A Great Start To 2020!

It has been a wonderful first, full week back in school! Students have continued to share stories about their break, review rules and routines, and get back into the academic and social life of school.

In Kabalat Shabbat today, students were asked to think about one instance from this week when they played or worked nicely with someone who used to not be in their group. Students shared various positive interactions that made their peers feel good. Noa said that she enjoyed playing Bingo with Noah because they worked well together. Natan said that he liked working with Bryce in Social Studies. Almah said that she enjoyed playing with Orly at recess. Aviv said that she liked working with Isaiah in Chumash. Ezra said that he liked drawing with Asher. Yahli said that he liked how Georgie helped him pour the grape juice for Kabbalat Shabbat. 

What a great start to the new year!

Science

In science we finished up our last unit on matter and have started our next unit on soil and organic life. We discussed what soil actually was and formed questions for future exploration. Using our background knowledge we collaborated and formed ideas about the substance. During our experiment portion we observed soil and talked about what types of living critters might live in it. Following this, we added water in clear cups to humus, clay, and soil to see how water and mixing them together will affect the types of soil.

Next science class we will be learning about the various types of soil!

Ask your super scientist to make a prediction of another type of soil they might know about!

We also wrote our own resolutions for the new year. We talked about what a resolution is, and how we can create goals that will better our lives. Second graders wrote about being more peaceful with siblings, helping their parents at home, calming down before reacting, and trying our best even when that feels hard to do.

If you’d like to extend this activity at home, try and create family resolutions.

Social Studies

In social studies we have been learning about an important activist, Ruby Bridges. In preparation for the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day, we began reading books about civil rights leaders. This week we read The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, a story about a six year old African American girl who bravely enrolls in a school designated for only white children. We studied the cover of this book to gain information about what this book will be about, and to already begin thinking about the author’s message. We used a chart as we listened to take down notes or draw about what we were learning and what we want to learn about these brave leaders. Second graders asked thoughtful questions such as, “Why was there so much separation when they could all be friends?” or “Why didn’t more people say that this is unfair?”

Hebrew Bingo- 75th Day of school!

In honor of the 75th day of school today, we played Bingo in Hebrew. Bingo is a number game that goes up to 75, so it was the perfect, fun way for us to practice our Hebrew numbers that we count each day of school. Students enjoyed the game so much that they were begging to play again next week! If you have Bingo at home, try and play in Hebrew to practice number identification with your child in a fun way. 

Israel with the Shinshinim

We visited Tel Aviv with Elal and Zohar this week. First we played an opposites memory game comparing moshavim and cities. Then we looked at a picture of the “Fire and Water” fountain in Tel Aviv and made art projects inspired by that artistic style.