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Welcome to Second Grade!!

Wow, It feels great to be back in the classroom with the new second graders! Not too long ago, rejoining together as a learning community under one roof felt impossible. Thankfully, with the incredible commitment and tireless work from school leadership this summer, the new second graders launched into the school year with laughter and an eagerness to learn while taking care to keep each other healthy and safe. It indeed has been a great first week in second grade practicing new routines, nurturing strong community pods, and playing games to learn more about each.

 

While every school year begins with the practicing of new routines this new school year tops all that came before it. This week the second graders worked hard at learning how to keep our distance from each other (“imagine a pool noodle”, we told the children), practice good hygiene (so much purell), and take good care of our materials (individual desks and pencil boxes like the big kids!) Of course, we also worked to set the stage for an incredible year of learning in Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, Judaic Studies, and Hebrew! Below you will find a brief excerpt from our second grade teaching team of the week’s learning activities.

 

General Studies with Jacob:

 

First and foremost, Jacob would like to share his excitement in joining the Senesh community. Jacob has been a classroom teacher for ten years and has been the happiest these last four years teaching Second Grade. He received his M.A in Early Childhood and Childhood General Education at Bank Street College and is inspired by the excitement and energy that the children bring to their learning experiences each day. 

 

Jacob is thrilled to share his love of reading and writing with the pods. This week the children reflected on where, how, and when they like to read, wrote about a new skill or activity they did this summer, and created some zany monster characters with a fun activity called “Monster Dice.” Ask your child to describe the monster they created! 

Hebrew and Judaic Studies with Ariana

 

This week in Hebrew and Judaic Studies, we started learning about Rosh Hashanah.

We spoke about the fact that Rosh Hashanah is celebrated in the Hebrew month of Tishrei.

We reviewed the kolot (sounds) the shofar makes and tapped them out on our desks using different items and our hands as well.

The children reviewed the blessing that we recite when we hear the shofar.

We also started thinking about the blessings we hope for our families and ourselves for this new year.

 

In Hebrew, we started reviewing the Aleph Bet as well as writing the sounds and syllables we hear on our dry erase boards.

We are practicing how to introduce ourselves in Hebrew sharing how old we are.

For example: “Shalom ani…ani ben… ani bat….”

We are  reviewing the days of the week, the weather and the Hebrew months too.

 

Pod B celebrated Ruby’s birthday. Happy birthday Ruby!

Please note that this year, birthdays will be celebrated by Pods and they will be internal celebrations full of joy.

We look forward to celebrating all of our students’ birthdays.

 

We are having such a lovely time together.

Please feel free to email me should you have any questions regarding Hebrew and Judaic Studies throughout the year.

I look forward to a wonderful and fruitful year together!

Math and Science with Atalya and Rebecca

 

This week in Math, students explored a new math manipulative: base ten blocks. They noticed that we can use base ten blocks to count by ones, tens, and hundreds. Second graders then used these manipulatives to create “Math about Me” posters, giving us all a chance to flex our math muscles and learn more about one another. 

 

Important Information

 

Please remember to send your child to school each day with at least 2 masks, a water bottle, lunch, snack, and a light layer in case it’s cold inside. We go outside every day, so your children should wear shoes they can move in. We also would encourage families and children to have a high-interest book in the child’s backpack. While toys from home are discouraged, we will never say no to a child pouring over an awesome book during free time.

 

You can reach the entire second grade team at 2ndgradeteam2020@hannahsenesh.org . Please use this email address for dismissal updates and general information you’d like the whole team to have. Email us by noon if you have a change in your dismissal plan. If you have specific content questions, please feel free to reach us at our individual email addresses below. 

 

Jacob (ELA): jcohen@hannahsenesh.org

Atalya (Math and Science): asternoff@hannahsenesh.org

Rebecca (Math and Science): rheus@hannahsenesh.org 

Ariana (Jucaics and Hebrew) : amizrahi@hannahsenesh.org