The Rashi School | Classroom Blog

A Closer Look at Shoes! Have you noticed your child thinking more closely about the clothes they are wearing? Have you noticed them looking at tags on their shirts or thinking about how to create their own hats and shoes? Over the past couple of weeks, we have been learning about the different types of clothing people wear in different jobs, climates and for various occasions. The first graders even became shoe designers as they learned about Kenton Lee and The Shoe That Grows and took a virtual field trip to the Fashion Institute of Technology.  Students were tasked with creating a shoe for a make believe "client" who had a need for a specific type of shoe. They worked in groups of one, two, or three to sketch, design, and build prototypes of shoes to meet their clients' needs.  After receiving their client, students got the opportunity to choose from available materials such as duct tape, cardboard, felt, burlap, pipe cleaners, yarn, foam pa...

February 10-14, 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?  This week during math, the first graders explored with  Cuisenaire  rods, first completing a key to show the values of each color, and then working together and independently to make "mathematical statements"...