First Grade News: Week of December 4th

First graders had an awesome publishing party! They rehearsed their song and presentation all week and did a great job in their performance. The students worked so hard on their opinion writing about their favorite spot in the neighborhood and they were proud to share them!

In math, first graders continued learning about plane shapes and solid shapes. They used plane shapes to make their own designs of snowflakes. Their projects are hanging up outside of our classroom. They also learned about different patterns that we can make with shapes, sizes, and colors.

In Social Studies, we learned more about community helpers. The blue stars interviewed Eddie, our school security guard. First graders also thought about what community helper they want t be when they grow up.

First graders continued to read in small reading groups. We also read Thank You Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco and spoke about things that we are good at and things that are challenging for us. We introduced partner reading , or as we call it “elbow to elbow, knee to knee” where students share a book and read together. Students also learned a new reading strategy: try a different vowel sound. First graders are encouraged to try the long and short vowel sound to figure out a new word in their reading.

First grade scientists learned about three types of clouds: cumulus, stratus, and cirrus. They had a chance to make their own design of clouds using cotton balls.

In the Hebrew  this week, we learned the letters kaf, chaf and chaf sofit. We practiced for the Chanukah Hebrew Play and spent time learning about Chanukah! We read the story of Chanukah – all in Hebrew. We also learned how to say the symbols of the holiday in Hebrew and played a matching game. The first grader made beautiful dreidels which we used to decorate our classroom. Next week we will celebrate and continue to learn about this special holiday!

In Yahadut, we learned a new prayer from the amidah called, goel yisrael. We spoke about the land of Israel and what do we know about it and we added another page to our sidurrim.

Parashat hashavua is Vayeshev. This is when Joseph receives a special coat from his father and his brothers sell him to be a slave. We spoke a lot about the importance of telling the truth and treating people fairly. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Rebecca, Ilana, and Jeanette