You know what? Enough about me! 
How about this week, we take a trip through the MJGDS Blogosphere and kvell about some of the excellent projects our students and teachers are engaged in. Perhaps it is too much to expect folk to check all the blogs all the time – especially if they are not parents in a particular class. So allow me to serve as your tour guide this week and visit some highlights…
From the Grade Three Classroom Blog (click here):
Champions of Kindness – Documentary
Posted on February 27, 2013
Our community of kindness documentary is all about kindness here at MJGDS. We made it because we decided that we should show everyone examples of kindness. We want to share it so everyone could learn a little more about how we can be kind. We made it by videoing members of our class interviewing, showing kindness, and seeing what natural kindness looks like.
We – the MJGDS 3rd Graders – made this video documentary. It’s called The Champions of Kindness.
Enjoy!
–Julia
From the Kindergarten Classroom Blog (click here):
Our unit about “Let’s Explore: Where will our adventures take us?” takes us to “a little girl’s adventures” this week. This week’s book is Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Valeri Gorbachev.
We will be discussing the characters and settings of this book and many others and comparing and contrasting a variety of versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears throughout the week. We will even be skyping with another school in Brazil and listening to their version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We will also continue to learn about the concepts of two letters that blend to make an initial and final sound, the short vowel ‘u’, and the blending of sounds to make words, among other phonics skills.
Later on that week from Brazil:
From the MJGDS Website (click here):
From the Fourth Grade Classroom Blog (click here):
From the Art Blog (click here):
Posted on February 27, 2013
Third graders are art critics! They looked and discussed, with their classmates, paintings by Romero Britto and…..
These are a few of their comments:
These paintings are about:
“These paintings are about flowers and vases at home.” -Julia
“Pattern and cubism, colors, flowers and vases.”- Sage
“Pop art.” – Gabe
“Cubism, Pop Art and Flowers.”- Jack
“Flowers and vases.”- Benjamin
What do these painting have in common?
“They both have a lot of colors and patterns.”- Allie
“These paintings have patterns and colors and shapes that are the same!”- Nahila
My favorite part of the painting is:
“The detail and color.”- Abigail
These paintings make me feel:
“Happy”- Lial
“Silly”- Samantha
“Happy and joyful”- Isa
“Modern”- Jake
From a Middle School Math Blog (click here):
From a Middle School Student (Brianna G.) Blogfolio (click here):
On Friday the 15th we were invited to the Bolles Auditorium to see the play “Bully.” The invitation was extended by the author, who also was the actor in his one person play. What made this particular invitation unique was that he actually went to our school when he was younger. The play is not based from his experience while attending our school; as they did not have a Middle School then. As a current Middle School student, I could truly relate to the play, as it centered on the author’s personal experiences, feelings, and emotions from his Middle School years.
When he was in Middle School he was made to feel like an outsider, not a part of the ‘in crowd.’ He got bullied a lot. There were 4 kinds of bullies that he referred to: the ring master, the snake, the worm and the boot. Once someone spit in his face and another time a person kicked him. When he got the courage to tell the gym teacher, he didn’t believe him, and he felt worse. He questioned himself and as his insecurity increased he began to believe the words that others said about him. The ‘ticks’ he started having from being nervous and anxious just added another reason people picked on. He stressed to us that words stick with you and he gave some advice on ways to beat a bully. Like ignoring the bully by not showing on the outside how the bully is making you feel. There are still times now when he feels insecure and wonders if what the bully said is true.
What I liked about the play was it was based off the writer’s personal experience. He was bullied way more than I ever knew was possible. I know what it’s like to be bullied, and what it’s like to be the bully. Neither makes you feel good. After seeing the play, I made a goal with myself to not be the bully. Even though I am making a great effort to be nice, people are not so accepting that I am trying to change. I think it was the best play I ever have seen, because it was very emotional. He did impressions, and they were good. The point is, he was inspiring and I really enjoyed his play.
Wow, right!
And if that isn’t enough awesomeness…check out these links:
http://mjgds.org/classrooms/kindergarten/2013/02/24/nouns-are-all-over-our-classroom/
http://jewishinteractive.net/site/announcement-competition-winners-february-2013/
http://www.mjgds.org/21stcenturylearning/?p=967
http://www.mjgds.org/21stcenturylearning/
We have a lot to be proud of at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School…and I couldn’t be prouder to work here and have my children learn here. With enrollment steadily coming in, our plans for the future are to go from strength to strength!
