June 15: A Farewell to Fifth

Humanities 

We ended the year by finishing Seedfolks and creating projects around the book. Every student wrote an additional chapter of the book where they created a new character and shared how that character came to the garden, what they planted, how they contributed to the community, and what struggle they faced. They also created various projects such as drawing a new cover, researching one of the countries mentioned in the book, drawing the garden, or writing a sequel chapter to one of the characters in the book.

Our final social studies project was a talk show where the guests each represented one of the three Chinese philosophies, Confucianism, Daoism, or Legalism. The students learned about the philosophies, decided which they wanted to represent, wrote the talk show script, and performed it for their classmates.

Final edits were made to the argumentative essay and the essays were shared with the rest of the class. Everyone was given compliments on their hard work!

It has been an incredible year and your children are such an amazing group of kids! I wish for everyone a restorative summer filled with good books.

Sarah

Judaics

It has been such a wonderful year getting to know your 5th graders! We ended the year with out unit about Kippot. I took the students through a journey of the first time a head covering was mentioned in the Torah and then throughout history until today. We learned about the different types of head coverings and their meanings and origins. It was so nice to hear everyone’s opinions on what the kippah means to them and what kind they feel most authentic in. We thought of the kippah’s two sides, the inside touching us, reminding us of our focus, connection and what we want to bless ourselves with. The outside, being a sign to others about who we are and what we value. They took these ideas and inspiration from the history and made beautiful personal kippahs for next year! On the inside they wrote a personal Kavanah (intention) that they can think of when putting it on in JS next year. Of course we ended the year with a MEGA trivia game of everything we learned in Judaics this year. I was tearing up seeing how much they have grown and remembered! I wish you all a wonderful summer.

Shabbat Shalom,

Laura

Hebrew

It was an incredible and unforgettable year filled with exciting learning processes. I am so glad to see my students growing as Hebrew learners during this year. We had an amazing journey learning not just the basics of the Hebrew language but also learning about famous Jewish people who influenced the world and turned it to a better place. We had interesting discussions about politicians that were involved in building the Israel state and turning it into a country we know today. We learned about many artists and poets that  played no small part in building our jewish culture and nation. During the last week of school, 5th graders taught 1st graders Hebrew. They created dictionaries of modern Hebrew words that were invented by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the founder of the Hebrew language we know today. This meeting was full of music, games and unforgettable memories for both 5th and 1st graders. Learning a new language can be very hard and intimidating but using games, songs and videos makes it easier for students to learn the language quicker. I wish all my students a summer full of memories and relaxation before going to 6th grade!

Math

What a year! I am so proud of the 5th grade, not only for their hard work all year long, but for their outstanding presentations during the Food Truck Challenge. This year, they were pushed to think outside of the box and analyze math problems like they haven’t been in the past. They all built a strong foundation that will be a base for where we start up in the 6th grade. Way to go, 5th grade! I hope that everyone has a restful and restorative summer.

STEAM

To my amazing 5th grade families,

I can’t believe our time together is over! After three years teaching your students, they are moving up to 6th grade science with Mike. As I said to the kids yesterday, this was my covid crew! I went remote with them in 3rd grade, came back to school with masks in 4th grade, and took masks off with them in 5th grade. For that they will always have a special place in my heart. These kids are resilient, make me smile and laugh, and truly are the highlight of my week. There is just something so amazing about teachers and students knowing each other so well. I will miss them (and you) all so much and am so sad to pass them on.

I hope everyone has an amazing summer!

With love,

Sammi