Kindergarten Blog 1/27
Dear Kindergarten Families, It was another busy week in Kindergarten! Read all about what your children have been learning below. In Hebrew/Judaic studies, this week we are learning about the holiday of “Tu B’shevat” טו בשבט. The 15th of Shevat is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees as well as the season during which the trees begin to bloom in the Land of Israel. We learned about the parts of the tree and its fruits. We asked why the tree is important? And what does the tree give us? The children took part in... Read More
1/27/23
Writing: Writer’s Workshop: The past two weeks have been busy! We launched a new unit in Writer’s Workshop on Informational writing and creating expert books. The students started by listing topics they know a lot about such as gymnastics, cats, baseball, soccer, pets etc. Then the students chose one topic from their list and wrote an introduction to hook and interest their audience. Our next steps include adding chapters with details where they can teach and share their expertise with an audience. Stay tuned… During word work, the students learned how to use a dictionary. They practiced looking for words... Read More
January 27, 2023
HUMANITIES 7th graders are engaging with Revolutionary America, writing essays in response to the question: Was the response of the American colonists to the Stamp Act justified? They have been engaged with primary and secondary sources to develop a myriad of reasons defending their position. Asking your student where they stand and why! Meanwhile, in ELA we have started reading a collection of short stories entitled Flying Lessons and Other Stories. We have discussed story structure and the elements that are necessary for a story to be a story. Students will work their way towards writing their own short stories... Read More
January 27: A New Semester
Humanities We are well into our new units in humanities! In reading, 5th graders have been assigned and started reading book club books. Each book features a main character who has autism. In connection with our upcoming visits to the Brooklyn Autism Center (BAC- more info to come!), we learned about what it means to be a person with autism. Although we learned about some common symptoms associated with autism, our books and partnership with BAC will emphasize that everyone is a unique individual. The 5th graders have created a reading calendar for their club and will have reading and... Read More
6th Grade: Winter Updates 1/27/23
Math: In math, 6th graders have been focusing on dividing fractions and operations with decimals. They have been engaging in hands-on activities and real-world problem solving to deepen their understanding. They are currently working on a project where they will be creating apartment complexes. The models will be inspired by Architect, Moshe Safdie. Students will analyze the cost and revenue of their apartment complexes based on windows and floor level. They will present their apartments to the class next week. The next topic we will cover is: Rational Numbers. Katie Humanities January has been a busy month with full weeks... Read More
1/13/23
Happy new year! It’s been great being back with the children in the classroom. Since our return from vacation we have been learning about the Civil Rights Movement and people who were instrumental in it during this time. We have been busy reading books about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges and discussing how they were changemakers. The students have engaged in many rich conversations about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridge were instrumental key figures in the movement. They have also been learning and discussing a bit of the historical... Read More
Kindergarten Blog 1/20/23
Dear Kindergarten Families, This week, Kindergartners have been learning all about Hamsas, a special ancient symbol, and have even crafted their own! They have also baked cookies to enjoy during their Publishing Party in General Studies. In Math we continued our measurement study by exploring weight. Students first compared the weight of different items using terms such as heavier than, lighter than, and the same weight. They then weighed different objects using pin balances and Unifix cubes. They first made a prediction as to how many Unifix cubes it would take to balance different objects and then checked. We continued... Read More
First Grade News
Hello Families, In Hebrew, we learned the letter ayin and we now know all of the letters of the Hebrew aleph-bet! Our first graders are Hebrew experts! This is a very exciting accomplishment, and we look forward to celebrating as a class community next week. We read and wrote lots of words this week. The first graders started making their own Hebrew words dictionary using our word wall, word cards and dictionaries. InTefila, we learned a new prayer from the Amida called melech ohev tzedakah umishpat. We spoke about the rules we have in our classroom and in America and... Read More
3rd Blog – 1/13
Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful break! After reviewing school rules and routines, we dove right back into learning. In reading, we started a new read aloud! We’ll be reading Because of Winn Dixie and focusing on the characters in this story. We also got our book club groups, so that we can use the comprehension skills we learn during our read aloud on our independent books. Ask your child what book they’re reading. In writing we began our opinion writing unit. These kids sure do have strong opinions! At first we simply brainstormed different ideas.... Read More
First Grade News
Hello Families, In Hebrew, we learned the letters gimel and zayin. We added lots of words to our word wall like: geshem (rain), gesher (bridge), ginah (garden), gezer (carrots), garbyim (socks), gamal (camel), zayit (olive) and zebra. We also added a new action word to our chart – gar (live for a boy) and gara (live for a girl). In Tefila, we learned two new prayers from the Amidah.The first one called mevarech hashanim. We spoke about the importance of taking care of our Earth and what we can do to keep it a clean and safe place. The second one is called mikabetz nidchei amo yisrael,... Read More