Hello Fourth Grade Families

General Studies with Mike:

This week in math class, we began to discuss the properties of quadrilaterals. Students recognized that rectangles are special types of quadrilaterals with four right angles and opposing sides that are parallel. They also learned that a square is a special type of rectangle with four sides equal in length. As the week came to a close, we began to discuss how to find the perimeter and area of these quadrilaterals.

Students are enjoying their Civil War book club books as well as our class read aloud, “Number the Stars,” by Lois Lowry. We have begun to discuss the themes of all of these books. You can reinforce the concept of theme (a life lesson) at home by asking your children to identify the theme of a TV show, movie, or read aloud.

We’ve nearly finished our Oregon Trail simulation unit. Students have completed seventeen journal entries from the perspective of a pioneer on the trail. They have enjoyed brainstorming methods to overcome obstacles that were similar to those faced during the period of Westward Expansion. We will publish our journals next week.

We have many exciting events that we are preparing for as the school year wind down. Our Tenement Museum field trips are coming up on May 14 for the red group and May 29 for the yellow group. Next Friday, May 17, is Kesher Day, where we will perform a song for grandparents and other guests. The ERB exam will be administered on May 21 and 22, followed by the Lag b’Omer field trip to Prospect Park on May 23. On May 31, fourth graders will meet with fifth graders for an orientation of what to expect as they journey up to middle school.

Hebrew with Ilana S. and Tomer:

This week the 4th grade were busy working on writing about there own restaurant. They worked on finding name for the restaurant and writing menu. The students are very excited for our coming field trip to the Israeli restaurant. They practiced how to order their food and drinks in Hebrew. We also go to the Israeli grocery and the students will have $3 to buy there. If you give your child extra money to buy at the grocery (only up to $10) they must take home what they buy, they can’t eat it during the field trip or at school. The Red Group is going to the restaurant on Monday and the Yellow on Tuesday. We will leave the school at 11:00 and we’ll come back around 3:00.

Shabbat Shalom.

Judaics with Aliza:

This week in Judaics, fourth graders enjoyed a game of Jewish Jeopardy to review what they;ve learned over the last few weeks. We also continued learning our Chumash Parsha, specifically focusing on the back and forth trickery between Jacob and Lavan as the former desperately tries to escape the clutches of the latter with his family intact. Finally, and with Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut in mind, we learned about the Refuseniks and the “Let My People Go” movement of the Cold War. Next week, we continue Chumash and begin learning about Lag BaOmer and the Roman period of Ancient Israel.

Shabbat Shalom!