Unit 6 Maths - Geometry

In this unit we are investigating line segments, rays and lines; Exploring polygons, including triangles and quadrangles, and drawing and measuring angles.

Here is a photo of us performing turn calisthenics in our classroom...(We are rotating clockwise or counterclockwise - quarter, half, three quarter and whole turns)

Feburary is "Reading is Fun" Literacy Month at Mazel!

The goal of this month is to get our kids excited about reading!

These are some of the exciting events we will be having:

• Meet the Author,


• Book Sale,


• Parents READ,


• Trip to Central Library, and


• Reading Fun Day

There will also be a Parent Literacy Evening to discuss reading at home!

We would like to schedule for all our parents to come in at some point during the month to read to our class their child's favorite book. This book can be chosen together with your child and should be appropriate for the class (I.e not too long) and preferably with pictures!

The best times to come in are at 10:45 -11:00am or 2:30-2:45pm, any day of the week! (If those times don't work we will be able to fit in another time that works for you.) You can post a time and date (any time in Feb) on the blog or email me. We hope that all our class has the opportunity for their Mom or Dad to come in and read their favorite book!

If your child does not yet have a library card, there is a library card application form in their homework folder to fill out. Please send it back to school by Friday and we will organize to get a library card for them. If they already have one then they can bring it on the day of our trip to the library, which will be February 28th.

Thanks so much!

Morah Rivki

Power of Jewish Children Competition Deadline: Thurs 27th Jan

Alot of us have done great projects for the competition! Tomorrow is the last day to submit the project online. It's really easy to submit the project online at powerofjewishchildren.com.
Good luck!

Middah of the Week - Zerizus - Getting Things Done Right Away

We discussed today that there are so many excuses we can have for not doing things right away...

This is a great song - ask your daughter if she'll sing it to you... (It's our favorite Middah song so far!)

The Zrizus song:

“I’m too tired”,” I’m too busy”, “Oy I’ve got these aches and pains”

And I just can’t do it and I can’t do it today.

“Boy I’m hungry”, “I’m so thirsty”, “look outside its going to rain”

And I just can’t do it now!

Zrizim Makdimim LeMitzvos, all good deeds should be done right away,

The Torah says you should show your happy to get up and go-

So don’t put off til tomorrow something you could do today!

“Its too hot, ”I’m much too cold”, “I’m in the middle of a game”

And I just can’t do it, I can’t do it today

“I need help”, “It’s not my chore”, “and I just got off the train”

And I just can’t do it now.

Zrizim Makdimim LeMitzvos, all good deeds should be done right away

The Torah says you shouldn’t shirk, roll up your sleeves and get to work

Don’t put off until tomorrow something you could do today!

MAZEL TOV Family Nellin

Its a girl!

Mazeltov on the safe arrival of your new baby girl!

May you have much nachas from her!

We're looking forward to hearing her name...

Social Studies - Liberty Poems

We have been learning all about Lady Liberty, the New Colossus and what they mean to Americans as an American Symbol.

We have created our own acrostic poem of the word LIBERTY and with the overall theme of this Symbol.

The poems came out wonderful! Here are some of them... (I will post the rest when they are completed.)

Lady Liberty
Is welcoming us to the USA.
Both me and you
Escaped from other land,
Right here is the place to be!
Together we will be united,
You and me, in America.

By Aviva



Lady Liberty,
It has a
Big torch.
Emma wrote a poem about you.
Remember when she wrote it in 1883?
Touch it if you dare!
You welcome the immigrants and you welcome me too.

By Michelle



Lady Liberty-
I feel so welcome with your
Big torch!
Emma Lazarus wrote a poem about you.
Remember when she wrote it in 1883?
Thank you for welcoming the immigrants.
You are so motherly.

By Ella


Next, we will be learning about national parks...

Our Trip to Masbia Soup Kitchen...

The staff and volunteers who work at Masbia like to call it an "Eat Free Restaurant". They explained to us that poor people should be treated with dignity and like high-class people! That's why we noticed that Masbia looks exactly like a restaurant and when people come in they get a table number and get served by a waiter/waitress!
Masbia is only open for meals between 4-9pm so we didn't see it during opening hours, but we did see all the volunteers who come to prepare the meals in action! Some volunteers were washing potatoes; others were peeling and chopping carrots. We saw the cook, who had just finished off cooking for 500 people and we saw the big pots of food on the stove. The Chef in Masbia of flatbush cooks for all the other 3 Masbia locations. Each Masbia has about 125 guests a night and the food is transported from Flatbush to the other 3 locations. The Chef told us that he finishes off cooking 500 portions by 11 am every morning! Wow - we saw how the people in Masbia work hard, are so dedicated and really care!
We asked the young volunteers why they come to volunteer. They told us that at first it was hard but now they gain so much from it and feel so fulfilled from helping out others and doing something good! They don't even find it difficult any longer!
We witnessed a real 'Chessed' at Masbia and some of us showed an interest in becoming a volunteer...


For volunteering opportunities in Masbia, together with your family, please check out this link:
http://www.masbiaflatbush.org/masbia_central_volunteer/
I have also posted a link of a video of a family who came to volunteer together to serve one evening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlLNH7NuI4w&feature=related

Science Chapter 4 objectives

"Plants and Animals Living Together "

Chapter 4 Objectives:

The student knows how to trace the
flow of energy in a system (e.g., as
in an ecosystem).

The student knows that the human body
is made of systems with structures and functions that are related.

The student knows ways that plants, animals, and protists interact.

The student knows that some organisms decompose dead plants and animals into simple minerals and nutrients for use by living things and thereby recycle matter.

The student knows that animals eat
plants or other animals to acquire
the energy they need for survival.

The student knows that organisms are growing, dying, and decaying and that
new organisms are being produced from
the materials of dead organisms.

The student knows that all living things
must compete for Earth's limited resources; organisms best adapted to compete will
be successful and pass their adaptations (traits) to their offspring."

Science - chapter 4 - How do Plants and Animals Interact?

This is our last chapter this year on Life Science!

Our key words this chapter are:
Producer
herbivore,
carnivore,
omnivore,
prey,
predator,
competition,
decomposer,
decay,
germs,
disease.

This chapter we will be using the reading skill of drawing conclusions from facts that we read in science articles.

Upcoming Mini Trip - "Masbia" - Soup Kitchen

We will be taking a mini trip - this Tuesday-11th Jan, together with 4th grade to a soup kitchen on coney island avenue. We will be travelling by school bus.

As we are learning about chessed this year we want to expose our older grades to charities that run in our community and to volunteer work. The children will have the opportunity to see a real soup kitchen in operation: volunteers preparing food, needy people coming to eat and maybe we will even be able to volunteer and help out a little ourselves!

Readers Response Groups

This semester we will be starting Readers Response Groups in our classroom.

We will be discussing themes and ideas from our book with the group and we will be responding in our Readers Response Notebook.

We will be starting off by reading the book "All of a Kind Family", by Sydney Taylor. Although we will be reading independently, we will be reading the chapters at the same time so we can discuss.

Every time we meet with our response groups we will have a focus skill question to work on. We will start off by working on Story Elements.

Stories are made up of elements: Characters, plot/conflict, setting and point of view:

• We will be discussing the characters in the story using evidence such as description from the author, dialogue and how the characters speak.
• We will be discussing how the author uses the setting to create the mood, tone and feeling of the story
• We will be discussing the conflicts in the story; the struggle between characters and the inner conflict that characters have.
• And, we will be discussing from whose point of view the story is written.