It is wonderful, exciting and challenging to start a new school year with familiar and new students. We talk in Hebrew in Lashon and everyone is making a huge effort to participate and express themselves. Every Thursday we start the day with מפגש בוקר, which means morning meeting in Hebrew. At the first meeting we talked about our summers. It was nice to hear about so many friends that went to Israel during the summer and that so many of us love the sea (I am an Israeli Marine Biologist…..)

Class agreement:

A thoughtful and lively discussion about being part of a community led to the creation of our class rules. We are still in the process of internalizing and reinforcing them during our time together.  To build a community is an important process.

For Rosh Hashana we explored a blessing for a good year, talked about the symbols, and with Elad the music teacher, learned the song ‘בשנה הבאה’, Bs’shana Ha’ba’ah, in the new year. 

 Lehitraot, Rotem

Parents:  Please check in on your child’s homework the first couple of weeks and help them get in to a regular routine.

First Stop: Video News

Student Blogger:

“I like writer’s workshop because I like writing!!!!!!!!!!!” – Ruby

Student Book Reviewer

“Elmer and the dragon is about a boy and a dragon and they get stuck on an Island and the boy goes down the path to try to find water and food.  They eat lots of tangerines.” – Ivy

From Mrs. Guttin…

We had another fabulous week in second grade learning the routines and being introduced to lots of fun new things.  Students had a lot of time to read independently, with a partner, and with me.  Kids are learning how to choose a book that is “just right” for them, and also how to find a comfy, quiet spot to settle in to with a book.  Also, kids did a great job with their reading homework the first week.  We read a total of 901 minutes in only one week! 

We also had a taste of our Reader’s Workshop Centers, and got to experience our “Word Work” center, where we play games and do activities that help us better understand specific spelling and phonics patterns.

We dove into our math curriculum this week.  For those of you who don’t know, we use a Singapore-style math curriculum called Math in Focus.  This curriculum encourages a deep understanding of foundational mathematical concepts.  The goal is that with this deep understanding, students will be able to figure out more complicated math problems later in life.  Some things you can be doing to support math at home with your child are counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s, practicing single digit addition and subtraction facts, and using math in the real world.  

Please stop by and sign up to be a guest reader in our class!  Our first guest reader was fantastic!  We cannot wait to see who it will be next!

I have really enjoyed this week so far. On Wednesday in science we were challenged to write down all the things we wonder. All we had to do was look around and write questions about what we saw. I thought really hard, but it was impossible to write everything I wonder about. In design lab we had to build something that was innovative, creative, and collaborative. I built a futuristic car with Sivan and Elana. It had  driving, riding, animal, and child or prisoner sections in it. In reading we started Out of Many Waters. In it the two main characters Maria and Isobel are kidnapped from their parents because of their religious beliefs. They are taken to Bahia to work in a monastery and then taken to Recife to work for friars and face the judges. Maria tells Isobel that they are conversos and that they were never truly safe. In garden we did a lot of weeding and made the garden look really nice. We also watered, picked the millions of tomatoes we have, and picked the eggplant. Today we ate the eggplant, it was really good! We also had gym and art. In art we started to build abstract cardboard sculptures. In gym we played tennis baseball. This week was truly exciting!!!

From Mrs. Woods:

As I pause to reflect on our first full week in fifth grade, I feel grateful to be spending this school year with such inquisitive and passionate children. We began our week framing our hopes and dreams.  The language of hopes and dreams (as opposed to “goals”) is powerful and intentional, for focusing on what we hope and what we dream opens ourselves up to many possibilities.

I believe a child’s innate curiosity is essential for learning.  Watching fifth graders think and wonder and write as many questions as they could, while sitting  in the garden, was one of my favorite moments of the week.  I anticipate their wonderings will catapult our studies into exciting and meaningful directions.

This week’s mirror message:

We are off to an exciting start in Kindergarten! We are continuing to learn and practice our daily routines including unpacking, signing in, washing our hands, and choosing a morning center. The children have enjoyed remembering the hand motion patterns in our Morning Meeting greetings, making mathematical discoveries in our daily Calendar Math activities (“How many more days of school until we get to make a bundle of ten straws?”) and our music and movement activities including Hickity Pickity Bumble Bee, Tootie Ta, and more! We’ve also spent time getting to know one another through various activities such as the game Me Too!  The children enjoyed building together in the block center, as well as creating different sculptures with our ( now glittery!) playdough. In the beading center, the children explored pattern and measurement skills.  We discovered what happens when you mix glue, salt, and food coloring and created salt paintings. We also picked garlic and mint in our beautiful JCDSRI garden! We read stories about Kindergarten, made various self-to-text connections, and discussed what we hope to learn about this year. The children are excited to learn about letters, reading, math, peace, Hebrew, pipes, songs, rainbows, and more! We discovered the different ways in which we get to school in the morning (walking, driving, and riding a bicycle), played some rhyming games, learned a special alphabet song to help with letter and sound identification, and started learning about the Hebrew letter shin. Additionally, we started making our classroom Shulchan Shalom (Peace Table).  Next week, we’ll even go on a letter and sight word scavenger hunt! We’re going to have such an amazing year of fun and learning!

Salt Paintings

Beading

Squigs

Animal sorting

Playdough

Rhyming game

Hopes for Kindergarten

Making our Shulchan Shalom (Peace Table)

Illustrating the various ways in which we get to school

Making the Hebrew letter “Shin” with our bodies

Exploring the garden

Cooking in the Dramatic Play area

Reading in the loft

First Stop: Video News

Each week we will have a few different newscasters telling about some things we did that week in school.  Enjoy!

Student Blogger (Each Friday a different student writes about one thing they really enjoyed or learned that week in school.)

“We had a aosume reses today” – Atticus

Student Book Reviewer (Each Friday a student will review a book he is reading or a book we are reading together in class)

“Our class read a book about a kid that wonted to save a dragon, but he had every day supplies.  I liked the book.” – Yasha

Now, onto some teacher-presented news…

We had our first design lab this week.  Kids were introduced to our new building and prototyping materials, and were asked to choose a material to build one thing to show something they did this summer.  They really let their creative juices flow as they built pools out of legos, flowers out of pattern blocks, and camp cabins out of Lincoln Logs.

We had the great pleasure of spending our first morning in the garden with the help of our garden teacher, Mrs. Woods.  We observed the growth of some of the plants that students planted last year when they were in first grade.  We picked and tasted some yummy kale, and we picked a patty pan squash, that we will later cook and eat.  These kids are weeding machines!  They really know how to dig in and get their hands dirty.  Soon, we will plant some fall seeds!

Students also got the chance to practice their writing skills by writing a story about their summer vacations.  Kids really had some fabulous experiences this summer, and it was wonderful for them to share their stories with the whole class.

Reminder:  Please send in your parent interviews. 

Also, homework is starting this week with Reading Minutes.  Please look out for your child’s homework folder and help him/her develop a homework routine at home.

Our first week of school is nearing its conclusion, and we are continuing to have a wonderful time getting to know our new friends, exploring our learning centers, and collaboratively creating rules and routines as we begin to build our kehillah (community).

*   *   *   *   *   *

We have enjoyed so many new things in our classroom, including: playing in our block area with animals, recyclables, and tape measures;

observing our “goo,” massaging our bean ball, and kneading our “thinking putty” at our sensory table;

reading in our Loft with friends;

doing puzzles together;

creating castles, planes, and spaceships at our train table;

discovering shells using magnifying glasses and tweezers at our Science Table;

spending time with Herman the Worm in our Quiet House;

and carefully observing our new goldfish and snail in their aquarium.

This week we shared with each other what we enjoyed doing in PreK. These are some of our comments:

* “I liked the green scissors and I liked the Art Center. I liked Circle Time ’cause I liked sitting down. Sitting down was fun.” (Nathan)

* “I liked Circle Time. I liked drawing. I liked plaything with Nathan.” (Shira)

* “I liked playing with playdough. I liked playing with Adrian.” (Asher)

* “I liked doing funny stuff in Circle Time. I liked playing with magnatiles.” (Adrian)

* “I liked playing the game where we stood up and sat down during Circle Time!” (Sabine)

* “I liked ot play with Miss Andrea and Miss Laurie. And with my friends. And playing with the lion.” (Leo)

* “I liked writing and reading to Sabine in the Loft. And looking at the goo.” (Millie)

* “Well, it’s not over! I liked snack time. I liked Circle Time and I liked sitting on the mats.” (Zemer)

* “I liked drawing at the Art Table.” (Aeden)

* “I liked playing with magnatiles.” (Ilan)

* ” I liked playing with the magatiles and the animals!” (Bentzi)

We look forward to another week filled with laughter, joy, and discovery. Shabbat Shalom!

What a wonderful first day we had in PreK! Welcoming all our students and their families into our classroom gave us such joy.

After we said goodbye to our grown-ups, we enjoyed discovering our classroom learning areas, including the art and literacy center, the library, the science table, and the dramatic play area  . . .

During Circle Time, we greeted each other and then  jumped, danced and laughed our way through “Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes” (in Hebrew and English!)

We also created wonderful shapes and creatures with playdough (our playdough even has sparkles in it!)

Throughout the morning, giggles, smiles and hugs filled our classroom!

We look forward to another fun-filled day together tomorrow.