Bingo, Creation of Adam, Purim and Pesach
Social Studies We began our new unit on another cultural community represented in Brooklyn: the Caribbean! We looked at a map of the Caribbean and described what we know about the Caribbean, and what information we can gleam from a map. Students shared that the Caribbean has many small islands, is a hot climate, and has many beaches. To learn more about what life is like in the Caribbean compared to New York, we read the book Angelina’s Island by Jeanette Winters. This is a warm story about a Jamaican girl now living in New York City. In the story... Read More
Purim and Kindness Week
Community Building This week we have been focusing on kindness- how we can spread kindness at home, in school, and the greater community. Second graders heard the story Each Kindness, by Jacqueline Woodson, a story about a girl named Maya who moves to a new school and the main character Chloe chooses to be unkind to her. Maya attempts many times throughout the story to befriend Chloe, but Chloe continues to choose to be unkind. As we discussed how we thought the story would end most students predicted “They will make up and become friends”. However, the story closes with... Read More
100th day, Science,
Celebrating Rosh Chodesh with Pajama Day! We had a fun filled Pajama Day today! Kids loved seeing their friends and teachers in pajamas, as well as having their stuffed animals in school. We joined the rest of the school in singing “Mi shenichnas Adar Marbin B’simcha” (When Adar comes, we are happy!) during the school wide pajama parade. During Hebrew we listened to and read the words to the popular song about a Zebra and pajamas. We also made our stuffed animals speak to each other in Hebrew! 100th Day of School Right before break we celebrated the 100th day... Read More
Uganda, Buddies, Math Celebration and More!
Buddy Time: 99th Day of School! We met our buddies on Thursday, the 99th day of school. In honor of the 99th day we played Bingo in Hebrew and a special 99 related Bingo game. Math This week we officially finished our math 2A workbooks! As a final project the second graders created board games where they had to make problems from each unit we’ve learned. They enjoyed being creative and modeling their games after some favorites like “Sorry” “Shoots and Ladders” and “Trouble”. We had a blast playing these games and reviewing all that we have learned! The... Read More
Poetry, Tallit, and Vanishing Points!
Reading and Writing We have been making many connections between reading and writing as we have began our poetry unit. Second graders began to look at ordinary objects with a poet’s heart and mind. We studied poetry from several authors and noticed that poets make comparisons to help the reader paint a picture in their mind. We listened to poems with our eyes closed, talked about visualization, and of course began writing our very own poems. With bags filled with mysterious objects, we had to reach in and write poems using comparisons. Staple removers became ferocious sharks, paintbrushes became brooms... Read More
MLK, Tzitzit, Bingo, Tu B’shvat
Community Building With the new year underway, we have been working on building our community and embracing our fresh groups. We started discussing about the different ways that we speak to each other, and how it can make the other person in the conversation feel. We learned about three different ways we can speak: aggressively, passively, or assertively. Second graders brainstormed what these three ways of speaking would look and sound like. With our new stuffed animal friends, Davey the dog and Beth the bunny, we role played scenarios that have happened in the classroom using aggressive speech, passive speech,... Read More
A Great Start to 2019!
Community Building We had a wonderful return back to school including introducing new learning groups. Students were empowered to be a part of the selection process as they had the opportunity to vote for our new groups names. The winner of the class vote was: Cherries and Apples- דובדבנים אדומים ותפוחים ירוקים Ask your child what their new group name is! We were impressed with the silent cheers when the winning group names were announced and by the discussion that followed. Evia told us that switching groups is a good chance to make new friends. Josh reminded the class that... Read More
Math Apps and Social Action Trip
Celeberating Chanukkah Second graders lit Chanukkah candles every day last week. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we lit with the whole school in the gym. Our chazanim, Ben and Rephael, were so excited to represent our class in lighting with their buddies for the whole school on Wednesday. On Thursday we lit with our buddies in our classroom. After lighting candles with our buddies, we watched a video of our sixth grade buddies from when they were in second grade and were in the Chanukkah play. We then, we split into smaller groups to play dreidel. It was so nice... Read More
Thanksgiving, Publishing Party, and Israel
Celebrating Chanukkah! Second graders have been preparing for Chanukkah by reading the channukkah story in English and Hebrew, practicing reciting the blessings, and learning our Hebrew lines and dance for the chanukkah play. Students received an early chanukkah present of a dreidel from the PA today at dismissal so that they can play at home on the first night of Chanukkah on Sunday! Chanukkah Play: Monday, December 10th at 5:15. If you want a sneak peak of your child’s dance, play them this song and ask them to show it to you! Publishing Party Thank you for attending... Read More
Voting and Spotlight on Science
Science The students have been very active scientists the past weeks. They continue to build science vocabulary and understanding of concepts related to the three states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. Each pair of science partners conducted an experiment with hot and cold water in a closed environment with cups to learn about condensation. We read the article “A Snowman in July” which exemplified how water can change from solid to liquid to gas to water again, and students identified science words in the text relating to these changes. The next science experiment on mixing and separating solids was... Read More