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First Grade Blog

First Grade News – Happy Summer!

Hello Families, Our 1st graders (now 2nd graders!) spent the last couple of weeks celebrating all of their hard work! We enjoyed having our Shuk “Israeli marketplace” where kids bought many types of fruits and vegetables from their friends for different amounts of shekalim. They really enjoyed making change! In Social Studies we revisited maps. We have explored a wide variety of maps and practiced how to follow cardinal directions to locate symbols and places. We also planned and created maps of our own! Then, we studied different types of communities, observed our school neighborhood, interviewed some community helpers, and discussed the...
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First Grade News

Hello Families, In writing workshop, our opinionated 1st graders have been convincing us which item in their collection is the best! They line up their collection, compare the same thing on each item (best memory, best shape, best pattern, coolest outfit, etc), pick the best item, and give us reasons why. We learned that we need to convince our readers by giving many reasons, examples, and details.  To convince effectively, we are learning to say transitional phrases and words such as “for example”, “I think that because”, “also”, and “another reason is”. At home, please point out when kids are trying...
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First Grade News

Hello Families, This week we celebrated the incredible nonfiction writing our first graders shared at their publishing party! We read to our buddies and they wrote a compliment about our book. Then we read, chit-chatted, had a toast, and a sweet treat! We are now ready to move on to opinion writing! In reading, we have been getting to know our characters better. We are noticing who characters are and what they do, say, like, and dislike. We also pay attention to the main character’s relationships with other characters.  Are they friends, siblings, neighbors,  enemies, etc? This helps us to...
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First Grade News

Hello Families, We have been continuing our reading adventures in storybooks! 1st graders have practiced revisiting (rereading) their books to notice more and understand the story better. We also reread and found pages that connect to the main trouble (problem) of the story.  We are noticing that there are many clues and little problems that lead up to the main problem in fiction. At home, please continue to practice retelling after reading and building your child’s reading stamina.  We are able to read for over 15 minutes as a whole class! First graders have been working hard to prepare for...
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First Grade News

Dear Families, This week in Math, students are practicing how to count big numbers quickly. We are using place value blocks (base ten blocks) to count by tens and add on ones. Soon, we will be adding these numbers together! Students are reporting they had a lot of fun playing our subtraction dinosaur games at home. Look out for more games next week! Our readers are going on adventures in fiction!  Before we dive into a storybook, we remember to take a sneak peek by looking over the cover, title, table of contents, blurb, and inside of the book. We...
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First Grade News

Dear Families, In the Hebrew classroom, we started to learn about Pesach (Passover)! We reviewed the story of Pesach. We spoke about the different symbols of the holiday, including the hagadah, the seder plate (kearat seder), and matzah. We learned that Pesach has 4 names: Chag Hapesach, Chag Haaviv (the spring holiday), Chag Hacherut (the holiday of freedom) and Chag Hamatzot. We are going to continue to learn more about Pesach throughout next week. We also learned how to write the letters pey, fey, chaf sofit and samech in script and continued practicing our reading and writing in Hebrew. The first graders were so excited to learn the Hatikvah – the national anthem of Israel. We spoke...
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First Grade News

Dear Families, In Hebrew, the first graders choose their favorite animal and describe them in writing – their color, where they live, what they eat and what they love to do. We also learned how to write the letters tav, kaf and chaf in script. This week in Tefilah, the first graders were so excited to learn the last prayer from the Amida – hamevarech et amo yisrael bashalom. We discussed the meaning of peace and peaceful places. In Math we are practicing our doubles facts! Students learned about how math facts can be a helpful tool when adding and subtracting bigger numbers. We...
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First Grade News

Dear Families, This week, we celebrated the 100th day of school! Thanks for your help preparing our special 100-piece snacks! Students have been counting the days of school since the very beginning of the year, using paper clips to help track our process. Usually, we group them in sets of 10, to help us count faster and learn about place value. On this special day, however, we connected all of the sets and used them to limbo! We also made 100-Crowns. These paper hats each had 10 strips of paper on them. Each strip of paper had a collection of...
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First Grade News

Dear Families, In math, we are working on comparing two-digit numbers. We met a couple of alligators this week, named Greater Than and Less Than. Students learned that math alligators are always hungry, and will always point their mouths at the bigger number! In Hebrew, we are starting to learn all about our families. We read a book about different kinds of families and later we all shared about ours. The first graders were so excited to find similarities and differences with their friend’s families. We learned how to say the Hebrew words for family members like; ach (brother), achot (sister), dod (uncle) and doda (aunt) and then we...
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