What is a Community?

Last week we focused on the meaning of community, and the role jobs and businesses play in our community. It is always nice to see the world through the eyes of 5 and 6 year old children. Below is a peek at some of the adorable responses to a simple question.

From Avenida de la Playa

From Avenida de la Playa

From Avenida de la Playa

From Avenida de la Playa

From Avenida de la Playa

Did You Know….

“We have hair cutters in our community, because if the boys have too long hair it will be in their eyes.” ~A.DR
“We have store clerks in our community, because they let us buy food.” ~R.W
“We have presidents in our community, because they say what the cities have to do to help the world.” ~E.F.G
“We have police in our community, because burglars steal.” ~M.M
“We have police in our community so everyone behaves.” ~D.B
“We have teachers in our community, because they teach,” ~R.MA
“We have police in our community, because they keep people safe.” ~K.S
“We have fire fighters in our community, because they put out fires.” ~A.O
“We have train engineers in our community, because they drive trains.” ~D.BC
“We have doctors in our community, because if we get sick I know they can help us.” ~L.S
“We have presidents in our community, because they make good choices.” ~K.F
“We have doctors in our community, because they can help us stop bleeding.” ~A.R
“We have veterinarians in our community because my cat has to go to the hospital today.” ~E.K
“We have doctors in our community because people get hurt.” ~L.F
“We have fire fighters in our community because they save people and they make fires disappear.” ~C.F
“We have ballerinas in our community because they dance so pretty on the stage.” ~E.G
“We have squishy sellers in our community because if kids don’t have toys to play with they will be crying all the time.” ~N.L
“We have fire fighters in our community because they save people.” ~M.L
“We have store workers in our community because we buy our food.” ~K.H

Our Visit to La Jolla Shores Market

From La Jolla Shores Market

On Tuesday we visited the La Jolla Shores Market. Taft (the owners son) took us on an amazing tour through the freezer, behind the deli counter, into the refrigerators and around the market. After our tour we were each treated to a delicious apple.

La Jolla Shores Market Freezer from Lisa J on Vimeo.

Sushi with Jen!

From Book Cooks

From Book Cooks

In Book Cooks this week, Jen joined us and we got to make sushi!! After reading “Yoko”, a cute story about trying and accepting different foods from different cultures, we made sushi and learned how to write in Japanese. The children wrote their names in Hiragana, and wrote Katakana symbols on Popsicle sticks that were woven together to make a “book” (read top to bottom, right to left). For more information on the book, and to learn how we made sushi, see the google doc below. Thanks Jen for putting this together!

A Sweet Thank You

From Avenida de la Playa

Sometimes a child will work all morning on something that may normally take them a few moments. Here is an example of one of those times.

Fire Station #9

On Friday the Fire Fighters from Station #9 welcomed us to an action packed afternoon complete with shooting the hose, touring the fire truck and watching them leave for a rescue!

Shooting Down the Cones from Lisa J on Vimeo.

Here are the answers to some of the questions that were asked on our tour:
E.G: The fire fighters save all sorts of animals including goats, chickens, pigs, dogs and even a hawk once! The have a special oxygen tank that is made just for dogs!
L.S: Most fire fighters at Station #9 work at 3-4 stations but have one home station.
A.O: The fire fighters at Station #9 put out 2-3 fires per day.
D.B: When a fire breaks out, 5 stations usually report to the fire and work together as a team to put it out.
K.S: Kyle (one of the fire fighters) has put out 100s of fires in his time (24 years) as a fire fighter.
R.W: When fire fighters fight fires they bring their fire hose and usually pump water through the truck and fight the fire with water.
L.F: Four people are usually in the fire truck and two people are in the ambulance, so 6 people work at Station #9.
R.M.A: We wear out pants over our boots so we don’t get burned, and we leave our pants on our boots so that we can put them on quickly.
M.L: To put the fires out “we put the wet stuff on the red stuff.”
A.D: There are three different types of fire trucks for different types of fires. One truck pumps water out of the fire hydrant, one truck carries water in it and the other has a big ladder that helps the fire fighters get to fires in tall buildings.
A.R: When the fire fighters are not fighting fires, they work with the community, exercise, clean, and check on the equipment.
K.H: When they are fighting fires with chemicals (not water) they use a powder that acts as a blanket. The powder lands on the fire and takes away the air it breathes and doesn’t let it run away. Kind of like what would happen if someone threw a blanket on you when you were trying to run away.
C.F: Station #9 does not have a fire pole because it is a one story fire station. The reason stations do have poles is because they are safer and faster than running down stairs.
M.M: They have 1,000 feet of 4” hoses, 800 feet of 2.5” hoses and 450-500 feet of 1 ¾” hoses at Station #9.
E.G: We ALL got to go in the fire truck!
K.F: The Big Houe (Fire Station #1 downtown) has the most fire fighters and equipment, but Fire Station # 17 is the busiest.
E.K: Station #9 does not have a Dalmatian, but Station #40 does and Station # 19 has a rabbit named Cool.
D.B.C: Station #9 works with the fire helicopters and planes, but harbor patrol works with the fire boats.

Station #9 Off to Save the Day! from Lisa J on Vimeo.

N.L asked “What happens when the fire alarm goes off and we are here?” and we found out! See the video above!

Book Cooks!

From Book Cooks

On Friday Peter and Kristie joined us for Book Cooks! It was the ultimate multi-media day complete with iPads, Document cameras and our new monitor! We "read" "Green Eggs & Ham" by Dr. Seuss as an interactive book. For any of you with iPads or iPhones, please look into Oceanhouse Media to download Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears books. During Book Cooks we got to make our own Cat in the Hat hats and enjoy green eggs and ham!

Untitled from Lisa J on Vimeo.

Hotel La Jolla Here We Come!

A.R after asking me "Lisa J. Can I write 'It is beautiful' in my notebook?"

Sketching Hotel La Jolla
Today 9 of us traveled across the REALLY big bridge all the way to Hotel La Jolla. The children were prepared with interview questions, their clipboards and sharpies and a bundle of energy. Here is what they discovered:

The super troopers after walking up 11+ flights of stairs

N.L:
Hotel La Jolla has 11 floors, has never has a fire and currently has 105 guests. We also walked up all 11 flights of stairs to learn that there are 161 stairs!

M.M:
The pool is eight feet deep, there are three computers in the office, five in the back office and three at the front desk. There are also, roughly 648 plugs and 2 elevators!

E.K:
The hotel makes between $8,000 and $12,000 per day (we had to explain that when asked ”How much do you make each day?” we really meant the hotel).
The hotel usually has 185 guests/day and it can hold 1-4 people per room with 108 rooms available. There is no golf course, but there are 11 floors.

E.G:
It “currently” costs $149/night to stay “all day” at Hotel La Jolla and we can stay for” as many days as you want.” In addition to this, we learned that they serve pasta!

E.G:
After climbing up 11+ stories, we found that there are 161 stairs in Hotel La Jolla, there is a pool and Clays serves deep fried Macaroni and Cheese balls on a stick!

D.B.C:
Hotel La Jolla is 112 feet tall. There are 28,000 gallons of water in the pool. There are 132 windows and there were 22 cars in the back parking lot and 45 in the front lot.

A.O:
When asked if they served chicken strips the response was “Yes.” When asked if there was a hot tub, the response was “Yes.” When asked if there was a hot bath, the response was “No.” When asked how many stairs there were, we were directed to the stairwell and asked to meet the group on the 10th floor.

A.R:
There are 216 chairs in all of the hotel rooms and 18 chairs by the pool. Each wall is 8 feet tall and there are 109 TVs.

L.F.:
There are 108 rooms, 150+ beds and 125 cars can fit in the parking lot.

Avenida de la Playa Through The Eyes of Room 5

From Avenida de la Playa

From Avenida de la Playa

From Avenida de la Playa

Thank you to everyone who helped out today. We all had a BLAST and I could not have hoped for a better field trip to kick off our amazing community study! Please click on the photos above to see more photo’s of our day.

Here is some information gathered from the children today:
~It takes 108-1,030 steps to walk across the bridge
~There are 10-20 floors at Hotel La Jolla
~The houses on the way to Avenida de la Playa are; gray, brown, white, peach, blue, yellow, orange, black, salmon, cream, baby blue, coral and red.
~The sign at La Jolla Shores Market includes a pumpkin, water, plumb, “Accordance Nest”, gallon of milk, grapes, eggplant, a basket and thanksgiving stuff

Last but not least, WE FOUND Cat in the Hat!! Bill from Yogurt Escape discovered him and opened his shop early just for us! We are so excited to have him back in Room 5 with us!

We found Cat in the Hat!! from Lisa J on Vimeo.

Pumpkin Fun!

A BIG Thank you to Debbie for making our Halloween celebration so fun! We enjoyed a morning complete with decorating pumpkins, creating haunted houses, roasting pumpkins seeds (Thanks Laura!) and listening to The Monster Mash on repeat!

Brazilian Book Cooks!

Last Monday we got to do Book Cooks with D.B and Carla!! It was so fun! Carla read us stories about Brazil and shared photographs and a 3D book with us. In one of the books we learned about the Azure Jay, a bird that eats the seeds of the Araucaria angustifolia tree. During our cooking time we got to make Pao de Queijo, a gluten free cheese puff! They were delicious and we enjoyed them after recess.
During Math Job time Kara and the kids continued to build connections between 3D objects and their 2D counterparts. Did you know a triangular prism is made up of 4 triangles, and one square? Or that the “footprint” of a cylinder is a rectangle and two circles? For handwriting this week we reviewed the letters H, K, L and U. The children were able to see if their letters were too wide by placing their 2 fingers over it. If the letter peaked out from either side then they knew it was too wide.