During
our study of clothing this week, first graders took a close look at the source
of wool! With the help of the book, "Charlie
Needs a Cloak," by Tomie dePaolo, children learned about the process
of wool-to-fiber. Students were to able to see and use an old fashioned carding machine. With many squeals and giggles, students smelled and touched
actual fresh sheep wool. Students all agreed that clean wool smelled much
better that raw wool.
In
math, children began to consider numbers that are halfway between two adjacent
whole numbers. They learned to read, write, and order mixed numbers such as 3½,
recognize pictorial representations of these numbers, and locate them on a
number line. Students also explored finding half of an odd number! Also, first
graders played a very complicated game. Each child had a special bingo card.
After the roll of electronic dice, each child had a choice of two possible
numbers to cover—the double or the half of the rolled number! For example,
if the dice rolled a 6, children
could cover up either a 12 or 3. Likewise, if we rolled a 7, students
had a choice of covering up 14 or 3½!
During Jewish Studies, we learned about the torah portion
Terumah. G-d gave specific detailed instructions about how to build and decorate a Mishkan (the place where people pray to G-D). Students created and decorated our classroom Mishkan with symbols of objects that are special to them. Ask your student about the symbol they made.
