September 14: Shana Tovah!

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

Welcome to a brand new year! We are looking forward to many fun and fascinating upcoming events in the fourth grade, including meeting our Kindergarten Buddies and having our Sukkah Sleepover. Thank you to all parents who joined us at Back to School Night. We can’t wait to see you and share our learning with you for Sukkot Breakfast on September 28!

-The Fourth Grade Team

Coming Soon: 

• Tuesday, September 18-Wednesday, September 19 – Yom Kippur, School Closed
• Monday, September 24 – Tuesday, September 25 – Sukkot, School Closed
• Thursday, September 27 – Sukkah Sleepover
• Friday, September 28 – Sukkot Parent Breakfast

General Studies with Helena:

This week we dove right into the fourth grade curriculum.  We began our math unit in understanding the multiple representations of a number (standard form, word form, and expanded form).  This led us in a mathematical discussion of place value.  In reading we focused on how we read in order to grow ideas.  As a class we practiced reading as if we were in the book using The Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamilla. We will continue to read this book over the next few weeks, working on different reading strategies to improve our comprehension.   The first unit in writing is Realistic Fiction.  Students are learning different strategies for generating ideas for their own realistic fiction stories.  For example, students might  start with a small moment about ordinary events in their own life and develop it  into a story with fictional characters.  Another strategy involves writing stories about people like ourselves with similar strengths and challenges.  Next week the students will focus on developing believable characters  by describing their internal and external traits.

Judaic Studies with Aliza and Margaret:

We’ve gotten off to a jam-packed start this year learning about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Last week, students explored the feelings and messages conveyed by symbolic foods and the sound of the Shofar with our “synesthesia art project”, on display in the classroom. We also demonstrated how our traditions (Minhagim in Hebrew) get passed down through the generations with a riveting game of “seer, runner, and builder” (make sure you ask your fourth grader about this game if they haven’t shared already!). We also reviewed the laws and traditions of the High Holidays, including Taschlich, Shofar, feasting and fasting, and each child had a chance to review the various calls of the Shofar by blowing the Shofar themselves. Please enjoy these pics from our Shofar blowing practice and “seer, runner, and builder”.

Hebrew with Ilana S:

This week the 4th grade worked on there first writing paragraph about them self and their daily schedule ; What they do in the morning, at school and after school. Also we discussed and  worked on class rules related to the school values. The students drew symbol to each rule and sign on the rules poster. We also started to learn a new song for the beginning of the year – Bashana Habah (The coming year). Here is the link to that song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYYo00JbCks