The Rashi School | Classroom Blog

February 28, 2020 We have had a great week back in first grade! We began celebrating the month of Adar, practiced new words in FUNdations , and talked about the importance of clothing and fabrics in Social Studies. Another highlight of the week was meeting with our tribes! Below are some curricular highlights!  Photo Album from the week: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4YZkrc93cgwbGVnj9 Language Arts: We continued learning glued sounds. The first graders learned four new glued sounds (ank, ink, onk, unk). We practiced writing and marking up words on white boards and in our FUNdations journals. Be sure to ask your child the sound and key word for each new sound!  Writing: What is something you know how to do? The first graders are working hard on writing their own "How To" book. Each child chose a topic of interest and one which they know a lot about to write a special book about. We can't wait to share our books with you during conferences!  Math: W...

February 14, 2020 This week in first grade featured a Tu B'Shevat sedar, exploring with cusinaire rods, and the 100th day of school. Read on for more details on all of these! The first graders had a Tu B'Shevat seder on Monday, led by Rabbi Smith and Rabbi Micah. They ate fruit and drank grape juice,  white to begin, with more red grape juice added in succession to represent the warmth of the spring and summer months. They ate fruit of three types: those with an inedible outer peel/rind and an edible inside; those with an edible outside and an inedible pit at the center; and those that are entirely edible.  Ask your child: What fruits did they eat and which did they like best?  The 100th day of school was this week! Students brought in different collections of 100 things that could fit inside a gallon ziploc bag. Items ranged from a book with 100 pieces of Cheerios, 100 pieces of pasta, 1...

First Grade: What Makes a Family a Family Unit - Part 2 What a memorable unit and collection of books about families that we shared together over the past two months! The goal from the start was to both heighten students' awareness and appreciation of what makes a family a family and create an opportunity for them to think about their own families and what is special about them. Following each story we read, we added new responses to the ever-present question that was posed: What makes a family a family?  The heart below represents the total responses students shared over the course of the unit. A quick look back at the books we explored during the second half of the unit: Donovan's Big Day by Leslea Newman A young boy named Donovan is beyond excited as he gets ready for his moms’ wedding… Sharing this story with the first graders was such a joy! Their predictions about the story as they looked at the cover ranged from Donovan ha...