All parents are invited to Grade One on Wednesday February 11th, from 9:00-9:45 AM for Innovation Day. The children will be excited to show you their wildlife crossing projects.
If you are unable to attend Innovation Day, I will send you a video of your child presenting their project so that you can experience the excitement of Innovation Day from afar.
Earth Day in Grade One was a joyful celebration of our beautiful planet and the ways we can care for it. The children were captivated by The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and The Earth Book by Todd Parr, two wonderful stories that sparked meaningful conversations about protecting the environment and being kind to the Earth.
We sang cheerful songs about our world, spreading messages of love and responsibility for nature. The students also became young poets, writing their own Earth Day poetry filled with hope, creativity, and care for the planet.
One of the highlights was our Earth-inspired art project. Using coffee filters, markers, and a little bit of water, the children created their own stunning representations of the world. The magic of the colors blending together reminded us all just how beautiful and precious our Earth is.
Check out some of our beautiful work below.
Yom Ha’atzmaut was a day filled with Ruach and celebration! We kicked off the morning dancing together on the front lawn, setting the tone for a joyful day. Each class took part in a door decorating challenge, inspired by a moving poem they heard the day before on Yom Hazikaron. Students expressed their hopes and dreams for peace through beautiful artwork, and their thoughtful designs earned them a spot among the winners! As a reward, they voted for a special extra dress-down day, which we’ll choose together soon. A highlight of the day was a visit to a special shuk, where everyone enjoyed delicious Israeli treats. In the afternoon, our grade one students shone brightly as they sang a beautiful song during the Yom Ha’atzmaut assembly. It was truly a memorable day of pride and unity!
The children have been learning how to write letters, and they found the perfect inspiration—mothers! With hearts full of love, they carefully chose their words and learned how to express their feelings in writing. Each letter was a heartfelt tribute, filled with kind thoughts and special memories. To make their messages even more meaningful, the children also created lovely portraits of their mothers, capturing their smiles and warmth with every brushstroke. It was a beautiful way to celebrate the special bond between mother and child.
Generations Day was such a special celebration! The children were absolutely thrilled to welcome their grandparents into the classroom, and the joy on everyone’s faces was heartwarming. Through the wonderful pictures and meaningful objects that were shared, we learned so many fascinating stories about the past. It was a beautiful opportunity to connect across generations, and the students loved discovering more about their own family histories and those of their classmates.
During our Zoom calls with students from all over Israel, we had the chance to share and learn about each other’s lives. The students talked about their hobbies, and one even wowed us with some of her Jazz dance moves! They loved hearing how one student borrows cookbooks from the library and makes the recipes at home. They loved seeing the picture of the shark fruit salad! Our Israeli friends were especially amazed by the way we celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut here in Canada with music, dancing, and lots of blue and white spirit. These meaningful connections help build bridges and a sense of community between our students and Israel, making the world feel just a little bit smaller and a lot more special.
The children had the special opportunity to lead Oneg Shabbat alongside Dr. Mitzmacher at Hillel Lodge. With warmth and enthusiasm, they shared songs and prayers, bringing joy and energy to the residents. The room was filled with smiles and spirit as the children and residents sang together, creating a beautiful intergenerational moment of connection and celebration.
This past Friday, was the Siddur Party! The children were so excited to share everything they had learned in Hebrew class throughout the year in preparation for this meaningful milestone. Morah Ada did an incredible job guiding and preparing each child, and they were more than ready to proudly receive their Siddur from Dr. Mitzmacher. It was heartwarming to see so many parents and grandparents join us for this special occasion.
Today was a terrific day at school as we came together to celebrate the Hebrew language and its rich history. Kitah Alef and Bet gathered for a special morning dedicated to learning about Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the founder of modern-day Hebrew.
Morah Ada and Morah Dana talked about Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s incredible vision and determination to revive Hebrew as a spoken language. The children learned how his efforts transformed Hebrew from a language primarily used in religious texts into a vibrant, everyday language spoken by millions today.
To deepen their connection to Hebrew, the students participated in a variety of fun and educational activities. There were word searches that challenged them to find hidden Hebrew words, word-picture matching games that helped them build their vocabulary, and puzzles that encouraged teamwork and problem-solving—all in Hebrew, of course! The room buzzed with energy and enthusiasm as the children immersed themselves in these interactive tasks.
The morning wasn’t just about learning; it was also about fostering a sense of ruach for the Hebrew language. Laughter and excitement filled the air as students proudly showcased their completed activities and shared what they had learned with one another. #We Learn Better Together
By the end of the celebration, the children had not only gained new insights into the history and importance of Hebrew but also strengthened their connection to it through meaningful, hands-on experiences. It was a beautiful reminder of how language can unite and inspire us, and how even our youngest learners can play a role in carrying forward this legacy.
Kol Hakavod to our students for their enthusiasm and participation. Together, we celebrated not just a language, but a vibrant part of our heritage and identity.
A quick note to share with you about the joy of learning together in our Kitah Alef.
It is hard to believe December is just around the corner… and we even saw שלג yesterday! so exciting!
We have been learning so much in Kitah Alef. It blows my mind how much vocabulary the students comprehend, and they are starting to communicate in short sentences now as well. I love the twinkle in their eyes, when they realize a word we were using every day is suddenly used elsewhere, and the “coin drops” as they truly understand the meaning, rather than just being able to use it in the daily context, where we hear it on a regular basis. We are almost done our first round of helpers (next week). During this week the student runs the morning routine, which includes attendance, day of the week and the day’s weather vocabulary. They do it all in Hebrew and it is a very steep learning curve from Monday to Friday. They are able to see how they improve from day to day and the pride it gives them is priceless.
It is not only the spken language that is being enhanced, but now, that we completed our first reading booklet (Ah sound with oll the Alef-Bet) the students are so excited to read actual books, with pictures, etc… Other moments that spark their excitement is when we sing our T’filot and they recognize new sounds that we only just learned, on the slide. These moments often lead to us stopping the T’filah for a bit and coming up to the board to find more of the sounds. These are real life experiences. There is complete immersion in what we are doing. I love teaching how to read. the excitement is so contagious!
Being able to read also allows us to play some vocabulary base games like memory, zap, matching, go fish, etc…
For those who want to read some of our books at home, I added books to my Bitmoji Classroom as well as a few fun games on Wordwall to practice the letters and vocabulary.
All parents are invited to Grade One on Wednesday March 20th, from 9:00-9:45 AM for Innovation Day. The children have worked hard on their wildlife crossings projects.
If you are unable to attend Innovation Day, I will send you a video of your child presenting their project so that you can experience the excitement of Innovation Day from afar.
This week we got to visit one of our favourite spots in the school…the Makerspace! Mr. Ray challenged us to make a scribble bot.He told us that we would need to use our engineering skills to make a moving robot. He told us the materials for building would be three markers, a plastic cup, a motor, a battery pack, and lots of tape. First we made a plan of what we wanted to build.
Then it was time to start building. We got all of the materials together and followed the steps carefully. It took a lot of patience to attach all of the parts. We had to tape our markers inside the cup, making sure everything was stable. There was a lot of trial and error with attaching the battery pack wires to the motor. Mr. Ray helped us problem-solve and get our scribble bots ready to scribble.
The scribble bots started to move and scribble. It was so exciting to watch them move and scribble on the paper, you can see the excitement on our faces! Take a look at our scribble bots in action below.
Today we had a chat about the importance of sharing fears/concerns/disappointments/thoughts with someone you trust. We spoke about how our body feels when we keep it to ourselves and about the relief we get once we share with the person of our choice (one that can help with the next steps). As the students shared some examples of situations that they overcame this way, or are in the process of overcoming, the topic of fear of monsters at night came up and again, they shared what some of them did to help the fear.
At this point I remembered we had a great book in Hebrew (that some knew in English) that speaks of this – פחדרון בארון (Pachadron Ba’aron), so we all gathered on the carpet to read and then discuss. It was a wonderful demonstration of proficiency teaching at work – as it was not planned and related directly to a topic that was on the students’ minds… so they were completely focused and in listening mode… It was perfect for their level of Hebrew (Tiny bit above, but with pictures that made it clear).
Thanks to Ms Emilia, we actually have a photo of that moment to share with you… We were so focused we did not even notice her taking this picture:
A quick note to share with you about the joy of learning together in our Kitah Alef.
