Yonim Fifth Grade's Blog

Dear 5th grade families,

We are looking forward to the 5th Grade Night of Learning, currently scheduled for Thursday, June 7th from 6:30-8:00 p.m. While the date was published on the both the on-line and hard copy of the school’s calendar in the fall, it has come to our attention that several of our families have a conflict on this evening. The SJCS faculty has generously offered an alternative date on Tuesday, June 12th from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Please note that Promotion is on the following day, Wednesday, June 13th.  We will decide the final date based on which night the majority of the families are able to attend. Please let me know by next Wednesday, May 16th if:

1)            Your family CAN only attend Thursday, June 7th

2)            Your family CAN only attend Tuesday, June 12th

3)            Your family CAN attend either  date

The final date will communicated to you via e-mail by Friday, May 18th.This night is an intimate, culminating activity for the 5th grade families. Each student will write and present a speech about a specific part of his/her SJCS curricular experience, incorporating ideas from his/her classmates. The group will also reflect as a whole on the SJCS experience. A special family time, where each family will have a private time together, rounds out the evening.   Parents, grandparents, special loved ones, and siblings are invited to join. The event is always a significant milestone celebration.

In preparation for the program, Karlana will be working with the 5th grade students for part of the afternoon on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays starting next week. More information about your participation will be forthcoming from the 5th grade team. 

Thank you in advance for getting back to me by next Wednesday with your availability.  

Warmly,

Chrys Hunstiger
Director of Curricular Activities

Learning Specialist

chunstiger@sjcs.net

It’s been great to be back in the classroom with the 5th grade!  We have been busy on all fronts.

Last week, we wrapped up our studies of pre-colonial North American history with pageantry and a fiesta of “New World” treats.  (Ask your student to tell you what these were!)  Our “explorers” and “great innovators” toured the school to share their accomplishments and the spirit of adventure with younger students, teachers, and bagel-noshing parents.  They were fantastic!

So, you might ask, were they heroes, or were they villains?  When we study history, we tend to take sides.  In their study of the explorers (and the colonies that followed), 5th graders are introduced to the complexities of perspective-taking and conflict in history.  They also learn about economic and ecological factors in world affairs such as population growth and resource depletion, habitat loss, epidemics, technological advances, religious zeal, and the quest for economic advantage, i.e., wealth.  In the 16th and 17th centuries, circumstances incited and favored the Europeans’ search for new land and new opportunities.  Today, we can find these same factors at play in global dynamics.

In the remaining weeks of school, we intend to “keep calm and carry on” — at least, as much as possible!  We are studying landforms and erosion in Science, more advanced operations with fractions in Math, and we have some special culminating projects planned in Language Arts.   This week we are formulating ideas and proposals for individual research/experiential learning projects, which you will be hearing more about as we proceed.  Finally, we have our eyes on the 5th grade “Night of Learning,” which is scheduled for the evening of June 7.   You won’t want to miss this special evening of reflection and celebration!

Please stop in and say hello, or feel free to let me know what’s on your mind as we enter the final phase of your child’s time at SJCS.  We want this time to be the SWEETest sort of bittersweet!

Morah Karlana

Our explorer projects were a HUGE success!  I am so impressed by the work that everyone did.  We have a very tech savvy class, and they are pretty amazing creative writers, too.  Students that chose to create brochures will be bringing them home today.  To view the inside panels of  brochures for Juan’s Exploration, Cortes Exploration Inc., Da Gama Voyage Industries, The King’s Men Co., Exploring the Saints Inc., and Wealth Inc., click here.  Ferdinand Magellan and Francisco Pizzaro’s blogs are available for all to see online.

Have a wonderful break and a meaningful Passover!

Gabrielle

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  But of course, I am still going to add a few of my own!  I am so proud of all the hard work the entire class is putting into their explorer projects; they are all truly engaged with, and committed to, this effort.  The amount of creativity is astounding.  You will notice in this picture every student typing, writing, or editing his/her work dilligently.  If only this picture also conveyed sound.  You would hear only the clicking of keyboards, the whirring of computer fans, and if you listen really carefully, possibly even brains hard at work.  Our goal is to have rough drafts finished by the end of tomorrow so that editing and final touches can take place next week.  I want everyone to have the chance to share their work with one another on Wednesday before we head off to break.

Dear Parents,

I want to keep you all in the loop about what is going on in 5th grade.  I will be out of town for a family wedding for the next three days.  HaMorah Kenlee will be substituting for me.  She did a demo lesson for 5th grade recently, and just subbed for haMorah Elizabeth earlier this week.  She is all set to fill my shoes!

We have been very busy these past few days working on multiple subjects and projects.  Here is an update of what has happened, along with a preview of what is to come:

• Science Fair – I am SO happy to report that everyone is on schedule!  All of the students have printed their materials.  Tomorrow the focus will be on mounting the students’ typed projects onto colorful construction paper.  Friday and Monday, the focus will be on creating a beautiful board.  We will provide display boards for every student.  The plan is for all students to be finished by Tuesday, March 15th so that we can take a breather before the main event.  Looking forward to seeing everyone from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on March 15th!
• Out of Many Waters - I am sure a lot of you noticed your child reading the book Out of Many Waters over the break and last week.  This work of historical fiction tells the tale of two girls escaping from the Portuguese Inquisition.  For a culminating project, students could choose to: write a character analysis of one of the characters, write an epilogue to the story, create a comic book style representation of the book, or write a book review.  Each student presented their work to his/her classmates this morning.
• Math - We are continuing to move forward in Chapter 6 of Everyday Math.  The focus is on data collecting and data analysis.  This has fit perfectly with what students are working on in science.  Yesterday the students enjoyed a lesson concerning the importance of sample size featuring some delicious M&Ms!
• Explorers - While I am gone, students will be looking at the role of Jews in the history of exploration.  When I return, we will finish talking about Christopher Columbus and then begin our individual research projects on specific explorers and historical figures.
• Pi Day - March 14th (3.14) is Pi Day.  5th graders will celebrate by making pie (the class voted on strawberry rhubarb and banana cream), exploring Pi mathematically, and participating in Hoop to the Beat (hula hooping experts).

Drawing Rabbi Harvey

As we turn our attention in science from experimentation to results, students are having to ask themselves, “How do I best represent my data?”  And it just so happens that this is the very same question being posed in this chapter of math!  In math, students are not only learning about how to organize data, but also how to analyze it using data landmarks such as maximum, minimum, range, mode, median, and mean.  In science, students are having to determine if their data is qualitative or quantitative.  Students with qualitative data are creating tables in word to enter their observations.  On the other hand,  students with quantitative data are deciding what type of graph would best suit their data and then practicing using Excel to both enter the information and create an appropriate graph.

Drawing Rabbi Harvey

HaMorah Brooke and I are looking forward to meeting with individual students this week to discuss and edit the rough drafts of their science fair projects.  Final drafts will be due next Wednesday, March 8th.  At that point the focus will turn toward science fair board assembly.

In other news, we are continuing on with our Explorer Unit, focusing this week on Christopher Columbus and Spanish exploration.  We also got the opportunity on Monday to meet Steve Sheinkin, the author of the Rabbi Harvey series of books.  He told us about his writing process, where his ideas come from, and showed us how to draw Rabbi Harvey!

As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks!

Morah Gabrielle

Below are some of the Historical Haikus written by our very clever and creative fifth graders.  The topics to write about were Benjamin of Tudela, Marco Polo, The Silk Road, and the Mongol Empire.  Enjoy!

This week we completed the unit on the water cycle in Hebrew and then learned in Hebrew about the fruit and vegetable growth cycle.  This included from seed, to root, to sapling, to trunk, then branches, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, followed by the seeds falling to the ground, thus continuing the cycle once again.  Machzor in Hebew is cycle, whose root means to return.

As part of our Tu B’Shevat unit, the children learned the source in the Book of Deuteronomy (Chapter 8, 7-8)  enumerating the “Seven Species”.  These are the grains and fruits through which Moses praises the Land of Israel.  They include “…. a land of wheat and barley, and grape vines and fig trees and pomengranetes; a land of olive trees and date honey.”  The students were then divided into 7 groups and each group was given a text related to one of the seven species.  Each text compared one of the species to a certain human quality.  Each group had to read the text amongst themselves,  answer several questions to help them identify the comparison that was presented and then read their answers to the class.  This produced a lively and engaged discussion and lent a new appreciation for the Tu B’Shevat celebration.

This week’s Torah portion is Yitro whose highlight is the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.  The students reviewed  in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 20, these fundamental mitzvoth.  We  then discussed Rashi’s and Rashbam’s interpretations of how one is to fulfill the mitzvah of  ”Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it.”   This led to a long and engaging discussion where your children continued the time honored tradition of discussing verses from the text by analyzing them and then offering one’s own personal viewpoint as to how it relates, or doesn’t relate, to the individual’s life.  The objective here is to appreciate the diverse opinions and perspectives in traditional Biblical study without necessarily arriving at a definite conclusion.  The questions actually teach more at times than the various answers.

Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbat Shalom and hoping to see you all at the Gala Sunday evening.

With blessings,

HaMorah Yiscah

ysmith@sjcs.net

Did you know that 100 years before Marco Polo set off on his adventures, a Jewish traveler named Benjamin of Tudela set off on some explorations of his own?  As we march through our study of explorations and explorers throughout history, we are uncovering some little known facts!  Benjamin of Tudela traveled from Spain through the Middle East and Africa over the course of 14 years (1153-1179).  5th graders have mapped his lengthy journal based on a translated (and youth friendly) version of his writings, giving them insight into what it was like to travel such distances at the time, and what was going on in the area during this time period.  It also gave us a great opportunity to talk about current versus past geography!  I am constantly blown away by the knowledge these 5th graders possess (we have some history and geography buffs in this class!) and I love the conversations that arise from our study of history.  We have now moved forward in history to Marco Polo and his time – The Silk Road, The Mongols, and much more.

In other news – we have dived into our study of fractions, decimals, and percents.  Click here for an overview of Chapter Five of Everyday Math.  So far we have reviewed mixed numbers, improper fractions, and equivalent fractions, and will soon be converting between fractions, decimals, and percents.  To get a clear sense of what the students are learning, take a look at the homework assignments they bring home.

And of course, we are moving full steam ahead with our science fair projects.  Thank you all for working so closely with haMorah Brooke and myself to ensure that these projects are a success!

Thanks,

Morah Gabrielle

This week we have begun studying about various cycles in both nature and time.   While the content is not new to your children, learning about these cycles in Hebrew introduces new vocabulary that will carry over to Judaic studies.  This week we studied about the water cycle.  Reading and discussing about the water cycle prepares the students for next week’s more detailed lessons around Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the fruit trees.  Developing listening, speaking,  and reading comprehension skills through meaningful themes keeps the students interested and provides a learning environment that is also fun and lively.

In Judaics, we are concentrating on Parshat haShavuah, the weekly Torah portion, since these past few weeks have been about the Exodus from Egypt followed by the Giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  Both of these themes are not only essential building blocks in forming the Jewish nation, but each one is the dominant theme in two major Jewish holidays:  Passover and Shavuot.

What has made the material come alive and has sparked much interest is the introduction of two different classical commentaries each week that answer a question addressing a central theme in the weekly portion.  We have been studying such classic commentators as Rashi (1040-1150), Rashbam (1080-1160), and Ibn Ezra (1089-1164), in addition to passages from the Mishnah dating back to 1800 years ago.  Juxtaposed to these classical commentaries we also study the opinions of the students in the modern “virtual classroom”.  The children then compare modern thinking to classical thinking, which produces lively and wonderful discussions.  A great opportunity for everyone in developing both respect for our tradition and critical thinking patterns.

Wishing all of you a wonderful Shabbat Shalom,

HaMorah Yiscah

ysmith@sjcs.net