More from Joey

Another great end to the day in grade 5 (not a big surprise).  We started our research on colonies.   Everyone was assigned one of the original 13 colonies.  We were all given two index cards.  The first card was for our information, such as: original name, date it was founded, founder, and state it is today.  We then all went down to the computer lab to look at a few websites we were going to be using to find all of the things I just listed.  Only a couple of computers fully loaded to the website we were supposed to use.  We all got to see what the website was, and then we went back to our room and discussed what the project was.  I think it is a great project and I can't wait to work on it more.

Perseverance in Math

It was a beautiful thing to have a number of students repeatedly say they still didn't get it during today's math lesson.  And how amazing that when they did, those students were teaching it to others!  Our current math unit is on place value through the billions.  Today's lesson on scientific notation was initially challenging for all.

Judaic Studies Update: Torah Project!

We’ve begun our year-long “Torah Project,” in which students will create a Torah that includes summaries and commentaries from each weekly Torah portion. We began our parsha study with Nitzavim, which focused on the idea of a b’rit (covenant) between God and the Jewish people. (This theme tied in nicely with the students’ creation of classroom rules, in which they reflected on a community’s need for accountability and responsibility.) Some ideas from students’ d’rash (commentary) are:

·         “I think it is important for communities to have rules, because if you don’t have rules there will be chaos.”

·         “It is important to have consequences in a b’rit or people would break it lots of times and nothing would happen to them.”

·         “I think b’nei yisrael felt special about being part of the b’rit with God.”

·         “I feel special about being part of the Jewish people because we have amazing traditions and holidays.”

·         “Being part of the Jewish people makes me feel protected….I also feel thankful because I am really lucky to have a God that cares for me and is like my parent (and he/she/it kind of is).”

Students are now creating the templates that they will use each week, to organize their thoughts and ideas. I am impressed with the artistic flair and creativity that so many of them have brought to their templates. But most of all, I am impressed with the excitement and passion that the class brings to its discussion of Torah! I am looking forward to learning with them – and from them – throughout this coming year.

-Ms. Kwitkin-Close

Joey's post

The start of this week was yet another great one: great activities, our first field trip, finishing our first novel, and much, much more!  The field trip was great!  We were able to throw away our sins and listen to an amazing story told by the awesome Morah Miriam.  We ate lunch together as a kehilah (community) and then had a very enjoyable recess.  Did I forget to mention an amazing and very fun relay race all about Yom Kippur?  The teachers would give us a strip of paper at the starting line with a bad deed written on it.  We would then have to run to the first cone were you would say how you could fix the bad deed.  We then decided weather the bad deed was between you and god or you and your friend, then we would drop the slip of paper into one those bins and sprint to the last cone where we can say your sorry to god.  Finally we would weave through the cones back to your teams line.  That is why it was an awesome first field trip.

By Noa- thread of questions from science class

Weeds

How do they grow?

Maybe birds bring them.

Does anything depend on weeds?

Maybe bugs depend on weeds. 

What if there were no weeds?

What if bugs went extinct?

Maybe frogs would die.

What depends on frogs?

Big animals such as lions,turtles,cows and goats.

What depends on cows and goats?

Maybe people depend on cows and goats.

What if cows and goats go extinct?

Maybe people would go extinct.

What would happen if people go extinct?

The world would be empty.

What would still be in the world?

Upcoming Due Dates

The first reader's letter of the year is due next Friday, September 29th.  Students will be writing a sample reader's letter this morning, to their parents- in lieu of the traditional Friday letter.

Returned Work

In your child's Friday folder you will find a graded math test and first Social Studies writing assignment today.

To follow one's passion, or to be passionate about what one follows?

I found this article rather thought provoking and wanted to share it with fifth grade parents:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/29/opinion/passion-career-cal-newport/index.html%3Fhpt=li_c2?iref=obinsite

Jonah's Post

Today was a really awesome day. We had a Jewish man from Hungry Name Peter come to our classroom. He gave a really interesting speech about his life. He talked about how his dad died when he was only 6 months old, and his brother died when he was 1. He lived through World War 2, and when he was still really young Russia took over his country. When he was 12 he ran away with other boy so they could escape Hungry. They got on a train to go to Austria and from there Peter went to America. In America Peter went to a New York high school. He could not pay to go to a University so he had to work hard to get a scholarship. He ended up getting full scholarship to a New York college. But he didn't now what he wanted to do so he quite and went to the navy. After the navy he went back to school and became an accountant. He traveled all around America, but now he lives in Rhode Island and is retired happily with his wife. His story also connects to what we are learning in Social Studies about Colonial America because he had to leave is home because he did not have freedom of religon., and people in England came to America because they did not have freedom of religon. All in all I had a really fun day.        

Upcoming Due Dates

Our First Math Test, on graphing, will be on Thursday, 9/20
Settling in the New World, a letter for Social Studies about which supplies and people would be most helpful in establishing a community, is now due Thursday, 9/20 (changed from 9/19)

Matan's Post

In art class this week we started building our buildings or structures for the city we are constructing, called Paradise Harbor. We will work on our buildings for the city for two more weeks,then start making streets, people  and cars. Some of the structures are factories, the empire state building, and offices. It is very cool, and I look into finishing it.  

"Rules"

On Thursday we began talking about the "rules" we'd like for our kehilla (community).  Below is what the class has come up with so far.  We agreed to revisit this conversation as brains and bodies were feeling too squirmy to focus after a good 45 minutes of talking, listening, thinking, and sharing.  This is a work in progress:

Brit- agreement; covenant; promise; pact

Be Kind	Listen	Learn as much as you can learn	Try to Have Fun!	Cooperate
Treat people how they want to be treated Respect: each other’s opinions, your work, & others’ work Get along- disagree respectfully INLCUDE people	Raise your hand Sit on your yoga ball properly- only bounce when allowed to	ASK questions! Always try your best Be confident- believe in yourself	Be positive	Stay on task Work together

Personal Narratives

Fifth graders began work on their first major writing assignment of the year this week: a personal narrative.  After carefully reviewing the steps in the writing process, each writer began pre-writing.  By the end of the week writers had moved on to drafting.  We will be working on these personal narratives for many weeks to come.

Elie's Post about Science

Today the fifth grade did our first science project. We started talking about ecosystems.  Ecosystems are a system that involves animals and plants and it shows that everything is connected and how everything works together. We all went outside to the garden and sat in a place where no one would disturb us. Our assignment was to think as many “I wonders” as we could in five minutes. After that assignment was finished, we were assigned with a partner and were given a piece of string (we already had our journals and a pencil). We put the string on or in-between a plant and had to draw a map of what was in the string in our journal. We had to label each thing we put in our map. After we were done with making the map, we had to think of as many questions as we could about what we drew in the map.

All in all, it was an amazing science class.

Lashon Update

                                                                                                                                   September 11, 2012

Dear Fourth and Fifth Grade Parents,                                                                

We’re off to a wonderful start in Lashon class this year!  Both sections are working on a Tal Am Unit called HaKitah Hame’uchedet – The United Class.  We spent the first few days getting to know each other b’Ivrit (in Hebrew), learning what makes each and every one of us meyuchad and meyuchedet – special.  Within this first unit we’ve been on working on verb usage. Lisa’s class is being introduced to the future tense. Naomi’s class is working on these verbs in present tense. We are all practicing our writing skills and constructing sentences. 

We’ve been learning songs and singing songs. Your children have created some very beautiful artwork.  Every day we spend time using our new vocabulary speaking with one another.  We encourage the children to speak in Hebrew as much as possible.  Both sections will come together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah this Friday. We will end our first unit next week with a review of question words and prepositions. In keeping with the spirit of the upcoming holiday season and new beginnings, next week’s word of the week and focus of our studies will be levarech (to bless and to greet).

Best wishes for a sweet New Year,

Lisa and Naomi                                                                                                                                  ,וּמְתוּקָה טוֹבָה שָנָה

ונעמי ליסה

Math Sponges

Today in math, after finishing a review, there was the beautiful sound of learners choosing their own math sponges and working together with focus and purpose.
Any guesses what a math sponge is?

Upcoming Due Dates

Persuasive Letter- due Tue 9/11
Reader's Letter- due Fri 9/28

Reader’s Letter Rubric- 1st Letter Due 9/28

Reader’s Letter Rubric

Big Ideas 20%	The reader states a big idea, in the form of a sentence, that she or he has found in the text and explains it in depth. 18-20	The reader states a big idea from the text.  15-17	The reader states a big idea or a possible theme. 12-14	The big idea and/or theme that the reader suggests is/are hard to understand. 0-11
Synopsis 20%	The letter includes a very brief synopsis of the book, which would make the letter reader want to know more.  18-20	The letter includes a lengthy synopsis of the book that gives away some details, but still leaves the reader wondering.  15-17	The letter includes a lengthy synopsis of the book that provides too much information. 12-14	The synopsis of the story is hard to follow. 0-11
Connections 20%	The reader makes a meaningful text–to-text, text-to-world, and/or text-to-self connection(s) and fully explains it. 18-20	The reader makes a text–to-text, text-to-world, and/or text-to-self connection(s), and attempts to explain it. 15-17	The reader makes text–to-text, text-to-world, and/or text-to-self connections, but fails to provide an explanation. 12-14	The reader’s connections to other texts, to the world, and/or to him/herself are unclear. 0-11
A Favorite Part 10%	The reader shares details of a particular part in the story, and explains why it’s his/her favorite (or least favorite) part.  9-10	The reader writes what his/her favorite or least favorite part is. 7-8	The reader shares a particular event in the story. 5-6	It is unclear why the reader has shared that particular event in the story. 0-4
Book Information 10%	Book title, (underlined), author, (capitalized), and genre are included. 10	Book title, author, and genre are included. 8	Book title, author, and genre are not all accurate. 6	Book title, author, and genre are not all included. 0-4
Letter Format 10%	The placement of the date, heading, indentations, and closing are correct.  The letter is hand written in cursive, and is easy to read, or the typed, double-spaced letter uses font 12. 10	The placement of the date, heading, indentations, and closing are mostly correct.  The letter is hand written in cursive or the typed, double-spaced letter uses font 12. 8-9	There are a few errors in terms of the placement of the date, heading, indentations, and closing.  The letter is hand written in cursive or the typed, double-spaced letter uses font 12. 5-7	There are many errors or omissions in terms of the placement of the date, heading, indentations, and closing. 0-4
Mechanics, Spelling, and Grammar 10%	There are less than a few spelling and/or grammatical errors in the entire letter. 9-10	There are between four-eight spelling and/or grammatical errors.  7-8	There are more than ten spelling and/or grammatical errors. 5-6	There are many spelling and/or grammatical errors. 0-4

Why would someone move to a new place?

Fifth graders pondered this question this afternoon as we began thinking about Colonial America.  They came up with many reasons why one would move, and we talked about which ones may have pertained to the colonists.
Here are their collective ideas:

Reasons to leave home & move to a new place

Money; Nicer/ bigger house/home; Better job; To be treated better; Marriage; A quieter/ more peaceful place; Nicer surrounding; Forced out of home; Natural disaster; Better schools; Health reasons (diseases); Family- to be w/ family; Nicer climate; Better Land for farming/raising food; Water; Change (i.e. city to country); Death; Government; Fun; Nice people; Freedom; Escape the law; War; Follow a dream… adventure; Religious freedom; Oil drilling; Natural Resources; Education; Environmental reasons.

Reader Response Rubric

Rubric for Reader Responses

My Response:

4 fully and clearly answers all parts of the question demonstrates comprehension, thoughtfulness, and empathy contains personal connections I made to the text has textual evidence and a page number (+) clearly shows my thinking +extra credit first semester

3 fully answers all parts of the question demonstrates comprehension and thoughtfulness shows my thinking

2 answers the question(s)

1 is incomplete or unclear (I will revise it and hand it again to be reassessed)

0 wasn’t turned in (I will turn it in for tomorrow because I know handing in work late is much more responsible than not handing it in at all.)

Another post by Minna

Today in class we did a whole class activity. We all got a card and flipped it. We had to work together, as a team and put them all in an order that made sense to us, with no help from the teacher. There were different cards. For example,there was a computer card and a principal card. It took us a while because, as it turned out, we were not supposed to put them in a line, but as the teacher said, simply an order. We used our brains, as we were supposed to and did good, as our teacher also said. I think we all enjoyed the activity, speaking for the whole class, although we got frustrated a lot during the activity.  

First Math Unit

Students listed all the necessary attributes for succeeding in math.  From being joyful to being persistent, we talked about how important the right math attitude, or "mathitude", is for success in math.
We began our first math unit, on graphing.  Students have math journals where they will take all their math notes.  Homework, due tomorrow, was assigned.  Students can choose which problems to spend 10 minutes on.