First Grade News

Dear Families,

In Hebrew we learned the letters pey, fey and fey sofit (final fey). We added more words to our word wall like: pilpel (pepper), parpar (butterfly), para (cow), perach(flower) and pil (elephant). We also started learning about Tu Bishvat (the birthday of the trees) and spent time learning Hebrew words related to the holiday. The first graders made beautiful trees and we are looking forward to learning more about Tu Bishvat next week!

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, which is about community. We spoke about why it is so important to be part of a community.

In Parasha we learned about Parashat Bo, which is when Pharaoh tells the Israelites to leave Egypt and they pack up quickly and go. We spoke about why we thought that God chose to help the Israelites and what was so special about that time and Moses. We also watched some parts from the movie “The Prince of Egypt”.

In Writing Workshop, we have launched into our nonfiction writing unit!  First graders have decided what they are experts on and written books to teach their readers information about topics such as birds, plants, expectations, rock climbing, homes, video games, and gymnastics. We learned how to plan an information book and how to think about our readers (audience) and what they would want to know.

In Social Studies we have started to explore the work of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. We have discussed how he worked to help change laws and make them fair for all groups of people. We have read “Martin’s Big Words”, “We March”, “A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr” and “I am Martin Luther King Jr.”. Next week we will start writing our class book about MLK.

In art, we learned about biodiversity by looking at variety within each type of tree and plant that we honor for Tu Bishvat. After sharing our observations as a group by noting similarities and differences among different kinds of fig, pomegranate, olive and date trees, and among different types of wheat, barley and grapevines, we picked one plant to draw in detail.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ilana, Liz, and Talia