A Peek At Our Week–5/14

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Kristi O'Neill

This week we will…

-Read the story, Simple Machines, and discuss the difference that great ideas can make. We’ll also learn about great ideas that have made our lives easier.

-Work with the diphthongs oi and oy (foil, boy) and suffixes -er and -or (painter, inventor.)

-Select AR books and enjoy reading groups.

-Practice our spelling words: oil, soil, voice, point, boy, boil, coin, oink, toy, joy, against, heavy. Bonus: goes, inventor, writer.

-Work with the high-frequency words (word wall words): against, goes, heavy, kinds, today.

-Study pronouns and write about an invention we’d like to create to make our lives easier.

-Continue with our Rocket Math program, and use the time to review addition and subtraction facts with the children who have “soared” through our Rocket Chart.

-Work with telling time to the nearest hour and half hour. We’ll also work with understanding events of the day such as morning, afternoon and night and estimating time. A “Friendly Notes” packet will be sent home by Tuesday.

Reminders:

-We hope to see you at our All School Shabbat on Friday at 3:15.

-We are so excited that our Flat Stanleys are returning to school! So far we’ve learned about the states of Washington, New Jersey, Connecticut and Tennessee. We’ve also visited Rome. We can’t wait to continue this project!

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Week of May 14–Jewish Studies

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Morah Rachel

כיתה א Kitah Alef is moving and grooving!

יום האם  Yom Ha-Em was this past Sunday and we hope all our moms and grandmoms enjoyed our song & gift.  We love you all and appreciate what y’all do for our students!!

אריאות כותב Ariyot Kotev Ariyot Writes!  We are progressing through the cursive Hebrew letters and we are so proud of everyone working so hard.  Don’t forget to practice reading at home… cursive and print!

תפילות Tefillot  Prayers  Our davening continues with wonderful leaders like נדב חוה ומאי  Nadav, Eva and May.

פרשת השבוע בהר בחקתי Parshat HaShavua B’Har B’Chukotai  Once again we have a double portion this week.  Just ask our students why we  occasionally need 2 portions in one week.

At the end of this week (on Sunday) we will be celebrating יום ירושלים  Yom Yerushalayim  Jerusalem Day!!!  ENJOY!!!

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A Peek at Our Week–5/7

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Kristi O'Neill

This week we will…

-Read the story, Henry and Mudge and Mrs. Hopper’s House, and discuss what treasures we share with our neighbors.

-Work with suffixes and the vowel sound ‘oo’ as in moon.

-Select AR books and enjoy reading groups.

-Practice our spelling words: slowly, careful, quickly, useful, painful, playful, sadly, gladly, nicely, wonderful, because, across. There are NO bonus words this week.

-Work with the high-frequency words (word wall words): across, because, dance, only, opened, shoes, told.

-Continue our study of adjectives with a focus on adjectives that compare such as tall, taller, tallest.

-Continue with our Rocket Math program, and use the time to review addition and subtraction facts with the children who have “soared” through our Rocket Chart.

-Work with fractions and use the words such as whole, half, and fourth, halves, fourths, etc.

-Continue our study of Force and Motion.

Reminders:

-A HUGE thank you goes out to all our amazing families for such an awesome showing of support for our “Operation Todah Rabah” project. We mailed out SEVEN boxes and will keep you posted when they arrive to the ship. :)

 

 

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Week of May 7–Jewish Studies—— 50th Anniversary!

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Morah Rachel

מזל טוב  MAZAL TOV to all of us on the 50th Anniversary of our school!!!  Thanks to all who participated and to all worked so hard to make it such a wonderful success.  Here’s to (at least) another 50 years!!!

אריאות כותב Ariyot Kotev  Ariyot Writes

We are learning cursive and loving it!  Please note that each day (approximately) we learn a new letter and it is imperative to have our books and notebooks at school!! Our students are working diligently and can’t afford to fall behind.  Practice reading and writing whenever!!!

מחברת Machberet  Our writing notebook is an important part of this practice and is “graded”.  When a letter is written especially well, a check will be near it.  If something is not quite right, it will be circled. This is so the student will know how to write it correctly the next time.

תפילות Tefillot Prayers continue with good leadership by חנה יהושע

ואליענה Anna, Joshua and Eliana!!

פרשת השבוע אמר Parshat HaShavua Emor

לג בעומר LAG B’OMER!!!! We have been counting the Omer since Pesach and have reached the 33rd day of the Omer.  This Thursday  is THE day and we will enjoy celebrating it.

יום האם Yom Ha-Em  Mother’s Day!  We wish all of our moms and grandmoms  a Happy Mother’s Day!  You should be hearing a song that says,

אמא יקרה לי

“My dearest mother,  she loves me very much!

I will smile at you and I will sing to you a small song

Because I love you.”

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A Peek at Our Week–4/30

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Kristi O'Neill

This week we will…

-Read the story, Peter’s Chair, and discuss what treasures we share at home.

-Work with compound words.

-Select AR books and enjoy reading groups.

-Practice our spelling words: backpack, outside, baseball, herself, flashlight, bluebird, lunchbox, suitcase, inside, brainstorm, picture, remember.

-Work with the high-frequency words (word wall words): picture, remember, room, stood, thought.

-Continue our study of adjectives with a focus on adjectives that tell how many.

-Continue with our Rocket Math program, and start a Problem Solving Skills group for the children how have “soared” through our Rocket Chart.

-Continue our Numbers to 40 chapter. We are working with adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. Please refer to “The Friendly Math Notes” we sent home a few weeks ago. These notes detail how to help your child add and subtract without necessarily “borrowing” but rather by using number bonds. 30-5 can be thought of as 20 + (10 – 5). You can subtract the 5 from 10 and add that to 20, which equals 25. You borrowed, but you did not set up the math problem as most of us were taught to in elementary school.

-Continue our study of Force and Motion.

-Continue our “Operation Todah Rabah” project. Thank you for your tremendous support! You’re generosity is amazing!

Reminders:

-Catalogs for our final Scholastic Book Order of the year were sent home this week. Please take an opportunity to support our classroom by placing an order by May 3rd. If you don’t order books for the summer, we strongly encourage you to visit the library this summer.  Your child should continue to read at least 15 minutes every day even when school is out! :)

-edJEWcon will be held at our school this week! Please check the main blog for more information.

-Donations for Operation Todah Rabah are due by this Friday, May 4th.

 

 

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Week of April 30—Jewish Studies

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Morah Rachel

The 50th Anniversary Celebration of our school is this week and we hope to see lots of you throughout the coming weekend.  Please find our class picture on the wall (along with Morah Rachel’s 1st Day School class from 1977) and notice how we found many similarities and differences.  You will also find a writing assignment that we did in Mrs. O’Neill’s class about what we will be in the future.  ENJOY!

אריאות כותב  Ariyot Kotev  Ariyot Writes (in Cursive!!!) By now, you should be seeing lots of great work being done in cursive!  Our workbook has fun stories (in cursive) to read and practice pages to write.  Also we are using our מחברת machberet notebook that is blue for more writing practice.   We are now on the letters

ג  Gimel  (of course in cursive)

ר  Resh  (it looks very similar to the print version)

ה  Hey  (also looks similar to the print version just rounded a bit)

תפילות Tefillot   Prayers  It is a pleasure to daven with this class now.  Our  prayer leader,

שליח ציבור  Shaliach Tzeeboor  or

חזן  Hazan   Cantor, leads our daily service,  by calling out page numbers and starting the chanting.   Those students who have shown the respect needed for this important job, SO FAR, are:

משה יוסף  דליה ואריאל  Moshe Yosef, Dalya and Ariel.  We look forward to everyone being able to lead us in prayers.  Thanks to Dr. Mitzmacher for davening with us and for sharing the duties of the prayer leader with others.

פרשת השבוע Parshat HaShavua the portion of the Torah this week that we read is another double portion:

אחרי מות  קדושים Acharey Mot and Kedoshim.

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Operation Todah Rabah

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Kristi O'Neill

Many of you may know that Lt. O’Neill is out to sea with a detachment from his helicopter squardron. What you may not know is that he is a “host” to our very own Pilot Flat Stanley. He sends us weekly e-mail updates about FS’s experiences at sea and about visiting foreign countries. We have traveled the city of Rome through pictures, discovered interesting information about pirates, and learned about life on the ship.

As a mitzvah and gemilut hasadim–act of kindness and love–we have decided to send a care package to Lt. O’Neill, Flat Stanley and the rest of the detachment at sea. This is a completely voluntary project. The children are writing thank you letters for all the information FS is sharing with them. If you would like to donate an item or two to add to our letters please see the list below. This is an opportunity for us to give to those serving–we are sure that the men and women who will receive these acts of kindness will greatly appreciate your generosity.

Common Items for Military Care Packages:

-gum

-candy (jolly ranchers, skittles, starburst–but NOT chocolate)

-hand-held games/cards

-toys such as water balloons, small balls, putty (like from the dollar spot in Target or the Dollar Tree)

-magazines (new or even old ones from home that you’ve already read)

-trail mix

-chex mix

-nuts

-power bars

-popcorn

-drink mixes (like crystal light or gatorade–the individual packet kind work best)

-beef jerky

(It’s best not to send liquids–they often burst during shipment OR chocolate–it melts.)

If you decide that you would like your family to participate in Operation Todah Rabah, please e-mail Staci Scharf to let her know the item you are donating. We will be collecting donations until Friday, May 4th. We’re also accepting $1 donations to help with shipping costs.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

-Mrs. O’Neill, Morah Rachel and Mrs. Scharf :)

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Week of April 23—-Jewish Studies

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Morah Rachel

It’s great to be in כיתה א Kitah Alef!!  Lots of interesting and fun happenings occur daily…. like loosing teeth!!! מזל טוב Mazal Tov to all those who have lost teeth recently.  We’re growing up!!!

אריאות כותב    Ariyot Kotev   Ariyot Writes

in  CURSIVE!!  We are all enjoying learning cursive.  Please note that in Hebrew we write from right to left so all letters flow from right to left.  Soon a

מחברת      machberet     writing notebook

will be given to each student in order to practice writing.  Every night writing practice will be expected!!  This does not mean that reading practice stops.  PLEASE help your child to review their  Hebrew reading and writing.

יום השואה    Yom HaShoah   Day to remember the Holocaust

Last Thursday, Morah Liat read to the students in Kitah Alef,  Bet and Gimel, the inspiring book, “The Lily Cupboard”.   We also commemorated this day by sitting around a large yellow  מגן דוד Magen David with 6 yahrzeit candles lit on each point and heard Morah Hanna’s story of her birth in the forest and the miracle of her life after the war.

יום הזכרון     Yom HaZikaron Memorial Day in Israel

We will remember the soldiers who have fought in Israel’s wars.  Unlike America’s Memorial Day, there are no picnics!  And then immediately afterwards, we celebrate

יום העצמאות   Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israel’s Independence Day!!

יום הולדת שמח  Happy Birthday, Israel!!!  We will celebrate with the whole school and hopefully, you have read the email that explains which color your child should wear  this Thursday.

פרשת השבוע  Parshat HaShavuah   Portion of the Week in the Torah    A double portion this week:

תזריע Tazriah  and מצורע Metzorah.

תפילות Tefilot   Prayers

Our students are taking turns leading  ברכת המזון Birkat Hamazon, the Grace after Meal, in front of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders at lunch.  We are very proud of them and how serious they take this responsibility and honor.   We also have our students leading prayers in our classroom with Dr. Mitzmacher and in the chapel with Hazzan Holzer.

 

 

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A Peek at our Week–4/23

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Kristi O'Neill

This week we will…

-Read the story, The Lady in the Moon, , and discuss how we share special days with family and friends.

-Work with long i words with ie and igh (lie and light.) We will also work with words with kn (that sounds like /n/ in knee) and wr (that sounds like  /r/ in wrench.)

-Select AR books and enjoy reading groups.

-Practice our spelling words: lie, tie, high, might, right, night, bright, light, pie, tight, above laugh. Bonus words: happy, happier, happiest (Review of our previous work with dropping the y and adding an i before the ending.)

-Work with the high-frequency words (word wall words): above, eight, laugh, moon, touch.

-Continue our study of adjectives with a focus on adjectives that describe what kind. For example a happy celebration or a juicy watermelon.

-Continue with our Rocket Math program, and start a Problem Solving Skills group for the children how have “soared” through our Rocket Chart.

-Continue our Numbers to 40 chapter. We are talking about the meaning of the ones and tens place, and will begin adding and subtracting two-digit numbers by the end of the week.

-Begin a science unit on Force and Motion. We will discuss how objects move, explore motion and experiment with a special visit to the science lab.

-Start our “Operation Todah Rabah” project. A new blog post will be added in the coming days with more details.

Reminders:

-After a long delay we are excited to announce Part 2 of our Flat Stanley project. In Part 1 your child had FS visit for the weekend. Now we’d like you to select a family member or friend to host FS. We are trying to learn about the country and the world so someone that lives  far away is best! Please send in a stamped envelope that is addressed to your selected “host family.” We will add a letter and FS paper doll to the envelope and mail it out in hopes the that “host family” will return it to our class within the coming weeks. Thanks for your support!

-We will celebrate Yom Ha’ Atzmaut with a Field Day on Thursday. Please make sure your child wears his/her team color. This is sure to be an exciting day!

-Catalogs for our final Scholastic Book Order of the year were sent home this week. Please take an opportunity to support our classroom by placing an order by May 3rd. If you don’t order books for the summer, we strongly encourage you to visit the library this summer.  Your child should continue to read at least 15 minutes every day even when school is out! :)

-If you would like your child to participate in the special Wednesday snacks this May, please return the payment and form to the front office or in your child’s folder.

 

 

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A Peek at Our Week–4/17

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Kristi O'Neill

Welcome Back! We hope you had a wonderful break and Passover! We are also excited to have Mrs. Watkins back in our room. :)

This week we will…

-Read the story, Mister Bones: Dinosaur Hunter, and discuss how we can find treasures.

-Work with long o words with oa and ow (boat and snow) and three-letter blends (splash).

-Select AR books and enjoy reading groups.

-Practice our spelling words: boat, road, snow, row, yellow, loaf, coat, soap, blow, pillow, once, wild. There will be no bonus words this week.

-Work with the high-frequency words (word wall words): found,  mouth, once, took, wild.

-Continue our study of adjectives with a focus on adjectives for size.

-Continue with our Rocket Math program, and start a Problem Solving Skills group for the children how have “soared” through our Rocket Chart.

-Work with problem solving skills for addition and subtraction.

-Begin Chapter 13: Numbers to 40. Please stay posted for information in your child’s folder.

Reminders:

-After a long delay we are excited to announce Part 2 of our Flat Stanley project. In Part 1 your child had FS visit for the weekend. Now we’d like you to select a family member or friend to host FS. We are trying to learn about the country and the world so someone that lives  far away is best! Please send in a stamped envelope that is addressed to your selected “host family.” We will add a letter and FS paper doll to the envelope and mail it out in hopes the that “host family” will return it to our class within the coming weeks. Thanks for your support!

 

 

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