fbpx

Class Blogs

Sink or Float

by

As we get closer and closer to the end of the school year, we can’t help but be excited about warm weather activities. One of our favorites is swimming! It got us thinking about pool and Copy of IMG_7370water safety. In PreK, kindergarten and first grade, we learned that designers often create prototypes in the name of safety. “I learned to swim with floaties,” mentioned Asher in PreK.

First, we looked at some action figures in the water and realized that they probably don’t know how to swim, because they sank to the bottom of the “pool.” To help them, we created prototypes of life vests for them. The goal of the design challenge was to keep the action figure’s head above water, because we don’t breathe through our toes, we breathe through our noses.

 

Second Grade Toy Store

by

Congratulations to the children and families of our second graders. They’ve been hired! They received this notification from the Design Lab today:

Congratulations! You have been hired to design and build a new toy! Your product will be marketed and sold across the nation (after many ITERATIONS, of course).

  • Step 1: Frame the problemIMG_7290

“How might we design a game, toy, or activity so that children will enjoy it, learn from it, and learn how to cooperate with others?”

  • Step 2: Empathize/Immerse

 We learn about the user of the toy we are designing and conduct focus group interviews.

  • Step 3: Ideate & Prototype!

Build it!

  • Step 4: Test

Try to sell your product. You will need an advertisement! Think about commercials, magazine & newspaper ads….

 

Taking our learning outside of the classroom

by

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!

Our Eggs Are Here!

by

Today, Beth – the knowledgeable educator from Casey Farm – spent the morning with us. She brought with her twelve fertilized eggIMG_2181s, an incubator, warming lights, and lots of different kinds of bird eggs! And she also brought with her another wonderful surprise: a hen – Henny Penny – to visit us! We were able to touch her and see – up close – her comb, waddle, beak, ears, feathers and claws. We were surprised to discover that Henny Penny felt so soft. We even fed her some corn!

 

After we spent some time with Henny Penny and learned more about chickens, Beth then invited us to see the eggs laid by swans, bluebirds, robins, grey catbirds, golden eagles, hummingbirds, and even ostriches! We learned that eggs are camouflaged to be either the same color as their nests or as their mothers. 

IMG_2172

Beth then showed us the incubator into which we will place our eggs. There they will stay (round side up, pointy side down) for 21 days until they hatch. We will have both Rhode Island Red and Black Ranger chicks.

Our countdown has begun . . . we can hardly wait!

 

 

What life choice would you make?

by

Your village is caught in a pogrom. Should you stay and try to rebuild your village, move to Israel, or move to the United States, the land that you have heard is full of opportunity? As an intellectual, you are swayed by the writings of Trotsky and you want to help bring about change for all of Russia; but as a Jew, you face major discrimination. Do you stay or leave?

These are the types of choices the 5th graders considered as they began the study of Jewish immigration this week. Each student was given the opening story of a character and then were given two choices. The choice they made determined how the narralowereastsidetive continued and then, once again, they were given the choice of two paths. The students chose their own adventures, moving from location to location in the school as they made their choices and discovered how those choices affected their lives. It was an exciting and fun way to begin the unit and start their exploration of the issues and themes of immigration.

The unit will culminate in a class journey to the Lower East Side of New York, to see the institutions and streets that were home to the millions of Jews, including many of their own grandparents and great-grandparents, who immigrated to the United States between the years of 1880 and 1920.

Songs for Zimriyah 2016!

by

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!

by

IMG_7602

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.)

IMG_7597

IMG_7598

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.

IMG_1654
IMG_1655

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!

 

Rhode Island: Warmer and Cooler?

by

Third grade has learned so much about our own state of Rhode Island this year! From geography, to government, to people, to the Jewish history of our state, we have really become experts! We are now putting that kno59d0f2c2-3a53-4b5a-bcd0-dbdb5e6a1187wledge to good use by creating travel brochures about Rhode Island. As a bonus, we have a real audience to whom to present these; they will be used as centerpieces at a conference at Brown University. This motivated the students even more to create the most interesting and accurate brochures. As a challenge, they designed their own Rhode Island logos for the front covers of the travel brochures, to replace the controversial “Warmer and Cooler” design.

 

We brainstormed all we learned abo5af46ee8-f6c9-4ddd-b479-e276d10204e2ut Rhode Island and researched even more to find out new things we were interested in. Then we went to work actually creating our brochures. I loved how unique each one was, from concentrating on the Rhode Island Red hen to the Pawsox, Del’s Lemonade, and coffee milk, each student included his or her own personality and joys of this state in his or her brochures! We had “experts”, the fifth graders, come in to critique our work, since they have 6f1b60c8-269c-4cc8-b41d-edb7bd83d326already learned about Rhode Island.

 

Now our brochures are ready for the public. The students are very excited to be able to have them on display at Brown, but are sad to give them up. I don’t blame them after all the hard work they put into this project!

 

 

Looking for Signs of Spring

by

imageThe Kindergarten students set out to look for signs of spring! We enjoyed seeing how the pond has changed in the warmer weather. Outside all our senses were at work while we searched for clues to Spring! We stopped to investigate tree buds that we saw popping up on branches all around us. Other times we stopped to take a listen to birds. A woodpecker was busy tapping on a tree. Weimage enjoyed smelling the spring onions. The pond critters are beginning to emerge from their winter modes. The students were excited to see the ducks return. “This is awesome,” one student yelled. We looked for turtles and a muskrat. Magnifying glasses helped us to closely observe buds, dew drops, and new grass. We are grateful for the signs of the changing season!