Judaics with Shira:

100 Years of the Bat Mitzvah

This week students learned about the history of the Bat Mitzvah in America. We heard directly  from a Senesh 7th grader who was featured in this NPR segment. Students were assigned to listen to a podcast about a girl who is blind preparing for her bat mitzvah for homework. If they did not get a chance to do the assignment last night, please make sure they listen this weekend.

Humanities with Hilary

**reminder — please bring in a shoe box by Thursday, March 31 **

** reminder 2 — Monday is going to be ccoollddddd. Please make sure your child has everything they need to be outside in 30 degree Fahrenheit weather **

Dear 4th Grade Families,

What a whirlwind of two weeks we have had! Spirit last week was such a blast, and we loved seeing how the 4th Grade represented the grade! Here is a link to the photos from that week: Spirit Week Photos (https://photos.app.goo.gl/zpCtwxxoXjEcLnyT8). We also got to spend time with our buddies on Purim! Here is a link with some of those photos: K/4th G Purim Activity (https://photos.app.goo.gl/v9sF3xPJ2H1zzMQu6)

In Social Studies, last week we finished our “New Government” unit, and this week began learning about different aspects of Westward Expansion. In our New Government unit, we learned about all 10 Amendments in the Bill of Rights and what each means for Americans. This ties in with our current mini-writing unit. This week, we started learning about Westward Expansion. First, we broke down the words and hypothesized what it could mean. Then we learned about the Louisiana Purchase — you should ask your student how much President Jefferson was willing to pay for New Orleans (from the French) compared to what he paid for the entirety of the Louisiana Territory. We then delved a bit into the exploration of the Corps of Discovery, a group of male explorers looking westward. This is otherwise known as the group led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. It included York (a black man who was enslaved to Clark), Sacagawea (a Shoshone native who helped Clark and Lewis as a translator and navigator), and Toussaint Charbonneau (a fur trader who owned Sacagawea and was her husband). We ended our week of learning by investigating “The Trail of Tears,” learning more about: the Native nations that lived across the United States; the Indian Removal Act of 1830; President Jackson’s ruling against the Supreme Court; population numbers vs square miles of land. This is just one of the maps we analyzed:

In writing, we integrated it with Social Studies by giving students an opportunity to research an amendment from the Bill of Rights. From there, each student picked their favorite of those ten amendments — or the one they think is most important — to write about. They are in the process of writing an opinion-information text, persuading the reader that their amendment is the most important. They are making sure to describe the amendment they choose, clearly state their reason, and have a powerful example for WHY. We are even thinking about what we could do to change the amendment to make it even stronger or more equitable. Here are some hooks students came up with, as how we could start our introduction:

Shabbat shalom,

Hilary

ps — On Monday, April 11, we are having a day to celebrate getting 100 reward boxes! It will be a pajama day, so your students can come in comfy cozy clothing 🥰

Music with Heidi

In Music class, Fourth Graders began their study of songwriting and powerful songs by learning the history of The Blues. Students listened to W.C. Handy, Ma Rainey, B.B. King and other famous blues players. They learned that modern pop music stemmed from the blues. And each class began to write their own Blues song. Next week, they will continue to write their song, and interested students will learn to play a 12 bar blues chord progression on xylophones.

Science with Sammi

This week, the 4th grade scientists began working on our final experiment in this Scientific Method review unit- the paper towel experiment. We are testing 4 different paper towel brands– Bounty, Viva, Caboo, and the school paper towels– to see what brand is the most absorbent. There were many hypotheses that stated Bounty would be the most absorbent. After all, it is the quicker picker upper! Today though, Viva shocked many students as its results showed superior absorbancy. At home, ask your students to describe the steps they are taking to complete this experiment. You can also ask them what it means to read the meniscus on the graduated cylinder!