We are only a few weeks into Autumn, and our days have already been filled with multiple explorations and discoveries! Our Science Table now reflects the bounty of this season. We are learning to distinguish different kinds of leaves (maple and ginkgo seem to be our favorites), as well as identify a number of berries and seeds.

Our Discovery Trays are also filled to the brim with found treasures, including leaves, acorns, and squash.

Two weeks ago, inspired by the many Fall books in our library (including Lois Ehlert’s Leaf Man), we explored our playground and went on a nature walk around the neighborhood. During our walk, we discovered multiple natural wonders and collected and then identified many different kinds of leaves, including oak, maple, ginkgo, Japanese maple, beech, and cranberry.

While we walked, we utilized our investigative skills, followed directions, cultivated impulse control, and practiced caring for our partners using hesed (kindness) and kavod (respect).

We even had a great time creating leaf piles and jumping into them!

We also created beautiful watercolor pictures in which we painted our interpretations of Fall.

Our creations are hanging on our main bulletin board.

We invite you to see them and read our commentaries!

Wish list for PreK: 

We need more 7th Generation wipes to clean our tables and toys!

We also need some flushable wipes for our bathroom!

Finally, if you have “real” (not plastic, but metal) tweezers, we would appreciate having them. In addition, if you have any materials that scientists might use in a lab (beakers, test-tubes, etc.), we would appreciate the donation!

The air is crisp and the leaves are crunchy! We have been enjoying these beautiful fall days in Kindergarten!

This week, we took a walk around the neighborhood to observe trees. We discovered that most trees fall into two categories–conifers and broadleaf (or hardwood) trees. We learned that conifers have a triangular shape and have needles or scales for leaves, and are usually evergreen. Broadleaf trees are wider and more rounded, and their leaves are flat, broad, and thin.  Broadleaf trees lose their leaves when the weather turns cold. We discovered that there are more broadleaf trees in our neighborhood; however, we did find some conifers. The children even collected pine cones!

Conifer or broadleaf?

Collecting pine cones underneath a conifer

 Matching a broadleaf to its tree

 

 The children collected leaves to create their “Lorlds” ( Leaf worlds). They created “leafle” (leaf people) “lanimals” (leaf animals) “livers” (leaf rivers) and more!

 We had our election to determine what our dramatic play area will be! Each child was given a chip to place in one of the bags that represented some of the local businesses in our community including, a bakery, fire station, post office, and library. Once everyone voted, we counted the number of chips in each bag and determined that the post office received the most votes. Over the next few weeks, we will conduct research and visit a post office to help us create props for our dramatic play area, and learn how post office colleagues work together. 

As we explore the concept of negative space, the children created their tape paintings. They used masking tape to create various images including, plants, animals, and sunshine. They used watercolors to paint the space around the tape, and pulled the tape off of the paper, revealing their images. 

We played Sight Word Musical Chairs! The children danced around the chairs, stopped when the music paused, and read the sight word card that was placed on their chair. The child with the “magic word” picked the next word for the following round. We enjoyed this game and look forward to playing it again!

We enjoyed our first (two!) birthday celebrations of the year! Happy birthday Naftali and Hadas!

Each child shared something special about Naftali and Hadas, and helped them to decorate their birthday tracings.

Naftali’s mom, Marni, brought in Oobleck–an amazing substance that is both a solid and a liquid!

You can make your own Oobleck at home!

Materials:

1 cup of water

1 to 2 cups of cornstarch

Mixing bowl

Food coloring (optional)

Preparation:

1) Pour one cup of cornstarch into the mixing bowl

2) Pour the water in, mixing slowly as you go. Keep adding more water until the mixture becomes thick. Add more cornstarch if it gets too runny, and more water if it becomes too thin.

3) Add a few drops of food coloring (optional)

4) Roll up your sleeves, put your hands in, and have fun!

Thank you to Naftali’s family for supplying the ice cream sundaes and Hadas’s family for sending in the blueberries. We all enjoyed the yummy birthday treat!

November in fifth grade has felt full.  The good kind of full.  If you stop by our classroom at any given time, you’ll see students deep in thought, wrestling with big ideas connected to freedom or responsibility.  You might hear students engaged in a discussion about tolerance or individuality.  They might be reading and interacting with ideas in a text, or they might be solving complex word problems with a partner.  They might be doing peer or group critique, trying hard to complete their personal narratives.  After our sojourn into the woods, we seem to have become immersed in our unit studies.  Fifth graders have worked hard to create work that helps make sense of what we’re learning. I learn so much about my students and their thinking from their work!  It also seems this deep level of productivity has left my camera devoid of captivating photos of the children at work.  I will, however, share some of their thoughtful work:

 

 

You might be wondering how we have time to do so much, especially given our dual curriculum.  Fifth graders have noted lately how many more assignments they seem to have.  From end of book projects to unit tests to creative artistic work, figuring out how to “do it all” has been a challenge indeed.

Time management, in fact, has been an important topic of conversation (and will continue to be a big focus) in fifth grade.  In class, students have been reflecting on what they have learned about managing their time.  There are an increasing number of long-term assignments in fifth grade.  Next year, when students are at middle school they will be expected to manage their time well.

Fifth graders: Could you post a comment about one strategy that has helped you with time management?  Perhaps you want to share a challenge or a lesson you’ve recently learned (like: don’t wait until the night before it’s due to start it).

Parents & Grandparents: Could you post a comment with sage advice for these fifth graders?  Share how time management is a pertinent “real-world” skill.

School-wide, we’ve been focusing on gratitude.  I would be personally grateful to those who make a comment that might enhance the depth of our thinking about time management.  All comments are welcome and encouraged!

One helpful time-saving tool is to type faster.  Here is a link to a fun and helpful keyboarding activity.  I highly recommend fifth graders spend 30 minutes a week practicing: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr                                     Note to Parents: Many of you asked about this at our recent parent-teacher conferences

This might be screen time that parents approve!

 

 

Our Dramatic Play Area is one of our most popular centers in our classroom. We often observe our students spending hours there, working collaboratively to construct complex and stimulating scenarios and stories. We have discovered that dramatic play helps children:

• expand their creativity and hone their imaginations
• explore, develop original ideas and try new things
• deepen their ability to learn and reflect
• explore, develop inquisitive and flexible minds, and  think in both concrete and abstract ways.

Our Dramatic Play Area has undergone two dramatic(!) changes over the last few weeks. Inspired by Ilana’s story of Noah and Na’amah and their tevah (ark), we built a huge ship to put in the rollicking waters of our dress-up area.

First we needed to paint our tevah. After much research (we looked at books about ships that Mrs. White found for us), we decided to paint our ark “battleship gray.”

We worked together to paint the wide swaths of cardboard. Afterward, we constructed a roof for the tevah (it didn’t hold up for long, but it was magnificent while it was lasted). We then needed to fill the boat with animals!

We had two spiders . . .

. . . two zebras . . .

. . . and two frogs (among other creatures). We had a wonderful time sailing our tevah around the world! While hearing the story of Noah – and during the ark’s construction – we had plenty of opportunities to talk about the special responsibilities we have (as human beings and as Jews) to care for the adamah (the earth) and all its inhabitants. We reflected on how we might make good choices, show kavod (respect)  and treat others with hesed (kindness) and shalom (peace).

Then late last week, we decided our Dramatic Play Area should be transformed into an office!

First, explained a child, “we need a sign so everyone knows what this is!” So a number of students crafted a cheerful sign to be hung from the ceiling. We then thought about what equipment and materials we needed to create an office (“lots of phones!” exclaimed one child. “We need paper clips. Tons of them! said another). We also brought in a laptop, a fax machine (which makes lots of beeping sounds when its buttons are pushed), and a manual typewriter!

And, of course, there is an in-house, high-quality day-care center in the office for all the babies.

♥

Wish list for PreK: 

We need more 7th Generation wipes to clean our tables and toys!

We also need some flushable wipes for our bathroom!

Finally, if you have “real” (not plastic, but metal) tweezers, we would appreciate having them. In addition, if you have any materials that scientists might use in a lab (beakers, test-tubes, etc.), we would appreciate the donation!

When we do experiments in our classroom or explore objects found in nature, we learn to define ourselves as scientists, capable of uncovering the many wonders around us. Our kehillah is always learning and practicing scientific methods, like exploring, discovering, observing, and documenting our discoveries. Over the last four weeks, we have been enjoying our long-term, observable experiment with the apples!

First we cut open two apples and investigated them . . .

. . . and then we documented our discoveries. We noted the colors, textures, smells, and even taste of the apples.

 

After documenting our discoveries, we made predictions about what might happen to our apples if we left them in our terrarium for four weeks. Some of us thought they would turn “gross;” others insisted they would become “stale.” Another student insisted that the apples “would grow huge and turn green!” We learned that scientist make predictions . . . and then engage in experiments so that they can test their hypotheses against the observable results. So as scientists engaged in an experiment, we checked the progress of our apples every day . . .

After a number of weeks, we took out the apples from the terrarium and documented our discoveries.

We compared our predictions with the observable results from our experiment. Some of us discovered that our predictions were correct (“I was right! It is gross! ‘Cause I don’t want to smell or eat it!”) while others learned new information (“It’s growing fur on it!”) We all observed that all the apples became mushy, grew white, gray and green mold, smelled “yucky,” and shriveled up.

 

We are constantly using our scientific skills of discovery, observation and documentation in our classroom – and outside, as well!

First Stop: Video News

Another great week has passed in second grade.  If you ask the kids, I’m guessing their highlight might have been our much anticipated reading party.  Given that we are a democratic classroom, the kids voted on what kind of a party they wanted.  Turns out, they wanted PJ’s, popcorn and a movie.  Little did they know, the “movie” was going to be an episode from the original (1970’s) educational series called the “Electric Company”.  Boy was it rad!

In addition to our reading party, we did lots of great, collaborative work this week in math.  We are learning some very challenging subtraction, where you need to subtract with zeros in the middle of the top number.  Some students actually took on the role of teacher, showing their friends how to do these kinds of problems.  The results were amazing!  Who needs adult teachers anymore?
In addition to working on some tough math, we experimented with awesome plant science!  We learned about pigments in flowers, by crushing up petals and extracting the pigments using rubbing alcohol.  Also, we learned how the xylem and phloem carry water and nutrients up through a plant, through the flower-dying experiment.

We are reaching an exciting milestone in second grade, as many kids are beginning to publish their first books.  Below is one proud student sharing his small moment book with the class.  This is one of many impressive pieces of writing that your children will complete throughout the year.  Stay tuned for an informal publishing party.

Finally, we were graced, yet again, by a fabulous guest reader, who read a book about Chanukah.  We are already getting excited for latkes!  I encourage everyone, even aunts, uncles, and grandparents to come in and read to our amazing class!

By Shira Elbaum:

This week we finished our first class novel, Out of Many Waters.  I found the ending to be both sad and happy at the same time.  At the end, Isobel, the main character, does not get to see her sister again.  Isobel and her sister, Maria, had made a plan to go on different ships to escape the Inquisition.  At the end, Isobel stays with the family she found on the ship.  She does not go to Amsterdam, where she hoped to see her sister.  I think if Isobel were to go to Amsterdam without the new family, it won’t be really good because she grew to be close to them.  I wonder what Maria did after she found out that Isobel didn’t come to Amsterdam.  I’m now reading One Foot Ashore, the companion book, that tells Maria’s story.

That was the first time I read a novel in English in class (because I am visiting America for half a year, and then I am going back to Israel).

First Stop: Video News

REMINDERS FOR PARENTS

ALL SCHOOL FIELD TRIP THIS TUESDAY

PAJAMA PARTY THIS WEDNESDAY TO CELEBRATE REACHING OUR READING MINUTES GOAL!

Book Review by Ruby

We’re reading the book Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald.  Mrs. Piggle Wiggle just got a call because she is very good at teaching children how to like washing dishes and making beads and doing others tuff –Ruby

 KidBlog by Veola

I like math centers and writers workshop.

News From Mrs. Guttin

We have had yet another great week rich with learning, making, and exploring.  We have spent lots of time this week on revising, editing, and publishing our “Small Moment” stories.  Students have been working meticulously to publish their very best work.  You will either get to enjoy a preview of their book or the actual thing at parent teacher conferences!

  

Alongside our writing, we have been reading up a storm.  Students are settling in to our classroom, specifically our reading center time.  On various days they participate in guided reading, word work games, computer reading games, find-out-about non-fiction center, independent reading, and partner reading.  If you ask me, I think their favorite center is “Independent Reading”.

We did some great hands-on learning and exploring with plants this week.  During our science time, we explored different kinds of seeds from various fruits and vegetables.  Students took out the seeds, drew the shape, and counted them.  Later on they will graph the amounts of seeds on a bar graph so that they can clearly see the different between seed amounts.

We also got to go to the garden and harvest the last of the basil that we picked last year.  Sophie even discovered the seeds inside the basil flower!  Now, we will attempt to dry them and sprout them once again.  Once we harvested the basil carefully, we made pesto!  Yum!  Our room smelled heavenly.  Thanks Mrs. Woods for helping us make delicious food from our garden!

 

 

 

Can you guess who are they?

 

 

 

RETHINK your P’solet (waste)….. at the end of every meal.  We weighed our p’solet, and this is how it looks – Kama Psolet?

Here is a peek to the ruach of Teva Decomposition

It is good to be home:)