Our Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge!

First Grade had the opportunity to watch a video about how the Brooklyn Bridge was build and who it was built by. They were fascinated by the story.

The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by John Robeling, a famous engineer. Unfortunately, John Roebling did not live long enough to actually build the bridge. Early into construction, a collapse on the site crushed his toes, leading to a deadly tetanus infection. His son, Washington Roebling, was assigned to finish the job. But Washington Roebling ran into some bad luck, as well. He got a bad case of cassion disease while surveying the underwater cassions, and was bedridden for the remainder of the bridge's construction. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, had to help him. She had studied engineering and higher math. She spoke to the workers on her husband's behalf, and passed messages between them.

The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by John Robeling, a famous engineer of the time.
Unfortunately, John Roebling did not live long enough to actually build the bridge. Early into construction, a collapse on the site crushed his toes, leading to a deadly tetanus infection. His son, Washington Roebling, was assigned to finish the job.
But Washington Roebling ran into some bad luck, as well. He got a bad case of cassion disease while surveying the underwater cassions, and was bedridden for the remainder of the bridge's construction. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, had to help him. She had studied engineering and higher math, and so was able to provide critical assistance. She spoke to the workers on her husband's behalf, and passed messages between them.
Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began in January of 1870 and the bridge opened on May 24, 1883.

We walked across this amazing bridge and talked about the different sights we saw a long the way. We even saw a helicopter landing on a helipad. What a great day!

Investigating the Moon

In continuing our Sun, Moon and Stars unit, we spoke about how we could investigate the moon and other planets from Earth. We learned about how people use telescopes to do this. To understand better how this works, first grade used magnify glasses and lenses. They worked with a partner throughout the investigation. First they used the large lens to look at words in our science books, next they recorded how they saw the words through the glass on a separate paper. They did the same steps with the small lens. Last the children looked at a picture of the moon and had to also record what they saw using both lenses.

Happy Birthday Yonni!

First grade celebrated Yonni's 7th birthday! Yonni's sister Rachel joined the party too! His friends made him birthday cards and wished him birthday wishes. On birthdays and other happy occassions it is important to remember to do mitzvahs. First grade gave tzedakah, said some tehilim, danced around the birthday boy and ate delicious cupcakes! Thank you to Yonni's family for the two math games. We can't wait to use them! 

Shadows

First grade is learning about what causes shadows. They know shadows are a dark image caused when an object blocks the rays of light. The children had the opportunity to go outside and demonstrate this idea. They worked with a partner to trace their shadows. We also did an experiment in the classroom using a clay ball, pencil and paper. We put a pencil in a clay ball to hold it in place. We taped the ball down to the paper and put it in a sunny place and taped the paper down to avoid any movement. We then traced the shadow the pencil made and labeled the date and time. We continued to do this over a few days at different times and saw that depending where the sun was in the sky, it changed the place and length of the shadow.