Class of 2018 (5th grade) - Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island

Torah as Metaphor

February 1, 2016 by rmills

Torah is light. . . Torah is bees busy making honey. . . Torah is a tree. . .Torah is commands. . . Torah is life . . . Torah is a gift . . .

These are some of the beautiful metaphors our third graders created to share at their yearly milestone event, their Chumash Ceremony. This is an exciting occasion during which we celebrate the formal beginning of Torah study from the Hebrew Text. The third graders have learned Torah stories in their previous years at JCDSRI. Now they are ready to build upon this strong foundation of Torah knowledge. They are prepared to utilize their Hebrew language skills to delve deeply into deciphering the Hebrew Text. As a community, we celebrate this achievement as we wish them continued success in their lifelong study of Torah!

Lizards, and Snakes, and Turtles, Oh My!

February 4, 2016January 26, 2016 by Kareesh Bour

This past Friday, we had a special visit from Bwana Iguana, thanks to the generosity of Alan Shawn Feinstein. It was an exciting and educational experience for our class. We had a lot of fun seeing, holding, and petting many different reptiles. The class favorite was the blue tongue skink who could dance when we sang, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Of course, a few students were selected to show the lizard how to dance properly. We also learned a lot. I myself never knew the king snake was called that because he eats other snakes, such as rattlesnakes. Another new fact we learned was that the box turtle is one of the only turtles to completely close itself into its shell, like a box. Hence the name, box turtle! Thank you, Alan Shawn Feinstein, for a wonderful hands-on learning experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Special Guest: Yoga Instructor

November 5, 2015 by Kareesh Bour

A couple of weeks ago, the third and second grade had the privilege of having a yoga instructor, Nikolai Blinow, come teach them some breathing techniques and partner yoga poses. She is the creator of OMpowerment yoga, which is dedicated to empower students mentally, physically, and emotionally.

First, we started with “bear breaths” or big, deep breaths to calm us down. After the class, many of the third graders remarked that this exercise helped them to calm their overactive bodies. Another said that she felt just like she was a bear preparing to hibernate!

Then the third grade partnered with second graders to do some challenging partner poses, like tree pose and child’s pose. The third graders were excellent big buddies and helped the younger students hold these poses with one leg or even with both feet in the air! After our yoga session, third graders drew body maps to illustrate how the yoga made us feel. Most wrote about how it made them happy, energized, peaceful or tired. They used symbols and/or colors to represent these feelings. Now we do yoga poses in the classroom when we need a wiggle break, to focus, or to calm down. We look forward to showing our yoga moves to our PreK buddies soon!

Design Lab: Constraints Drive Creativity

October 1, 2015 by Naomi Stein

In Design Lab, we know what it’s like to be creative. We also know that constraints drive creativity. This means that when we have a limited amount of resources and time, we have to be extra creative in utilizing what we have. Additionally, the mantra “fail fast, forward” drives us to learn from what may not have been so successful, and to move onto bigger and better things.

Today in Design Lab grades 3-5 worked together in small groups to make towers out of newspaper. While they were able to use a very small amount of tape, newspaper was the primary material that students could use. By working together, students were able to brainstorm and implement their ideas cooperatively. You might be surprised to learn that they were able to make some amazing, creative, and innovative free standing structures out of the otherwise very flimsy material. “All the tape in the world” may have created more successful structures… but look what we made!

How to Get Your Kids to Eat Veggies!

September 30, 2015 by Kareesh Bour

As a mother and a teacher, I have always tried to get my students and my own son to eat healthful foods. At my own house this summer, I realized my son would eat anything I grew in my garden! The same thing happened this year at school. Second, third, and fourth graders have been busy harvesting many different vegetables from our school garden. Each grade then made something yummy to eat from the garden. Second grade enjoyed getting their hands dirty, then making and eating kale chips. Fourth grade harvested peppers, wax beans, tomatoes, and kale to make a salad bar. Third grade had the privilege of working on many different garden beds one whole Friday afternoon, helping the youngest students’ gardens which needed a lot of weeding. Then they were able to enjoy kale chips and kale smoothies! All the grades enjoyed cooking and eating their vegetables. Most remarked how fresh vegetables from the garden were tastier than from a grocery store, and more fun!

First Week of Gardening

September 30, 2015September 11, 2015 by Kareesh Bour

Yes, it is one of the hottest days of the year. Yes, air conditioning is our best friend. But the students are begging to do gardening. Today was our first day in the garden. Due to the weather, we only were able to go out for 10 minutes at the most. Those ten minutes were amazing, though! The students in second and fourth grades went right to work in the early morning, weeding and watering. We identified edible plants, found baby peppers growing, noticed some spiders, and ate some new vegetables. The wax beans were a hit! The fourth graders were eager and excited to try the new vegetable. Everyone who tried it enjoyed it and wanted to eat more. The fourth graders brainstormed ideas for the garden this year, like utilizing every space in the garden for more plants. It has inspired me to research hanging gardens for the fence. Lastly, first grade learned about gardens from a picture book featuring the famous Winnie the Pooh and his friend Rabbit. They learned that gardening takes patience and hard work. Gardening is obviously a special activity that the students love, and I am proud and excited to lead them in their gardening adventures this year.

Summer Reading Lists for Students Entering Grades 1-5. K.White, librarian

June 15, 2015June 13, 2015 by Naomi Stein

THE JCDSRI SUMMER READING PROGRAM Link to all Reading Lists:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs182/1101781664576/archive/1121355100244.html

Dear JCDS Families,

Welcome to our summer celebration of books, the JCDSRI Summer Reading Program! The intent of our summer reading program is to promote reading skills. Research studies have demonstrated that students who participate in a summer reading program are more likely to read at their grade level or above than nonparticipating students and those reading above grade level are more likely to retain those skills into the next school year. (Evaluation and Training Institute). While an increase in reading promotes reading abilities and other skills, we want our students to experience the joys that reading brings through marvelous characters and adventures. Books introduce us to friends we will have for life. Reading is FUN!

We are asking students to read at least five books from our booklists. Hopefully, they will read many books.

Each student entering grades 1-5 receives a summer reading program folder containing a JCDSRI summer booklist of various levels and interests complied by Karolyn White, librarian.

The lists are sent to the following public libraries: Rochambeau, Cranston, East Providence, East Greenwich, Johnston, Lincoln, Pawtucket and the following bookstores: Books on the Square and Barnes and Noble in Warwick.

For 22 years, the summer reading program has been coordinated by Karolyn White, librarian. kwhite@jcdsri.com

We wish you a happy, healthy summer and wonderful reading adventures!

Farewell from Mrs. White, librarian

June 15, 2015June 13, 2015 by Naomi Stein

Dear Friends,

After twenty-two years as the JCDSRI librarian, I am retiring at the end of the school year. I have loved working with our students and enjoy keeping in touch with many alumni. I have been delighted to be the school librarian, where I can play with puppets, read fairy tales and sing pirate songs. Now, how good is that?

For twenty-two years, I have loved creating book fairs that have promoted reading and fostered wonderful memories for our students. Although running book fairs for twenty-two years was quite a job, I did it because the students loved it so much. The youngsters enjoy dressing in PJs and going to Clifford Family Nights to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog. This activity became a beloved event. Many students dreamed of “being Clifford” and were thrilled if they were selected. Recently, I met an alum who asked about the book fair dates and who would be Clifford at next year’s fair. Alumni enjoy sharing happy memories of the fairs. Over the years, we have sold thousands of dollars of merchandise at the fairs, which enabled us to get thousands of books, many supplies, classroom rugs, school furniture and more. I am delighted that the Scholastic book fairs have never cost the school any money. Thank you for your long time support of our book fairs!

Twenty-two years ago, I automated the school library-not an easy task. For twenty-two years, I have created summer reading programs. I certainly appreciate the positive comments my summer reading programs have received from school librarians throughout the country. For many years, I conducted public preschool story times, which I greatly enjoyed.

Thank you for all my wonderful memories. I will dearly miss everyone!

Sincerely,

Karolyn White

Author’s Tea and Last Few Weeks of School

June 10, 2015 by Naomi Stein

We had an amazing last couple weeks of school. We were working tirelessly to prepare for our Author’s Tea by practicing reader’s theater, putting the finishing touches on our non-fiction books, and re-reading our books from earlier in the year. Students were amazed to see their growth by reading all of their books from the beginning of the year. Thank you so much to Ceceley for organizing the breakfast, to other parents for helping out by bringing stuff in, and to all of you for spending your time with us Tuesday morning. It made me so happy to see your children so proud of their hard work this year. Kol Ha Kavod!

We also had the chance to do some harvesting from our garden. The second graders had a special request that we make kale chips. Boy did they turn out delicious. The amount of kale you see below was gone in a matter of minutes into the healthy bellies of our students. If you are interested in making these at home, it’s super simple. Just pick or buy some kale, take off the leafy parts and rip them into 2 inch pieces. Put them in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and any spices you like, then bake in 1 thin layer at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes (or until they are crispy).

During our last week in Design Lab, student got to preview “Snap Circuits” and “Little Bits” which gave them just a taste of what they will be learning in JCDS science and Design Lab in years to come.

Finally, we have been chugging ahead with learning a few useful math concepts. First off, we learned how to tell time, and we also learned a few different ways to say the time. We learned how to say “10 minutes after 1” or “5 past 3”. Please help keep this information remain fresh by asking your child to help you with the time both on a digital clock and an analog clock.

We are also learning how to graph information using picture graphs and tally charts. Students came up with their own surveys, asked around for answers, then condensed their information into picture graphs. We learned some interesting information about our classmates and our schoolmates.

Camp Week moves full speed ahead. Stay tuned for a final post that will talk about camp week and summer practice.

Have a great last week of school!

Butterflies, Field Trip and Reader’s Theater

May 21, 2015May 19, 2015 by Naomi Stein

We have had a busy, exciting couple of weeks in second grade and we are not slowing down until the last day of school. We have been spending a lot of time learning about animal life cycles, through observing our classroom butterflies and also through studying individual animals. Students are currently working on an animal research project which they will showcase at the Author’s Tea. Second graders are learning how to research using books and the internet and they practiced being observational scientists by observing their animal at the zoo. Check out the pics from our awesome field trip!

(Our live butterflies!)

In addition, students are developing a deeper understanding of the life cycle of the butterfly through practicing a reader’s theater about it. They cannot wait to share this reader’s theater with you at the Author’s Tea!

In math, we have been learning about fractions. Specifically we are learning how to identify, compare, and add fractions. Stay tuned for the students’ fraction monsters, coming in May 2015 to the second grade hallway.