February 15, 2013

I hope that everyone enjoyed last weekend's blizzard! The children were so excited to be able to play in all the snow at school.

Fun at Recess

This week in math we continued our look at symmetry. The students were asked to create symmetrical art using construction paper. The pictures are amazing!

Creating Symmetrical Art

In our study of civil rights we jumped back in time and focused on slavery. Before beginning, we made the connection to the Passover story and the Jews being slaves in Egypt. What is a slave? What does it mean to not be free? Then, we shared a wonderful story called Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. It is a true story of a man born into slavery who mailed himself to the north in a crate so that he could be free. We also shared another book called Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson. This story tells of a girl born into slavery who creates a quilt which depicts a map of the underground railroad. As a connection, we asked the students to make representation of what freedom means to them. We will be turning these pictures into our own "freedom quilt."

Shabbat Shalom and have a wonderful winter break.

Hamorah Caren

Tying a story during writer's workshop

Working on story illustrations.