The Rashi School | Classroom Blog

An Improbable Relic of Auschwitz:  A Shofar that Defied the Nazis Cry Aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a shofar.                                                                                           - Isaiah 58:1 As Rosh Hashanah approaches, we are mindful as Jews that a huge and meaningful opportunity is before us to do deep self reflection, right our wrongs, return to our best selves and "lift up our voices like a shofar." Over the generations, we have heard many stories of Jews who went to tremendous lengths to affirm their Judaism - even when that meant risking their lives. Recently a powerful story was shared in the New York Times about a shofar that was blown during the High Holidays in Auschwitz - amidst all odds - a...

Special Activities and Special Guests Anne Glanz and Sharon Packer's 5th Grade Friday, June 7,2019 Laszlo and Susan Adler Please read about them below. Laszlo and Vera Adler and Susan Wilk Laszlo and Vera Adler and their daughter and granddaughter Susan and Talia Wilk    This week was truly special. To conclude the comprehensive Holocaust unit, our students completed their well thought out and sincere final projects as well as a final written reflection about what they want to remember. We are really thrilled with their work as it reflects how seriously each child took this      learning as well as how each has grown as a student this year. As a result of Akea's report, we found out that there is a Jewish Heritage Museum in Mystic Connecticut that includes one of the boats that were used to ferry Jews from Denmark to Sweden during WWII. Perhaps some of you will want to visit it this summer!    ...

Plant Robots Created in 5th Grade and More  May 24, 2019 Mrs. Glanz and Mrs. Packer   Busy, busy week in 5th as we move towards our last weeks of school. During the first part of the week, we concentrated on robotics, where students worked in small groups to demonstrate one stage of the plant life cycle. Students had to struggle through some technology issues (though some experts emerged and helped us through - thank you, Noah Semel!) to successfully complete this project. As our Holocaust unit draws to a close, we learned about some child survivor stories and how each contained some combination of luck, help from an upstander, and personal wits or determination. In math this week, we started started working on graphing, or showing relationships between two quantities or measures on a coordinate plane. Everyone is looking forward to our field trip on Wednesday. Please check the email we sent out yesterday with important informa...

Fifth Grade Update    10 Iyar 5779 May 17, 2019      Mrs. Glanz / Mrs. Packer It's been a busy couple of weeks in 5th grade as we begin final units and ending projects.  Yom Ha'atzma'ut last week ,was a full day of design thinking and building (see pictures) as students worked on addressing specific issues around climate change as it relates to our environment here at Rashi. This week, students continued thinking through the design process as they began a robotics project in small groups to wrap up our study of plants, trying to portray one stage of the plant lifecycle.   In reading, we finished  Number the Stars  and took our final test this week. We are well into our Literature Circle unit. Students are reading one of three books and completing weekly jobs to help guide their book group discussion.   As we near the end of our Holocaust unit, students learned the survival story of a real c...

In Science and Social Studies this week, students "trekked around the world" as we dug deeper into our current units. While learning about biomes, each student researched a biome from somewhere in the world, and created a Google Slides presentation which included a focus on a plant in that biome, and how it adapts to survive. We had a gallery walk this week with students looking at the other students' presentations. We also had a fascinating Skype conversation with Fumiko Ishioka. We read about her while reading Hana's Suitcase in our Holocaust Unit . It was 8:30am in Massachusetts and 9:30pm in Japan while we Skyped. Students asked thoughtful questions and it was great to hear from Fumiko about her experience discovering everything she could about Hana Brady, and then teaching the world Hana's story. IMPORTANT DATES FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: Tuesday : Math review and assessment Wednesday : Lit Circle reading/completed job due for Lit Circle 1 Your child...

If your child hasn't told you about the book we recently read, Hana's Suitcase , please ask them about it. It's part of our Holocaust curriculum and it is an extremely moving story about a girl who grew up in Czechoslovakia during World War II, and an amazing woman from Japan who, decades later, worked tirelessly to uncover that story. Today, students presented their final projects related to the book.  The woman from Japan is named Fumiko Ishioka. We shared with the class earlier this week that we will be speaking with Fumiko, over Skype, on Tuesday, April 30th at 8:00am. We are very lucky to have this opportunity. We need to start right at 8:00am because that's 9:00pm in Japan. Please have your child arrive at school on time as we will be opening our door at 7:50am and getting both classes settled before our Skype session.

5th Grade Learns about Kristallnacht and More Mrs. Glanz and Mrs. Packer Friday, April 5, 2019 This week in Social Studies, students learned about Kristallnacht, what by some is referred to as the beginning of the Holocaust. They learned of the event first through a storybook told through the eyes of a cat who lived on a typical street in Berlin in 1938. Afterwards, students wrote or drew some thoughts and feelings about this horrific pogrom. We have compiled these reflections into a booklet which we will send home next week. Moving on from Kristallnacht, many students said they would flee Germany. With our Pack a Suitcase assignment and subsequent role playing activity, they learned how difficult that was and how many countries closed their doors to Jews fleeing Europe. In particular, they learned of the plight of the 900 or so Jews aboard the St. Louis in the spring of 1939. Finally, we started  Hana's Suitcase , a story which tells of an actual Czech girl ...

5th Grade Studies the Origins of the Holocaust Mrs. Glanz and Mrs. Packer Friday, March 29, 2019 This week, we spent a lot of time learning about events leading up to the Holocaust. We learned about the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, life in Germany during the Weimar Republic, and the rise of the Nazi party in the early 1930's.  In one activity, to help contextualize and humanize the Holocaust, students selected a black and white photo image taken of Jews before the war and "expanded" the picture to include all the other details of the scene, including dialogue, passers-by, etc. This helped to show that these events happened to people with lives that were, in many ways, similar to their own. The picture included in the blog is the results of this work. Your child also had a chance take on the identity of a German citizen with a particular background and "vote" for a party during the 1933 election. As one student said, ...

Last week was an incredible week! The fifth graders presented their Science Fair projects marvelously. As their teachers, we are so proud of their hard work and what they accomplished. The week closed out with a wonderful Purim play full of singing, dancing and acting. Parent Update: This Thursday night is the parent information meeting about Growth Education. The meeting is from 7:00-8:30pm in the Beit Midrash. Assignment Updates for this week:   Wednesday: Identity boxes are due Thursday: Reading Journals are due Friday: Signed math test returned by Friday Nightly: Math homework due the following day

What a Week! The Science Fair and Purim Play!  5th Grade- Mrs. Glanz and Mrs. Packer Friday, March 22, 2019 What a packed week in 5th grade! Monday was spent preparing and Tuesday of course presenting at the Science Fair. We were so proud of each and every student. They came so far and learned so much over the course of 3 1/2 months! Of course, this all started at the beginning of the year when our students learned the concepts of how to conduct a controlled experiment while investigating what could keep bananas from browning followed by their fast plant experiment while learning about plants. For us teachers, seeing their poise, confidence, and pride as they presented was most rewarding. Despite Science Fair, we were able to fit in a lot of learning, as well. We took a math test on geometry and began a new unit on fractions. We created a review for our Greece unit and had plenty of in-class study time to prepare for the test on Friday. We explored the concept of...