It had been a great year and it is hard to believe that it is over. Good luck in middle school.
I wish you all a wonderful & safe summer. All the best!!      love , Morah Iris
                

May 2010
Dear  5th Grade Parents:”
We are looking forward to seeing you at our presentation of “IT’S A SMAL L WORLD,” our cultural arts presentation, on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 2 p.m.  Please review the following to see what costumes are required for your child’s presentation.  We will need these items for our dress rehearsal on Wednesday, May 26 and for the performance on Thursday, May 27.   Please have your child wear this clothing or send these items in a bag labeled with your child’s name on Wednesday May 26 and again on Thursday, May 27, so that we have everything we need for the dress rehearsal and the performance.  Thank you so much for your cooperation.  We look forward to seeing you at the presentation.
Regards,
Melissa Jacobson, Drama Department
Meri Cohen, Music Department
 Adrienne Turk, Art Department5th Grade:
Storytellers/Musicians:  Liat Feldman, Steven Felker, Jacob Solkoff, Sawyer Handin, Brooke Taylor, Coralle Dagan, Emilia Jacobson, Lauren Gerstner, Tali Green, Nicole Schneider, Ryan Engelsberg, Ellie Schrier, Seth Guritsky, Alex Zane, Dani Mendelsohn, Josh Hart, Marissa Roosth,  Steven Ginsberg, Brandon Herman, Noah Wells:
 Long dark pants, asian kimonos, bathrobes, or karate uniforms
Puppeteers:  Eadan Pritz, Shayna Benardo, Roni Kapiltulnik, Natalia Civin, Mayya Fishman, Alex Ebrahimi, Adam Shalloway, Marina Kelley, Stone Magness, Josh Hart, Michael Goldman, Talia Kottler, Rylee Kigner, Ethan Jetter, Paige Lee Garris, Erica Benamoz, Jacob Goodwin,  Maya Rosenberg, Leo Gottenger, Julie Rosenberg, Carly Routman, Ari Wells, Maxi Maravankin, Tom Kapiltulnik, Zachary Platt, Leah Phillips, Jenna Enten, Rachel Gendusa, Jonah Kline
Long sleeve black shirt, long black pants

We are finally here! After a crazy long airplane ride, we landed safely and very happily. Then on to the desert we were. As soon as we arrived at the Beduin camp site, we rode camels which was quite an adventure. Some children rode camels through the desert, while the rest rode donkeys. It was so much fun and so unique to see the sun setting behind the mountains in the desert. After the camels, our 8th grade class learned a bit about the culture of the Beduin while they welcomed us with coffee, tea, and bread all made before our eyes. Following our little culture lesson, we got cleaned up and that night was incredible. Words cannot describe the power of a silent desert at night under a blanket of endless stars with people that you can call your family. Praying in a circle and actually understanding the words we were saying in the Shema, the meaning attached to Rabbi Yaron's words as he explained to us about how Abraham had blind faith in G-d and how our ancestors wandered in a desert similar to the one we were in. That night, everyone felt some sort of connection to G-d or to their Jewish heritage and it was absolutely beautiful. Now today... we woke up at four in the morning to tea and cookies and a happy birthday wish to Yaron. We hiked up the Roman's path to Masada and prayed in the temple on top of Masada. Then we sat on top of the bathhouse together and meditated in absolute silence as we watched the sun slowly climb over the mountains. We sang Hatikvah and learned about Masada's history while we walked around and explored. Then the time for the long journey down the snake path had arrived. No one was hurt, but it was very hot. We ate breakfast, swam/floated in the dead sea, and then went on a small hike to Nachal David. There awaited beautiful waterfalls and perfect picture locations. Lunch then a quick visit to the Ahava factory was followed by our trip to Jerusalem. It was peaceful, gorgeous, and so special for both those who had been in Jerusalem before and those who were "first timers". Our hotel is very nice; it is simple with an incredible view of a the walls of the old city and gorgeous buildings. At the moment, we (the students), are all showering, relaxing, and getting ready for shabbat at the Kotel (Western Wall). This experience is beyond words and students are already opening up and connecting. It truly is beautiful to see. Yaron will be posting videos of our many adventures very soon.

Students must save their poet biographies for language arts electronically to Google Docs or to a USB key so that we can access them in computer class.  We will be inserting them onto our Glogster poster this week.

The Integration of Technology in Fifth Grade Language Arts

The fifth graders' young authors books are printed and ready for binding.   Students in fifth grade interviewed kindergarteners and then wrote short, fictional stories about their young friends in their langauge arts classes.  Meanwhile in computer class, they formatted the young authors' books.  They used MS Publisher to write and illustrate the books.  Students  began the  projects by creating an "About the Author" page by learning how to take pictures of themselves on our iMac computers and then inserting those pictures into MS Publisher.  They each wrote a short autobiography about themselves in third person to place on this page. They  also formatted a dedication page with a picture of the kindergartener for whom they wrote their books. 
The actual stories were composed on MS Word.  The students' language arts teachers helped the kids compose and  edit these stories. With a great deal of collaboration and interdisciplinary planning the books will soon be shared with the kindergarten students.  Congratulations to all those involved for the wonderful hard work that has produced beautiful books this year!

Welcome to Glogster
Students in the fifth grade are being introduced to Glogster this week.  In an interdisciplinary unit between language arts and technology the students will learn a new way to spice up reports and make learning and sharing exciting.  The students will be creating electronic, interactive posters online  in computer class for a language arts class assignment on poets and  poetry.  These posters will be shared online at Glogster.com.

To all my students and their families, have a wonderful and restful holiday.

Young Authors Books

The students are about to  finish their young authors' books on MS Publisher.  The fifth graders have learned many new technology skills while creating these books, and they have reinforced previous skills.   Just a few of these skills are listed below:

Use Google Docs as a storage place for documents,
Create documents in MS Word,
Create a booklet in MS Publisher,
Copy and paste from MS Word to MS Publisher,
Navigate through drives and folders on our complex file server,
Take pictures with the iMac computers and save and insert these pictures in text documents,
Access other pictures  on the network drive and insert them into text documents, 
Search the Internet on Google Images for appropriate art work, and use clip art and various tools and techniques in MS Publisher.

These books will soon be printed and shared with the kindergarteners for whom they were written.  This has been a lenghthy and involved unit that has required the cooperative planning and teaching of  the fifth grade language arts department, the technology department, our librarian, and the kindergarten teachers.  I know we will all be proud of our products!

The forms needed to enter are on the Doodle 4 Google site on the "Info for Schools" tab. 
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/info.html

Look at the blue box that says Necessary Forms and print and fill out the Entry Form and the Parent Consent form. Any information about Meyer Academy we will fill in for you.  Also the Doodle Templates are where you can find many versions of the Google Logo for your child to doodle on. Good luck and remember that the deadline is March 19th.