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The students have arrived!
May 29
This morning, the youngest group did tabletop work which focused on following directions and reading skills. Students had to read commands and then do what was said; for example, “Underline two ducks” and “Circle the turtle.” This activity promotes independence and self-efficacy, so that students feel more comfortable with independent work. Then, we met to continue our Leo Lionni unit, using It’s Mine again. Last week, students listened to this story for its plot and then used pictures to retell the events of the story. Today, we used the book to learn information about frogs, in order to write a frog poem. In this literacy activity, students engage in a whole group brainstorming activity to list as many words and concepts about frogs as possible. Next, we wrote a frog poem together, that followed an AABBCC rhyme scheme and then students independently wrote their own poems. After students met for editing conferences, they began a clean copy for publication of a class book.
The 9-12 Class continued thesis work this morning; most students are writing or typing their final copies!
During Work Time, students met for geometry lessons. In this lesson, students use The Yellow Triangles for Area in order to calculate the area of a square. After using the materials, students derive the formula A=ww or A=w squared. The middle group used this time to work on a critical thinking activity about last week’s Chumash midrash, as well as working with the six parts of a triangle and subtracting fractions with uncommon denominators. At this time, the youngest group continued work with “gh” words and sorting and spelling masculine and feminine nouns.
Due to the short week and camping, we will not be learning a new pasuk inside the Chumash this week. Instead, we are taking this opportunity to work on some critical thinking skills and to work on reading fluency and familiarity with events of Lech Licha with a humorous play which covers the pesukim we learned. Today, we chose parts and referenced which parts were about which pesukim. We also did a few read throughs!
May 24
We started new tabletop work and this morning, Group 1 started their day with a reading and writing activity. In this work, students read a short passage and then answer language and content questions about the text. Then, we met for our usual language and geometry lessons. For our language activity, we are still working with nouns, and today we learned the difference between masculine and feminine nouns. In this lesson, students sort twenty different nouns into their respective categories and then record the chart in their notebook. This unit will serve as a grammar unit as well as a spelling word list, just as the singular and plural noun unit did. Next, we met for geometry lessons to learn that there are two kinds of closed figures -closed curved figures and polygons- and to learn the difference between the two. After reviewing the difference between closed and open figures, we manipulated geometry sticks and curved paper in order to create and distinguish between a closed curved figure and closed straight figure, known as a polygon.
The oldest group continued thesis work this morning —some students have finished editing conferences and are now working on their final copies. Some children have chosen to type while others are using their neatest handwriting. Children are feeling very proud of their work and have asked if this can be the writing piece we display at graduation!
During Work Time, the oldest group worked on fraction follow up from yesterday and completed equations in multiplying fractions by fractions. This group also worked on chemistry packets, which work on familiarity with The Periodic Table of Elements. The middle group used this time to work with Chumash vocabulary, subtracting fractions, labeling parts of a triangle and the nine times table. At this time, students from Group One spent time sorting closed curved figures and polygons and reviewing subtraction skills.
Tiphanie’s group took a Chumash test, which assessed vocabulary from the entire perek and comprehension of the pasuk.
The 9-12 Class met this afternoon for a chemistry lesson to learn the basic physical properties of solids. In this lesson, we explore solids and ask ourselves questions about them, in order to determine their properties. For example, when Yehudah held a wooden block I asked him, “Can you compress it?” and when he responded, “No” we realized one property is that solids cannot be compressed. After a number of these mini experiments we determined that solids: have mass, take up space, cannot change shape, cannot be easily compressed, another solid cannot pass through it and it is visible.
Building Compounds
May 23
This morning, the middle group met to begin the final geometry unit of this year. After our morning routine, we used The Montessori Tack Board and Sticks to build a triangle and learn about the six parts of a triangle. In this lesson, we use previous knowledge about the parts of an angle in order to identify the base, sides, angles, vertices, perimeter and area of a triangle. Students had an opportunity to build a triangle and label its parts, then used 3-part nomenclature to match pictures with words and definitions. To conclude, children drew and labeled triangles in their notebooks.
The oldest students continued thesis writing this morning. Today, some students met to discuss writing a strong conclusion, which “hammers home” the point you are trying to prove. We are writing a conclusion that says to the reader, “okay, here is all my proof, you must be a believer now!”
Next, the 9-12 group learned about customs and ideas related to Shavuot. We read from a text that was written as a conversation between a teacher and student and the children took turns role playing the parts and discussing the concepts. Some of the things we learned about were the reasons for decorating homes and synagogues with greenery and eating dairy products on Shavuot. We discussed some of the lesser known and more esoteric reasons for eating dairy on Shavuot. We also learned about texts that are read in different Jewish communities on Shavuot including the book of Ruth and Akdamut, the liturgical poem written during the time period of the Crusades. The children heard how the piyut was composed in Aramaic during a difficult time for the Jewish community in Germany and as a response to missionary actions that became oppressive to Jewish people.
The 7-9 group sang the songs of Shavuot before Tefila this morning.
During Work-Time, some of the children in the 7-9 group did work similar to the 9-12 group, studying customs and ideas related to Shavuot. Older students met for fraction lessons. First, we reviewed multiplying fractions by whole numbers, then used the same process to multiply fractions by fractions. After learning the process, we used illustrations and the concept of multiplication meaning “of” to check for understanding. For example in 1/2 X 2/5, we can draw 2/5 and take half OF them, to check our answer of 2/10 reduced to 1/5.
At Chumash, Sara’s group finally finished the story of Ruth. The children have been so excited about this story and couldn’t wait to hear the end unfold. Tiphanie’s group learned that the expression “men who are brothers” really just means relatives. Then, students did some skill work which focused on breaking a word from the pasuk into its shoresh and then translating the shoresh. Students also had to identify which pasuk the word comes from. This activity develops familiarity with the text and reinforces vocabulary. Bryna’s group began a new perek—perek chaf hey. Students worked b’chavruta to read and translate the first ten pesukim, which describe the descendants of Avraham.
Group 2 ended the day with Cultural Work Time. At this time, small groups met for more water cycle lessons. In this lesson, we focused on the words evaporation, condensation, precipitation and transpiration.
From 3:00-3:30 the 9-12 children worked with chavrutot to answer questions about the text we read in the morning. For the second half of last period, the 9-12 group planted the small plants in their raised garden. We planted sunflower seeds and lettuce, tomato, strawberry, parsley and basil plants. Yehudah even planted some apple seeds and suggested that he would actually save Luria money if we could just go outside to pick our snack off a tree!
May 17
This morning, the younger group took a noun spelling test. I am pleased to report that, with the exception of the word volcano, students knew how to spell and pluralize many nouns! We spent the rest of the morning on a long awaited art project based on Leo Lionni’s Swimmy. We reviewed all the different lessons we learned from this book —the first time we read it we looked for similes and did a simile unit, the second time we paid attention to learning how the fish work together and this time we paid careful attention to the illustrations. Then, we each created our own underwater scene using crayon, plastic bags and blue paint!
The oldest group spent time this morning working on their Hamlet Playbills. It is a great creative outlet for children and provides a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves!
During Work Time, the older group met to derive a formula for the area of rectangles, based on the lessons we had this week.
The Chumash test today focused on vocabulary, answering Ivrit content questions about the text and explaining the Rashi from the week.
The oldest group ended their day by making edits to their chemistry quizzes. Students used their notes to fix any errors and their final grade will be an average of the original grade and grade with corrections.
May 22
This morning, the youngest group worked on reading comprehension through a Leo Lionni read aloud. Students listened to It’s Mine!and then sequenced the events of the story. In this activity, children draw ten pictures to depict what happened in the story and then answer questions about the text. This helps to develop recall skills and text-to-self connections.
The oldest group met for Writer’s Workshop this morning. We are working on wrapping up the rough drafts of our creative stories, in order to begin publishing these exciting tales! This workshop has worked on students’ ability to express themselves and develop Tiphanie’s Ten Traits of Good Writers.
The 9-12 group worked on the artwork for their Bikurim murals and book. Each set of chavrutot depicted a different part of the process of bringing Bikurim and the parade and shoe of honor that accompanied the baskets of fruit.
The 7-9 group listened to chapters 5 and 6 of Ruth before Tefila today.
During Work-Time, the 9-12 group finished editing and typing their writing for the Rabbi Akiva book as well as the Bikurim Mishna book. We have been working so hard at both and the children are really proud of the results. Both required a lot of studying Mishna and Torah texts and then applying that knowledge to writing proper essays! This was a long and detailed process. Please take the time to look at each
draft and the original texts with your children when they bring the final project and drafts home for Shavuot.
draft and the original texts with your children when they bring the final project and drafts home for Shavuot.
The children who are in Sara’s Monday reading group worked with words from this week’s spelling list, rewriting and grouping them.
During Chumash, Sara’s Chumash group continued learning and illustrating their books on the story of Ruth. In Tiphanie’s group, each rockstar had an opportunity to read and translate the pasuk for the class. Then, in chavruta, children had to take the words of the pasuk (each on a different card), sequence them, put them in appropriate “chunks” and write a translation. This continues to increase familiarity with the words of the text and ensures comprehension. Bryna’s group reviewed their tests and corrected any mistakes.
This afternoon, the 9-12 Class met for another government lesson. In this lesson, we reviewed what we already know about the differences and similarities between Israel and the U.S. and then learned about a major difference—the election process. We learned about the difference between Israel’s multi party system and proportional representation and the U.S.’s pluralism. We used this as an opportunity to work on the math skill of ratio and did some examples of number of votes:number of seats based on a 2:1 ratio. We used this new information to complete our Venn diagrams and then learned about a political process sequencing activity for Work Time.
From 3:00-4:00 the 7-9 group finished the story and took photographs for the story of Ruth book that they have been working on.
