Historic Richmond Town

Never too late for a recap of our trip to Historic Richmond Town (...after all, it's been around a couple hundred years;-)) We enjoyed an educational program that included a hands-on activity of spinning wool (did you know they actually spun the spool around and around?) and breaking flax. Did you know you brush the flax with needle-like brushes? It sort of feels like really, really, rough hair. Did you know you make linen out of flax? Did you know that silk was imported from Asia, and was therefor very expensive and rare in the New World? Most colonial-period clothing was made of wool or linen. We got a great laugh when two of our classmates got to dress up in colonial-period clothing. We wondered what are uniforms might have looked like had we lived back in the day... Enjoy the slideshow!

LIBRARY TRIP TOMORROW! PLEASE SEND YOUR CHILD'S LIBRARY CARD!

REMINDER: Tomorrow is our class trip to the Library. PLEASE remember to send your child's library card to school. All cards issued through school were sent home last week. We will only borrow books with our OWN library cards. THANK YOU!!

Author/Illustrator Visit: Ann D. Koffsky

We truly enjoyed the presentation by Ann D. Koffsky, an author and illustrator of children's books. She explained in great detail how illustrations are created to match the meaning of the text, and how an illustrator might develop their artwork. She also discussed where you might get historical ideas about the clothing people may have worn in a certain time period, as well verifying historical facts that can help you in your work. Here are some pictures and her website: www.annkoffsky.com

Math Review

We had a fun Math Review for Unit 7! Each student got colorful cards with the numbers of  math review 

questions they were responsible to prepare and explain to the class. Morah sat in a student's desk, and the students had the turn to be the teacher. We had great Morahs, Professors, Rebbis and Teachers come up - the kids had a great review and they enjoyed it, too. When each question was completed, the corresponding card/letter was added to the riddle. When all questions were completed we cracked the code. It said: Happy Pre-Purim to you! When the month of Adar comes, we increase in joy!

 A great big THANK YOU to Noah's Mom for coming to read to us for Literacy Month! We read an excerpt from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dog Days. That sure had the class laughing! If you'd still like to come read with us please contact Morah and we'd love to have you!

We earned our 2nd STAR PARTY!

 

Hurray for our Star Students! The class collectively earned their 2nd amazing Star Party for good behavior and achievements. The celebration included: making personalized, beaded key-chains (so cool), dipping Hamantashen in white and dark chocolate and decorating them (yum)! Enjoy the pics, and we look forward to more great star parties - they are hard-earned and therefor well-deserved! Keep up the good work!

 

LITERACY AND PARENTING EVENTS!

This Thursday our Literacy Coach, Myra, will be coming to speak to parents at 7:30 pm about literacy, reading to kids, and how to choose books! This is a GREAT opportunity to meet a true expert in the field of literacy. It will definitely be WORTH your time!

Here's the e-vite link (cut and paste) with all the info, in case you haven't already seen it.

http://new.evite.com/?utm_source=yahoo_mail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=host_conf#view_invite:eid=0320AARBSZI3CI7JQEPAGM5WEFUYXU

On Wednesday, February 23rd at 8:30 pm, Chani and Rabbi Avremel will host Mazel's second Parenting Discussion Group for MOMS and DADS! Topic under discussion: When They Don't Listen: How we, as parents, deal with our children's misbehavior.

Here's a link (cut and paste) to the event posted on Facebook with all info:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174184705958446&index=1

Literacy Month!

We had a fantastic visit from Esther's mom, Morah Irina, who came and read one of their favorite stories to us: The story of The Great Big Turnip. We enjoyed the short story of teamwork...and then acted it all out with an activity Morah Irina had prepared. Each student got a part: the turnip, the old man, the old lady...down to the cat and mouse! We had a great time, enjoy the pictures, and THANK YOU to Esther's mom!

If you would still like to visit us and share a favorite book, please call/email so that we can arrange a time.

Science Update

We wrapped up our unit on the Water Cycle with an educational and fun script that we read. The cast included these characters: the sun, ocean, water vapor, snowflake, glacier, stream, river, reservoir, tap water, water in a pipe, and even sewage water! The students had a great time impersonating, using various voices. Some of them took home their scripts to share with you, we hope you enjoy (and return them, too;-)!

We began our next Earth Science Unit: Erosion. We want to know how earth's crust, made of rock, can change in landform. We began with an experiment where we placed chalk and  rocks in a closed jar. We shook for 1, then 3 minutes and observed changes to the chalk (it turned sandy, and had worn away!). We then switched the old chalk for new chalk and filled half the jar with water. We observed and after 1, then 3 minutes of shaking the jar, the water quickened the process. We noticed that some of the chalk disintegrated (big word! not melted...) in the water, and the rest of the chalky "sand" settled (deposited!) on the bottom of the jar.

Here are some pictures of our fun experiment:

BOOK SALE - SLIGHT CHANGE IN SCHEDULE

Due to a minor technicality, the book sale will not be fully running on Monday. The rest of the schedule will remain the same, unless further notified.

BOOK SALE!

Please Note:
Our time slot for the Book Sale will be this coming Wednesday, Feb. 9th. Please send in $10 (not more) so your child can buy a book. Please have the $10 in by Tuesday, Feb. 8th.

If you would like to buy additional books, you are welcome to come at these times:
(FEB. 7-10) MONDAY - THURSDAY 4:00 - 6:00 PM
(FEB. 11) FRIDAY 8:30 - 10:00 AM

Happy Book Shopping!
Morah N.D.