Third Grade 4/19
Judaics: Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut! (Israel’s Independence Day) Students dressed in blue and white on Thursday along with the rest of the school, to celebrate Israel’s 73rd birthday. We learned this week about the concept of Aliyah, which literally means going up, and is used to describe immigration to Israel. Students considered various push and pull factors that might make someone leave the country of their birth to move to a new country. We discovered the many different countries that Jews left to move to Israel and the changing immigration patterns over the years as this related to historical events. Students... Read More
Friday, March 12 — WELCOME BACK TO IN PERSON SCHOOL!
Humanities with Hilary Dear 4th Grade Families, Wow. Today marks one year since our last day of in-person teaching for 3rd Grade …. What a year this has been! Our classroom community has been through so much, but since day 1 of Zoom teaching (March 23rd, to be exact) we have had some mega stars in our midst who adapted to and learned technology so quickly I was bragging about them to everyone I knew. Thank you all for being a great support in helping us get through this year, and please remember to keep being safe (and following protocols)... Read More
Kindergarten Blog 3/12/21
Dear Families, It’s been an exciting and artistic week in Kindergarten! In math, students decorated their own Hundreds Charts, and practiced how to use them. We also played a game about ordering numbers. Kids were each given a card with a number on it (shuffled!), and then had to rearrange themselves so that their numbers were in order! We are also learning how to tie our shoes! Students each have a paper shoe to keep at school, and are able to practice tying the laces at points throughout the day. If you would like to practice at home, remind your... Read More
Kindergarten Blog 3/5/21
Dear Families, This week, we celebrated the 100th day of school! Students celebrated by counting to 100 as a group, making necklaces with 100 beads, doing a puzzle of the number 100 filled with snap words, and more! In Judaics we went deeper into the Purim story and practiced telling it ourselves. We learned about the special mitzvot of Purim: Hear the Megillah, distribute Mishloach Manot (packages of food), donate/volunteer for Matanot L’evyonim to the less fortunate. It was so exciting to see everyone all dressed up, and we had fun listening to the big kids read from the... Read More
Kindergarten Blog 2/11/21
Dear Families, This week, students delved deeper into teen numbers. Students made observations and shared with their classmates. Some examples of their observations are: All teen numbers begin with a 1; they go in the same order as single digit numbers; 11 and 12 don’t have a “teen” in their name; Teenagers are kids whose ages are teen numbers. These kinds of observations help build confidence around bigger numbers, and help us count and add quickly! We are also practicing beading — you may have noticed students coming home with a bracelet or two! In this activity, we are building... Read More
6th Grade News: 2/12/21
Humanities: These past few weeks in 6th grade humanities have been busy with reading, researching, and writing. In ELA, we are in the midst of wrapping up our unit on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I’m so impressed with students’ insightful and mature reactions as the book nears its difficult and violent end. Throughout the unit, students have learned about the overt racism and discrimination that marked the Jim Crow era in the United States, and in the lessons following February break, we will continue learning about how that history impacts attitudes and systems today. In Social Studies, we... Read More
What’s Happening in 5th- 2/12/21
Humanities: First of all, we have been really enjoying getting to know the students. A mid-year transition to two new teachers (and one of which is located in Barcelona!) could have been difficult, but the kids have taken it in stride and welcomed us with open hearts and minds. We are really enjoying the connections we have been making, even if some are from afar and through a computer, and appreciate their warmth and flexibility. In class, we have been reading the novel “Wonder” and discussing elements of the story such as character development, themes, and point of view. Students... Read More
February 5 2021 — Walking in a Winter Wonderland …
Hebrew Heritage with Tomer The beautiful snow and being at home allowed the 4th grade Heritage students reflect and explore winter. They wrote of their different experiences such as building a snow man with their family, wrote poems the winter they can observe from their windows, and of the experience of studying from home. Judaic Studies with Phyllis The fourth graders are becoming quite the Chumash scholars! This week we began the story about when Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup. Not only did the students breeze through the new verb vocabulary, but they are now... Read More
Kindergarten Blog 2/5/21
Dear Families, We are Super Readers!! Kindergartners have been learning about and practicing the many powers they have, to help them become Super Readers. Ask your child if they can name and explain some of these powers. To celebrate the amazing progress they have all made in becoming Super Readers, on Thursday everyone was given a red cape, an eye mask, and a magic wand! What fun it was to read our books dressed as superheroes! Thank you to the many families who have contributed to the food collection for the local Community Fridges. The message on one community fridge reads:... Read More
Fourth Grade Blog 1/22
Math with Justin Our Fourth Graders are wrapping up their unit on fractions. Students have learned how about mixed numbers and improper fractions and how to convert between the two. They have learned how to add, subtract and multiply fractions with like-denominators. They have also been working on simplifying fractions and solving fraction word problems. Try some fraction fun yourself with these virtual cuisenaire rods. Students have also been solving ‘fraction splats’ like this one: If there are 7 wholes total, can you figure out what is covered by the splat? All of this fraction expertise will come in... Read More