This week Ganon Aleph went on a class nature walk exploring the transition from fall to winter. With the sun shining bright and a crisp feeling in the air, our Ganon students eagerly gathered fall items such as twigs and branches. We noted the differences between the seasons as we now need cozy items such as gloves, hats, sweaters and coats, to keep us nice and warm. We also noticed how the outside is looking a bit different too, the leaves have all fallen to the ground and the birds are starting to fly away as they migrate to a warmer climate. Back in our classroom, our little artists transformed their fall findings into beautiful bare winter trees. Our creations will soon be displayed in the ECD hallway, inviting everyone to take in the beauty of the changing seasons.. 

We had an incredible week in Gan Bet! During circle time we discussed things we know about winter and how it is different from fall. We filled out a Venn diagram which made our discussion very informative. After reading “The Mitten,” by Jenn Brad, the children put the story into sequential order, created sentences with sight words summarizing the story, measured how tall they are in mittens and created a bar graph to show our classes preference to wear gloves, mittens or nothing on their hands during winter. We tallied the data and discovered the majority of the class does not like to wear gloves or mittens during winter. 

In kita Aleph we read the book שחר אוהב כחול - Shachar loves blue and made our own yalkut! (backpack). We also learned what is inside the yalkut. The children colored their own yalkut in their favorite color and then presented the contents. They chose items such as a pencil, eraser, marker, sharpener, book, notebook, and scissors. They had such a great time with this project and got to learn so many school items.

It's time for a curriculum combo in second grade! We used coding to help us start our diversity unit. Students responded to conditional statements to create cute puppies and carebot pairs. These statements included preferences of foods and activities. Then, they took their drawing and discussed similarities and differences with a partner. They enjoyed seeing their classmates’ pets and were able to identify a similarity, a difference and something that surprised them about their partners responses. We then used the Kodable app to program their carebots to care for their pet using conditional statements.

Fifth graders made activity bags for displaced children in Israel. 

SEL UPDATE

During our first grade SEL sessions this week, we focused on what it means to feel proud of oneself. We read the book, I’m Proud Of Myself! By Laurie Wright, which emphasized the importance of positive-self talk, that even when things might feel hard or unexpected kids should feel proud of the effort they put in. The students got a chance to share their own special proud moments, including going on a big roller coaster, making the winning goal in a soccer game and trying new afterschool activities even when it felt scary at first. Being happy with who we are and acknowledging our strengths can help boost our confidence and have a positive impact on our relationships with others.