Upper Elementary Monthly Letter
September 2019
Wow, looking at all we have done these first five weeks of school has me exhausted. We spent the first weeks getting to know each other, learning classroom procedures and expectations, reviewing school rules, and establishing routines. All of us created About Me sheets and the students listed their academic goals for the year. They also wrote multiple paragraph essays about their dreams and hopes. We talked about (and continue to talk about) this year's schoolwide midah - - Derekh Eretz - "Be Kind". All of this has helped us to create a warm classroom community.
Ironically, that was a great lead-in to our first social studies unit which highlights communities and community types. Through reading and writing, and some illustrating, the students learned the definition of a community (including family, school, religious, etc.) and how to identify the similarities and differences between urban, suburban, and rural communities.
Reading and writing is something we do a lot of in this class. The students start each morning with a writing prompt that they may use, or not, when writing in their personal journals. Most days the class next works in their phonics workbooks which are assigned by grade level. Fortunately, our kids have a healthy love for reading. That has enabled us to already complete three short story books including Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Ira Sleeps Over, and Arthur the Anteater. A literature study packet was completed for each of the books we read together in class.
Each week the students also work on a language arts packet that is filled with fun and challenging activities, some of which they work on independently and some they work on with a partner. When we have full weeks, without holidays, the students are assigned 15 spelling words to learn. Spelling is the majority of their homework; they are asked to complete a spelling task sheet each school night of the week, which is then turned in the next day. Students are also expected to read for approximately 30 minutes each night at home and to fill out a weekly reading log (provided on Mondays, due back on Fridays).
Saxon math, which builds on previously learned material and scaffolds with new concepts, is the curriculum we are using this year. Currently, we have two different math groups each working in a different book. The group assignments were made based on the students' performance on the beginning of the year math assessment. Though it gets a little noisy when the students work with partners, they all seem to be adapting to the program well. On Fridays, we generally work on math puzzles, games, and challenges.
Science, always a favorite, has included a lot of hands-on activities and experiments, all guided by the principles of the scientific method. The students have launched film canister rockets, stuck balloons to the walls with static electricity that they generated, learned about centrifugal force by spinning a penny in a balloon, and have built different versions of a spider web using dental floss and yarn. Once a week we have a large, multi-age STREAM class (Science, Technology, Robotics, Art, Math) that has been a huge hit. On Friday afternoons the students have the opportunity to do coding on the iPads. So far they have worked with two different programs, Scratch Jr. and Code.org. And in anticipation of a very special experiential science class that we will soon be having with Mr. U. (Rebecca's dad), the class was introduced this week to world of virtual reality. Hopefully they shared with you the thrill of their skydiving experience.
In Hebrew this month, we started with letter reviews, and we are working on basic Hebrew grammar. Currently, we are learning about male and female word characteristics. Once a week we are watching the show Hayo Haya (a history show in Hebrew) which is helping to enhance our oral language skills of listening and vocabulary usage. We will also start learning about Israeli poets, and enjoy some fun games in Hebrew.
In Jewish studies, the upper elementary students began the year learning about the Jewish lunar calendar and compared it to the Gregorian calendar. They created a rotating set of disks with both calendars and the Jewish holidays to be able to see when the holidays fall on the different months, Hebrew and English. We also compared the Hebrew calendar to another lunar calendar--the Chinese calendar. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first human to walk on the moon, and we looked at the footage. From that, the students designed beautiful oil pastel images of the moon for your holiday cards. We have also begun work in interactive, reflective Jewish Journal booklets about the High Holidays, including a tashlikh experience.
Of course, the school days would not be complete without our specialist's classes. It is in those sessions that they have PE, art, music. Often, each of those activities is interwoven into other classes throughout the day. PE is a combination of games, stretching, laps around the playground, and working out with small exercise balls.
This month we discussed what to do during fire and earthquake drills and participated in one of each with the whole school.
It was wonderful getting to meet and see most of you at back to school night. I hope that we will see you all at the upcoming Daniel Pearl concert on October 24.
Please know that I am thoroughly enjoying working with this wonderful class of artists, scientists, innovators, orators, authors, part-time comedians, and in my best estimation, many future lawyers. They are truly a treasure!! If you ever have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me sooner rather than later. I am easiest reached by email (
lsnyder@weizmann.net
) yet you can also call the office and leave a message for me.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and sweet new year!
Kol Tuv,
Mrs. Snyder
