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Lower Elementary

Lower Elementary

Mechina - 2nd Grade 

Nurturing the Development of the Whole Child

The thoughtful selection of age-appropriate, challenging curricula and creative classroom design, allow each student to develop the core fundamentals, while maintaining an emphasis on the social and emotional development of every student.  Students learn skills and build confidence in reading, writing, and math while being inspired to explore and discover in social studies and science.  While the foundation of our Menschlichkeit Values is deliberately laid in the Jewish Studies classroom, they are noticeably embedded in every part of the Lower Elementary experience.  Small group differentiation, innovative technologies and unique teaching methods ensure that all students have the opportunity to achieve to the best of their ability, discover and grow individual talents, and build strong relationships with friends and teachers in a safe and comfortable environment.

Empowered by Academic Excellence

One Individualized Learning Experience

Faculty | Student Services| Davis Learning Center

Life in Lower Elementary

Around Lower Elementary

Tu Bishvat Celebrations Around Campus

In celebration of Tu Bishvat, students had in-class carpet picnics, where they ate fruits, sang songs, and listened to stories. Mechina classes decorated planter pots, learned Hebrew plant terminology, and planted parsley seeds, hoping to have fresh parsley by Passover. Kindergarten students labeled trees in Hebrew, reflected on the benefits trees provide, and learned prayers for various fruits and vegetables.

  • Celebration
  • Holidays
  • Jewish Life
  • Lower School
Q & U's Happily Ever After

Kindergarten students celebrated the marriage of the letters Q and U. The two letters married each other in an elaborate wedding so that the q and the u can live happily ever after and always appear together in words like quarterback, quack and queen. The q and u wedding is a memorable, fun, and adorable way to teach students about how the q and the u always appear together.

  • Kindergarten
  • Language Arts
  • Lower School
Kindergarten Students Get Cooking

Kindergarten students were introduced to culinary creativity and discovery as they took a trip to Young Chefs Academy! The culinary classroom was the perfect environment to bake delicious pretzels while reviewing the transitional words first, next, then, finally, and last. They truly enjoyed a “delicious” lesson!

  • Field Trip
  • Kindergarten
  • Lower School
Students Celebrate 100th School Day

Wednesday marked the 100th day of school. To celebrate this milestone, Mechina students dressed up like seniors, while kindergarten students decorated shirts with 100 items, and first-grade students used technology to add wrinkles to their self-portraits so they could look 100 years old.

  • 1st Grade
  • Celebration
  • Kindergarten
  • Lower School
  • Mechina
Bringing Cities to Life through Art

Second graders learned about the work of Stephen Wiltshire, a British autistic artist who is able to draw an entire cityscape from memory after a brief helicopter ride or encounter with the city. After being inspired by Wiltshire’s work, students were challenged to use a ruler to create their own unique city. Students enhanced their cities by continuing to expand their knowledge of blending and gradients through shading on the cities and within the background.

  • 2nd Grade
  • Lower School
  • Visual Arts
Fifth Graders Prepare for Torah

Our fifth graders have been diligently preparing for their first Torah reading in their upcoming Torah service. Under the guidance of Mrs. Gimpelevich, they have learned Torah trope (melodic patterns) and applied them to their assigned verses. Additionally, they have been working on crafting a d'var Torah (a brief teaching) to share insights about their verses when the service takes place next week.

  • 5th Grade
  • Jewish Studies
  • Lower School
5th Graders Extract DNA from Fruit

Mrs. Malever’s 5th grade students had an exciting time in science class, extracting DNA from fruits like strawberries, grapes, and oranges! By breaking open the fruit cells, they were able to observe DNA firsthand and explore how all living things contain it. It was a fun, hands-on experience that brought science to life!

  • 5th Grade
  • Lower School
  • Science
Kindergarten Fairy Tale Ball

Kindergarten students had a fantastic Fairy Tale Ball dressed up as princes and princesses. Throughout the last weeks, students have been immersed in the magical world of fairy tales by reading and creating themed projects around timeless classics. 

  • Celebration
  • Kindergarten
  • Lower School
Monsters Come to Life Through Writing

What a fun activity in the world of descriptive writing! Third graders learned about descriptive writing through a fun, hands-on monster activity. They designed a friendly monster and used writing techniques to describe their creations. Parents were invited to draw those monsters based on the detailed descriptions. After comparing their drawings to their child's original creation, parents and students teamed up to fine-tune their paragraphs, adding more details and polishing their writing skills.

  • 3rd Grade
  • Arts
  • Language Arts
  • Lower School
Moana Jr. Rehearsals Begin

This week the lower school cast of Moana Jr. officially kicked off the rehearsal season. The energy in the room was contagious as students eagerly jumped into their roles and started to bring the story to life.

  • Lower School
  • Theatre