In The Classroom

General Studies – Ms. Norton

Learning About Brassica Plants

Children planted Brassica seeds and put them under special grow lights as an introduction to our plant unit. Brassica plants were developed at the University of Wisconsin and are widely used in education at many levels. They go through a complete life cycle in four weeks so students are able to see the plants not only grow, but develop flowers and then seed pods. New vocabulary will include: germinate, seedpod, bud, nutrients, photosynthesis, pollen, and cross pollination.

A Trip to Golden Valley

On June 1, all three first grade classes will be taking a field trip to Golden Valley Shopping Center (Highway 55 and Winnetka). We will be looking for parent volunteers to accompany us. This trip will culminate our social studies focus on community. We will be visiting the fire and police stations as well as library, water tower and historical society. A special scavenger hunt has been planned as we check out the area stores.

After students shared their Minnesota pictures that they found and cut out for homework and in the computer lab, they arranged and glued them on cut-outs of Minnesota. Look for the results on the back bulletin board.

Learning About Animals

As you know, we are well into our animal research reports. Your child has picked an animal they are interested in learning about and has been researching many aspects of the animal. Students have decided that some of the most important questions to be answered are:

• What does my animal look like?
• Where does my animal live?
• What does my animal eat?
• What are other interesting facts about my animal?

In class, we have been studying different features of non-fiction books and how to use them. For example, using a table of contents and index together to find what an animal eats or looking at a caption to figure out what a picture is showing. Thank you to all the parent (and grandparent) volunteers that have helped the children with their projects so far and we look forward to seeing even more of you in the weeks to come!

Math: Adding, Subtracting, Fractional Parts, Place Value and Measuring

As we begin the ninth unit in math, we look to reinforcing counting, adding, and subtracting with tens and ones. In this unit, students will:

• continue to work with fractions, extending fractional concepts to equivalent fractions, comparison of fractions, and working with fractions ( halves, fourths, sixths, eights)
• learn how to write fractional notations
• learn that fractional parts of a whole may have many names (equivalent fractions)
• use the number grid to review counting patterns
• continue to use place value to assist in counting by ones and tens and in adding and subtracting two digit numbers
• work towards proficiency in adding and subtracting tens to prepare for adding and subtracting two digit numbers
• continue to create and compare symmetrical designs
• compare capacities of containers using standard and nonstandard measuring tools
• estimate heights using standard measures
• continue to tell, write, and draw number stories

This is a comprehensive math unit with diverse math concepts, skills and activities, all of which reinforce our work in math this year and helps prepare for our work in second grade math!

Thank you so much for all your help and support!

Sue Norton

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Hamorah Shelly

Hebrew Language

We recently began working in the fourth and final Ari-Ot workbook. The first unit for the letters Pay, Fay and Fay Sofit included a number of body parts. The children enjoyed playing games to learn the new vocabulary and then wrote sentences in Hebrew to describe themselves. Please stop by our room to see the children’s written work and their beautiful selfportraits.

During the next few weeks, we will learn the letters Tsadee, Kuf and Resh. Please ask your child to tell you some of the new vocabulary words they are learning for each of these letters.

Judaic Studies – Jewish holidays

As part of our holiday unit for Yom HaAtzma’ut, the children learned interesting facts about the Dead Sea. For example, the Dead Sea is the world’s saltiest body of water with six times more salt than the ocean. Also, the minerals in the Dead Sea are good for the skin and sore muscles. In class, we added salt to containers of water to create saturated solutions.

Save the date!

During the next few weeks, the children will begin preparing for the special first grade program, the Siyum Ottiyot (Finishing the Hebrew letters) which will be on Thursday, May 24 at 7PM. They will be singing songs and performing short plays that are written completely in Hebrew. Often the children ask, “How will our parents understand what we’re saying?”. I explain that just as they learned what I was saying in Hebrew by watching me closely, their parents will watch them as they bring the Hebrew to life through their body language, expression and use of props. Please make sure to mark your calenders for this special evening celebration.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hamorah Shelley

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns either by phone at 952 381 3460 or by email at sfogelson@hmjds.org

Art – Ms. Orkin

What we have been doing in First Grade

• Made tissue paper collage Passover seder plates
• Integrated science and art animal sculptures and habitat from found objects
• Studied MIA Art Adventures final two art pieces

“Pacific” Tz’daka Box by artist Tony Berlant, made in 1998 on display in the MIA Jewish Art Collection

Chinese Ceremonial Gateway, made in 1728 of handcrafted ceramic tile.

Art Adventures Art Project

Chinese Doorway with photo collage decoration

Field trip to the Minneapolis Art Institute “Let’s Celebrate Life”

• Wednesday, May 16, 10 – 11 a.m.
• Bus leaves at 9:30 a.m. and returns at 11:30 a.m.
• Parents/grandparents are invited to help chaperone
• Please RSVP to aorkin@hmjds.org

Upcoming projects…

• Landscape drawing from observation outside
• Sidewalk chalk murals

Music – Mr. Shaw

During the month of May we will continue to expand our ability to write rhythms. Students will use whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in their upcoming compositions.

The onset of nice weather often makes the students a bit restless, so we will add some old and new movement activities to work off some energy. This will help with the internalization of steady beat and rhythm, as we use our bodies. Also during the month students will being given many opportunities in class to sing and play solos. Charlie Over the Ocean and very soon Rico’s Pizza Restaurant will afford the children the chance to sing by themselves. While I do not require students at this age to sing alone, those who take the chance will find that performing solos helps build presentation skills. We also learn that the music classroom is an okay place to take risks, and that it is alright if we aren’t perfect every time.

Concepts and Understandings Highlighted in Music Lessons

• Develop an understanding of music terminology (mood, solo, group/ensemble).
• Distinguish aurally between expressive features in music: tempo (fast/slow).
• Respond to music using movement.
• Feel and express steady beat.
• Use solfege (Curwen hand signals) to indicate melodic direction.
• Read, write (compose), and perform from music notation.
• Understand music in relation to history and culture.
• Identify rhymes and homonyms used in the lyrics of songs.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Spring is a very busy time at HMJDS; as we have many observations and celebrations, including the sixty-fourth birthday of Israel (Yom HaAtzma’ut), Art Adventures, and Fitness Week. I hope your student(s) picked activities for Fitness Week that will provide them with a fulfilling experience.

What’s Going On?

Your First Grader just finished our volleyball unit. They started out using balloons, and finished using beach balls while playing a modified game. During this modified game we mimicked a conventional volleyball game by rotating positions and keeping score.

What’s Next?

After volleyball we will venture outside (weather permitting) to play soccer in addition to a variety of assorted games. Earlier in the school year we played different versions of line soccer, but this spring the games will be closer to official soccer. Students will play different positions and learn the difference between offense and defense. We will finish up the school year as we always do, playing softball in the warm sunshine.

Technology – Ms. Olson

First Grade Filmmakers!

This month while first graders nurture real plants in their classrooms they will also be growing digital plants! Students will have their first experience using photography and will learn to make a Stop Motion Animation film. By making all of the parts of a flower out of paper, small groups of students will break down the process of how plants grow into a short film. Amazingly enough students can make an impressive film that shows the entire process and synthesizes their learning. Stay tuned to learn where you can view your child’s Oscar worthy film!

General Studies – Ms. Hunegs

Learning About Animals

As you know, we are well into our animal research reports. Your child has picked an animal they are interested in learning about and has been researching many aspects of the animal. Students have decided that some of the most important questions to be answered are:

• What does my animal look like?
• Where does my animal live?
• What does my animal eat?
• What are other interesting facts about my animal?

In class, we have been studying different features of non-fiction books and how to use them. For example, using a table of contents and index together to find what an animal eats or looking at a caption to figure out what a picture is showing. Thank you to all the parent (and grandparent) volunteers that have helped the children with their projects so far and we look forward to seeing even more of you in the weeks to come!

Learning About Brassica Plants

Children planted Brassica seeds and put them under special grow lights as an introduction to our plant unit. Brassica plants were developed at the University of Wisconsin and are widely used in education at many levels.They go through a complete life cycle in four weeks so students are able to see the plants not only grow, but develop flowers and then seed pods. New vocabulary will include: germinate, seedpod, bud, nutrients, photosynthesis, pollen, and cross pollination.

A Trip to Golden Valley

On June 1, all three first grade classes will be taking a field trip to the Golden Valley Shopping Center (Highway 55 and Winnetka). We will be looking for parent volunteers to accompany us. This trip will culminate our social studies focus on community. We will be visiting the fire and police stations as well as library, water tower and historical society. A special scavenger hunt has been planned as we check out the area stores.

Math: Adding, Subtracting, Fractional Parts, Place Value and Measuring

As we begin the ninth unit in math, we look to reinforcing counting, adding, and subtracting with tens and ones. In this unit, students will:

• continue to work with fractions, extending fractional concepts to equivalent fractions, comparison of fractions, and working with fractions ( halves, fourths, sixths, eights)
• learn how to write fractional notations
• learn that fractional parts of a whole may have many names (equivalent fractions)
• use the number grid to review counting patterns
• continue to use place value to assist in counting by ones and tens and in adding and subtracting two digit numbers

• work towards proficiency in adding and subtracting tens to prepare for adding and subtracting two digit numbers
• continue to create and compare symmetrical designs
• compare capacities of containers using standard and nonstandard measuring tools
• estimate heights using standard measures
• continue to tell, write, and draw number stories

This is a comprehensive math unit with diverse math concepts, skills and activities, all of which reinforce our work in math this year and helps prepare for our work in second grade math!

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Hamorah Hani

Thank you for sending your children to school wearing Kahol v’ Lavan (blue and white) for Yom HaAtzma’ut! It was a very meaningful, educational and festive day. Everyone felt connected to Israel, and enjoyed the day!

Hebrew

In Hebrew, we will…

• continue work in our fourth and final Ari-Ot book
• learn the letters Kof, Reish, Sin and Tav
• learn and read new stories that go along with the study of each new letter
• learn more vocabulary that goes along with the new letters

• visit the computer lab to support our learning
• begin writing more complex sentences using the adjectives and verbs that we have learned.

Judaic Studies – T’filah (Prayer)

We are continuing to learn about some of the prayers in the morning service. During this time we will…..

• look at the words and meanings of the prayers more closely
• put more photographs into our Siddur
• discuss and write about how the prayers connect to our lives
• study the prayers Etz Haim and Or Hadash.
• have students take turns being the “Rabbi” of the day and lead the morning service.

Judaic Studies – Holidays

The students had a great experience learning about the Dead Sea in Israel. They learned many facts and performed experiments in the classroom using water and salt. They even got to put some Dead Sea mud on their hands. They did a fantastic job sharing their knowledge about the Dead Sea at the all school Yom HaAtzma’ut assembly! The students also enjoyed visiting different stations and completing activities related to water in Israel. Ask your child to share some facts that they learned.

Upcoming, we will learn about and celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, Lag B’Omer and Shavuot.

Judaic Studies – Torah Portions

We will continue learning Torah portions from the book of Vayikra, the third book of the Torah. Students will study key concepts, characters and vocabulary from each Torah portion. We will also discuss how some of these key concepts connect to our lives today.

Hebrew Homework

Please encourage your child to spend time each week reviewing the Hebrew flashcards that come home. This will help them retain the vocabulary that we have learned in class.

Hag Sameah,

Hani Galili

Art – Ms. Orkin

What we have been doing in First Grade

• Made tissue paper collage Passover seder plates
• Integrated science and art animal sculptures and habitat from found objects
• Studied MIA Art Adventures final two art pieces

“Pacific” Tz’daka Box by artist Tony Berlant, made in 1998 on display in the MIA Jewish Art Collection

Chinese Ceremonial Gateway, made in 1728 of handcrafted ceramic tile.

Art Adventures Art Project

Chinese Doorway with photo collage decoration

Field trip to the Minneapolis Art Institute “Let’s Celebrate Life”

• Wednesday, May 16, 10 – 11 a.m.
• Bus leaves at 9:30 a.m. and returns at 11:30 a.m.
• Parents/grandparents are invited to help chaperone
• Please RSVP to aorkin@hmjds.org

Upcoming projects…

• Landscape drawing from observation outside
• Sidewalk chalk murals

Music – Mr. Shaw

During the month of May we will continue to expand our ability to write rhythms. Students will use whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in their upcoming compositions.

The onset of nice weather often makes the students a bit restless, so we will add some old and new movement activities to work off some energy. This will help with the internalization of steady beat and rhythm, as we use our bodies. Also during the month students will being given many opportunities in class to sing and play solos. Charlie Over the Ocean and very soon Rico’s Pizza Restaurant will afford the children the chance to sing by themselves. While I do not require students at this age to sing alone, those who take the chance will find that performing solos helps build presentation skills. We also learn that the music classroom is an okay place to take risks, and that it is alright if we aren’t perfect every time.

Concepts and Understandings Highlighted in Music Lessons

• Develop an understanding of music terminology (mood, solo, group/ensemble).
• Distinguish aurally between expressive features in music: tempo (fast/slow).
• Respond to music using movement.
• Feel and express steady beat.
• Use solfege (Curwen hand signals) to indicate melodic direction.
• Read, write (compose), and perform from music notation.
• Understand music in relation to history and culture.
• Identify rhymes and homonyms used in the lyrics of songs.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Spring is a very busy time at HMJDS; as we have many observations and celebrations, including the sixty-fourth birthday of Israel (Yom HaAtzma’ut), Art Adventures, and Fitness Week. I hope your student(s) picked activities for Fitness Week that will provide them with a fulfilling experience.

What’s Going On?

Your First Grader just finished our volleyball unit. They started out using balloons, and finished using beach balls while playing a modified game. During this modified game we mimicked a conventional volleyball game by rotating positions and keeping score.

What’s Next?

After volleyball we will venture outside (weather permitting) to play soccer in addition to a variety of assorted games. Earlier in the school year we played different versions of line soccer, but this spring the games will be closer to official soccer. Students will play different positions and learn the difference between offense and defense. We will finish up the school year as we always do, playing softball in the warm sunshine.

Technology – Ms. Olson

First Grade Filmmakers!

This month while first graders nurture real plants in their classrooms they will also be growing digital plants! Students will have their first experience using photography and will learn to make a Stop Motion Animation film. By making all of the parts of a flower out of paper, small groups of students will break down the process of how plants grow into a short film. Amazingly enough students can make an impressive film that shows the entire process and synthesizes their learning. Stay tuned to learn where you can view your child’s Oscar worthy film!

General Studies – Ms. Diamond

Learning About Brassica Plants

Children planted Brassica seeds and put them under special grow lights as an introduction to our plant unit. Brassica plants were developed at the University of Wisconsin and are widely used in education at many levels.They go through a complete life cycle in four weeks so students are able to see the plants not only grow, but develop flowers and then seed pods. New vocabulary will include: germinate, seedpod, bud, nutrients, photosynthesis, pollen, and cross pollination.

A Trip to Golden Valley

On June 1, all three first grade classes will be taking a field trip to the Golden Valley Shopping Center (Highway 55 and Winnetka). We will be looking for parent volunteers to accompany us. This trip will culminate our social studies focus on community. We will be visiting the fire and police stations as well as library, water tower and historical society. A special scavenger hunt has been planned as we check out the area stores.

Learning About Animals

As you know, we are well into our animal research reports. Your child has picked an animal they are interested in learning about and has been researching many aspects of the animal. Students have decided that some of the most important questions to be answered are:

• What does my animal look like?
• Where does my animal live?
• What does my animal eat?
• What are other interesting facts about my animal?

In class, we have been studying different features of non-fiction books and how to use them. For example, using a table of contents and index together to find what an animal eats or looking at a caption to figure out what a picture is showing. Thank you to all the parent (and grandparent) volunteers that have helped the children with their projects so far and we look forward to seeing even more of you in the weeks to come!

Math: Adding, Subtracting, Fractional Parts, Place Value and Measuring

As we begin the ninth unit in math, we look to reinforcing counting, adding, and subtracting with tens and ones. In this unit, students will:

• continue to work with fractions, extending fractional concepts to equivalent fractions, comparison of fractions, and working with fractions ( halves, fourths, sixths, eights)

• learn how to write fractional notations
• learn that fractional parts of a whole may have many names (equivalent fractions)
• use the number grid to review counting patterns
• continue to use place value to assist in counting by ones and tens and in adding and subtracting two digit numbers
• work towards proficiency in adding and subtracting tens to prepare for adding and subtracting two digit numbers
• continue to create and compare symmetrical designs
• compare capacities of containers using standard and nonstandard measuring tools
• estimate heights using standard measures
• continue to tell, write, and draw number stories

This is a comprehensive math unit with diverse math concepts, skills and activities, all of which reinforce our work in math this year and helps prepare for our work in second grade math!

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Hamorah Karen

Thank you for sending your children to school wearing Kahol v’ Lavan (blue and white) for Yom HaAtzma’ut! It was a very meaningful, educational and festive day. Everyone felt connected to Israel, and enjoyed the day!

Hebrew

In Hebrew, we will…

• continue work in our fourth and final Ari-Ot book
• learn the letters Kof, Reish, Sin and Tav
• learn and read new stories that go along with the study of each new letter
• learn more vocabulary that goes along with the new letters
• visit the computer lab to support our learning
• begin writing more complex sentences using the adjectives and verbs that we have learned.

Judaic Studies – T’filah (Prayer)

We are continuing to learn about some of the prayers in the morning service. During this time we will…..

• look at the words and meanings of the prayers more closely
• put more photographs into our Siddur
• discuss and write about how the prayers connect to our lives
• study the prayers Etz Haim and Or Hadash.
• have students take turns being the “Rabbi” of the day and lead the morning service.

Judaic Studies – Holidays

The students had a great experience learning about the Dead Sea in Israel. They learned many facts and performed experiments in the classroom using water and salt. They even got to put some Dead Sea mud on their hands. They did a fantastic job sharing their knowledge about the Dead Sea at the all school Yom HaAtzma’ut assembly! The students also enjoyed visiting different stations and completing activities related to water in Israel. Ask your child to share some facts that they learned.

Upcoming, we will learn about and celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, Lag B’Omer and Shavuot.

Judaic Studies – Torah Portions

We will continue learning Torah portions from the book of Vayikra, the third book of the Torah. Students will study key concepts, characters and vocabulary from each Torah portion. We will also discuss how some of these key concepts connect to our lives today.

Hebrew Homework

Please encourage your child to spend time each week reviewing the Hebrew flashcards that come home. This will help them retain the vocabulary that we have learned in class.

Hag Sameah,

Karen Malka

Art – Ms. Orkin

What we have been doing in First Grade

• Made tissue paper collage Passover seder plates
• Integrated science and art animal sculptures and habitat from found objects
• Studied MIA Art Adventures final two art pieces

“Pacific” Tz’daka Box by artist Tony Berlant, made in 1998 on display in the MIA Jewish Art Collection

Chinese Ceremonial Gateway, made in 1728 of handcrafted ceramic tile.

Art Adventures Art Project

Chinese Doorway with photo collage decoration

Field trip to the Minneapolis Art Institute “Let’s Celebrate Life”

• Wednesday, May 16, 10 – 11 a.m.
• Bus leaves at 9:30 a.m. and returns at 11:30 a.m.
• Parents/grandparents are invited to help chaperone
• Please RSVP to aorkin@hmjds.org

Upcoming projects…

• Landscape drawing from observation outside
• Sidewalk chalk murals

Music – Mr. Shaw

During the month of May we will continue to expand our ability to write rhythms. Students will use whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in their upcoming compositions.

The onset of nice weather often makes the students a bit restless, so we will add some old and new movement activities to work off some energy. This will help with the internalization of steady beat and rhythm, as we use our bodies. Also during the month students will being given many opportunities in class to sing and play solos. Charlie Over the Ocean and very soon Rico’s Pizza Restaurant will afford the children the chance to sing by themselves. While I do not require students at this age to sing alone, those who take the chance will find that performing solos helps build presentation skills. We also learn that the music classroom is an okay place to take risks, and that it is alright if we aren’t perfect every time.

Concepts and Understandings Highlighted in Music Lessons

• Develop an understanding of music terminology (mood, solo, group/ensemble).
• Distinguish aurally between expressive features in music: tempo (fast/slow).
• Respond to music using movement.
• Feel and express steady beat.
• Use solfege (Curwen hand signals) to indicate melodic direction.
• Read, write (compose), and perform from music notation.
• Understand music in relation to history and culture.
• Identify rhymes and homonyms used in the lyrics of songs.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Spring is a very busy time at HMJDS; as we have many observations and celebrations, including the sixty-fourth birthday of Israel (Yom HaAtzma’ut), Art Adventures, and Fitness Week. I hope your student(s) picked activities for Fitness Week that will provide them with a fulfilling experience.

What’s Going On?

Your First Grader just finished our volleyball unit. They started out using balloons, and finished using beach balls while playing a modified game. During this modified game we mimicked a conventional volleyball game by rotating positions and keeping score.

What’s Next?

After volleyball we will venture outside (weather permitting) to play soccer in addition to a variety of assorted games. Earlier in the school year we played different versions of line soccer, but this spring the games will be closer to official soccer. Students will play different positions and learn the difference between offense and defense. We will finish up the school year as we always do, playing softball in the warm sunshine.

Technology – Ms. Olson

First Grade Filmmakers!

This month while first graders nurture real plants in their classrooms they will also be growing digital plants! Students will have their first experience using photography and will learn to make a Stop Motion Animation film. By making all of the parts of a flower out of paper, small groups of students will break down the process of how plants grow into a short film. Amazingly enough students can make an impressive film that shows the entire process and synthesizes their learning. Stay tuned to learn where you can view your child’s Oscar worthy film!

General Studies – Ms. Norton

Plant Project

We will soon be starting our last science unit focusing on life cycles. This unit will be about plants and will integrate math, science and reading activities. Students will be making predictions and estimations as well as recording observations and doing experiments.

In addition to participating in plant activities in school, we are asking first graders to complete a plant project at home. The assignment will be sent home on April 20th-after spring break. Children will create an activity from the following list:

• seed collection or mosaic, book
• story or poem
• poster or collage
• video or audio tape
• mini garden terrarium
• report on an unusual plant
• diorama or experiment.

Each student will have the opportunity to show and explain his/her project. The projects will be on display in the hallway in front of our rooms from May 21 to May 25. All projects are due on Monday, May 21.

Community Study

We will continue our study of communities with a comparison of our own community with life in Mexico. After learning about the geography of North America, we will transition into developing a more in depth understanding of another culture in North America. Using such resources as the DVD “Families of Mexico”, we will learn about a family from the port city of Veracruz. The family owns an advertising agency, the mother teaches a dance class at the cultural center, and the children go to school, the grocery store, and swimming lessons. We will use a Venn diagram to contrast the two cultures.

First graders were very fortunate to have two guest speakers visit us. Mr. Einisman told us all about life in the White House. The children were especially surprised to find out that the White House has its own bowling alley! He also brought memorabilia from his time working in the White House. A few days later, Kathy Johnson from the St. Louis Park Historical Society joined us to talk about the history of SLP. She showed us lots of before and after pictures that clearly illustrated how SLP has grown through the years. Ms. Johnson, also, brought in several artifacts including a spittoon, school bell and a lantern. In addition, we learned about two important landmarks in SLP—the Beehive (stone barbecue pit along Highway 100-built in the l940’s) and Peavey Grain Elevator (now belonging to Nordic Ware). This fits into our upcoming study of landmarks in the Twin Cities and surrounding communities

Math: More Money and Lots of Fractions!

Our eighth unit in math will focus on the following concepts:

• Extend work with money to include more dollars and making change by “counting up”
• Show amounts of money using the fewest number of coins
• Extend place value work to more work with the hundreds place
• Show the relationship between dollars and place value to the hundreds
• Introduce concepts related to fractions; fractional parts related to a whole, fractional parts related to parts of “collections”, fraction notation and fraction vocabulary
• Identify and count by halves, thirds, fourths and sixths to complete a whole unit.
• Explore two dimensional and three dimensional geometric shapes
• Explore symmetry-What a symmetrical shape looks like and how is it created on a geoboard

This unit provides many opportunities to integrate key concepts and skills previously learned with those being newly introduced!

All About Animals

In Writing Workshop, we have moved on from our persuasive letter writing unit to focus on nonfiction as it relates to research reports. We will be discussing the different elements that make nonfiction and how to determine if a book fits these criterions. We will look to see if there is a beginning, middle, and end of the story, pictures with captions, diagrams, index, glossary, or other key feature of a nonfiction text.

Now, as you probably have heard, your children are writing their animal research reports, complete with chapters. When finished, each book will have a table of contents, and children are learning to organize their information into the appropriate chapters. They are learning also that each chapter has its own organizational structure. For now, we are helping guide the students into important questions that should be touched upon in their research, but it would be a small step forward for children to write similar books using their own knowledge about what is important about the animal they have selected.

Thank you so much for your continued support and help!

Sue Norton

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – HaMorah Shelley

Hebrew Language

There was much celebration as we finished the third Ari-Ot workbook. We will begin the fourth and final workbook after our spring break.

This book contains the letters, Pay, Fay, Fay Sofit, Tsadee, Tsadee Sofit, Koof, Resh, Sin, and Tav. The stories for each unit are longer and the students will work on sequencing and comprehension questions. This book also introduces the plural masculine and feminine forms of the verbs and once we learn those the children will be able to create a wider variety of sentences and begin writing their own short stories.

Judaic Studies – Jewish holidays

As you can see from the photographs, preparing for Pesah was lots of fun. The children really enjoyed hearing the story of the Exodus (in Hebrew). Next, we learned about the different steps of the seder and the symbolism of all of the foods and special objects on the seder table. The learning came to life when we ate karpas by dipping parsley in salt water, tasted matzah, and made a Hillel sandwich with matzah, maror and haroset.

I hope the children were active participants in your families’ seders.

For our next holiday unit we will learn about Israel in honor of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s birthday. The State of Israel will be 64 this year. The children will learn to identify and describe Israel’s flag, symbols, and national anthem, HaTikvah. We will also compare the flags and symbols of the United States and Israel. We will sing familiar songs such as Kahol v’lavan as well as learning a number of new songs.

This year, as part of a school wide celebration, each grade will study a different aspect of water and its importance for the state of Israel. In first grade, we will learn about the Dead Sea. We would welcome any family photographs taken at the Dead Sea.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hamorah Shelley

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns either by phone at 952 381 3460 or by email at sfogelson@hmjds.org

Art – Ms. Orkin

What we have been doing in art class…

Purim Masks and African Mask Making using tag board, oil pastel, feathers, glitter glue, sequins and yarn.

Spring Portfolio Drawings of flowers and trees.

Our final two pieces from the Art Adventures Program’s- Let’s Celebrate Life! Series.

California Artist Tony Berlant’s Tzedaka Box made in 1988 out of metal, plywood and steel.

Chinese ceremonial gate made in 1728 of hand-carved tile.

Upcoming project – Passover decorative Seder plate

Important Upcoming Date!!!

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts Field Trip Wednesday is May 16 and Thursday May 17. Parent permission slips will be emailed home. The specific tour time will be on the slip. Students need written permission to go on the field trip. We encourage parents to meet us at the Institute of Arts ten minutes before the field trip if they wish to help chaperone. Please RSVP to Aimee Orkin if you can come help chaperone our tour.

Special thanks to the Sharon Lerner Visual Arts Fund, donated by the Posada and Lerner Families, for funding this amazing experience!

Library – Ms. Oskow

The library buzzed with excited students at the Scholastic Book Fair March 25-30. We earned more than $2,200 in profit for the HMJDS library budget. In addition, we took $1250 worth of books directly from the Fair for students’ immediate use, and earned $400 in book vouchers for more materials to order to complement classroom materials. Students are already excitedly checking out new books. People also donated books directly from the book sale to the classrooms or library.

A big thank you to the Book Fair Chairs, Beth Jasco, Ellen Berkelhamer, and Micki Litton, for all of your hard work!

And thank you to all of the great volunteers:

Judy Finkelstein, Gail Freedman, Michelle Gendlin, Alyssa Golob, Diane Greenberger, Michael Keller, Wendy Khabie, Becky Madigan, Melissa Mark, Emer O’Connor-Keller, Mark Roth, Laura Schmieg, Heidi Schneider, Beckie Skelton, Lisa Villalta, Kim Kotzen Wear, Lauren Weiser, and Dana Beth Weisman.

And student volunteers:

Talia H., Daniel H., Felicia & Haley J., Liang J., Avia K.-R., Chyna L.-L., Isaac M., Talia N., Ora R., Emmy S., and Zachariah W.S.

Teachers and Students Win Prizes in Book Fair Drawing

Two Grand Prize winners won $25 in Book Fair merchandise for the student, and $25 for his or her teacher to pick out books for the classroom: Sammie W. and Ms. Dorman/Schochet, Josh M. and Ms. Norton. Twenty-two other students in grades K-8 won posters. Students entered another drawing by creating a poster about a favorite book on a pineapple-shaped paper. Sydney W. won $25 worth of books from the Fair in that contest.

Hunger Games Mockingjay Pin Raffle

A limited-edition Hunger Games trilogy boxed set at the Book Fair contained a hotly desired Mockingjay pin. Mr. Gawronski and Mr. Portnoe were kind enough to buy boxed sets, keep the books, and donate their pins back for a raffle. Winners of the pins and a Hunger Games poster were pulled on Thursday, April 5.

Thank you to everyone who bought books, donated books or pins, or entered the Mockingjay raffle! Your purchases will enable us to buy many new books to enhance curriculum and aid students’ love of reading, as well as help us to update the library with electronic resources for the 21st Century.

Music – Mr. Shaw

In April the students will use half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in their next compositions. The children will continue playing rhythm instruments, which is a way for them to transfer their rhythm compositions that allow for class performances. In addition to working on reading rhythms, we will continue to identify elements of pitch (high and low). Students continue to use a musical staircase that allowed us to understand how pitches can move by step or by skip. In the future we will learn songs with nautical and ocean themes, such as By the Sea, If I Were a Pirate, and Goin’ Over the Sea. The onset of nice weather often makes the students a bit restless, so we will add some old and new movement activities to work off some energy. Using our bodies will help with the internalization of steady beat and rhythm by.

Concepts and Understandings Highlighted in Music Lessons

• Develop an understanding of music terminology (mood, solo, group/ensemble).
• Aurally distinguish expressive features in music: tempo (fast/slow).
• Respond to music using movement.
• Feel and express steady beat.
• Use solfege (Curwen hand signals) to indicate melodic direction.
• Read, write (compose), and perform from music notation.
• Understand music in relation to history and culture.
• Identify rhymes and homonyms used in the lyrics of songs.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Greetings First Grade Parents,

I enjoyed meeting with you at spring conferences and sharing fabulous fitness testing results. In case we didn’t have a chance to connect at conferences, fitness results will be presented on report cards as well. As the school year draws to a close there are some wonderful events to look forward to, including Fitness Week!

What’s Going On?

Your first grader is in the middle of our volleyball unit. We started out learning and practicing eye-tracking and striking skills using balloons and beach balls. Students started out performing individual and cooperative partner skills. They were given many different volleying challenges using different body parts. During the second half of volleyball students will be taught a modified volleyball game where they will learn conventional positioning, player rotation, and scoring.

What’s Next?

After volleyball we will venture outside (weather permitting) to play soccer in addition to a variety of assorted games. Earlier in the school year we played different versions of line soccer, but this spring the games will be closer to official soccer. Students will play different positions and know the difference between offense and defense.

Please be aware that Fitness Week is penciled in for the week of May 28. Look for volunteering opportunities.

Technology – Ms. Olson

General Studies – Ms. Hunegs

All About Animals

In Writing Workshop, we have moved on from our persuasive letter writing unit to focus on nonfiction as it relates to research reports. We will be discussing the different elements that make nonfiction and how to determine if a book fits these criterions. We will look to see if there is a beginning, middle, and end of the story, pictures with captions, diagrams, index, glossary, or other key feature of a nonfiction text.

Now, as you probably have heard, your children are writing their animal research reports, complete with chapters. When finished, each book will have a table of contents, and children are learning to organize their information into the appropriate chapters. They are learning also that each chapter has its own organizational structure. For now, we are helping guide the students into important questions that should be touched upon in their research, but it would be a small step forward for children to write similar books using their own knowledge about what is important about the animal they have selected.

Plant Project

We will soon be starting our last science unit focusing on life cycles. This unit will be about plants and will be integrated with math, science and reading activities. Students will be making predictions and estimations as well as recording observations and doing experiments.

In addition to participating in plant activities in school, we are asking first graders to complete a plant project at home. The assignment will be sent home on April 20th – after spring break. Children will create an activity from the following list:

• seed collection or mosaic
• book, story or poem
• poster or collage
• video or audio tape
• mini garden terrarium
• report on an unusual plant
• diorama or experiment

Each student will have the opportunity to show and explain his/her project. The projects will be on display in the hallway in front of our rooms from May 21st to May 25th. All projects are due on Monday, May 21.

Community Study

We will continue our study of communities with a comparison of our own community with life in Mexico. After learning about the geography of North America, we will transition into developing a more in depth understanding of another culture in North America. Using such resources as the DVD “Families of Mexico”, we will learn about a family from the port city of Veracruz. The family owns an advertising agency, the mother teaches a dance class at the cultural center, and the children go to school, the grocery store, and swimming lessons. We will use a Venn diagram to contrast the two cultures.

First graders were very fortunate to have two guest speakers visit us. Mr. Einisman told us all about life in the White House. The children were especially surprised to find out that the White House has its own bowling alley! He also brought memorabilia from his time working in the White House

A few days later, Kathy Johnson from the St. Louis Park Historical Society joined us to talk about the history of SLP. She showed us lots of before and after pictures that clearly illustrated how SLP has grown through the years. Ms. Johnson, also, brought in several artifacts including a spittoon, school bell, and a lantern. In addition, we learned about two important landmarks in SLP—the Beehive (barbecue pit along Highway 100) and Peavey Grain Elevator (now belonging to Nordic Ware). This fits into our upcoming study of landmarks in the Twin Cities and surrounding communities.

Math: More Money and Lots of Fractions!

Our eighth unit in math will focus on the following concepts:

• Extend work with money to include more dollars and making change by “counting up”
• Show amounts of money using the fewest number of coins
• Extend place value work to more work with the hundreds place
• Show the relationship between dollars and place value to the hundreds
• Introduce concepts related to fractions; fractional parts related to a whole, fractional parts related to parts of “collections”, fraction notation and fraction vocabulary
• Identify and count by halves, thirds, fourths and sixths to complete a whole unit.
• Explore two dimensional and three dimensional geometric shapes
• Explore symmetry-What a symmetrical shape looks like and how is it created on a geoboard

This unit provides many opportunities to integrate key concepts and skills previously learned with those being newly introduced!

Shabbat Shalom,

Ann Hunegs

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – HaMorah Hani

It was so nice seeing all of you at conferences. Your children have learned a lot and I enjoyed being able to celebrate their progress with you!

I also want to wish all of you a Hag Pesah Sameah! Your children have learned a lot about the holiday of Passover. They are bringing home a model of a Seder plate along with an explanation of the symbolism and meaning of each item on it. I hope you will enjoy incorporating this into your Passover Seder at home.

Hebrew

In Hebrew we will…

• Begin work in our fourth and final Ari-Ot book.
• Learn the letters Tzadee, Tzadee sofit, Kof, and Reish.
• Learn and read new stories that go along with the study of each new letter.
• Learn more vocabulary that goes along with the new letters.
• Visit the computer lab to support our learning.
• Begin writing more complex sentences using the adjectives and verbs that we have learned.

Judaic Studies – T’filah (Prayer)

We are continuing to learn about some of the prayers in the morning service. During this time we will…

• Look at the words and meanings of the prayers more closely.
• Put more photographs into our Siddur.
• Discuss and write about how the prayers connect to our lives.
• Complete studying the prayers of Birkhot Ha Shahar and begin our study of the Barchu and Shema.
• Have students take turns being the “Rabbi” of the day and lead the morning service.

Judaic Studies – Holidays

We will be learning about Israel as we prepare for Yom HaAtzma’ut (Israel Independence Day) This year the theme of Yom Haatzmaut will be Mayim (water) first grade will focus on the Dead Sea.

Judaic Studies – Torah Portions

• We will continue learning Torah portions from the book of Vayikra (the third book of the Torah)
• Learn about key concepts, characters and vocabulary from each Torah portion
• Discuss how some of the key concepts from the Torah portions connect to our lives today

Hebrew Homework

Please encourage your child to spend time each week reviewing the Hebrew flashcards that come home each week. This will help them retain the vocabulary that we have learned in class.

Hag Sameah,

Hani Galili

Art – Ms. Orkin

What we have been doing in art class…

Purim Masks and African Mask Making using tag board, oil pastel, feathers, glitter glue, sequins and yarn.

Spring Portfolio Drawings of flowers and trees.

Our final two pieces from the Art Adventures Program’s- Let’s Celebrate Life! Series.

California Artist Tony Berlant’s Tzedaka Box made in 1988 out of metal, plywood and steel.

Chinese ceremonial gate made in 1728 of hand-carved tile.

Upcoming project – Passover decorative Seder plate

Important Upcoming Date!!!

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts Field Trip Wednesday is May 16 and Thursday May 17. Parent permission slips will be emailed home. The specific tour time will be on the slip. Students need written permission to go on the field trip. We encourage parents to meet us at the Institute of Arts ten minutes before the field trip if they wish to help chaperone. Please RSVP to Aimee Orkin if you can come help chaperone our tour.

Special thanks to the Sharon Lerner Visual Arts Fund, donated by the Posada and Lerner Families, for funding this amazing experience!

Library – Ms. Oskow

The library buzzed with excited students at the Scholastic Book Fair March 25-30. We earned more than $2,200 in profit for the HMJDS library budget. In addition, we took $1250 worth of books directly from the Fair for students’ immediate use, and earned $400 in book vouchers for more materials to order to complement classroom materials. Students are already excitedly checking out new books. People also donated books directly from the book sale to the classrooms or library.

A big thank you to the Book Fair Chairs, Beth Jasco, Ellen Berkelhamer, and Micki Litton, for all of your hard work!

And thank you to all of the great volunteers:

Judy Finkelstein, Gail Freedman, Michelle Gendlin, Alyssa Golob, Diane Greenberger, Michael Keller, Wendy Khabie, Becky Madigan, Melissa Mark, Emer O’Connor-Keller, Mark Roth, Laura Schmieg, Heidi Schneider, Beckie Skelton, Lisa Villalta, Kim Kotzen Wear, Lauren Weiser, and Dana Beth Weisman.

And student volunteers:

Talia H., Daniel H., Felicia & Haley J., Liang J., Avia K.-R., Chyna L.-L., Isaac M., Talia N., Ora R., Emmy S., and Zachariah W.S.

Teachers and Students Win Prizes in Book Fair Drawing

Two Grand Prize winners won $25 in Book Fair merchandise for the student, and $25 for his or her teacher to pick out books for the classroom: Sammie W. and Ms. Dorman/Schochet, Josh M. and Ms. Norton. Twenty-two other students in grades K-8 won posters. Students entered another drawing by creating a poster about a favorite book on a pineapple-shaped paper. Sydney W. won $25 worth of books from the Fair in that contest.

Hunger Games Mockingjay Pin Raffle

A limited-edition Hunger Games trilogy boxed set at the Book Fair contained a hotly desired Mockingjay pin. Mr. Gawronski and Mr. Portnoe were kind enough to buy boxed sets, keep the books, and donate their pins back for a raffle. Winners of the pins and a Hunger Games poster were pulled on Thursday, April 5.

Thank you to everyone who bought books, donated books or pins, or entered the Mockingjay raffle! Your purchases will enable us to buy many new books to enhance curriculum and aid students’ love of reading, as well as help us to update the library with electronic resources for the 21st Century.

Music – Mr. Shaw

In April the students will use half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in their next compositions. The children will continue playing rhythm instruments, which is a way for them to transfer their rhythm compositions that allow for class performances. In addition to working on reading rhythms, we will continue to identify elements of pitch (high and low). Students continue to use a musical staircase that allowed us to understand how pitches can move by step or by skip. In the future we will learn songs with nautical and ocean themes, such as By the Sea, If I Were a Pirate, and Goin’ Over the Sea. The onset of nice weather often makes the students a bit restless, so we will add some old and new movement activities to work off some energy. Using our bodies will help with the internalization of steady beat and rhythm by.

Concepts and Understandings Highlighted in Music Lessons

• Develop an understanding of music terminology (mood, solo, group/ensemble).
• Aurally distinguish expressive features in music: tempo (fast/slow).
• Respond to music using movement.
• Feel and express steady beat.
• Use solfege (Curwen hand signals) to indicate melodic direction.
• Read, write (compose), and perform from music notation.
• Understand music in relation to history and culture.
• Identify rhymes and homonyms used in the lyrics of songs.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Greetings First Grade Parents,

I enjoyed meeting with you at spring conferences and sharing fabulous fitness testing results. In case we didn’t have a chance to connect at conferences, fitness results will be presented on report cards as well. As the school year draws to a close there are some wonderful events to look forward to, including Fitness Week!

What’s Going On?

Your first grader is in the middle of our volleyball unit. We started out learning and practicing eye-tracking and striking skills using balloons and beach balls. Students started out performing individual and cooperative partner skills. They were given many different volleying challenges using different body parts. During the second half of volleyball students will be taught a modified volleyball game where they will learn conventional positioning, player rotation, and scoring.

What’s Next?

After volleyball we will venture outside (weather permitting) to play soccer in addition to a variety of assorted games. Earlier in the school year we played different versions of line soccer, but this spring the games will be closer to official soccer. Students will play different positions and know the difference between offense and defense.

Please be aware that Fitness Week is penciled in for the week of May 28. Look for volunteering opportunities.

Technology – Ms. Olson

General Studies – Ms. Diamond

It was so great to see most of you at conferences. As always, thank you for your continued support and partnership throughout the school year!

All About Animals

In Writing Workshop, we have moved on from our persuasive letter writing unit to focus on nonfiction as it relates to research reports. We will be discussing the different elements that make nonfiction and how to determine if a book fits these criterions. We will look to see if there is a beginning, middle, and end of the story, pictures with captions, diagrams, index, glossary, or other key feature of a nonfiction text.

Now, as you probably have heard, your children are writing their animal research reports, complete with chapters. When finished, each book will have a table of contents, and children are learning to organize their information into the appropriate chapters. They are learning also that each chapter has its own organizational structure. For now, we are helping guide the students into important questions that should be touched upon in their research, but it would be a small step forward for children to write similar books using their own knowledge about what is important about the animal they have selected.

Plant Project

We will soon be starting our last science unit focusing on life cycles. This unit will be about plants and will be integrated with math, science and reading activities. Students will be making predictions and estimations as well as recording observations and doing experiments.

In addition to participating in plant activities in school, we are asking first graders to complete a plant project at home. The assignment will be sent home on April 20th – after spring break. Children will create an activity from the following list:

• seed collection or mosaic
• book, story or poem
• poster or collage
• video or audio tape
• mini garden terrarium
• report on an unusual plant
• diorama or experiment

Each student will have the opportunity to show and explain his/her project. The projects will be on display in the hallway in front of our rooms from May 21st to May 25th. All projects are due on Monday, May 21.

Community Study

We will continue our study of communities with a comparison of our own community with life in Mexico. After learning about the geography of North America, we will transition into developing a more in depth understanding of another culture in North America. Using such resources as the DVD “Families of Mexico”, we will learn about a family from the port city of Veracruz. The family owns an advertising agency, the mother teaches a dance class at the cultural center, and the children go to school, the grocery store, and swimming lessons. We will use a Venn diagram to contrast the two cultures.

First graders were very fortunate to have two guest speakers visit us. Mr. Einisman told us all about life in the White House. The children were especially surprised to find out that the White House has its own bowling alley! He also brought memorabilia from his time working in the White House

A few days later, Kathy Johnson from the St. Louis Park Historical Society joined us to talk about the history of SLP. She showed us lots of before and after pictures that clearly illustrated how SLP has grown through the years. Ms. Johnson, also, brought in several artifacts including a spittoon, school bell, and a lantern. In addition, we learned about two important landmarks in SLP—the Beehive (barbecue pit along Highway 100) and Peavey Grain Elevator (now belonging to Nordic Ware). This fits into our upcoming study of landmarks in the Twin Cities and surrounding communities.

Math: More Money and Lots of Fractions!

Our eighth unit in math will focus on the following concepts:

• Extend work with money to include more dollars and making change by “counting up”
• Show amounts of money using the fewest number of coins
• Extend place value work to more work with the hundreds place
• Show the relationship between dollars and place value to the hundreds
• Introduce concepts related to fractions; fractional parts related to a whole, fractional parts related to parts of “collections”, fraction notation and fraction vocabulary
• Identify and count by halves, thirds, fourths and sixths to complete a whole unit.
• Explore two dimensional and three dimensional geometric shapes
• Explore symmetry-What a symmetrical shape looks like and how is it created on a geoboard

This unit provides many opportunities to integrate key concepts and skills previously learned with those being newly introduced!

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – HaMorah Karen

It was so nice seeing all of you at conferences. Your children have learned a lot and I enjoyed being able to celebrate their progress with you!

I also want to wish all of you a Hag Pesah Sameah! Your children have learned a lot about the holiday of Passover. They are bringing home a model of a Seder plate along with an explanation of the symbolism and meaning of each item on it. I hope you will enjoy incorporating this into your Passover Seder at home.

Hebrew

In Hebrew we will…

• Begin work in our fourth and final Ari-Ot book.
• Learn the letters Tzadee, Tzadee sofit, Kof, and Reish.
• Learn and read new stories that go along with the study of each new letter.
• Learn more vocabulary that goes along with the new letters.
• Visit the computer lab to support our learning.
• Begin writing more complex sentences using the adjectives and verbs that we have learned.

Judaic Studies – T’filah (Prayer)

We are continuing to learn about some of the prayers in the morning service. During this time we will…

• Look at the words and meanings of the prayers more closely.
• Put more photographs into our Siddur.
• Discuss and write about how the prayers connect to our lives.
• Complete studying the prayers of Birkhot Ha Shahar and begin our study of the Barhu and Shema.
• Have students take turns being the “Rabbi” of the day and lead the morning service.

Judaic Studies – Holidays

We will be learning about Israel as we prepare for Yom Haatzmaut (Israel Independence Day) This year the theme of Yom Haatzmaut will be Mayim (water) first grade will focus on the Dead Sea.

Judaic Studies – Torah Portions

• We will continue learning Torah portions from the book of Vayikra (the third book of the Torah)
• Learn about key concepts, characters and vocabulary from each Torah portion
• Discuss how some of the key concepts from the Torah portions connect to our lives today

Hebrew Homework

Please encourage your child to spend time each week reviewing the Hebrew flashcards that come home each week. This will help them retain the vocabulary that we have learned in class.

Hag Sameah,

Karen Malka

Art – Ms. Orkin

What we have been doing in art class…

Purim Masks and African Mask Making using tag board, oil pastel, feathers, glitter glue, sequins and yarn.

Spring Portfolio Drawings of flowers and trees.

Our final two pieces from the Art Adventures Program’s- Let’s Celebrate Life! Series.

California Artist Tony Berlant’s Tzedaka Box made in 1988 out of metal, plywood and steel.

Chinese ceremonial gate made in 1728 of hand-carved tile.

Upcoming project – Passover decorative Seder plate

Important Upcoming Date!!!

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts Field Trip Wednesday is May 16 and Thursday May 17. Parent permission slips will be emailed home. The specific tour time will be on the slip. Students need written permission to go on the field trip. We encourage parents to meet us at the Institute of Arts ten minutes before the field trip if they wish to help chaperone. Please RSVP to Aimee Orkin if you can come help chaperone our tour.

Special thanks to the Sharon Lerner Visual Arts Fund, donated by the Posada and Lerner Families, for funding this amazing experience!

Library – Ms. Oskow

The library buzzed with excited students at the Scholastic Book Fair March 25-30. We earned more than $2,200 in profit for the HMJDS library budget. In addition, we took $1250 worth of books directly from the Fair for students’ immediate use, and earned $400 in book vouchers for more materials to order to complement classroom materials. Students are already excitedly checking out new books. People also donated books directly from the book sale to the classrooms or library.

A big thank you to the Book Fair Chairs, Beth Jasco, Ellen Berkelhamer, and Micki Litton, for all of your hard work!

And thank you to all of the great volunteers:

Judy Finkelstein, Gail Freedman, Michelle Gendlin, Alyssa Golob, Diane Greenberger, Michael Keller, Wendy Khabie, Becky Madigan, Melissa Mark, Emer O’Connor-Keller, Mark Roth, Laura Schmieg, Heidi Schneider, Beckie Skelton, Lisa Villalta, Kim Kotzen Wear, Lauren Weiser, and Dana Beth Weisman.

And student volunteers:

Talia H., Daniel H., Felicia & Haley J., Liang J., Avia K.-R., Chyna L.-L., Isaac M., Talia N., Ora R., Emmy S., and Zachariah W.S.

Teachers and Students Win Prizes in Book Fair Drawing

Two Grand Prize winners won $25 in Book Fair merchandise for the student, and $25 for his or her teacher to pick out books for the classroom: Sammie W. and Ms. Dorman/Schochet, Josh M. and Ms. Norton. Twenty-two other students in grades K-8 won posters. Students entered another drawing by creating a poster about a favorite book on a pineapple-shaped paper. Sydney W. won $25 worth of books from the Fair in that contest.

Hunger Games Mockingjay Pin Raffle

A limited-edition Hunger Games trilogy boxed set at the Book Fair contained a hotly desired Mockingjay pin. Mr. Gawronski and Mr. Portnoe were kind enough to buy boxed sets, keep the books, and donate their pins back for a raffle. Winners of the pins and a Hunger Games poster were pulled on Thursday, April 5.

Thank you to everyone who bought books, donated books or pins, or entered the Mockingjay raffle! Your purchases will enable us to buy many new books to enhance curriculum and aid students’ love of reading, as well as help us to update the library with electronic resources for the 21st Century.

Music – Mr. Shaw

In April the students will use half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests in their next compositions. The children will continue playing rhythm instruments, which is a way for them to transfer their rhythm compositions that allow for class performances. In addition to working on reading rhythms, we will continue to identify elements of pitch (high and low). Students continue to use a musical staircase that allowed us to understand how pitches can move by step or by skip. In the future we will learn songs with nautical and ocean themes, such as By the Sea, If I Were a Pirate, and Goin’ Over the Sea. The onset of nice weather often makes the students a bit restless, so we will add some old and new movement activities to work off some energy. Using our bodies will help with the internalization of steady beat and rhythm by.

Concepts and Understandings Highlighted in Music Lessons

• Develop an understanding of music terminology (mood, solo, group/ensemble).
• Aurally distinguish expressive features in music: tempo (fast/slow).
• Respond to music using movement.
• Feel and express steady beat.
• Use solfege (Curwen hand signals) to indicate melodic direction.
• Read, write (compose), and perform from music notation.
• Understand music in relation to history and culture.
• Identify rhymes and homonyms used in the lyrics of songs.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Greetings First Grade Parents,

I enjoyed meeting with you at spring conferences and sharing fabulous fitness testing results. In case we didn’t have a chance to connect at conferences, fitness results will be presented on report cards as well. As the school year draws to a close there are some wonderful events to look forward to, including Fitness Week!

What’s Going On?

Your first grader is in the middle of our volleyball unit. We started out learning and practicing eye-tracking and striking skills using balloons and beach balls. Students started out performing individual and cooperative partner skills. They were given many different volleying challenges using different body parts. During the second half of volleyball students will be taught a modified volleyball game where they will learn conventional positioning, player rotation, and scoring.

What’s Next?

After volleyball we will venture outside (weather permitting) to play soccer in addition to a variety of assorted games. Earlier in the school year we played different versions of line soccer, but this spring the games will be closer to official soccer. Students will play different positions and know the difference between offense and defense.

Please be aware that Fitness Week is penciled in for the week of May 28. Look for volunteering opportunities.

Technology – Ms. Olson

General Studies – Ms. Norton

I’m Stuck On You!

Students will soon be learning first hand how the frog uses its tongue to survive in their environment. We will use party blowers with Velcro attached to simulate how frogs catch their food. Key questions will include:

• How are the tongues of frogs adapted to allow them to catch their food?
• How many times can you successfully catch an insect in 10 trials?
• Where can you catch the most insects—on the floor (ground), on the wall (bushes, trees) or when they are hanging in the air (flying by)?

Believe it or not, this activity is not easy. I am sure that after students try it, they will have gained a deeper appreciation of the effort frogs must exert just to catch one insect!

Our class is enjoying drawing and writing tadpole observations. Every week, we see changes in our little amphibians—back legs starting to protrude, longer bodies, back tail disappearing, etc.

Learning About North America

After learning about the communities that we live in, students will broaden their focus to include important geographical features of not only Minnesota, but the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. We will also learn about bodies of water that surround North America. This will also be a good time to review what we have already learned about finding directions using a compass rose and reading a legend or key to gain more information about a map.

Geometry and Attributes: Shapes, Shapes and More Shapes!

Soon, we will begin learning about geometry and attributes. This is the seventh unit in math. The students will be introduced to three dimensional geometric shapes. We will be having a “Shapes Museum!” The students will then sort the shapes in the museum into geometric categories and look for two dimensional shapes within three dimensional shapes. Our geometric “construction crews” will construct polygons with straws and twist ties. There will be four overarching areas of focus.

• Sorting attribute blocks according to attribute rules
• Extending familiarity with polygons
• Identifying three dimensional shapes
• Learning about symmetrical shapes

Vocabulary introduced in this unit include:

Attribute, cone, corners, cube, cylinder, hexagon, faces, (curved and flat) polygon, prism, sphere, surface, symmetry and symmetrical

Rectangle, square, triangle, trapezoid and rhombus are all additional geometric shape words you will be hearing about soon!

Our One Hundred Days of School festivities started with songs and a story celebrating one hundred days of school. Stations were set up in all three first grade rooms and the children rotated through activities that included graphing with M and M’s, writing a story about what their life would be like when they became 100 years old, and an I Spy scavenger Hunt for one hundred objects. They especially enjoyed seeing all the different 100 objects that everyone brought from home and put on display in our 1-2 hallway.

Can You Be Persuaded?

This month, students will be continuing their work on writing persuasive letters. Our focus will be on forming strong opinions, coming up with reasons why things need to change, and effectively persuading the reader of their opinions. Although the main focus of the unit is to come up with a persuasive argument, we will also be indirectly learning about the structure of letter writing and how important it is to include aspects such as greetings (salutations) and closings.

In reading, we will be diving even deeper into the structure of non-fiction texts. We will be discovering words like table of contents, index, glossary, captions, bold print…and much more! It is important to know the meanings of each of these words along with how to spot them in texts. We also will learn how to utilize all these tools in order to make the most out of a non-fiction reading experience.

Thank you again for all your help and support!

Sue Norton

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Ms. Fogelson

Hebrew Language

We have recently completed the following letter units in the Ari-Ot workbook, Lamed, Mem and Nun. After reading each new story, the children answer comprehension questions using the unit vocabulary. In class, the students act out the stories and try to bring them to life. For example, we ate g’leedah – icecream, after reading the story about Aunt Leah who brings ice-cream treats to a first grade class. Who knew that learning a new language could be so tasty?

Judaic Studies–Holidays

We will soon begin preparing for Pesah. This holiday actually has four names and each of the names teaches us something different.

• Hag HaPesah reminds us of the tenth plague, the death of the Egyptian firstborn male children, and the blood that the Israelites painted on the doorposts of their houses.
• Hag HaMatzot refers to the matzah that was bakes by the Israelites as they hurried to leave Egypt.
• Hag HaHerut (the holiday of freedom) celebrates the end of our ancestor’s slavery.
• Hag HaAviv (the holiday of spring) reminds us of the timing of the Exodus.

We will learn the story of Pesah. The children will answer questions in Hebrew about the events and characters. We will also learn about the Seder table and the different stages of the Seder service. We will discuss the symbolism of each item on the Seder plate and table. We will also practice several songs, especially Ma Nishtana, which the children know from last year. This year we place more emphasis on reading and understanding the words. The children will sing the songs from their workbooks, class posters, and real Hagadot. We are sure that your children will be able to participate actively in the Seder that they attend.

Judaic Studies–Parashat hashavuah

In the Torah portion, Yitro, Moshe’s father-in- law, notices that Moshe’s time is occupied by an endless line of Israelites who seek his advice on all manner of problems. Yitro suggests that Moshe appoint judges to help solve the smaller problems thus freeing up time to deal with the more serious issues. The children pretended that they were Israelites and each one came and presented a problem to Moshe.

Later in Shemot, the Children of Israel are given instuctions to build the Mishkan, (the Tabernacle) a place where they can bring sacrifices and feel close to God. In class, we compared the objects in the Mishkan to those in our synagogues today. We also compared the role of the Cohen Hagadol (the High Priest) to that of a rabbi and the idea of bringing animal sacrifices to today’s practice of reciting prayers. In the coming weeks, we will discuss the story of the Golden Calf and try to understand why the Israelites felt the need for it and look at the role of Aaron as leader while Moshe was on Mt. Sinai.

Judaic Studies – T’fillah (Prayer)

We continue to explore the meaning of the blessings in Birkot haShahar. This month we plan to study several additional blessings, many of which express our appreciation for different parts of our bodies.

• In learning the blessing Pokeah Ivrim we thank God for our ability to see. The children learned about Braille and explored the Braille signage throughout the school building. They enjoyed writing their names using the Braille alphabet.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hamorah Shelley

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns either by phone at 952 381 3460 or by email at sfogelson@hmjds.org

Art – Ms. Orkin

Our clay frogs integrated our science and art classes. They were successfully sculpted, glazed and sent home . . . . Just in time for the Passover seder, to help commemorate the frog plague!

Students created Purim masks using oil pastels, feathers, sequins and yarn.

Upcoming projects include:

We are in the midst of our third installment of the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art Adventures curriculum on the theme “Let’s Celebrate Life!”

Students looked at:

A Lakota Native American women’s dress from 1880 and an Indian sculpture of Shiva Nataraja from the late 10th century.

Our project will be a beading mosaic picture of Native American Indian design.

Our Passover project will be a painted afikomen napkin for the middle matza to be hidden in.

Happy upcoming holidays!!

Ms. Orkin

Library – Ms. Oskow

HMJDS Scholastic Book Fair March 25-30!!

Books available for preschool through adults at Scholastic’s discounted prices. 25% of money collected goes to the library.

Book Fair Hours:

Sunday, March 25 - 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

Monday, March 26 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Class Preview Day

Tuesday, March 27 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Class Preview Day

Wednesday, Mar. 28 - 8:00 AM-8:00 PM – HMJDS Conferences PM

Thursday, March 29 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Conferences PM

Friday, March 30 - 8:00 AM-4:00 PM

Student Preview Days

Each HMJDS class visits the Book Fair Monday, March 26 or Tuesday, March 27. Students write a Wish List of books and may buy books.

Teacher Wish Lists

Teachers post Wish Lists and families can buy books or Gift Certificates to dedicate for classrooms, specialists, or the library.

Contests to Win Free Books

Parents or adult relatives can enter their students in a drawing anytime they stop by the Book Fair together through Thursday, March 29 (once per student). On Thursday, March 29, two students’ names will be drawn to win $25 worth of books—and a winning student’s teacher also chooses $25 worth of books! Students’ names are drawn for other prizes, too.

Additional drawing: for students who design posters celebrating their favorite book to decorate the library. Posterboard available from Ms. Oskow. Posters due by March 22.

Visit the Book Fair Online

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/hmjds

The Online Book Fair:

• allows your child to send wish lists, and invite family and friends to participate in the Book Fair
• offers an expanded book selection – books for all ages, even adult titles
• is available for an extended time: Monday, March 19 to Sunday, April 8.

Volunteers Needed For Book Fair

• Set up the Book Fair on Friday, March 23
• Tear down the Book Fair on Monday, April 2
• Staff the Book Fair during open hours

Please contact Book Fair Chairs Micki Litton, Beth Jasco or Ellen Berkelhamer – or sign up on the sheet that will be posted outside the library.

Music – Mr. Shaw

We will work on the concept of musical style and how the same song can sound quite different depending on the musician’s interpretation of the piece. Students will also be building musical independence by learning how to scribe basic musical notation. Grade one students will start composing their own rhythms. Children will write short rhythm studies using quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests in their compositions.

In addition to working on reading rhythms, we are also continuing to identify elements of pitch (high and low), as the students will be introduced to a musical staircase that allows us to understand how pitches can move by step or by skip. One song that will demonstrate this concept is “If You Can Follow Me.” We will then look at previously learned songs and analyze how the pitches in the melody move either by step or skip as well as if the melody is ascending (upward) or descending (downward) motion.

Featured Concepts and Understandings in Music Class Lessons:

• Echo-sing short phrases.
• Read lyrics from song sheets.
• Use solfege (Curwen) hands signals to indicate melodic direction.
• Develop the competency to perform music through modeling.
• Identify appropriate song styles.
• Read and write visual symbols that indicate rhythm.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Greetings First Grade Parents,

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a meaningful Sh’vat. In my lower school classes we recognized Tu b’ sh’vat by incorporating the holiday theme into our warm-up activity. Now for Adar fun!

What’s Going On?

Your first grader just finished their rope jumping unit and is now participating in gymnastics. This year we will be using the balance beam, vault and the handstand spotter.

In the beginning the balance beam height will be 30 inches. It will be raised six to twelve inches during the course of the unit. Students will be introduced to different balance beam challenges to create two to three different skills in their balance beam routine. This includes the dismount onto the crash mat while landing on their feet without dropping to their knees.

In vaulting students will learn the proper approach to the spring board, hurdle onto two feet and either tuck or straddle over the 24-36 inch vault.

Handstands will be introduced using the wall for support. If your student is capable of supporting their own weight they will be able to use the back handspring spotter.

Please be aware that Fitness Week is penciled in for the week of May 21 so look for volunteering opportunities.

Technology – Ms. Olson

How Do I Find GREAT Websites For My First Grader?

Have no fear… HMJDS is here! It just so happens that at school your child uses our custom Portaportal website to find safe and age level appropriate websites that are also interesting, educational and fun! If you don’t already have the HMJDS Portaportal set up on your home computer, please follow these instructions:

• Go to www.portaportal.com
• Along the right side you will see a field in a box labeled Guest Access. Click in the box and type hmjds.
• Once hmjds is typed, click visit.

It’s that simple and now your child will be able to access all of the websites that we work on in school and even try out some others… You may even want to sneak back into the Kindergarten list for some fun games they used to play or up to the grade two list to try something more challenging.

The HMJDS Portaportal site is updated periodically when a new website comes to our attention that we feel is important to share with students. If you know of a site that you feel we should know about and possibly add to the Portaportal, please contact me and I will consider it for addition to our Portaportal.

General Studies – Ms. Hunegs

Can You Be Persuaded?

This month, students will be continuing their work on writing persuasive letters. Our focus will be on forming strong opinions, coming up with reasons why things need to change, and effectively persuading the reader of their opinions. Although the main focus of the unit is to come up with a persuasive argument, we will also be indirectly learning about the structure of letter writing and how important it is to include aspects such as greetings and salutations (salutations) and closings.

In reading, we will be diving even deeper into the structure of non-fiction texts. We will be discovering words like table of contents, index, glossary, captions, bold print…and much more! It is important to know the meanings of each of these words along with how to spot them in texts. We also will learn how to utilize all these tools in order to make the most out of a non-fiction reading experience.

I’m Stuck On You!

Students will soon be learning first hand how the frog uses its tongue to survive in their environment. We will use party blowers with Velcro attached to simulate how frogs catch their food. Key questions will include:

• How are the tongues of frogs adapted to allow them to catch their food?
• How many times can you successfully catch an insect in 10 trials?
• Where can you catch the most insects—on the floor (ground), on the wall (bushes, trees) or when they are hanging in the air (flying by)?

Believe it or not, this activity is not easy. I am sure after students try it, they will have gained a deeper appreciation of the effort frogs must exert just to catch one insect!

Learning About North America

After learning about the communities that we live in, students will broaden their focus to include important geographical features of not only Minnesota, but the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. We will also learn about bodies of water that surround North America. This will also be a good time to review what we have already learned about finding directions using a compass rose and reading a legend or key to gain more information about a map.

Geometry and Attributes: Shapes, Shapes and More Shapes!

Soon, we will begin learning about geometry and attributes. This is the seventh unit in math. The students will be introduced to three dimensional geometric shapes. We will be having a “Shapes Museum!” The students will then sort the shapes in the museum into geometric categories and look for two dimensional shapes within three dimensional shapes. Our geometric “construction crews” will construct polygons with straws and twist ties. There will be four overarching areas of focus:

• Sorting attribute blocks according to attribute rules
• Extending familiarity with polygons
• Identifying three dimensional shapes
• Learning about symmetrical shapes

Vocabulary introduced with this unit is:

Attribute, cone, corners, cube, cylinder, hexagon, faces, (curved and flat) polygon, prism, sphere, surface, symmetry and symmetrical

Rectangle, square, triangle, trapezoid and rhombus are all additional geometric shape words you will be hearing about soon!

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Ms. Galili

Hebrew

In Hebrew we will:

• continue our work in our third Ari-Ot workbooks.
• learn the letters Samech,Ayin,Peh, Peh Sofit.
• learn and read new stories that go along with the study of each new letter.
• learn more vocabulary that goes along with the new letters.
• visit the computer lab to support our learning.
• begin writing more complex sentences using the adjectives and verbs that we have learned.

Judaic Studies-T’fillah (Prayer)

We are continuing to learn about some of the prayers in the morning service. During this time, we will:

• look at the words and meanings of the prayers more closely
• put more photographs into our Siddur
• discuss and write about how the prayers connect to our lives
• continue studying the prayers of Birchot Ha Shahar
• have students take turns being the “Rabbi” of the day and lead the morning service.

Judaic Studies-Holidays

We will be learning about the holiday of Pesah (Passover). We will learn about the story, the customs, symbols, meanings and traditions of the holiday. We will learn prayers and songs from the Passover Haggadah. We will learn the four questions and other parts of the Passover Seder so that the students will be able to participate in their Passover Seders at home.

Judaic Studies-Torah Portions

We will continue:

• learning Torah portions from the book of Sh’mot (the second book of the Torah)
• learning about key concepts, characters, and vocabulary from each Torah portion

• discussing how some of the key concepts from the Torah portions connect to our lives today
• making connections between the holiday of Passover and the Torah portions from the book of Shmot (Exodus).

Hebrew Homework

Please encourage your child to spend time reviewing the Hebrew flashcards that come home each week. This will help them retain the vocabulary that we have learned in class.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hani Galili

Art – Ms. Orkin

Our clay frogs integrated our science and art classes. They were successfully sculpted, glazed and sent home . . . . Just in time for the Passover seder, to help commemorate the frog plague!

Students created Purim masks using oil pastels, feathers, sequins and yarn.

Upcoming projects include:

We are in the midst of our third installment of the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art Adventures curriculum on the theme “Let’s Celebrate Life!”

Students looked at:

A Lakota Native American women’s dress from 1880 and an Indian sculpture of Shiva Nataraja from the late 10th century.

Our project will be a beading mosaic picture of Native American Indian design.

Our Passover project will be a painted afikomen napkin for the middle matza to be hidden in.

Happy upcoming holidays!!

Ms. Orkin

Library – Ms. Oskow

HMJDS Scholastic Book Fair March 25-30!!

Books available for preschool through adults at Scholastic’s discounted prices. 25% of money collected goes to the library.

Book Fair Hours:

Sunday, March 25 - 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

Monday, March 26 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Class Preview Day

Tuesday, March 27 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Class Preview Day

Wednesday, Mar. 28 - 8:00 AM-8:00 PM – HMJDS Conferences PM

Thursday, March 29 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Conferences PM

Friday, March 30 - 8:00 AM-4:00 PM

Student Preview Days

Each HMJDS class visits the Book Fair Monday, March 26 or Tuesday, March 27. Students write a Wish List of books and may buy books.

Teacher Wish Lists

Teachers post Wish Lists and families can buy books or Gift Certificates to dedicate for classrooms, specialists, or the library.

Contests to Win Free Books

Parents or adult relatives can enter their students in a drawing anytime they stop by the Book Fair together through Thursday, March 29 (once per student). On Thursday, March 29, two students’ names will be drawn to win $25 worth of books—and a winning student’s teacher also chooses $25 worth of books! Students’ names are drawn for other prizes, too.

Additional drawing: for students who design posters celebrating their favorite book to decorate the library. Posterboard available from Ms. Oskow. Posters due by March 22.

Visit the Book Fair Online

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/hmjds

The Online Book Fair:

• allows your child to send wish lists, and invite family and friends to participate in the Book Fair
• offers an expanded book selection – books for all ages, even adult titles
• is available for an extended time: Monday, March 19 to Sunday, April 8.

Volunteers Needed For Book Fair

• Set up the Book Fair on Friday, March 23
• Tear down the Book Fair on Monday, April 2
• Staff the Book Fair during open hours

Please contact Book Fair Chairs Micki Litton, Beth Jasco or Ellen Berkelhamer – or sign up on the sheet that will be posted outside the library.

Music – Mr. Shaw

We will work on the concept of musical style and how the same song can sound quite different depending on the musician’s interpretation of the piece. Students will also be building musical independence by learning how to scribe basic musical notation. Grade one students will start composing their own rhythms. Children will write short rhythm studies using quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests in their compositions.

In addition to working on reading rhythms, we are also continuing to identify elements of pitch (high and low), as the students will be introduced to a musical staircase that allows us to understand how pitches can move by step or by skip. One song that will demonstrate this concept is “If You Can Follow Me.” We will then look at previously learned songs and analyze how the pitches in the melody move either by step or skip as well as if the melody is ascending (upward) or descending (downward) motion.

Featured Concepts and Understandings in Music Class Lessons:

• Echo-sing short phrases.
• Read lyrics from song sheets.
• Use solfege (Curwen) hands signals to indicate melodic direction.
• Develop the competency to perform music through modeling.
• Identify appropriate song styles.
• Read and write visual symbols that indicate rhythm.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Greetings First Grade Parents,

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a meaningful Sh’vat. In my lower school classes we recognized Tu b’ sh’vat by incorporating the holiday theme into our warm-up activity. Now for Adar fun!

What’s Going On?

Your first grader just finished their rope jumping unit and is now participating in gymnastics. This year we will be using the balance beam, vault and the handstand spotter.

In the beginning the balance beam height will be 30 inches. It will be raised six to twelve inches during the course of the unit. Students will be introduced to different balance beam challenges to create two to three different skills in their balance beam routine. This includes the dismount onto the crash mat while landing on their feet without dropping to their knees.

In vaulting students will learn the proper approach to the spring board, hurdle onto two feet and either tuck or straddle over the 24-36 inch vault.

Handstands will be introduced using the wall for support. If your student is capable of supporting their own weight they will be able to use the back handspring spotter.

Please be aware that Fitness Week is penciled in for the week of May 21 so look for volunteering opportunities.

Technology – Ms. Olson

How Do I Find GREAT Websites For My First Grader?

Have no fear… HMJDS is here! It just so happens that at school your child uses our custom Portaportal website to find safe and age level appropriate websites that are also interesting, educational and fun! If you don’t already have the HMJDS Portaportal set up on your home computer, please follow these instructions:

• Go to www.portaportal.com
• Along the right side you will see a field in a box labeled Guest Access. Click in the box and type hmjds.
• Once hmjds is typed, click visit.

It’s that simple and now your child will be able to access all of the websites that we work on in school and even try out some others… You may even want to sneak back into the Kindergarten list for some fun games they used to play or up to the grade two list to try something more challenging.

The HMJDS Portaportal site is updated periodically when a new website comes to our attention that we feel is important to share with students. If you know of a site that you feel we should know about and possibly add to the Portaportal, please contact me and I will consider it for addition to our Portaportal.

General Studies – Ms. Diamond

Can You Be Persuaded?

This month, students will be continuing their work on writing persuasive letters. Our focus will be on forming strong opinions, coming up with reasons why things need to change, and effectively persuading the reader of their opinions. Although the main focus of the unit is to come up with a persuasive argument, we will also be indirectly learning about the structure of letter writing and how important it is to include aspects such as greetings and salutations (salutations) and closings.

In reading, we will be diving even deeper into the structure of non-fiction texts. We will be discovering words like table of contents, index, glossary, captions, bold print…and much more! It is important to know the meanings of each of these words along with how to spot them in texts. We also will learn how to utilize all these tools in order to make the most out of a non-fiction reading experience.

I’m Stuck On You!

Students will soon be learning first-hand how the frog uses its tongue to survive in their environment. We will use party blowers with Velcro attached to simulate how frogs catch their food. Key questions will include:

• How are the tongues of frogs adapted to allow them to catch their food?
• How many times can you successfully catch an insect in 10 trials?
• Where can you catch the most insects—on the floor (ground), on the wall (bushes, trees) or when they are hanging in the air (flying by)?

Believe it or not, this activity is not easy. I am sure after students try it, they will have gained a deeper appreciation of the effort frogs must exert just to catch one insect!

Learning About North America

After learning about the communities that we live in, students will broaden their focus to include important geographical features of not only Minnesota but the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. We will also learn about bodies of water that surround North America. This will also be a good time to review what we have already learned about finding directions using a compass rose and reading a legend or key to gain more information about a map.

Geometry and Attributes: Shapes, Shapes and More Shapes!

Soon, we will begin learning about geometry and attributes. This is the seventh unit in math. The students will be introduced to three dimensional geometric shapes. We will be having a “Shapes Museum!” The students will then sort the shapes in the museum into geometric categories and look for two dimensional shapes within three dimensional shapes. Our geometric “construction crews” will construct polygons with straws and twist ties. There will be four overarching areas of focus:

• Sorting attribute blocks according to attribute rules
• Extending familiarity with polygons
• Identifying three dimensional shapes
• Learning about symmetrical shapes

Vocabulary introduced with this unit is:

Attribute, cone, corners, cube, cylinder, hexagon, faces, (curved and flat) polygon, prism, sphere, surface, symmetry and symmetrical

Rectangle, square, triangle, trapezoid and rhombus are all additional geometric shape words you will be hearing about soon!

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Ms. Malka

Hebrew

In Hebrew we will:

• continue our work in our third Ari-Ot workbooks.
• learn the letters Samech,Ayin,Peh, Peh Sofit.
• learn and read new stories that go along with the study of each new letter.
• learn more vocabulary that goes along with the new letters.
• visit the computer lab to support our learning.
• begin writing more complex sentences using the adjectives and verbs that we have learned.

Judaic Studies-T’fillah (Prayer)

We are continuing to learn about some of the prayers in the morning service. During this time, we will:

• look at the words and meanings of the prayers more closely
• put more photographs into our Siddur
• discuss and write about how the prayers connect to our lives
• continue studying the prayers of Birchot Ha Shahar
• have students take turns being the “Rabbi” of the day and lead the morning service.

Judaic Studies-Holidays

We will be learning about the holiday of Pesah (Passover). We will learn about the story, the customs, symbols, meanings and traditions of the holiday. We will learn prayers and songs from the Passover Haggadah. We will learn the four questions and other parts of the Passover Seder so that the students will be able to participate in their Passover Seders at home.

Judaic Studies-Torah Portions

We will continue:

• learning Torah portions from the book of Sh’mot (the second book of the Torah)
• learning about key concepts, characters, and vocabulary from each Torah portion
• discussing how some of the key concepts from the Torah portions connect to our lives today
• making connections between the holiday of Passover and the Torah portions from the book of Sh’mot (Exodus).

Hebrew Homework

Please encourage your child to spend time reviewing the Hebrew flashcards that come home each week. This will help them retain the vocabulary that we have learned in class.

Shabbat Shalom,

Karen Malka

Art – Ms. Orkin

Our clay frogs integrated our science and art classes. They were successfully sculpted, glazed and sent home . . . . Just in time for the Passover seder, to help commemorate the frog plague!

Students created Purim masks using oil pastels, feathers, sequins and yarn.

Upcoming projects include:

We are in the midst of our third installment of the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art Adventures curriculum on the theme “Let’s Celebrate Life!”

Students looked at:

A Lakota Native American women’s dress from 1880 and an Indian sculpture of Shiva Nataraja from the late 10th century.

Our project will be a beading mosaic picture of Native American Indian design.

Our Passover project will be a painted afikomen napkin for the middle matza to be hidden in.

Happy upcoming holidays!!

Ms. Orkin

Library – Ms. Oskow

HMJDS Scholastic Book Fair March 25-30!!

Books available for preschool through adults at Scholastic’s discounted prices. 25% of money collected goes to the library.

Book Fair Hours:

Sunday, March 25 - 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

Monday, March 26 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Class Preview Day

Tuesday, March 27 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Class Preview Day

Wednesday, Mar. 28 - 8:00 AM-8:00 PM – HMJDS Conferences PM

Thursday, March 29 - 8:00 AM-7:15 PM – HMJDS Conferences PM

Friday, March 30 - 8:00 AM-4:00 PM

Student Preview Days

Each HMJDS class visits the Book Fair Monday, March 26 or Tuesday, March 27. Students write a Wish List of books and may buy books.

Teacher Wish Lists

Teachers post Wish Lists and families can buy books or Gift Certificates to dedicate for classrooms, specialists, or the library.

Contests to Win Free Books

Parents or adult relatives can enter their students in a drawing anytime they stop by the Book Fair together through Thursday, March 29 (once per student). On Thursday, March 29, two students’ names will be drawn to win $25 worth of books—and a winning student’s teacher also chooses $25 worth of books! Students’ names are drawn for other prizes, too.

Additional drawing: for students who design posters celebrating their favorite book to decorate the library. Posterboard available from Ms. Oskow. Posters due by March 22.

Visit the Book Fair Online

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/hmjds

The Online Book Fair:

• allows your child to send wish lists, and invite family and friends to participate in the Book Fair
• offers an expanded book selection – books for all ages, even adult titles
• is available for an extended time: Monday, March 19 to Sunday, April 8.

Volunteers Needed For Book Fair

• Set up the Book Fair on Friday, March 23
• Tear down the Book Fair on Monday, April 2
• Staff the Book Fair during open hours

Please contact Book Fair Chairs Micki Litton, Beth Jasco or Ellen Berkelhamer – or sign up on the sheet that will be posted outside the library.

Music – Mr. Shaw

We will work on the concept of musical style and how the same song can sound quite different depending on the musician’s interpretation of the piece. Students will also be building musical independence by learning how to scribe basic musical notation. Grade one students will start composing their own rhythms. Children will write short rhythm studies using quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests in their compositions.

In addition to working on reading rhythms, we are also continuing to identify elements of pitch (high and low), as the students will be introduced to a musical staircase that allows us to understand how pitches can move by step or by skip. One song that will demonstrate this concept is “If You Can Follow Me.” We will then look at previously learned songs and analyze how the pitches in the melody move either by step or skip as well as if the melody is ascending (upward) or descending (downward) motion.

Featured Concepts and Understandings in Music Class Lessons:

• Echo-sing short phrases.
• Read lyrics from song sheets.
• Use solfege (Curwen) hands signals to indicate melodic direction.
• Develop the competency to perform music through modeling.
• Identify appropriate song styles.
• Read and write visual symbols that indicate rhythm.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

Greetings First Grade Parents,

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a meaningful Sh’vat. In my lower school classes we recognized Tu b’ sh’vat by incorporating the holiday theme into our warm-up activity. Now for Adar fun!

What’s Going On?

Your first grader just finished their rope jumping unit and is now participating in gymnastics. This year we will be using the balance beam, vault and the handstand spotter.

In the beginning the balance beam height will be 30 inches. It will be raised six to twelve inches during the course of the unit. Students will be introduced to different balance beam challenges to create two to three different skills in their balance beam routine. This includes the dismount onto the crash mat while landing on their feet without dropping to their knees.

In vaulting students will learn the proper approach to the spring board, hurdle onto two feet and either tuck or straddle over the 24-36 inch vault.

Handstands will be introduced using the wall for support. If your student is capable of supporting their own weight they will be able to use the back handspring spotter.

Please be aware that Fitness Week is penciled in for the week of May 21 so look for volunteering opportunities.

Technology – Ms. Olson

How Do I Find GREAT Websites For My First Grader?

Have no fear… HMJDS is here! It just so happens that at school your child uses our custom Portaportal website to find safe and age level appropriate websites that are also interesting, educational and fun! If you don’t already have the HMJDS Portaportal set up on your home computer, please follow these instructions:

• Go to www.portaportal.com
• Along the right side you will see a field in a box labeled Guest Access. Click in the box and type hmjds.
• Once hmjds is typed, click visit.

It’s that simple and now your child will be able to access all of the websites that we work on in school and even try out some others… You may even want to sneak back into the Kindergarten list for some fun games they used to play or up to the grade two list to try something more challenging.

The HMJDS Portaportal site is updated periodically when a new website comes to our attention that we feel is important to share with students. If you know of a site that you feel we should know about and possibly add to the Portaportal, please contact me and I will consider it for addition to our Portaportal.

General Studies – Ms. Norton

Learning about St. Louis Park

We are continuing our study communities by focusing on St. Louis Park. Essential questions that will be answered include:

• How does St. Louis Park meet people’s needs?
• What services are provided by St. Louis Park for its citizens? That means that first graders will be learning about the part that libraries, the post office, public safety, water, streets, recycling, food shelves, hospitals, public transportation and grocery stores play in developing a community.

We are also in the process of contacting the St. Louis Park Historical Society to see if they have a member who would be available to give a history of St. Louis Park as well as show us some fun historic artifacts. Having a city planner talk to our classes about the role they play in developing a community is also in the works.

In addition, after reading Jan Brett’s City Mouse, Country Mouse, we wrote about why we would rather be a country mouse or a city mouse. To further illustrate our point of view, we made a barn or skyscraper. The results are on our back bulletin board.

Math: Fact Power, Beginning Geometry, Equivalent Numbers and Data

Shortly, we will begin unit six, Developing Fact Power. In this unit, students will continue the work begun in unit five around learning number facts, working towards immediate recall. Students will:

• Use fact triangle as math graphic organizers to help visualize how number families fit together to make sums or differences
• Learn how to use equivalent numbers to find the same sum or difference (2+3=5, 10-5=5, 15-10=5, etc.)
• Compare whole numbers
• Measure in centimeters
• Use quarters with increased frequency to count coin values
• Note time digitally
• Create, organize and read data sets using range and middle value as tools to interpret data
• Create geometric shapes on a geoboard
• Investigate the relationships between sizes and shapes of pattern blocks
• Match similar geometric shapes
• Estimate and compare lengths of objects

This unit contains many unique “hands-on” opportunities enabling students to both visualize and “experience” math concepts!

When students finish their journal assignments for the day, they work at their own pace in Challenge packets. This gives them an opportunity to use even more hands on material to problem solve.

Our Frogs Have Finally Arrived!

Curriculum night for first grade will be on Thursday, February 23 from 7:00 to 8:00. We ask that if it is at all possible, you leave siblings at home. The focus of the program will, of course, be frogs! We will have stations set up where students can measure how far their plastic frogs can jump, write an observation after watching the antics of live frogs, as well as create a life cycle chart that depict the life of a frog from spawn (eggs) to an adult frog. There will be music and a video showing some of the activities we have worked on in the classroom. You will love the “talking frogs” our students created when you visit the computer lab.

In My Opinion…

As you know, first graders are full of opinions. This month, we will be starting our persuasive letter writing unit. We will continue to be looking at non-fiction texts in Reading Workshop in order to define what makes a non-fiction book and what aspects they need to have. Students will be given the direct instruction and repeated opportunities they need in order to become proficient at stating an opinion and supplying supportive reasons for that opinion. Specifically, they’ll learn to write letters and speeches that aim to persuade, or to argue. They’ll learn not only the skills involved in opinion writing, but also the stance. Even six and seven-year-olds can learn that if they work hard to make their writing sensible, persuasive, and supported by facts, their writing can actually affect changes in the world.

Thank you so much for your continued support and help.

Sincerely,

Sue Norton

Hebrew and Judaics – Ms. Fogelson

Hebrew Language

We recently started working in the third Ari-Ot workbook and have completed the units for the letters Kaf, Haf, Final Haf, and Lamed. The stories in this workbook are progressively longer and include new verbs in the masculine and feminine forms. We practice building sentences in class and you may have noticed that your children are bringing homework using these new verbs.

• Kotev (he writes)
• Kotevet (she writes)
• Boheh (he cries)
• Bohah (she cries)
• Ohel (he eats)
• Ohelet (she eats)

In the upcoming letter units, we will focus on asking and answering questions using the following question words: Me? (who?), Mah? (what?), Kamah? (how many?) and Lamah? (why?)

After we read a story about a chef who keeps burning his toast, the children ate toast in class. Then they described what they were doing using the Hebrew vocabulary from that unit.

Every week the children spend time in the computer lab using the Hebrew software. The software is designed to accompany the hebrew workbooks and it gives the children additional opportunities to hear and use the vocabulary, songs, and stories through a series of engaging activities.

Judaica – Holidays

• We recently finished our unit on Tu B’Shvat, the New Year of the trees. This unit included vocabulary, songs, and stories about trees.
• In a couple of weeks ,we will begin our next holiday unit about Purim. We will learn the story of Purim in Hebrew using a series of hand puppets that represent the central characters, Ester, Mordechai, King Achashverosh and the wicked Haman. In addition, we will study the main mitzvot associated with this holiday. These include hearing the megillah, giving tzedakah, eating a festive Purim meal and exchanging Mishloah Manot (basket of sweet treats).

Judaica – Tefillah (Prayer)

We continue to explore the meaning of the blessings in Birkot haShahar. This month, we plan to study several additional blessings, many of which express our appreciation for different parts of our bodies.

• In learning the blessing Pokeah Ivrim, we thank God for our ability to see. The children will learn about Braille and explore the Braille signage throughout the school building. They will also write their names using the English and Hebrew Braille alphabets.
• In the following blessings, matir asurim and zokef kefufim, we are thankful for our fingers that move freely and our backs that can bend and straighten.

Through our discussions, I try to help the children develop a sense of awe and appreciation for our bodies. For example, I ask the children to name some of their favorite activities. They begin to realize that they are able play sports, draw and paint, work on the computer, and much more because they were born with amazing, intricately designed bodies.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hamorah Shelley

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns either by phone at 952 381 3460 or by email at sfogelson@hmjds.org

Art – Ms. Orkin

Upcoming units of study include…

Our next two pieces of study on the theme of “Let’s Celebrate Life” from the MIA will be a painted wooden African Plank mask created in 1960 and a wooden Kundu drum from New Guinea.

• Creating Purim groggers (noisemakers)
• Sculpting clay frogs and painting with glaze

Library – Ms. Oskow

In February, first grade library classes experience:

• Easy Reading, Easy Chapter and Picture Books, including many about U.S. Presidents
• Picture books by authors whose last names begin with “T,” “U,” “V,” “W,” “Y” and “Z,” such as: Simms Taback, Mark Teague, Kay Thompson (Eloise), Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji), Judith Viorst (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day), David Wiesner, Mo Willems, Margery Williams (The Velveteen Rabbit), David Wisniewski (Golem), Audrey Wood, Douglas Wood, and Jane Yolen.

HMJDS Scholastic Book Fair Coming March 25-30!!

Biggest Library Fundraiser

The Scholastic Book Fair runs Sunday, March 25 – Friday, March 30. It is the single biggest fundraiser of the year for the library. Books will be available for all ages from preschool through adults, at Scholastic’s discounted, tax-free prices. Shoppers can make purchases for themselves as well as consider donations directly to the library or to HMJDS classrooms. 25% of all money collected will go to the library.

Look for more information following Mid-Winter Break.

Volunteers Needed For Book Fair

Volunteers are needed to help:

• set up the Book Fair on Friday morning, March 23
• tear down the Book Fair on Monday morning, April 2
• staff the Book Fair during the hours it is open

Please contact Book Fair Chairs Micki Litton, Beth Jasco or Ellen Berkelhamer – or sign up on the sheet that will be posted outside the library after Mid-Winter Break.

Music – Mr. Shaw

Students are learning how to distinguish between melody and harmony, as we can play both on the Orff instruments. In addition to reading rhythms, we are also playing easy two and three pitched melodies. We use our February rhythm study, in addition to songs like “Star Light, Star Bright” and “Pease Porridge Hot” to play short songs. While we were getting ready for the next Jewish holiday, we have been learning how to play the three different harmony patterns to “Plant a Tu BiSh’vat Tree.” Playing a three layered harmony accompaniment to a song can be challenging for students, as they have to keep a steady beat while other parts play different rhythms and pitches at the same time. Toward the very end of February and when we come back from mid-winter break in March, we should have a lot of fun working on songs for Purim, such as “Hag Purim,” “Ani Purim,” and “Mishenihnas Adar.” I also anticipate that we may work on the concept of musical style and how the same song can sound quite different depending on the interpretation of the musician.

Featured Concepts and Understandings in Music Class Lessons:

• Develop an understanding of music terminology.
• Echo sing short and long phrases.
• Play simple rhythmic and melodic patterns that include beat, divided beat, and silence.
• Use solfege (Curwen) hands signals to indicate melodic direction.
• Develop the competency to perform music through modeling.
• Gain an understanding of musical style.

Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist

I hope your first grader told you how much fun they had playing floor hockey! There was a noticeable improvement in their motor coordination as we combined running, reacting to a moving ball, and striking the ball while maintaining their balance.

What’s Going On?

We are involved in Gymnastics and Rope Jumping. First Grade gymnastics starts out with simple body challenges that require strength and balance, combined with some partnering activities. In first grade, the height of the balance beam starts out at 30 inches and is raised six to twelve inches, which is very intimidating for most students. They are introduced to different balance challenges to create two to three different skills in their balance beam routine. One of their newly honed skills will be the dismount onto the crash mat, landing on their feet without dropping to their knees.

The rope jumping unit works on timing and coordination, in addition to greatly improving aerobic fitness. We begin reviewing how to turn a short rope with both handles in one hand forwards and backwards with either their right or left hand. The airplane and helicopter spin is fun and challenging for this age. First graders have been introduced to the long rope out at recess, but in the actual rope jumping unit we take it to a different skill level. Kids will work on skills like entering and exiting a turning long rope and partner jumping.

Technology – Ms. Olson

Talking Frogs

It’s true! Technology has progressed so far that this month we are teaching frogs to talk! Using one of my favorite fun online tools, Blabberize, students will learn to use a technology tool to speak for some of our hoppy friends.

Sometimes you just have to have fun and this project has fun written all over it. This project will also comes with a great deal of technology knowledge expansion and classroom science integration. The process for making frogs talk will go something like this…

Students will:

• find a picture of a frog by doing a Google search and saving their favorite picture in their own file on our HMJDS student network.
• do some research about frogs in their classrooms and write up a statement (spoken from their frog’s point of view) including at least one fact about frogs
• learn how to use Blabberize which includes finding their file on the network, opening their frog picture, using precise mouse movements to form the frog mouth, speaking clearly into a microphone and typing in the name of their project so it can be saved.

All of these tools will make an awesome talking frog that you’ll be able to see soon!