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Week of: June 11

9-11 Class Learning Highlights

Language Arts

Students have been busy working on their tri-fold boards to highlight their Book Club work for Celebration of Learning! Groups have been communicating effectively and delegating tasks so that the project is finished in time and everyone contributes equally.

Math

4th grade: This week students transferred all of their Expedia and Tripadvisor research onto their visual. Students were required to make a visual that included a creative title, a drawing that connected to their vacation, and itinerary, budget, airfare, and hotel information. We can’t wait to share our Dream Vacations with you at the Celebration of Learning!

5th grade: Students spent this week completing their Celebration of Learning projects. Game boards were colored, posters were decorated, and math books were published!

Science

Our Prospect Park projects are almost complete! We are researching and recreating animals, rocks, and trees that can be found in the park. You will have the opportunity to see the final product at our Celebration of Learning!

History

4th grade: Students presented their Colonial America lessons to their classmates this week! These lessons covered topics including clothing, laws, work/jobs and travel. It was amazing to see students so invested in their learning and to see them so excited to share their work. Students will get to show some of their learning and teaching process at our Celebration of Learning!

5th grade: Students completed our unit on Westward Expansion by teaching mini-lessons on a range of events from this time period. Students showed off slide shows, skits, and question/answer sessions and had so much fun sharing their learning with their classmates! Students will get to share parts of their learning and teaching process during our Celebration of Learning.

Hebrew

Dorit’s groups: This week students reflected in writing about their work this past trimester and the whole year. They proudly shared their success and joy along with setting goals for the upcoming year. Their favorite projects will be available for you to enjoy at the Celebration of Learning this coming Monday!

Daphna’s group: We've been hard at work to create our brochure board about different places in Israel. Students have been writing and typing in Hebrew, as well as researching different places.

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: We have been working on our Parashat VaYechi storyboards to share at the Celebration of Learning!

Eben Ezra: We have been working on our timelines and projects to share with you at the Celebration of Learning!

Kindness: The lawyers have finished their preparation and our trial of Yaakov is all set to start. Witnesses will be called to give their testimony and evidence will be given. Will Yaakov be innocent or guilty of lying and tricking his own family?

The Dreamers: We are putting the final touches on our museum artifacts, storyboards, and sketches. After diving into the Yosef story, students have been given the opportunity to use creativity to recreate the scenes. Check out the final work at the Celebration of Learning!

Mishnah

4th grade: Students spent some time reviewing the different mishnayot that they learned this year and are working on making rule-books/posters for the Shemah.

5th grade: Students took time to go through the mishnayot on the Amidah and to create their own commentary/companion to the Amidah based on our Mishnah learning and tefillah discussions this year.

Community Time

Students reflected on our year-long work with the Four Commitments to set goals for next school year. We can proudly say that all students completed their goal setting without needing any explanation about the Four Commitments. We’re hopeful that next year this language will continue seamlessly and our students will continue to learn and grow both academically and socially with this framework in mind.

Questions

Language Arts

What did you enjoy most in creating your Book Club project? What was challenging to accomplish?

Math

4th grade: What is your favorite part of your Dream Vacation visual? What did you find the most challenging about this project?

5th grade: If you could change one thing about your project, what would it be? What is one part of your project that you’re most proud of?

Science

Can we find science in the everyday world around us?

History: What was your favorite part of your lesson that you taught this week?

Hebrew

Dorit’s groups: What did you accomplish this year in Hebrew that you had difficulty with last year?

Daphna’s group: Ask your parents what they know about the place you're writing about!

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: Share about your storyboard!

Eben Ezra: Which piece of the timeline are you working on? What is your favorite piece of the timeline?

Kindness: What can we learn from Yaakov that can be applied to our everyday lives?

The Dreamers: Does the Yosef story change the way we see our own families?

Mishnah

4th grade: What was your favorite part of Mishnah Brachot that we learned this year?

5th grade: Please share one part of the Amidah that speaks to you as you work on your commentary.

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9-11luria-blog · 6 years ago

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Week of: June 3rd

9-11 Class Learning Highlights

Language Arts

4th grade: Students began working on their poster board projects for Celebration of Learning. Historical Fiction Book Clubs are using a checklist of requirements for the project, including a dual timeline, vocabulary words, and character traits with text evidence.

5th grade: Students began working on their poster board projects for Celebration of Learning. Fantasy Book Clubs are using a checklist of requirements for the project, including story plot with main character’s quest, character analysis with archetypes and character traits, inventive or archaic vocabulary words, and theme of the story including text evidence.

Math

4th grade: Students continued working on their Celebration of Learning Dream Vacation projects. They focused on creating itineraries and budgets for each day of their holiday and also began thinking about how they might display all of the information they collected.

5th grade: Students continued work on their Celebration of Learning projects which included creating a math game, writing a math book for kids, and researching a famous mathematician.

Science

We wrap up our year reviewing our Geology, Evolution and Zoology units with a big class-wide project recreating Prospect Park. Students will pick one of the topics covered and research that topic in depth. From the glacier Terminal Moraine that shaped our city to the different trees and animals that share our neighborhood, we will show how science is always all around us.

History

4th grade: Students worked on creating their own lessons on Colonial America, which they will teach to their classmates next week.

5th grade: Students worked on their Westward Expansion research in small groups and are creating lessons which they will give to the rest of the class next week.

Hebrew

Dorit 4th grade: What will be our set of expectations/rules if we are about to build a new society that will function well and exist forever? What are the Ten Commandments? Why did the Israelites receive them seven weeks after coming out of slavery? What is the text used in the Chumash and how shall we use our own Hebrew vocabulary to talk about the commandments?

These questions were all a part of a very rewarding conversation spoken in Hebrew in class. Students showed a high level of comprehension and were very excited to talk about the topic. Now, we are working on a small sized page to explain the many reasons for celebrating Shavuot and the four names of the holiday.

Dorit 5th grade: As we finished to understand the punchline of the story about Hershale’ and the soup made out of nail, we worked on various activities in class. Students tried to summarize the story through writing five- to eight-sentence paragraphs. Some children chose to act out the story by heart, while others worked on a monologue as one of the characters, preparing themselves to present their act to the class.

Daphna’s group: We finished out Jerusalem unit. We learned about Har Hatzofim and the Knesset and proposed laws. We discussed how many Knesset members there are and the upcoming elections.

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: We worked on our Parashat VaYishlach projects and made progress working with Psukim independently.

Eben Ezra: We dove into Parashat VaYechi and discussed the nearing end of Yaakov’s life. We learned about his Bracha to Efraim and Menashe and how people carry this tradition to this day.

Kindness: Our trial date is quickly approaching! Lawyers and witnesses have been gathering evidence and preparing for cross examination. We will soon find out it Yaakov is guilty of lying and tricking his own family, or if he is someone doing what it takes to keep the tradition of his forefathers alive. Stay tuned to find out!

The Dreamers: The museum curators and sketch writers are putting the final touches on their projects. We’ve gathered artifacts like Yosef’s tunic and dream journals, as well as the ancient Egyptian records of preparing for a famine. Our sketch writers have created an original interpretation of Paraoh’s dream that combine textual evidence and entertaining dialogue. At the Celebration of Learning we will get to see the final products!

Mishnah

4th grade: Students learned the first mishnah in the third perek of Mishnah Bikkurim and reflected on some “firsts” of their own from this year!

5th grade: Students began working on their very own commentary to the Amidah, based on their Mishnah and Tefillah learning from this year.

Questions

Language Arts

How are you contributing to your Book Club’s project? Are you working on all the pieces together as a group or dividing jobs among group members?

Math

4th grade: What did you find challenging about creating daily itineraries for your Dream Vacation? What has surprised you about your research?

5th grade: What stage are you at in the process of your project? What are you finding challenging? What are you finding exciting?

Science

How can we take what we learn in the classroom and apply it to the world around us?

History

4th grade: What is the most important thing that you want your classmates to learn from your Colonial Life lesson?

5th grade: What is the most surprising fact that you learned as a part of your Westward Expansion research?

Hebrew

Dorit 4th grade: If you have an opportunity to add one more commandment to the 10 commandments, what rule would you enforce?

Dorit 5th grade: What was sad and ironic in the story?

Daphna’s group: איזה חוק היית רוצה שיהיה בישראל?

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: Which piece of the parsha are you working on?

Eben Ezra: Of all the topics we learned this week, which did you like best? How does it add to our story?

Kindness: Will Yaakov be judged as a trickster, or the founding father of the Jewish people??

The Dreamers: How can we use the creative process to help teach others about the Yosef story?

Mishnah

4th grade: What is a “first” that you experienced this year? How did/would you celebrate it?

5th grade: Where are you holding with your own Amidah practice? How can you help it to grow?

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9-11luria-blog · 6 years ago

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May Art Update

Inspired by Picasso’s Blue Period, students continued and completed their monochromatic portrait paintings. Students’ palettes were limited to blue, white and black, as they learned about adding white to blue to create tints and black to blue to create tones.

We discussed how to paint in layers, that each class we’d work from the inside out. The first layer is like the skeleton of the painting, a rough sketch that holds the form. Corresponding layers were likened to the skin, shirt, sweater, then jacket. Each class students were able to assess their progress and continue creating details from general to specific.

We also discussed how the paint brush can work as a two-sided tool. While most paint is applied with the brush, we talked about how the plastic handle can be used like a drawing instrument, that students can scratch into the wet paint. Many students utilized this technique, found it more effective for creating lines and more intricate details.

This was our most sustained unit of the year, and to celebrate the completion of these paintings, students had a chance to share and discuss their artwork. I emphasized a positive tone for our critique, and I was impressed by their observations and suggestions for classmates.

Students who have Art on Thursday missed a few classes and will continue to complete these paintings in June.

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9-11luria-blog · 6 years ago

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Week of: May 28th

9-11 Class Learning Highlights

Language Arts

4th grade: This week students resumed Historical Fiction Book Clubs, focusing on character traits, vocabulary words, and how the time period and setting affects the plot of the story. Students will use this information to plan their end of the year project.

5th grade: Students resumed Fantasy Book Clubs this week with a focus on theme, symbolism, archetypes, and quest of the main character. Celebration of Learning group projects will begin next week and will include elements of the fantasy genre.

Math

4th grade: This week we launched our Celebration of Learning projects! Students will be planning their dream vacation by working with a budget, teacher-approved websites, and graphic organizers to create engaging itineraries all within a specific budget. Students are using Expedia to find airfare and hotels and Tripadvisor to find activities and restaurants.

5th grade: This week we launched our Celebration of Learning projects! Students were given a choice of researching a famous mathematician, creating a math board game, or writing a children’s book about a math skill that we learned this year.

Science

As the year comes to an end we begin to review our previous units of Geology, Evolution and Zoology. Specifically, we will be learning how science is all around us, even in our beloved Prospect Park. Our final project is to learn about the different rocks, minerals, plants, and animals that reside in the heart of Brooklyn by recreating the park in our classroom. We’ll see how it turns out at the Celebration of Learning!

History

4th grade: Students continued working on their Colonial America group mini-projects and shared their learning with the rest of the class.

5th grade: We began our Westward Expansion unit by learning about the Louisiana Purchase and the need to expand West after the Revolutionary War. Students will be divided into small groups to learn and teach some of the other topics in this unit and will present their research findings before the end of the year.

Hebrew

Dorit 5th grade: This week we started learning a new story that combines some previously learned and new/unfamiliar vocabulary. Learning how to guess unfamiliar words is a valuable strategy worth practicing.

Dorit 4th grade: This past week we practiced short writing with new and previously learned vocabulary. We focused on paying close attention to some basic syntax. The students chose the topic they wished to write about and were required to use their pages of vocabulary which are organized by parts of speech.

Daphna’s group: We finished our Negev unit! Students have learned about developing the Negev, Ben Gurion’s love of the Negev and how to ward off dehydration while hiking in the desert.

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: We finished Parashat VaYetze! Students were so excited to escort the biblical family on this escape from Lavan and see how the story unfolds.

Eben Ezra: We finished Parashat VaYigash! We continue to discuss the development of the character and specifically the changes in hierarchy in the family. Students focused on sharpening their Rashi skills and working independently and in a group with Rashi text.

Kindness: The trial of Yaakov is quickly approaching! Students have been assigned roles from lawyers to witnesses and are busy preparing their questions and testimonies. Will Yaakov be guilty of lying and tricking his family, or will we learn about the hard choices he had to make to do the right thing?

The Dreamers: We are making great progress on our museum and skit projects. Students have been crafting and detailing different artifacts from the Yosef story to be presented at our Celebration of Learning. Others have been busy writing and storyboarding creative pieces showing their original interpretation of the story.

Mishnah

4th grade: 4th graders finished learning the first mishnah in the 2nd perek of Mishnah Brachot, which focuses on questioning and responding to people during the recitation of the Shemah. Students also began learning the following mishnah, which takes a look at the actual divisions of the paragraphs of the Shemah. It was exciting to see students looking inside of their siddurim to see if the Mishnah “checked out.”

5th grade: Students continued learning the 3rd mishnah in the 5th perek of Mishnah Brachot. The Mishnah discusses two different “potentially heretical” statements that one might say during the recitation of the Amidah. This led to a fascinating discussion about how much choice and free space we have during our daily tefilot.

Community Time

We began a mini-unit on Social Justice this week, focusing on the variety of religious clothing we noticed in our community. Students contributed beautifully to the conversation and noticed that several religions honor similar women’s and men’s head wear.

Questions

Language Arts

4th grade: What is the setting of your Book Club story? Why is the setting important in the story line (plot) of the book?

5th grade: What planning for Celebration of Learning has your Book Club begun? What elements of fantasy are you including?

Math

4th grade: What is your destination for your dream vacation? What has surprised you during your planning and research?

5th grade: Which project did you choose for the Celebration of Learning? What are you finding challenging about this project? What are you excited about?

Science

How can we take what we learned in Science this year and apply it to our everyday lives?

History

4th grade: What was the most surprising fact that you found in your research about Colonial America?

5th grade: What were some of the pros and cons of the Louisiana Purchase?

Hebrew

Dorit 5th grade: What can you share with us in Hebrew about the story you are learning this week?

Dorit 4th grade: How is the writing process working for you? What is the most difficult part?

Daphna’s group: למה בן גוריון אוהב את הנגב? מה יש שם? מה אין שם? את/ה אוהב/ת את הנגב? למה? למה לא?

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: What was your favorite part of this Parasha?

Eben Ezra: Who is your favorite character? Why?

Kindness: Does the research being done on Yaakov change the way you see him?

The Dreamers: How can we take the text and commentaries to craft original interpretations of the Yosef story?

Mishnah

4th grade: What did you find by looking at your siddur and our mishnayot side by side?

5th grade: Why do you think the Mishnah brings the examples of one who mentions G-d’s mercy on the mother bird and one who says modim modim? Explain.

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9-11luria-blog · 6 years ago

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Week of: May 13th

9-11 Class Learning Highlights

Language Arts

Students spent lesson time this week preparing for the Terra Nova. We reviewed reading a passage and answering related multiple choice and constructed response questions, language practice such as grammar and sentence structure, and essay writing. With all of their hard work this year, students are well-prepared for the test next week!

Math

4th grade: The students spent the week reviewing for the Terra Nova, and also discussed test-taking strategies. We reviewed the coordinate plane, missing or extra information in word problems, bar and pictographs, adding and subtracting angles, decimals, and many other skills and concepts that we’ve learned this year.

5th grade: The students spent the week reviewing concepts and skills for the Terra Nova, and also discussed test-taking strategies. We reviewed adding and multiplying decimals, finding volume, graphing, probability, and analyzing data.

Science

Time for our last unit: Zoology! This past week students created their own animals online, coming up with how this animal collects food and where it would live. After reviewing this we dove into how different animals (real animals) get food by either hunting, foraging or scavenging.

History

4th grade: This week, students embarked on an exciting new unit, as we began to study Colonial America. Students learned about the geography of the original 13 colonies and did some map work before splitting into small groups to do some research on a variety of topics including homes, work/jobs, travel, and clothes.

5th grade: Students learned about amendments to the U.S. Constitution with a focus on the Bill of Rights. Students learned some of the background history as well as an overview of the amendments and then chose one specific amendment to research and create a small poster/advertisement which they will be presenting back to the class. It was amazing to see students draw connections between the amendments and the needs and rights which demanded them including the past experiences and trauma of Colonists living under British rule.

Hebrew

Dorit’s groups: This week, students worked diligently writing a set of rules/expectations that correspond to different places. The writing activity had to incorporate a particular grammatical pattern taught and practiced in class previously. For example, some students chose to create a 3-D presentation, while others decorated their work inspired by the place and time they were working on. Furthermore, some students chose to create games on Kahoot, a great app many students like to use to practice their vocabulary with each other. Students now know the expectations in a library, zoo, park, museum, farm, classroom all in Hebrew!

Daphna’s group: This week we started learning about the Negev. We discussed what we have and don’t have there, the things we’d need to pack for that kind of trip, and we learned the rule of twos in Hebrew and discussed Ben Gurion’s special attachment to that part of the land.

Chumash

Rashi and Ramban: We learned about Ya’akov’s dealings of trying to leave Lavan and go home. We worked both independently and as group to understand the dynamics and to get to know the characters better.

Eben Ezra: Yosef revealed himself to the brothers! We’ve dealt with this delicate time in the biblical family’s life, and tried to see who’s taking ownership, who’s hanging back, and how the brothers react to Yosef after so many years.

Kindness: It’s time for our final project: putting Yaakov on trial and judging his actions and motivations throughout the different moments of his life. From trading for Esav’s birthright, to tricking his own father, to running away from Lavan with no warning, how can we justify the actions of our forefather? Stay tuned to find out!

The Dreamers: We are making great progress in our end of year assessments. Some students are creating a museum with different artifacts from the Yosef story, including his tunic, dream journal, Paroah’s record book, and more! Other students are creating an original sketch and storyboard with an original interpretation of the different dreams found in the text.

Mishnah

4th grade: Students began learning the 2nd perek of Mishnah Brachot! The first mishnah focuses on a series of scenarios which explain the importance of focus and intention during recitation of the Shemah. Students studied these scenarios and had the opportunity to role-play and improv them in front of their classmates.

5th grade: Students began learning the 3rd mishnah in the 5th perek of Mishnah Brachot. This mishnah discusses certain phrases and thoughts that one might have during the silent Amidah and, in particular, ones that the Rabbis view as heretical. The Mishnah also discusses the role and responsibility of the shaliach tzibur in leading Tefillah.

Community Time

As a community, we went through strategies to reduce test-taking anxiety, such as positive self-talk, deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and getting silly just before the test to relieve some pressure.

Questions

Language Arts

Which part of the Terra Nova are you feeling most prepared for? What kinds of strategies will you use if you feel any sort of worry or fear during the Terra Nova?

Math

4th grade: What are some things you can do BEFORE the Terra Novas to ensure a successful testing day? How are decimals and fractions connected?

5th grade: What are some things you can do BEFORE the Terra Novas to ensure a successful testing day? How do you find the volume of a space?

Science

How did animals evolve different hunting and foraging strategies that help them find food?

History

4th grade: What did you learn about life in the American Colonies? Did anything surprise you?

5th grade: Which Amendment spoke to you the most? Why?

Hebrew

Dorit’s groups: What was your place that you worked on?

Daphna’s group: למה בן גוריון אהב את הנגב?

Chumash