice.

In the second project, Los papeles de La chica de los zapatos verdes, the students did an analysis of the characters of the novel and created her own cast of actors to bring the novel to life.

Spring Snapshot In the third trimester of eighth-grade Spanish, students continued their practice with por and para and all of the major verb tenses – the present and the preterit and imperfect past tenses. We also reviewed and practiced the difference between uses of the imperfect and preterit past tenses and the two verbs for “to be” (ser y estar). The two new grammar points of the term were the affirmative and negative informal and formal command forms and the direct and indirect object pronouns. We continued to read the mystery novel begun in the winter quarter and continued our analysis of the plot, the various characters, and their motives. The projects of the term were a casting call for the movie version of our novel and el video de música (music video).

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8th Grade Study Skills Winter Snapshot During this trimester we completed assignments, studied for quizzes and tests, revised written work including English essays, history reports and questions, and science lab reports. Students were also able to conference individually with teachers to gain a better understanding of the concepts they were learning.

Spring Snapshot This trimester, we explored assistive technology tools to assist in managing assignments; integrated learning strategies to better understand non-fiction texts; and explored word analysis strategies to better understand the morphology of words, i.e., how and why words are spelled the way they are and the underlying meanings of base words and affixes.

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8th Grade Electives Art The Visual Arts program connects art with the world around us. It opens a world beyond textbooks for students to explore and builds a foundation for creative thinking. Exploring and practicing the inward significance art can portray through story, intention, and thoughtfulness are three areas of focus in the girls’ journey as 21st-century learners this year. Students are encouraged to explore new techniques, seek deeper meaning out of their art practice, and establish a personal approach to their work. We also explore how the arts can cross disciplines to create an exciting statement.

Students in the eighth grade have the opportunity to choose the medium in which they will work during their Arts rotation. Choices include paper quilling, ceramics, clay hand building, painting, plein aire (watercolor and pastels), papier maché mask-making, sculpture, hand-sewing textile work, basket weaving, and encaustic painting. After a choice was made and the work completed, it was displayed during the Arts Festival.

As a class we also discuss appropriate art studio etiquette and maintenance, including polite and respectful ways to comment on others’ work.

The Art of Singing The Art of Singing elective is a supportive, interactive voice class for all levels of singing ability. A primary focus is on the practice of vocal techniques that cultivate correct body alignment, breath management, a resonant singing tone, and smooth navigation through the high and low vocal registers. We study a varied repertoire for developing each student’s personal sound, range of expression, and increased confidence as a soloist.

Drama The eighth grade Drama elective explores various aspects of theatrical production work, including the roles of director; stage manager; and set, costume and sound designers; as well as the role of actor.

The class was split into three groups and each chose scenes and songs to work on from popular musicals. A director, choreographer, various designers, and actors were chosen within each group.

The work included scenes and songs from Annie, Hamilton, and Zootopia. These scenes and songs were performed on the last day of class for an audience that included of students in other eighth-grade electives.

Makery The students in the Fall Makery Elective began the trimester with an e-textiles project, using sewable circuits to create an original object with functioning LEDs. Next, the students used the various tools in Makery Down to construct potato launchers as well as the cradles to hold them. Finally, after having explored various larger project ideas, the students decided to prototype, develop, program, and assemble an ultrasonic sensor system that generates piano notes as a result of walking up and down the stairs to Makery Down.

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8th Grade Electives Continued Photography Arts In Advanced Photography, students continued to explore the world through the camera’s lens. In this class, students focused on the conceptual notion of photography in which a photograph can act as a metaphor to describe a meaning beyond the formal juxtaposition of visual elements within a photograph. Students were challenged to contemplate, explore, shoot, and compile photographs reflecting aspects of their identity in a series displayed as a book or another alternative threedimensional project.

Varsity Vocal Ensemble The focus of the eighth-grade Varsity Vocal Ensemble is on the development and refinement of a repertoire of two- and three-part vocal arrangements, with special emphasis on balanced ensemble singing. Our rehearsal process focuses on the development and practice of choral performance skills including poise, stage presence, singing posture, vocal projection, range, proper breath support, tone production, facial expression, body language, and focused eye contact. Students are actively involved in the process of selecting, arranging, and rehearsing their repertoire. Performances included singing for the U.S. Martin Luther King Assembly, the Lower School Assembly, our Spring Vocal Spotlight concert​, and a choir exchange program with the Richmond Senior Center Choir.

Yearbook Our work during the first trimester of Yearbook has focused on developing the theme and organizing the layout of the 90-page book and designing the yearbook pages. Students determined what to include in the yearbook, where to place each section within the book, and how the pages would relate to the theme. After decisions were made, students were introduced to some design basics. They also learned how to use the many various features of yearbookavenue.com, the online yearbook-building program of Jostens, our yearbook publisher. Once the layout was decided, students started building their pages and creating artwork for uploading.

Based on their desired area of interest, the girls work on two different teams within yearbook: the editorial/photojournalism team or the artistic creation team, creating the artwork for the yearbook. Students must be able to work independently when needed and also be able to work as a team. Listening skills and willingness to incorporate feedback are key. In addition, collaboration, compromise, and cooperation are needed as the girls work together to meet the deadlines involved in creating a successful yearbook.

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