Learning about Artist Paul Klee

Gan G enjoyed learning about artist Paul Klee and his style of artwork. We discovered that he loved exploring with color and often used shapes in his artwork. In conjunction with our unit on castles we were inspired by Paul Klee’s Sun and Castle masterpiece. The children had the choice of painting a background of a sunrise, sunset, or evening. They then used paper shapes to collage buildings and castles. Each student had the opportunity to stand up and shine when we displayed their artwork during our class meeting. A proud moment was felt by all!

Getting Ready for Pesach

Gan G students have been getting ready for Pesach. We have been learning about the different simanim we see at the seder. Drinking four cups of wine (or grape juice in our case) is one of the most important parts of the Seder. We squeezed grapes in order to make their own grape juice. First we asked questions and hypothesized about how much juice we could gather, how many grapes we needed, and what color the juice might be. We were surprised by our findings! We can't wait to enjoy the arba kosot on Pesach.

This week, Gan D rotated between small group stations to explore different aspects of kadesh, the first part of the seder. At one table, children explored dilution and color mixing with pipettes and different types of grape juice. A second table challenged the students to get as much juice as possible from green and purple grapes, without wasting a drop. The third group flexed their language muscles thinking of words to describe how Hashem took Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt to mimic the four words for redemption in the Torah and imagining what they would say while reclining as free people.

ECD SEL Update

This past week in Kindergarten we focused on being proud of oneself. Feeling proud helps to build self-esteem, while building resilience if mistakes are made. We read the book, Be Brave Little Penguin by Giles Andreae, about a penguin who is scared of the water and then finally jumps in and feels so proud of himself. The students all had a chance to draw and write about a time when they felt proud of themselves. Some examples included, jumping in the deep end of the pool, trying new foods, going on the balance beam as well as going on a big roller coaster.  

First Graders Learn about Fish Characteristics

The First Grade students have been learning about the characteristics of fish as part of the Animal Classification Curriculum. Each student chose a fish to research using the PebbleGo app and learned about the body, habitat, food and life-cycle of that fish. Then, using the knowledge about their fish along with what they had learned regarding how to write a story, the students created an fictional tale about their fish using Book Creator. They drew the illustrations and turned their book into an audio book for all to hear. These first grade authors are masters of suspense, humor and kindness!

Learning about Avdut and Cheirut

In class 3D we are well underway in our Pesach Hagaddah learning! Students are encouraged to look at each part of the seder and reflect if it reminds them of avdut (slavery) or cheirut (freedom). Students have been voting with their feet and moving throughout the room to our sections for avdut, cheirut and defending their thoughts! It has been wonderful hearing the insights from our students, using their past knowledge and new information to form their opinions. 

Third Graders Debate If Homework Should be Banned

Class 3C held the first round of our newly formed debate team. “All homework should be banned in school” was debated by teams of students who had researched and crafted arguments in preparation. We used the acronym LEAF to remember the importance of using logic, emotion, authority, and facts in order to turn personally held opinions, into credible and compelling arguments. Our class had so much fun designing our paper neckties, gaveling each round, and engaging in the back and forth rebuttals during the clash round. The debate was not decisive in terms of Yavneh homework policy, but it allowed us to explore the way we think about ourselves and our opinions in formative and exciting new ways.