Bikur Cholim-Visit the sick!

Yesterday the children learned about a special mitzvah of Bikur Cholim- Visiting the sick.
It is a Mitzvah to make a friend feel better by visiting them or calling them when they are not feeling well!

Each child made a "phone book" with all contact numbers of the children in the class.
There is a magnet so it can be placed in an accessible place.

Kitah Alef is very excited to be able to perform this mitzvah with the help of their " phone book"!

Writing Our Invitations to our First Publishing Party

David M., Rachel, Eliana and Or are hard at work on their invitations for their parents to come to our first Publishing Party

Mickey and Maya are working on their invitations.

Naomi and Ari are also hard at work making an invitation to our Publishing Party 

3 Digit Addition

The first graders love math! We use various manipulatives to aid in the understanding of different math concepts. Here we are using connecting cubes to help us do 3 digit addition and making different ways to add to the same number.

David S. is using his green connecting cubes to show 1+5+ 4 and then writing the example he created into his math notebook. Rebecca is watching David to see how he is using his cubes.

Eliana is deciding how to use her connecting cubes to show addition.

Abby is working on her addition using her connecting cubes.

Rachel is adding 2+1+4 with her connecting cubes.

Ari is using connecting cubes to make 2+3+5=10

Leon and Naomi are working together on 3 digit addition using connecting cubes.

First Grade Writer's Workshop

We have been working very hard on publishing our first books. During Writer's Workshop we have been creating different lists that we can use to help us be very organized, whether we are packing a suitcase or shopping in the supermarket. We wrote our rough draft, revised it and then wrote the final copy incorporating all the revisions. We are well on our way to becoming published authors. Here are some of our authors hard at work.

Or, Kfir, and David A. are using an atlas to research different flags for their flag lists.

David S. and David G. are hard at work creating their lists.

 Ari is working with Naomi on her rough draft.

 Mickey is making sure his lists are correct. Shoshana is also working on her list book. Rebecca, Emma and David M. waiting to show their lists to Morah Kathy so they can write their final copy. Rachel is looking to see what lists Shoshana is working on.

David G., David S., David M. and Naomi are getting their final copy stapled to their rough draft.

Rebecca is illustrating one of her lists to put into her book.

Or, Kfir and David A. continue to write their list of flags of different countries. 

Kriah Centers!

Kriah-Hebrew reading is lots of fun! Today we reviwed the third Hebrew vowel "Tzeirei" which makez the "ay" sound.
We learn through hands on centers of matching, coloring, reading and differentiating letters with the vowels!

Hebrew Learning!

Kitah Alef is moving along very well in their Hebrew learning.

Today we learned with Ari-ot (which is name given to a lion that teaches us lots of Hebrew words)!
We learned words that begin with letter Shin in the Alphabet through songs, coloring the new words and practicing writing the letter!

Partner Reading during Reader's Workshop

I thought this might be informative for parents who want to know more about the Reader's Workshop. 

WHAT does an effective Readers Workshop look like? 

This is an instructional time that is critical for each student’s success in reading. In using the reader’s workshop approach, each child reads on their level and learns how to choose their own “just right” books to read during their independent reading time. In the past, the basal (published reading book for the grade level) was used during this time. Although having a book for each child seems like a positive, the basal reader doesn't meet the needs of all students. A third of the class can already read the stories in the basal with ease, a third of the class will struggle with those stories, even after direct instruction, so only a third of the class will have their needs met using the basal. Students in the Readers Workshop choose books that are on their independent level to practice independently and practice books with their teacher (in a small group) that are on their instructional level. 

Small group instruction is based on each student’s needs and based on observations of their reading behaviors.

The first grade began learning about Partner Reading during Reader's Workshop. Children are partnered with another child and read leveled books together. We practiced how to position our chairs when the partners are reading two of the same book and what it looks like when the partners are sharing one book. Establishing routines of this nature are essential to the success of Reader's Workshop as it allows smooth transitions from the mini-lesson to independent reading activity. Here are our first graders participating in Partner Reading.

David M. and David G. are partner reading

Mickey and Eliana are partner reading

Ari and Leon are partner reading

Naomi and Rebecca are partner reading

Rachel and David are partner reading

Maya and Emma are partner reading

Or and Kfir are partner reading

Mickey and Celina are partner reading

Phonics-Long Vowel Sounds

Abby, David S., Rebecca, Celina are all working on their long vowel sounds. Maya, Mickey,Or and Rachel are in the background also working on their long vowel sounds.

The first grade has been working on long vowel sounds in phonics. We have reviewed all the long vowel sounds and the rules that go with them (two vowels together in a word and the silent "e" at the end of a word).

Shoshana, Kfir and Rachel are all working on their long vowels in their phonics workbooks.