The Rashi School | Classroom Blog

As our country takes a day to mourn the loss of one of our leaders, I was moved by this piece in the Washington Post by President Bill Clinton reflecting on his friend and esteemed colleague, President George H.W. Bush. President Clinton's words address the soulfulness of who President Bush was and who he was as a leader of our country. About Bush, Clinton recalls, "we knew we would never agree on everything, and we agreed that was okay. Honest debate strengthens democracy." This is what Kavod looks like. Read the Article: Bill Clinton: George H.W. Bush’s Oval Office note to me revealed the heart of who he was

Fourth Grade Social Justice Connection to War with Grandpa Some BIG questions we explored together: What does Judaism and Jewish texts teach us about honoring elders? How can we expand our consciousness about elders by examining stereotypes, myths and truths about them? Eight years ago, The Rashi School made an intentional move to build our school on the NewBridge campus to be part of a multi-generational community! Its move was, in part, inspired by Rashi's longstanding relationship with Hebrew Rehab in Roslindale that began with the Mitzvah Makers program over 20 years ago by five second grade students and their families!  Since those early years, the Rashi community has been engaged in creating friendships with residents, celebrating holidays and doing activities together and sharing life experiences and memories with one another. These days, there are Rashi students at NewBridge every week either connecting through the Making Memories/Memory Suppo...

Science Egg in a Jar Does air move in predictable ways? This was the question we defined last week for our investigations into air pressure and wind. Last week, students completed the second investigation: egg in a jar. The investigation plan was as follows: Students made predictions about what would happen, but had a difficult time connecting the potential results of the experiment to what they had already learned about air pressure. Joey waiting for the fire to build (this was a video from last year) After making observations, students analyzed the data. Then, as part of the explanation phase, we learned about how fire uses oxygen. Students used knowledge from Investigation 1 and this new information to figure out what caused the egg to end up in the bottle. The classes correctly concluded that once the fire had used the oxygen, the air pressure in the jar was less than the air pressure in the room. As a result, the air pushed its way into the jar, fo...

Science Balloon Investigation Let's learn about wind . While all students had experienced it, we admitted that we never wondered why it happened. Rather than simply telling students, "Wind is air moving from areas of high pressure to areas of lower pressure," it was time for some investigation. See below for details about our process. And be sure to tune in later this week for our second investigation: Egg in a Jar Question:  Does air move in predictable ways?  Personal Knowledge: What do we already know about air and moving air? Investigation Plan:  What steps will we take to complete this investigation? Prediction:  What do we predict will happen when we follow the plan? Observations:  What did we observe? Students created a method for measuring the change in the balloon and organized those measurements into a chart. Data Analysis:   What does our data tell us? What could/sho...

From Boston to Israel with Love! by Stephanie Rotsky and Ellen Berkowitz The entire Rashi School community got involved in sending love, encouragement, sweet new year's wishes and a spirited affirmation that we are thinking about you to families living in the southern region of Israel. CJP's initiative - Sweet Wishes for a Sweeter New Year - engaged students and families all over the Greater Boston area during the High Holidays in reaching out and showing our enduring connection and support for Israel & her people through heart-felt beautiful new year's cards. It was a privilege to be in every classroom last month to work with students and teachers to create these cards for Israeli families. Might we even say it felt like a sacred moment... Dena Rashes, Rashi parent and CJP Israel participant, will be part of an upcoming mission to help hand- deliver these new year's cards to families living in southern Israel. Thank you, Dena! ...