5th Grade Week of 12/14
Advisory: This week and last week in advisory we used the famous Jewish text from the Mishnah, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me and if I am only for myself what am I. And if not now, when?” Last week we talked about self care and what we do to be responsible for ourselves. Students spoke about getting enough sleep, eating well and finding activities that are fun and relaxing. We also spoke about setting ourselves up for success. The next week we focused on the next line and talked about friendships. We used improv... Read More
Hello Kindergarten Families
Hello Families, Kindergartners have had a busy couple of weeks! We have been working hard to get ready for our very first publishing party. We have learned how to choose a story to publish, read to revise, edit, create a cover picture and title, and share our stories with others (we even got to practice with some 4th graders!). All while we have been writing, writing, writing! In reading, we have been exploring story elements through a wide variety of stories. We have been discussing different types of characters and settings, and how to recognize a problem and solution. Feel... Read More
December 14 — Science In 2018
Science with Julie For the opening weeks of 3rd grade science, students focused on creating individual scientific notebooks and doing a variety of introductory activities before delving into our first topic, Rocks and Minerals. We discussed what it means to be a scientist, and heard firsthand from a number of different scientists about what they do from Scientists @ the Smithsonian online. Students were given science partners, and learned the steps of the Scientific Method through games and song. They put the method into practice by conducting a few “awesome” experiments involving for instance, milk and food coloring, We... Read More
First Grade News
We loved seeing all of you at the Publishing Party! First graders were so proud to show off all of their hard work. As you saw, we’ve been working on revising and editing our work to make it the best it can be. Over the past two weeks, we’ve been interviewing many different community helpers. First graders have asked thoughtful questions, used their listening power to remember important information, and made beautiful posters. In Math, we’re working on addition with numbers 0 – 20. We’ve learned several different strategies such as “make ten,” “use a number line,” and... Read More
December 14 — Exploring the National Museum of the American Indian
General Studies with Hilary Dear 3rd grade families, How amazing were our students in the Chanukah Play? A round of applause to the students for their spectacular performance, as well as to Ilana for directing and managing the whole play! This week marked our FIRST field trip of the year! With the support of four parents, Tomer and I accompanied the class north to the Battery Park area to explore native history and some background information for our future New Amsterdam study. When first arriving at Whitehall (the term the British gave to New Amsterdam’s Director General Peter Stuyvesant’s house),... Read More
6th Grade Math
Last week, students explored ratios, and saw its relationship to fractions. This was made more obvious as they learned that ratios could be equivalent, and therefore, simplified. With this knowledge, students spent the better part of the week practicing some difficult word problems that did not involve algebra. Very different from the way I learned to solve these, the use of visuals, particularly bar graphs, were extremely helpful, and could be applied to a variety of problems. This week, sixth grade math moved onto rate, and how it is used in the real world, such as in unit rates and... Read More
Math Apps and Social Action Trip
Celeberating Chanukkah Second graders lit Chanukkah candles every day last week. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we lit with the whole school in the gym. Our chazanim, Ben and Rephael, were so excited to represent our class in lighting with their buddies for the whole school on Wednesday. On Thursday we lit with our buddies in our classroom. After lighting candles with our buddies, we watched a video of our sixth grade buddies from when they were in second grade and were in the Chanukkah play. We then, we split into smaller groups to play dreidel. It was so nice... Read More
December 14: Weeks 14 and 15
Math The 7th grade is still busy working on algebraic expressions. They are learning about applications of the Distributive Law and other algebraic manipulations. After the break they will move onto algebraic equations, where they will be learning about solving linear equations in one variable and creating linear equations as well. See you in 2019! Humanities Wow! An amazing couple of weeks. We accomplished a lot: our first formal literary analysis essay, our second independent reading assignment, a visit to Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School for our Social Action Project, our Julius Caesar Open Mic…a long list! Today, we finish... Read More
6th Grade News: 12/3 – 12/14/18
ADVISORY This week in advisory, students focused on team-building skills. They participated in several fun group challenges (ask your child about the marshmallow tower challenge!), and analyzed the qualities that make a successful team. We also celebrated Hanukkah with our 2nd grade buddies! Here are some photos from our activities: HUMANITIES: These past few weeks, 6th graders have been working hard to prepare for the Heroes Convention next Thursday. They finished up their independent reading projects about biographies, wrapped up their own digital hero stories, and thought about the heroes in their personal lives. Students also read... Read More
Hello Fourth Grade Families
General Studies with Mike: Congratulations to all fourth graders on a fantastic Hanukkah play! We are wrapping up our math unit on whole number multiplication and division. Students have learned the algorithm for two-digit by two-digit multiplication as well as the algorithm for long division. The algorithms we’re using in class are likely the same ones parents learned in school. Looking for a fun family activity this weekend? Ask your child to take on the role of teacher and show you how to solve a long division problem. This will help them prepare for next week’s unit assessment. We completed... Read More