Thursday, January 30, 2014
Dear Families,
This week the first and second graders started a fun project. It is our job to decorate the bulletin board in the front hall in a couple of weeks. So, we began to learn what is was like to go through Ellis Island, step by step, when coming to America as an immigrant many years ago. There is a wonderful website for kids from Scholastic which takes viewers on an interactive tour of Ellis Island and we used that as a guide. The students are working to represent each step of the way, from arrival to inspection to entering New York. When we are finished we will display our work as a "walking tour" for the rest of the school. In addition, we read a beautiful story called The Memory Coat by Elvira Woodruff. Rachel and her family arrive at Ellis Island and their cousin receives a chalk mark "E" on his back as he is inspected at Ellis Island. Will he be able to enter America?
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Dear Families,
We had a short but busy week!
My math students are really becoming experts at telling time and answering elapsed time word problems! Throughout the day I ask them fun time questions and I love to see how they support one another and work together to come to an answer.
Because of the holiday and the snow day, we only had immigration once this week. We shared a story called American Wei by Marion Hess Pomeranc. It is the story of a little boy from China who comes to America and on the day he is to be sworn in as an American citizen, his tooth falls out and he loses it. How will he find it in time and make it to the court house? We also got caught up on some other immigration work that we started last week. Next, we will be learning about Ellis Island and making our dream jars.
Reminder: no school next Friday, January 31st for professional development day.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
Dear Families,
We had a short but busy week!
My math students are really becoming experts at telling time and answering elapsed time word problems! Throughout the day I ask them fun time questions and I love to see how they support one another and work together to come to an answer.
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| Typical Morning Message with an elapsed time question. |
Because of the holiday and the snow day, we only had immigration once this week. We shared a story called American Wei by Marion Hess Pomeranc. It is the story of a little boy from China who comes to America and on the day he is to be sworn in as an American citizen, his tooth falls out and he loses it. How will he find it in time and make it to the court house? We also got caught up on some other immigration work that we started last week. Next, we will be learning about Ellis Island and making our dream jars.
Reminder: no school next Friday, January 31st for professional development day.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
Friday, January 17, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Dear Families,
This week as we continued our study of immigration, we read a story called The Dream Jar by Barbara Pryor. Valentina's family has moved to New York and her dad's dream is to be able to have his own store. Everyone in the family works and adds money to the "dream jar" until they have enough. All Valentina hears is that she is too little to work, until finally she realizes that she too can help. She ends up teaching English to the people in her tenement building. We discussed ideas such as what could the first and second graders do for jobs to help their families. We also discussed their dreams. Shortly, we will make our own "dream jars."
We also spent some time learning all about Martin Luther King, Jr. We shared a story, wrote adjectives to describe MLK, shared our dreams to make the world a better place, and we even played MLK Bingo with our Shabuddies.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
Dear Families,
This week as we continued our study of immigration, we read a story called The Dream Jar by Barbara Pryor. Valentina's family has moved to New York and her dad's dream is to be able to have his own store. Everyone in the family works and adds money to the "dream jar" until they have enough. All Valentina hears is that she is too little to work, until finally she realizes that she too can help. She ends up teaching English to the people in her tenement building. We discussed ideas such as what could the first and second graders do for jobs to help their families. We also discussed their dreams. Shortly, we will make our own "dream jars."
We also spent some time learning all about Martin Luther King, Jr. We shared a story, wrote adjectives to describe MLK, shared our dreams to make the world a better place, and we even played MLK Bingo with our Shabuddies.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
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| Learning to tell time! |
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| Tu B'Shvat seder |
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| Israeli Emmersaries |
Friday, January 10, 2014
January 10, 2014
Happy New Year!
This week my math group began to learn how to tell time. I was so impressed at how quickly all of the students picked up the new concepts. It took them only one day to go from reading time to the hour to time by the minute! The students were even able to start answering elapsed time word problems.
My grammar group learned all about synonyms and antonyms this week. Next, we'll move on to homonyms.
For immigration we read three wonderful stories. First, we shared I Hate English by Ellen Levine. Mei Mei is afraid to speak English now that she is in America because she fears she will forget how to speak in Chinese. To Mei Mei, her language was the most special thing she had from China. Afterwards, the students were asked to think of four items that they would bring with them if they were to immigrate to a different country. Next, we shared Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say and we learned about Venn Diagrams so we were able to compare Japan (where Grandfather was born) and America. We also had a little fun and compared ourselves to our parents. And, finally, we read The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco and we created our own class "quilt." Patricia's family quilt was made of a dress that her great grandmother had from Russia. Our class "quilt" is made up of pictures of our most special possessions.
And, from our Guest Blogger, Ella:
"Math was really fun this week because we did telling time. And, in immigration, we read a good story. We worked on our stories in Writer's Workshop."
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
Happy New Year!
This week my math group began to learn how to tell time. I was so impressed at how quickly all of the students picked up the new concepts. It took them only one day to go from reading time to the hour to time by the minute! The students were even able to start answering elapsed time word problems.
My grammar group learned all about synonyms and antonyms this week. Next, we'll move on to homonyms.
For immigration we read three wonderful stories. First, we shared I Hate English by Ellen Levine. Mei Mei is afraid to speak English now that she is in America because she fears she will forget how to speak in Chinese. To Mei Mei, her language was the most special thing she had from China. Afterwards, the students were asked to think of four items that they would bring with them if they were to immigrate to a different country. Next, we shared Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say and we learned about Venn Diagrams so we were able to compare Japan (where Grandfather was born) and America. We also had a little fun and compared ourselves to our parents. And, finally, we read The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco and we created our own class "quilt." Patricia's family quilt was made of a dress that her great grandmother had from Russia. Our class "quilt" is made up of pictures of our most special possessions.
And, from our Guest Blogger, Ella:
"Math was really fun this week because we did telling time. And, in immigration, we read a good story. We worked on our stories in Writer's Workshop."
Shabbat Shalom,
Hamorah Caren
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