Judaics with Shira

Last week we went on our first field trip since the pandemic started! It was so exciting to leave the building, take a subway together as a class, and to visit a new place that many students had never been to before. We visited the beautiful Green-Wood Cemetery, a national, historic landmark in the Sunset Park neighborhood. The visit started with a discussion with our Green-Wood educator about what students think and feel about visiting a historic cemetery. Students shared a range of opinions and emotions. Next, we boarded a trolley and caboose for a ride through the beautiful grounds. We visited the grave of the founder of modern baseball and placed a baseball by his headstone. We also climbed battle hill, visited Leanord Bernstein’s grave, and waved hello to the Statue of Liberty from the view of a statue of Minerva. Thank you so much to the 8 parents who accompanied us! More pictures and videos in the google album.

 

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Math with Justin

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Humanities with Hilary

Dear 4th Grade Families,

I cannot believe how fast this year has flown. It feels like only yesterday when we were working on our Colonial America projects, but in reality that was 7 months ago! Your students have grown immensely over the course of this academic year, seen in their writing (stamina, descriptive language, creativity … but we’re still working on remembering to capitalize our proper nouns), reading, social-emotional depth of knowledge (how they can identify acts of enabling/being a bystander vs being aggressive vs being an ally/upstander), and — of course — their excitement whenever a Social Studies class is beginning. Their intellectual curiosity brings about the most interesting conversations in room 118. It sometimes stuns the team and me with what we discuss!

Thank you so much for coming out to see your students perform a few weeks ago. They were SO proud of their songs and, on my end, excited to share their “Newspaper” Posters with you. Across the board, students chose topics that covered every topic we learned –> native nations, colonial/Revolutionary America, Westward Expansion, Industrial Revolution, and the Civil War; creating projects about important figures, battles, and movements. We hope you learned at least two new concepts at that publishing celebration.

Last week, we wrote letters to the 5th Grade team. In this letter, students were reflective on who they are and how they best learn. We talked about how I could tell all of this to their new teachers, but it will mean so much more coming from them. Shelley and I were so proud of how they wrote and what they chose to include. This week, we wrote letters to the incoming 4th Graders, to help prepare them for next year.

In Social Studies, we finally [returned and] finished learning about the Civil War, and briefly talked about the period that came after –> Reconstruction. This connected back to our mini-topic in December, with the Great Migration, since it post-Reconstruction and the development of Jim Crow Laws pushed families to migrate north and west. There was an interesting conversation about how social classes barely changed during this time, and the ways people were forced to stay in those social classes.

Here are a collection of pictures taken of the Class of 2026 throughout the month of June — ENJOY! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/1r5mdr7C29SdwHyr5)

I wish this group the BEST of luck in 5th grade, and I hope they have the most amazing summers. I cannot wait to wave at them in the hallway, and catch up about life when we all have a chance

Love from,

Hilary

 

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STEAM with Sammi

Music with Heidi

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Music with Heidi