June 25

Grade 4 Talent Show

The first person to go was Adam P., he played the piano, it was a very cool sound. Next was Emet, he did karate, he has a blue belt, he recorded himself doing karate and showed us the video. Next went Joel, he made up his own rap, the way he sang it, it looked so easy, but I think it took a lot of work. Then Sam, he showed us a video of him playing basketball, what cool moves! Next Sarah, she showed us her contortionist skills, she touched her head with her feet, she did the splits, and more. Then Sacha, like Sam he did a sport, but unlike Sam he did soccer, he is very good at it, the best in our class. Second, to last went Emmet showing us his amazing art, he really is an artist. Last and least, just kidding, last but not least went Zoe, she did contortions like Sarah. She did a bridge, touching her feet to her head, and a few more things.

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June 24

Grade 4 Blogfolios

We are so excited to announce that we have blogfolios. For the past two weeks, we have been publishing the work we have done throughout distance learning.

It has been wonderful to see the students so motivated and excited about their learning. I have seen such a big difference in the amount of writing that the children have done since they started writing blog posts of their own.

We reflected as a class about writing persuasive essays, speeches, and blog posts. I had found it more difficult getting the students to write persuasive essays and speeches. Blog post challenges were different; students chose a topic and kept writing and writing. They asked to write any chance they got. One student said that it was much easier to write about things you like.

The students also became excited by the possibility of more people reading their blog posts. Dr. Mitzmacher was the first one to read the blogfolios, and guess what? He saw all of our essays about persuading him to have more field trips and more breaks in the school day. They loved reading and replying to his comments.

Students have chosen to write about topics they are passionate about and they are using their blog folios to share their voice with a greater audience. The amount of writing has increased and the quality has improved too. It is so interesting to read about the different topics the students are passionate about. Morah Yardena has them writing blog posts in Hebrew too. Some of the students have also started to publish some French work as well.

I think the writing will continue throughout the summer and hopefully for the years to come. I couldn’t be happier!

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June 5

A Trip Back in Time

Oh, how time flies! It is hard to believe we have been learning online for two and a half months. We thought it would be fun to take a little trip back in time to highlight some of the activities and holidays that have taken place.

Israel Connection

We connected with a Grade 4 class in Tel Aviv a few times. Here is a little piece Sarah wrote on how we got ready for our first meet:

Hello, I am going to be talking about our ‘special Google Meet.’ (it’s a Zoom, though);) so for this, we are going to be meeting another country. We have no idea what country yet, but we will be asking questions to them. They will give us clues, and soon we will be able to find out. Some of the questions were: Do you live in a small or big country? Do you live on an island? After we got all the questions answered, we figured out they lived/came from Israel! for our first meet.

We loved talking with each other about learning Hebrew and English and about our favourite Jewish holidays. We also talked about how we learn from home, and how Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations would be different this year. During a follow-up meeting, we played a special Kahoot game to learn about our countries. We ended our sessions by saying, even though our countries are so far apart, we are connected by our hearts. Gali Ben Avri, the English teacher, also invited us to meet the mayor of Tel Aviv: we were so excited. Unfortunately, our meeting was canceled when businesses and schools were opened up again in Israel.

Yom Hazikaron

The Grade 4 classes had a special guest visit our virtual class for Yom Hazikaron. Tobin Kaiman talked of his firsthand experiences as a former lone soldier in the I.D.F. The students were engaged throughout the talk and asked meaningful questions. They were very surprised to learn that our special guest was also Morah Yardena’s husband. Tobin was also my student in first and second grade

Yom Ha’atzmaut

We celebrated in seven minutes and 20 seconds with Dr. Marcovitz. We also created some poems and songs about why we love Israel. The day ended beautifully with Yom Ha’aztmaut celebrations streamed in from Israel.

By: Eden                                                 

Your flag is blue and white,               
You shine a very bright light.
The people are strong,
We sing your song,
The land of milk and honey.

Israel Haikus

by Emet

 Israel’s awesome

 Duh obviously

 I like falafel  

 

 Magen David and

 Tallit stripes blow in the wind

  Flag of Israel

 

ישראל הייקו

5.מגן דוד ו- 

7.תליית פס נשוף רוח

5.דגל ישראל

Grandparents’ Day

It was special welcoming all of our grandparents into our virtual classroom. We had grandparents from Israel, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa come and spend time with us. We had a chance to share a special video about the kind and caring activities we did this year. Time was also spent discussing mitzvahs our grandparents did as children and making a plan to show kindness in the future.

I

Public Speaking

This had to be the event that most of the students were waiting for in 4th grade. We started to prepare ourselves for this event in 3rd grade by holding our own in-class public speaking day. The students knew that by the time they hit the 4th grade the speeches they wrote and presented could get them into the finals to compete against the 5th-grade students. All I can say is each and every speech was terrific. Morah Yardena and I learned about endangered animals, dogs, cats, the heart, viruses, stress, keeping Canadian waters clean, and nature. We wish our top six finalists good luck as they head to the Public Speaking finals next week.

Maccabiah Games

It was a day full of fun and ruach.  Students, parents, teachers, all took part and had so much fun. The missions were terrific and creative. The captains taught us dances and songs. Special thanks go out to Mrs. Bertrand and the whole organizing team.

 

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March 17

Spirit Week in Grade 4

SPIRIT WEEK IN GRADE 4

Spirit Week was full of Ruach, costumes, and laughter. It was also our last four days in school together, and boy what a week it was.
Our classes enjoyed Crazy Hair Day, Purim, Dress like a Teacher/Student Day, and finally a Book or Movie Character Day.

Our favourite day had to be Dress like a Teacher/Student Day. Morah Yardena and I dressed like students and a few students dressed like each of us. It was uncanny to see how the students know us and could even act like us as well. One of the students dressed up like Dr. Mitzmacher our Head of School. He had the chance to visit the office and even sit in Dr. Mitzmacher’s chair.

Morah Yardena and I decided to take all the teachers to the staffroom so our new Dr. Mitzmacher could conduct a staff meeting.

 

We had so much fun during the week that we will always remember the last physical week in school with fondness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 28

Hamentashen Baking

Today was a very special day for the Grade 4 students. Morah Yardena arranged for the students to bake hamentashen for the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank this morning. The students read the recipes and made the hamentashen all on their own, they turned out beautifully. They had fun collaborating, working on their chesed-kindness project. The Ruach in the class was amazing. We really do work better together!

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