March 11: Pajamas and Purim
Humanities: In reading, the classes have been hard at work in their Autism Book Clubs. Each group has been reading a book which features a person with autism as the narrator or main character. We have learned about neurodiversity and specifically what it means to be a person with autism, focusing on how each person is an individual with unique experiences. We talked about the characteristics and challenges of the characters in the books and each group created a one-pager with traits, relationships, and a quote that best represents the character. During writing, we are researching for argumentative essays. The... Read More
January 28: New Year, New Learning
Humanities: To start the new semester, we have moved from Mesopotamia to Ancient Egypt. The students created a map of Ancient Egypt, explored the importance of the Nile, and are now making authentic recreations of boats invented by the Egyptians. We also explored a modern day issue on the Nile; the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The dam has the potential to provide electricity to 70 millions Ethiopians but could also restrict the flow of water to Sudan and Egypt who rely on the Nile for 90% of their drinking water. Ask your student to explain the conflict... Read More
December 17: Holidays and Events
Humanities We are beyond thrilled that so many of you were able to join us for our Conference on Civilizations. The 5th graders were so excited to share their hard work with you. To finish up this semester, we will learn about the other civilizations in Mesopotamia before moving into Ancient Egypt after the New Year. We will also complete our Memoir project including several writing pieces and a visual representation of who we are. Finally, we will begin some learning about neurodiversity and people with disabilities in preparation for book clubs. A few fun notes from our semester together:... Read More
November 11: Learning All Around!
Humanities: Early hominins, character identity charts, generating memories for personal narrative, the Neolithic Revolution… these are just a few of the things we’re learning about in Humanities. We are almost done reading Wonder. We have tracked character development and created identity charts for each character, citing the text to support our ideas. We talked about each characters physical traits, emotional traits, motivations, problems, response to difficulties, and how the character acts in different situations. Once we finish Wonder, we will move into book clubs. We have written poetry and an essay about the history and meaning of our names for... Read More
October 15: And We’re Off!
Judaics: In Judaics we have learned our routine of beginning class with a Mindful Minute and then singing our blessing for studying Torah. We took some time to really study the blessing that we will say each day and thinking about how our translation also showed our interpretation. I am so excited that we are diving into the Joseph stories in Chumash. We will be working on some grammar skills that will help us unlock some important details in the text. We will also think about how this story relates to our own experience in life. From the start, Genesis... Read More
September 17: The First Week of 5th Grade
Welcome to Fifth Grade! We are thrilled to have your children with us for this year! Before we share a little about what has been happening in each subject, please read the important information below: STUDENTS NEED TO BRING EACH DAY…. A fully charged Chromebook. Please find a system at home that works for your family. A few suggestions from the class were: sticky note reminders, charge the Chromebook next to or in your backpack, or set an alarm. An independent reading book An extra mask (or two) An easy snack A filled water bottle HUMANITIES: The first week... Read More
What’s Happening in 5th- Final Edition!
Humanities We did it! This year we’ve read novels, written essays, traveled through ancient civilizations, and kept up with current events. In these final weeks, the 5th graders wrote a biography about a famous woman in history, finished reading Seedfolks, and wrote themselves into the book by creating an additional chapter with their own story. In Social Studies, they created board games traveling through the duat, the Egyptian afterlife. To finish up the year, we played each other’s games and watched Wonder. I am endlessly proud of the resilience and work put in by each of the 5th graders this... Read More
What’s Happening in 5th- 5/7/21
Humanities I want to start with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Shena and Milo for taking such good care of the fifth graders in my absence! Although I was out for 13 weeks, it feels like no time has passed and we are picking up right where we left off. In ELA, we are working our way through the novel, Seedfolks. Seedfolks is about a community garden in a working-class neighborhood of Cleveland. Each chapter of the book is from the perspective of a different member of the community who shares their story and how they made their way to... Read More
What’s Happening in 5th- 3/12/21
Humanities: In fifth grade we are finishing “Wonder” this week. We have continued discussions about drawing themes from the book, and exploring how the book uses different character’s point of view to add to it’s narrative. We are looking forward to seeing what the students create for their final projects next week. We are halfway through our Argumentative Writing unit. Students have worked on their snow day issue essays to improve paragraph structure and learned to quote and paraphrase evidence from reliable sources. We will continue this unit with students writing an argumentative essay about a topic of their choice... 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