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12 Mar 2021
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Friday, March 12 — WELCOME BACK TO IN PERSON SCHOOL!

Humanities with Hilary

Dear 4th Grade Families,

Wow. Today marks one year since our last day of in-person teaching for 3rd Grade …. What a year this has been! Our classroom community has been through so much, but since day 1 of Zoom teaching (March 23rd, to be exact) we have had some mega stars in our midst who adapted to and learned technology so quickly I was bragging about them to everyone I knew. Thank you all for being a great support in helping us get through this year, and please remember to keep being safe (and following protocols) to ensure that our grade can stay in person the rest of the year! 😎

During our remote learning time, these two weeks, we finished a few things:

  • our persuasive writing unit, writing letters to our administration with the thesis statement of “We need our snow days back because …”
    • some students have a FEW things to sweep up, and then will be totally finished 😉
  • our “American Revolutionary War” unit
    • both for Social Studies AND Book Club
  • our “New Government” unit
    • have you heard your child singing The Preamble around the house? We learned the Schoolhouse Rock version 🤩

Next week, we will start learning about the first part of Westward Expansion, reflecting on what that meant for the people who already lived out west.

Below are some pictures taken today, as we celebrated our Summer-Wear Dress Up Day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judaics Studies with Phyllis

We are all so proud of this resilient group of fourth graders for their flexibility and perseverance throughout all of the uncertainty!  They have shared beautiful reflections this week in tefila about living through a year of a pandemic.  We shared thoughts of praise and gratitude for all that has held us up through this challenging time.  While they may not tell you often enough, the children are so thankful to all of you for providing stability and safety during this past year.
In preparation for Purim, the fourth graders focused on the real Purim megillah.  Collectively we read the entire megillah (in English – we’re not THAT good) looking for Nahafochu – or reversals of fortune.  We specifically made observations about what happened to the men in power (Achashverosh and Haman), the Jewish community (Esther and Mordeccai) and women/servants, and noticed how the events mirror each other with a turning (or Nahafochu) point between Chapters 5 and 6.  Ask your children how long  King Achashverosh’s party was!  For the last week or so the students’ have been sharpening their Chumash skills.  We started the story of how Rebecca and Jacob trick Isaac into giving his blessing to Jacob.  The students are becoming quicker at recognizing verbs, identifying shoreshim (roots) and writing translations. I am excited to get deeper into this story after Passover.  Finally, we spent some time on Thursday learning about Brooklyn Community Services, the organization where we will be donating the proceeds from the Purim-Pesach Penny Drive.  Please help your child remember to bring in donations AND fill in your Fourth Grade Family Recipes and Traditions by Monday, March 15.  Shabbat shalom!

Music with Heidi

Each week in Fourth Grade Music, a student presents a song that they find powerful. They share why they think its message, lyrics, structure, instrumentation, timing in history and/or performance are powerful. We then examine other powerful songs, and we have lively class discussions about why a particular song and/or singer/songwriter may be considered powerful.

 

Science with Sammi

To finish up the scientific method unit, the 4th graders took a deeper dive into variables. While we had spoke a lot about consistency when experimenting, this was their first chance to purposefully and independently design an experiment with one variable changing at a time.

This week, we began our new mini unit- Viruses and Vaccines. The fourth graders have so many amazing questions about Covid and the Covid vaccine. I hope to answer as much as I can over the next few classes! An email will come out soon to keep you updated on what we are learning so you can continue the discussions at home with your student.

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