Jewish Studies – OJCS Grade 1 / Kitah Alef

A peek into Grade One

Posted on December 1, 2023 by jbennett31

On Tuesday, the Grade One classes took part in a Let’s Talk Science workshop called the Tree of Life. Science students from the University of Ottawa taught us about the different characteristics of animals. We then had fun sorting and classifying the plastic animals. This was the perfect introduction to an upcoming research project about animals in the winter.

We also had the chance to make our own Tree of Life.

In a unit on Data Management we have been making graphs and interpreting the data. Corn seems to be the favourite vegetable in Grade One. Cherries are a favourite fruit in 1B while 1A seems to prefer peaches.

The children are very excited to visit the Scholastic Book Fair next week. The flyer with some of the featured books came home in the note totes yesterday. 1A and 1B will visit the Book Fair on Thursday December 7th.

Save the date for our Family Chanukah Celebration. We have already started to practice the song we will be singing. It is a terrific one.

French, General Studies, Jewish Studies

Special days in Grade One

Posted on October 24, 2023October 24, 2023 by jbennett31

Global Maker Day

This past Tuesday was Global Maker Day 2023. The students loved taking part in a day full of collaboration and creativity with schools from around the world.

1A and 1B loved using their design thinking skills on Global Maker Day. There were four different STEM challenges to choose from: make a monster, a game, a new playground, or build a 3D school model. Special thanks to everyone who sent in all the recycled materials. There was more than enough cardboard and containers for the building.

There was a buzz in the room as the students chose their groups and started to brainstorm. With materials and tape in hand, the building began, and absolutely everyone was engaged and having so much fun.

Morah Ada and I were amazed at all the different building that was going on in the class. The students collaborated as they tested and adapted the designs to meet with success. Students presented their STEM challenges to the class. They were so proud of their final products. Global Maker Day was a success. We were inspired to be innovators, problem-solvers and share our work globally.

A visit with Ottawa Firefighters

The JK, SK, and Grade One classes had special visit yesterday afternoon. A group of Ottawa firefighters from our local Station 23 came to talk about fire safety with the children. Firefighters discussed their roles as community helpers. The students also learned about making fire exit plans at home.

The children were excited to go outside and get an up close look at a real firetruck and learn about all the gear firefighters need to use.

One of the firefighters just happened to be the father of a SK student, which made the visit extra special.

General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

Yom Ha’atzmaut!

Posted on April 28, 2023April 28, 2023 by kzuorro

It was a special week at school. On Yom Hazikaron, we remembered the brave Israeli soldiers who fought for Israel.
Yom Ha’atzmaut was a day full of celebration on Israel’s 75th birthday. We started by decorating our classroom doors and lockers in blue and white. We think we did a pretty good job, don’t you?

All the classes had the opportunity to visit different stations. We learned a special dance, played Twister with JNF, sang karaoke, played musical chairs, and did Israeli Just Dance.

At lunch, we ate delicious falafel. Special Thanks to the parents for helping make the falafel!

We finished the day with the whole school in the gym doing the special dance we learned in the morning. A birthday cupcake was the special treat we got to eat. It was such a fun day!

JNF Art Contest

The Jewish National Fund has created an art contest that students and families may participate in. Check out the pamphlet below to learn more about it!

Contest:

Draw or paint a picture (8-1/2” X 11” and suitable for framing) following the story A Tree in the Desert by Avirama Golan.
Watch the story on YouTube (https://youtu.be/FbevCoM9_2U).
The artwork can be of the Negev, Ben Gurion, or a tree in the desert.

1B, Jewish Studies, Ruach

A Model Seder to Remember

Posted on April 5, 2023April 6, 2023 by jbennett31

Kitah Alef’s Model Seder took place this past Monday. It was a memorable day: many children said it was their favourite day of the school year. Moreh Saar and Morah Ada were so proud of the children. They read and sang so beautifully. We hope the children sing beautifully as they celebrate together with family at the Seder tonight.

Wishing everyone a Chag Pesach Sameach!

The Grade One Team

We found the afikomen!

1A, General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

The latest from 1A

Posted on March 27, 2023September 10, 2023 by sbaram

The latest from 1A

This past week we celebrated the 100th day of school. In General Studies, we read 100 words, worked on 100 math problems, and wrote the 100th-day news. We counted to 100 en français and wrote 100 words in Hebrew. The highlight was making Fruit Loop necklaces with 100 Fruit Loops. The students had fun snacking as they counted and made their necklaces.

100 Hebrew words

In Social Studies, the students worked on personal timelines. Seeing all the beautiful pictures of children of different ages made everyone smile.

Friday was our kickoff for the love of reading. We made reading forts in class. Reading in forts was a big hit. It was our surprise for our homework bingos. One of the students said, “It is a dream come true!” He had wished only a month ago that we could make forts in school.

A few children also enjoyed some quiet reading after story time in the library today.

Hebrew with Moreh Saar

Hey there Grade 1,

It’s almost Pesach and I figured a bit of showing off our conversational skills is in order.

As a part of my methodology I find it extremely important to anchor the learning in real life, as language is a “use it or lose it” skill. That’s why I decided to connect Hebrew studies with Israeli culture. As you might know, the students surely realized it by now, Israelis are loving, passionate and welcoming, however they are also loud and full of Chutzpah!!

Taking this into consideration I decided to teach the kids several different ways to ask and answer people “how are you doing?”, some are formal, some are good old fashion cheeky!! Please feel free to listen to them answer about their day and ask me how I’m doing. It was a calculated risk, but boy am I bad at math, the kids can definitely talk, but now I got a classroom full of cheeky Israeli sounding kids.

Have a great Pesach vacation,

Saar

French, General Studies, Jewish Studies

Purim,la joie du carnaval

Posted on March 10, 2023 by emouchou

A different week Rush Week full of happy faces, fun, smiles, and dazzling colours has finished. Purim allowed me, along with my kiddos discover what this celebration means and symbolizes. Through fun activities, we watched, heard, and told the story of Purim in French. We discussed the good and bad main characters of the story. We learned new vocabulary and hid by dressing up in costumes, appearing as something else, while our true selves remained hidden underneath the masquerade. It was an incredible experience for ME and a fun time for THEM!

Both classes got together on Purim to have Ruach filled day. We made graggers. We loved listening to the Megillah Reading Rabbi Kenter. We had a fabulous fashion show. It was amazing how everyone got the same overall score from our judges. Moreh Saar, Ms. Karissa, and Mrs. Bennett claim all participants gave their best performance, so they had to give everyone the best possible score.

1A, 1B, Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading, Ruach

Where did my flag go?!

Posted on January 23, 2023January 24, 2023 by sbaram

Hello everyone, it’s another interesting week here in the first grade.

As a part of our morning routine, we take notes about the weather, debating whether it’s rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc. outside… One of the different weather conditions we talk about is windy (רוח). Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago, a big storm tore away the flag from one of the businesses situated across the 417, leaving us completely lost when it comes to determining the level of wind outside.

That is why the first grade decided to spring into action and use their hard earned vocabulary into use. We sat down and wrote a stern, yet firm, letter to the Customs and Immigration Union (look it up, this is the real deal), asking them to bring their flag back. We also took the liberty of drawing some nice depictions of how the loss of the flag makes us feel, and these are some of the results:

Now we just have to hope that if they don’t bring the flag back for their own national pride, at the least they’ll do it for the children!

I hope that there will be updates to follow,

Saar.

1A, 1B, General Studies, Homework, Jewish Studies

Economics 101

Posted on January 16, 2023September 10, 2023 by sbaram

Dear grade 1 parents,

As I’m getting used to the hardships of winter (clearing the snow from my car, every, single, morning, is a new one for me), I had the pleasure of sitting in my car for 15 minutes straight waiting for my fingers to thaw. During that time I came across a meme that really reflects my way of thinking about how school should be.

It reminded me that while my “I believe” is heavily influenced by this idea, I still need to communicate that to my surrounding. So here it goes:

Since I encountered this phenomena many, many times in the various jobs I had, I believe in the power of incentivizing and fear the impact of dicentivizing. Therefore, I try my best to include the former, not the latter, in my teaching.

That is why I added a new, 100% optional, incentive to do the homework, a game. The game reinforces only some of the words in the homework, offering sound and translations to several words. Please only play the game if the kids have done their readings and still have some time and energy to play the game.

I hope this makes the homework experience more enjoyable,

Saar.

Always great seeing our Reading Buddies! Some of us chose books from our new Science Reading Bin “All About Energy”

Singing and learning in Hebrew Outdoors with Moreh Saar!

Welcome Back Maia! Such excitement in our class as we welcomed back Maia from her family visit to Peru!

A Busy week of measurement in 1A. Take a look at us using both standard measurement (rulers) and non standard units(unifix cubes and popsicle sticks) in and around our classroom!

Mrs Bennett

1A, 1B, Jewish Studies

We tried so hard, and got so far….

Posted on December 16, 2022December 19, 2022 by sbaram

In the end, it was all that really mattered!

Grade 1 has been working so hard on their Hebrew skills for almost four whole months now, last Monday they got to put those skills to use in real life. We had our second meeting with a group of Israeli children who got to practice their English, while we practiced our Hebrew. We spoke about how old we are, what are our favourite sports and colours, what we like to eat and drink, it was a blast.

It was an amazing experience for the kids, who got to see how quickly they could use the Hebrew they know to express themselves in a coherent manner. Lastly, it was an amazing time for us Hebrew teachers, we got to see the fruits of our labor grow right in front of us. Trust me when I say, I’m one happy gardener…