Posted in French

Ithaca

A journey to Ithaca never ends………..

 

My dear parents and students,

 

Our educational journey is almost coming to a close for this school year, with lots of positive moments and maybe a few challenging ones, at times. Speaking for myself, one of the greatest moments was when I joined the OJCS school, meeting such beautiful people and appreciating the Jews values and heritage that are celebrated. Being a diplomat’s wife, I am certainly used to developing an appreciation for different cultures and traditions and making lifelong friendships, but teaching in a school with a trilingual curriculum is unique. Shifting from “Good morning” to “Bonjour” and “Shalom” daily, opens a door to a whole new world not only for our kiddos but for us, the teachers as well. I don’t want to start listing the advantages of such education because; I am sure you all know them very well, and you can see the results everyday. However, I would like to stress  that as we all try to achieve our goals, it is important not to lose sight of the journey. Ithaca, in Homer’s Odyssey, symbolizes this idea of a destination as a long and winding journey, where the supreme aim is to find fulfillment, such as changing careers, getting a new job, passing an exam, coping with a serious health problem, moving to another country, or school, going through the loss of a parent, and so forth. Constantine Cavafy (one of the most renowned Greek poets) wrote the poem “Ithaca” in 1911, inspired by Odysseus’ journey home after the end of the Trojan War. Cavafy describes Odysseus seeing amazing things, without caring for the destination as he is, advised: “Do not hurry your trip in any way.” That’s what we should all pray for dear friends and students, a long trip full of adventures, difficulties that grow us, and numerous learning opportunities so that when we reach our destination, we will be rich in maturity, knowledge, and wisdom. No matter the hardships, never give up!

Now I would like you all to listen to the poem recited by the amazing Sean Connery and set to the music of Vangelis Papathanassiou. 

 

Sean Connery reads ITHAKA | Powerful Life Poem by C.P.Cavafy

 

Posted in Uncategorised

Scribble Bots!

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.

 

 

Posted in 1A, French, General Studies

A school where fun never ends!

The school is buzzing right now! There has been so much activity lately at the school, and students are shining. Kids enjoyed spending a morning with their grandparents doing fun activities in all three languages, and they proudly showed them their work. For Mother’s Day, they made beautiful cards with wishes in French, and we read how people celebrate this special day in other countries. They keep practicing their reading and writing skills through reading buddies and playing games so that they can review all the new vocabulary, such as spring, the parts of the body, and animals. We are currently learning about animal habitats like the sea, the jungle, the farm, and the type of food they eat, and of course, as the weather steadily improves, we spend some time outdoors. As the end of the school year is getting closer, I insist on reading with the children daily so they can finish Grade 1 positively and successfully.

 

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The Three Little Pigs

 

1A had fun reading The Three Little Pigs recently. After reading the story, I challenged the class to build three solid houses that the big bad wolf couldn’t blow down. The requirements were that each group needed to make a straw house, a stick house, and a brick house. The students got excited and started to build. The Big Bad Wolf/Mrs. Bennett came calling.

                                                                 

I huffed and puffed, used a hair dryer, and made wind with a plastic top. As much as I huffed and puffed, I could not blow the houses down. All the structures were stable and standing: the children were so happy.      

The class wanted to write a new version of the Three Little Pigs. Listen to the children read their story of The Three Little Pigs.

Listen to the stories we wrote and recorded. We hope you enjoy them.

 

Posted in 1A, General Studies, Science

Scribble Bots and a Special Day 1A

Scribble Bots in 1A

We had so much fun in the Makerspace last week. 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.

The next step was to start building. It took lots 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. Take a look at them in action below.

 

 

A special Day in 1A

There was a special surprise in the library today.  Melanie came to enthrall us with her performance of Opera Mouse.

You can see more info about the show here: https://www.melaniegall.com/opera-mouse
This afternoon there was a wonderful Shavuot Assembly on the front lawn of our school. It was beautiful to sing and gather together in the sunshine. The students donated lots of food to the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank.
We finished off the day with a frozen Menchies treat. Yum!

 

 

Posted in Uncategorised

Cute Social Emotional moment

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:

Posted in 1B, General Studies, Grade 1 Reading

And The Winner Is… – Munsch Madness Update

After two months, 1B has finally crowned a winner for Munsch Madness. After reading 16 different Robert Munsch (some of the books 4 different times) we finally decided on an overall winner.

So, the book that 1B chose as their favourite Robert Munsch book is….

“I Have To Go”

After reading all of the books, and crowning a winner, the students then wrote letters to Robert Munsch. The students had wonderful questions and such nice things to ask/share with him about their experiences reading their books.

1B are now HUGE Robert Munsch fans and have been finding Robert Munsch books that weren’t included in Munsch Madness to read with their friends and as a class. We had so much fun reading the books and narrowing down our favourite one.

reading

Posted in 1B, General Studies

May Homework!

Happy May! A new month means a new homework choice board. Students were sent home today with the choice board and a collection of activities and sheets that can be done throughout the month. Just a reminder that students are not expected to finish ALL of the homework activities in one day/one week and that this is something for them to work on throughout the month.

A few differences this month are that I have started to send books home. When the students are done with these books they are encouraged to bring them back to school so I can switch them and give them new reading material.

Our new goal for BINGOs is 50 as a class!

 

Posted in French

Le printemps est ici!

 

The students had another two weeks of great learning at the OJCS. Spring is finally here so we started exploring the vocabulary, reading stories and short poems, creating sentences with the words and doing fun and  educational activities. We also visited the restaurants that Grade 5 created. We saw the menus, we spoke with the owners, ordered food and drinks in French, and we voted for the best restaurant. The kids enjoyed it a lot.We celebrated the 75th anniversary of Israel by working in different stations, making the salads for the pitas and the falafel,l and dancing traditional dances. Finally the students learnt the song ”tête, épaule, genou et pieds” because the body is our next topic. On Friday they did reading buddies with Grade 5. Grade 1 proudly read to them, wrote a few simple sentences related to the story, and played word games. As we are slowly heading  to the end of the school year, I see my stars truly SHINE!.Their talent to switch from Hebrew to French and vice versa is staggering.They learn from me, and I learn from them!!!!!!

Posted in General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

Yom Ha’atzmaut!

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.

 

Posted in 1B, Jewish Studies, Ruach

A Model Seder to Remember

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!