Social Studies and Science Integration and Torah Exploration
Social Studies and Science Over the past few weeks we have been integrating different subjects and learning how what we learn in one subject can connect to what we are learning in other subjects. In science we have been learning about mixtures and how mixtures change when adding a solid, liquid, or gas. In social studies we have been learning about different land forms and reading nonfiction books to learn more information on how the names of different land forms and how they are formed. We combined both these topics by creating a mixture of flour, water, and salt to... Read More
Sukkot and Simchat Torah!
Simchat Torah We celebrated the upcoming holiday of Simchat Torah with the rest of the school and our buddies! Second graders had the special job of presenting two different types of Torahs to the school. In class we explored the two types of Torahs up close and compared how they are similar and different. Sukkah Making with our Buddies! We met our sixth grade buddies in the school sukkah to build our own sukkot out of treats. Thank you to the PA for organizing! Two Sukkah Visits! We visited two different sukkot in second grade! The students... Read More
Yom Kippur, Tashlich, Buddy Time
6th Grade Buddy Time We had our first buddy time of the year with our sixth grade buddies! Our buddies brought us Rosh Hashannah cards, and together we worked on a project comparing things we have in common and things that are different between us, such as favorite foods, sports, and hobbies. It was great to recconect with our buddies and meet new budd Tashlich We read the book Tashlich at Turtle Rock in class about a family that completes a four part Tashlich ceremony. In class we created books with personal reflections emulating the family’s trip. We wrote and... Read More
Shinshinim and Small Moments
Writing After the Rosh Hashana break we were ready to get back to writing our small moment stories, some of us starting new stories about a special moment over the holiday weekend. We practiced zooming in on our small moments like we zoom in on objects using a magnifying glass. We used longer descriptive words and began adding dialogue and feelings to every page. Some of us wrote full books already! At the end of class we shared our stories with someone from a different table and gave each other compliments. At home, describe a small moment from the day... Read More
Shana Tovah from Second Grade!
Second graders have been busy preparing for the Rosh Hashannah holiday, and continuing to build this amazing second grade community! Today they helped cut apples to eat with honey at a special Rosh Hashannah Kabbalat Shabbat. We concluded the celebration by sharing our wishes for the new year ahead. Ask your child what they wished for the class. It has been a great start to the year, and we wish all the second grade families a Shana Tovah. Your child should have a Rosh Hashannah card for a family member in their bag that went home yesterday or will go... Read More
Third Week of Second Grade
Writing In Writing Workshop we delved into beginning our narrative unit on small moment stories. In order to learn how to choose meaningful small moments, we studied authors who have written meaningful small moment stories. We read the first page of the story Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, and noticed how she begins to describe this one night of owling with so many details! We got to writing our small moment narratives, using ideas from our decorated writing folders, and studying Jane Yolen’s writing to help us stretch our stories. With our writing buddies we talked about our ideas, brainstormed ways... Read More
Second Week of Second Grade!
Community Building We opened our first full week of school by beginning the social emotional curriculum. The first lesson we learned is about how to have a sharing circle. A sharing circle is when a question is posed and second graders pass a speaker power object to the person who gets to speak. We practiced being completely silent when we are not holding the speaker power object, and even made rules so that our sharing circles can be successful. The rules the class came up with are: Sit in a listening position, eyes on speaker, pass the speaker power object... Read More
First Week of Second Grade!
Community Building What a wonderful beginning to second grade we’ve had! In the first week of school we began building our classroom community through playing games to learn more about each other, practicing new routines, and discussions about how to make our classroom a place where everyone can learn their best. We played “our favorites” game, where we learned each other’s favorite ice cream flavor, hobbies, and more. We played a team building game where in small groups students had an elastic band with pieces of strings attached to it. The objective of the game was to stack cups... Read More
Welcome to 2nd Grade!
Welcome to 2nd Grade! We are excited to begin this school year and are hard at work preparing to greet your special second graders on the first day of school, Tuesday, September 3rd. On the first day of school, please send your child with: A dairy or pareve morning snack (every day) A dairy or pareve lunch (every day, unless your child is signed up for school lunch) Water bottle (labeled with their name, can stay in school) Spare change of clothing in a labeled bag (stays in school till end of year) Wearing sneakers, or shoes they can comfortably run in (PE... Read More
Last Trip to Cobble Hill Health Center
Chocolate Factory In celebration for finishing our class read aloud Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl, we decided we now need to visit a real chocolate factory. Before taking our field trip to Cacao Prieto, a kosher chocolate factory in Red Hook, we learned about the actual process of making chocolate. Through a slideshow and nonfiction literature, we practiced putting the steps of making chocolate in the correct order and learned new vocabulary words like tempering, conching, and nib. Check out the slideshow we learned from here. Then, we focused on the who of chocolate making, taking time to recognize each person and... Read More