December 16: Winter Updates
Humanities
What a joy to share the 5th graders learning during our Conference on Civilization this week. These projects really were a culmination of a lot of hard work and skill-building. Over the past several weeks, we have learned about the Neolithic (farming) revolution and the rise of early city-states in Mesopotamia and throughout the Fertile Crescent. We learned about the challenges these early communities faced and how they managed to create a system of irrigation and farming advancements which allowed them to grow and flourish. We then looked at the seven qualifications of a civilization and each student chose one of these to study in-depth. The students used books, articles, and online resources to collect notes about their topic. They also learned how to create an outline which was then used to write a series of paragraphs with strong topic sentences to teach others about their topic.
Leading up to winter break, we finished reading Wonder and enjoyed watching the movie together. Everyone completed a written and artistic reflection of the book. Finally, we cleaned out our backpacks, desks, and accordion folders in anticipation of a fresh start after break!
Wishing everyone an enjoyable winter break and a Happy Hanukkah!
Judaic Studies
This past month in Judaics we’ve had the opportunity to really dive into the text. We studied the story of Joseph and how, being his father’s favorite, he drew jealousy and hatred from his brothers. We thought about where hatred comes from and how Jacob’s own past might have influenced his relationship with his sons. We learned how Reuven tried to save Joseph from his brothers and thought about how much impact one voice can have. The students got into a routine of translation, building a vocabulary of shorashim, prefixes and suffixes to help them with their skills. They also began to settle into their chavrutot, getting more accustomed to the partner work and building off of each others’ strengths. This chavruta work also gave students the opportunity to begin asking kushiot, textually based questions which open up the nuances of our translations and interpretations. They used these questions to create comic strips or narratives of our stories answering their own kushiot with their personal interpretations.
This week, we put our story on hold at “the pit” and shifted our gaze onto the Hanukkah miracles. We’re asking the question “what is the true miracle of Hanukkah?” as a way of embodying elu ve’elu – inviting multiple perspectives and examining the arguments for all sides. This will culminate in a friendly debate among the class before break! When we return, we’ll be following Joseph as he gets sold into slavery and consider the impact of upstanders and bystanders and own positions in our communities.
Chag Ha’urim Sameach!
Math
Time flies when you’re having fun!
Having further developed multiplication and division strategies in Topic C, students now look to answer the question: How can operating with whole numbers help me solve challenging real-world problems? As students create and solve real-world problems, they continue to build their understanding of the importance of using parentheses to clarify the meaning of and to ensure the correct interpretation of expressions. After break we will begin Module 2 where students apply their understanding of division to interpret fractions as division.
Fun At Home Activity Idea:
Birthday Word Problem: Have your child write their birthday or another important date in number form by using four digits for the year. Ask them to use the numbers in the date to create an expression that includes two different operations (+ , −, ×, or ÷) and parentheses. • For example, the date August 19, 2011, they would write an expression with the numbers 8, 19, and 2,011 such as 2,011 − (8 × 19). Then have them write a word problem that matches their expression. Finally, they can evaluate the expression and solve their word problem. Who in the family can create the expression with the largest number? The smallest number?
Happy Holidays!
Hebrew (with Tamar)
Over the past weeks we concluded our learning about the baseball player Hank Greenberg and started our new text about Touro Synagogue in Newport. We are reading from our Hebrew book to read about places and people in the Jewish world, using past tense and new adjectives. We learn to ask questions about the text and find the answers in the text. We also use the verbs to practice conversation and use them in various contexts to gain a solid understanding of its meaning. Students are now starting their individual presentations about a famous person from the Jewish world. They will use the book or other resources to create a presentation and then present it to the class.
Hebrew (with Ilana)
Across the last month, the 5th graders have done a lot in science! First, we finished designing and testing our paper planes. When we were done, we reviewed the class data to see which planes were the most successful and analyzed those planes to see what made them successful. Our conversations mainly surrounded how the planes were able to overcome drag with streamlined designs, balanced out weight, and maximized lift by catching air.
After completing our planes, the 5th grade took two weeks to review place value and rounding decimals. “Why are we doing math in science?!” many of the kids asked. “Because it’s the M in STEAM!” some of them responded. It is indeed the M in STEAM and math is absolutely important to much of the work we do analyzing data in class. When finding averages, students are now expected to round their answers to the nearest hundredth.
Finally, we are ending the month of December by experimenting with air resistance. Students are using flat, slightly crumpled, and tightly crumpled paper to explore the effects of air on the acceleration of falling options. We will continue our exploration of the properties of air when we return in January.
I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break!
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