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Class of 2020 (4th grade)

Boating in First Grade

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FullSizeRender (1)What makes a boat float? First graders learned that the amount of weight a boat can hold is dependent on the shape of its bottom. They created boats out of tin foil, cardboard, duct tape and some other interesting materials. They are really good at utilizing the materials in the design lab!

Many people created flat-bottom boats and some created V-bottom boats. For example, Gev created a flat-bottom boat out of a cylinder and lots of duct tape. The next step was to add some weight to the boat, so we added pennies! One by one, we counted each penny that was put into the boat together. Can you guess how much money Gev’s boat held?

 

It held $1.02!

Taking our learning outside of the classroom

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Spring has finally arrived in Providence and first grade is taking full advantage of our wonderful neighborhood. This week students learned about how we use earth materials such as rocks and water to build roads. The previous day in Science, we went outside to scour the playground for the different ways rocks are used to build a playground. Students discovered that cobbles (rocks as large as your fist), pebbles, gravel and sand are used everywhere including the sidewalk and street. We concluded this chapter by taking a short walk up the street to watch as construction workers poured blacktop and smoothed it down with a paver. How lucky was it to have our streets refreshed at the same time we are learning about paving roads!

YH and asphalt

We commemorated Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence day) with a whole school celebration which included a gigantic interactive map of Israel. The whole school played Israeli playground games, answered trivia questions based on facts about Israel, and iced an enormous cake depicting a map of Israel. Who knew that Mt. Hermon could look so delicious made out of marshmallows?

On Friday Hadas’s Abba (father) Shai, a marine biologist, shared incredible photos of his underwater research off the coasts of Australia and Malawi. Students looked at photos showing live and dead coral reefs, as well as several photos of sharks and other remarkable creatures of the sea. The enormous black duffle bag mystery (which was delivered early in the morning) was solved when Shai pulled out his well worn scuba gear to show the kids.

What an amazing week this has been!

Songs for Zimriyah 2016!

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Here is a playlist of the songs for Zimriyah this year in case students and families want to practice at home!

 

All School: Shiru Shir, Shir Hachodashim, Rabbi Akiva, Nerot Shel Ahava, Mishe, Echad Mi Yode’a, Yom Huledet

Grades Pre-K, K, 1, 2: Basukkah shelanu, Shana Tova, Hashkediya Porachat, Letsan Katan

Grades 3,4,5:  Bashana haba-a, Sukkat Shalom, Ki Tavou,

Alumni song: Yesh Li Chag

Passover in First Grade!

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An important part of our Passover curriculum is to focus on the Hagaddah, which is the prayer book we use at the festive meal called a Seder. At JCDSRI, starting in Kindergarten, our students each create their own pages of the Hagaddah. Each year they add new pages which represent their learning as they progress to 5th grade. The students worked very hard and were very excited to take their Hagaddah home to show to their parents. When reminded that they need to return them upon their return from Passover break, they are often dismayed that they can’t keep them.

“Why can’t we keep them?”

“Each year you will learn new things about Passover and add new pages to your Hagaddah. When you graduate in 5th grade, you will take it home.”

“I can’t wait to be a 5th grader!”

(The above photo is a group of First and Fifth grade buddies enjoying each other’s company before the break.)

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Here are two of our proud students, each holding their representations of one of the Four Children: The Wicked child, The Wise child, The Simple child and The Child Who Doesn’t Know How To Ask. Students have been introduced to the idea that perhaps, we all have a bit of each of the four children in each of us.

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IMG_1657Passover is also a perfect excuse to initiate a spring cleaning of the classroom. Students had a wonderful time scrubbing down our tables, organizing our supplies and library. The air was sweet with their efforts as they left for break, each clutching their special Hagaddah and bulging bags of collected detritus from their cubbies.

I can’t wait to see them all after break to hear all about their Seders and to observe how much each one has grown in just ten days!

 

The Three Little… Prototypes

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We’ve all heard the story The Three Little Pigs, but have you read The Three Little Javelinas? In PreK, kindergarten and first grade, we read The Three Little JavelinaIMG_6880s by Susan Lowell and talked about how the two stories are similar in some ways and different in others. In both stories the first house gets blown down very easily. The second house is a bit stronger, but not by much. The third house, however, won’t budge! In the design lab, we recreated the three houses that appear in both of the stories.

We explored different materials in the design lab and created our own houses that represent the three houses in the stories. Many of uIMG_6893 (1)s noticed that by utilizing the Design Thinking tactic of rapid prototyping, we could create better, stronger structures. Rapid prototyping is used by both adults who use design thinking concepts in the workplace and children at JCDSRI! It means that we build things quickly in order to learn from our mistakes and to move onto the iteration and improvement stage of the process.

Next, we tested our structures by blowing a hair dryer on them. Of course, children gave fair warning by yelling, “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down!” Finally, we decided what types of characters (or objects) might be in our own ThreIMG_6919 (1)e Little somethings stories!

In PreK, we decided that we all wanted our story to be The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Crocodile. One of our Lego structures had some interesting safety features, including a trap station to catch the crocodile and a lookout tower.

Kindergarteners decided that they wanted to create their own story titles. In the end, however, we noticed that we liked the titles of our friends. Eden, Millie, Ben, Eshel, and Meital created a story titled The Three Little Socks and the Shoe. Nathan, Bentzi, and Zemer titled their story The Three Little Scooby Doos and the Monster. Malcolm, and Aeden decided on The Three Little Monkeys.

First graders were proud to create their own individual story titles:

Naftali… The Three Little Ships and the Big Bad Star Destroyer
Maya… The 100 Little Army Ants and the Tilting Earth
Simon… The Three Little Snakes and the Lion
Elie… The Three Little Basketball Players and the Big Bad Basketball
Jude… The Three Little Leaves and the Grasshopper
Hannah… The Three Little Dwarves and the Giant
Moshe… The Three Little Squares and the Big Bad Triangle
Ella… The Three Cupcakes and the Cake
Maor… The Three Little Snakes and the Big Bird
Ayden… The Three Little Critters and the Big Bad Critter
Hadas… The Three Little Bunnies and the Cat

A STEAMy week in First Grade

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What a sensational week we had in First grade last week!

Gravity and Sir Isaac Newton’s 3 laws of motion were the theme of our jam-packed week.

The highlight of the week was a special visit from my dear friend Janna Kaplan. She presented a IMG_7437marvelous lesson based on her determination to be an astronaut even though she was female and a Russian Jewish Refusenick. Her life story is fascinating and the work she does as the head of the Zero Gravity Laboratory at Brandeis is inspirational. She was very impressed with our students and asked me to post this:

The kids were beyond amazing. I’m not just saying it because they were cute (they are!). The level of their knowledge and understanding of spaceflight was definitely above grade level! The discussions we had during my presentation, the quality of their questions, and just the avalanche of questions they “pelleted” me with, were all unmistakable signs of that. So were their genuine interest in spaceflight and their ability to sustain attention during a fairly long event (I think it lasted more than one hour!). At the end of the lecture, I want you to know how deeply impressed I was. As a parent myself of (now adult) Jewish day school kids, I know how important it is for parents to know that their kids are actively interested in topics of science and exploration. It is from those curious children that we get our best scientists.

 CheIMG_7408ck out some of the amazing photos from last week, when we also celebrated 100 days of school and tested out the 3 laws of motion by attempting to make marble runs from plastic tubing and marbles…..

 

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We celebrated 100 days of School last week with an assortment of hands-on activities!

 

We made 100 bead necklaces…

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and found out what does 100 drops of water looks like…


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and the number 100 popped up in a note about kindness!

 

 

 

 

 

Our STEAM RISD/Brown Liaison, Anthony gave a fantastic workshop about animals adaptations that amplified oIMG_7440ne of the senses.

IMG_7441Above is a STEAM-inspired Lego creation.

 

 

Building Up

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At the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island, the designers are small in size, but they can still build tall. Lately, it seems that our ceilings are too low because… well, our structures are reaching too high!

Our prototypes aren’t the only things being built up. Our confidence, cooperation, collaboration, empathy, optimism, and experimental mindsets are also growing, built upon a solid foundation of joy and excitement.

Children in kindergarten and first grade met a new friend named Harry. Harry wants to have the best view of the design lab, but there’s one problem… he is afraid of heights! We are working on empathizing with Harry and helping to create the perfect perch for him. We discussed how HIMG_6501arry probably feels scared, sad, and uncomfortable when he is in a bad spot.

With a bag full of simple and recycled materials, we created the perfect perch for Harry. We made sure that the perch was stable, not too high up, and comfortable.

In second grade, students heard the story, Jack and the Beanstalk. We wondered, “how might we build a beanstalk as high as possible, using only straws, wooden skewers, and tape?” The main focus of this particular lesson is that constraints drive creativity. This means that with limited resources, we must be extremely creative!

When class is over and it’s time to go to recess, children often ask, “Can we stay in and keep building?”

Erasure Poetry in First Grade!

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We are so fortunate to have a amazing group of creative and knowledgable parents at JCDS.   Throughout the year, we encourage our parents to come in to teach our students about something they are an expert about. Two weeks ago Joanna came for a visit and the results were magical.

Joanna is our guest blogger this week!

Two Fridays ago, the first graders displayed their impressive talents in creating poetry and art. We started by listening to poems, including “Be Glad Your Nose is On Your Face.” Then we tried out a technique called “erasure,” covering up some of the words and drawing pictures over the page to create new texts and images. The first graders applied their drawing and reading skills to this task. Some circled words they knew or created patterns with words. Many drew pictures and designs. We did the drawing and writing on transparencies over the page so they could be lifted up to see the original beneath. See some of the results below!

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Gobble Gobble – Thanksgiving in 1st grade!

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Thanksgiving

Students enjoyed thinking and writing their own endings for The Great Turkey Race by Steve Metzger.  

“Nice job!” “That was great!” were just a couple of the First Grader compliments showing Kavod (respect) for the actors after the performance.

The cherry on the top of this fabulous week was the skits about the Wampanoag villages and Plymouth Plantation that our students performed for each other. This was our first attempt to create a Flat Stanley-inspired world where the characters are all flat and reinforced with paper clips. The characters are moved around using magnets hidden underneath  the stage. Soon we will be creating a city using this same technique. Students will think about what makes a city successful and who lives in a city. We will invite Flat Stanley and Flat Stella to enjoy a city created just for them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The Blessing of a Scratchy Voice

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Thursday morning is my favorite time of the week.  It is always such a pleasure to see my former first grade students join us for T’fillot.

Last week was especially wonderful. Unfortunately, the curse of a teacher is the occasional loss of her voice. Students confidently took on the responsibility of leading the prayers without any help from their scratchy-voiced teacher. I was kvelling!

With extra time remaining for the period, I shared that my daughter will finish her service in the Israeli Army. The 2nd grade often asks about my daughter since meeting her last year during a furlough. This sparked an incredible conversation about our connections to Israel. One thing led to another and we were unfurling my enormous Israeli flag. Twenty six sets of hands held on to the edge of the flag. We sang the Israeli national anthem, the Hatikvah. It was a truly magical moment which I was able to capture! Have I mentioned lately how proud I am to be a teacher in this school? So proud!

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Enjoy!