Week of December 16

General Studies with Dawn

Colonial America has been the focus of the Social Studies for the last few weeks. Students have learned about the difficult travel from England to Jamestown and Plymouth and the challenging first year the settlers had in both places.  We have had a good time learning about some of the daily activities in the colonies such as knitting, baking (spice cookies), making and playing marbles, and making a ball and cup game.

Gratitude has been the focus of the writing program. Over the last three weeks students have been responding to prompts about gratitude in a Gratitude Journal.  Using the early essay writing skills that we have been working on in Writer’s Workshop, students chose one entry to develop more fully with an opening statement,three supporting points, and a conclusion. Students have written about being grateful for family members, friends, good health, and various abilities. “In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” (David-Steindl-Rast)

With gratitude for a job where every day is a new beginning filled with wonder and surprise.  Have a wonderful break with those you love!

Dawn

Judaic Studies with Ariana The fourth grade students have been learning about the holiday of Chanukah. We saw multiple videos describing how the heroic Macabees fought the Greeks and recovered the Temple in Jerusalem. We also practiced the blessings we recite during candle lighting. We heard about the miracle of the oil and how we eat fried foods to remember this miracle during Chanukah. Fourth grade read the story “Emanuel and the Chanukah rescue”.This is the story of a Jewish boy whose family emigrated from Portugal in the 18th century and struggled to express their Judaism . We discussed the importance of “Pirsum has nes”, the act of publicizing the miracle of Chanukah. We also started learning about the Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. How many Jews became pirates to take revenge on Spain after their Expulsion in 1492. Wishing you all a happy Chanukah!

Hebrew with Rimma and Tomer

During the past two weeks we were working on our Hebrew play , memorizing lines, performing songs, dancing, learning vocabulary, practicing pronunciation, and most importantly gaining fluency and confidence.

It enables us to express ourselves creatively and spontaneously in different ways, to share our ideas for dance movements, to add more creative lines in Hebrew and just to have fun. We learned and strengthened our connection to Israel through classic songs and educational program that every child who grew up in Israel familiar with. We enjoyed acting and singing and it was a productive and exciting way to learn Hebrew. We hope that you enjoyed it as well.Here you can see a few videos from the performance