10/29 Kindergarten Blog

Dear Kindergarten Families,

This week in our Morning Meetings, students paired up with someone new each day to share something about ourselves, and then shared to the group what our partners said. The children are getting to know everyone and working on their listening skills! We introduced a tricky new song called “Dreams of Harmony,” where we sing “Goodnight” in many different languages. We also learned “You Are My Sunshine.” The big news of the week is that we have student jobs! The children were very excited to learn that starting Monday, everyone will have their very own classroom responsibilities. A doctor kit was added to the Choice Time activities, leading to a waiting room of parents with babies and cell phones waiting to see the doctor. 

In Phonics we studied our first Snap words.  Snap Words are words that you see so frequently you know them in a snap.  We studied I, a, and the. Handwriting was again coordinated with Phonics, and we learned the sounds of and how to make  Y, J, and A while studying the names Yudah, Jolie, Judah, and Ava. These are tricky letters, and we will continue to practice them.

In Writer’s Workshop we had our first Publishing Party. We practiced reading our information books, and Carolyn (Lower School Counselor), Rebecca (Lower School Learning Specialist) and Shelley (Lower School Director) visited our classroom to hear the students read their books.  We also started our new narrative unit, beginning by telling stories about our lives.

In Math we played a new game called Racing Bears.  Children roll a die and move one of four bears along a pathway, trying to capture counters.  There is strategy involved in figuring out which bear to move to capture a counter.  Some students also practiced decomposing numbers, as they could split the number they rolled and move two bears. For example, if a six was rolled one bear could be moved two spaces and another bear could move four spaces, thus capturing two counters!

In Science this week, we learned all about sight. We started class inside, coming up with our list of observation words, like shiny, matte, see-through, bumpy, spiky, sharp, big, small, square, round, purple, yellow… There are so many! Then, with clipboards and pencils, we went outside to each find one thing to scientifically sketch, adding labels with our observation words where we could. The children did great work, and when we came inside everyone got a chance to share their excellent work. We will continue to work on our scientific sketches and observations!

In Music class, our Kindergarteners have been exploring the melodies and rhythms of names and learning about our school’s namesake, Hannah Senesh. They have learned the song Eli Eli, a poem by Hannah Senesh set to music by Israeli composer David Zehavi. You can look forward to hearing them sing the song on Kesher Day!

In Hebrew, we are continuing with our colors, and our phrases that we learned last week, and this week we introduced the names of our body parts: yad/yadayim (hand/hands), regel/raglaim (leg/legs), enaim (eyes), af (nose), peh (mouth), lashon (tongue), shinaim (teeth), gav (back), beten (stomach), katef/k’tafaim (shoulder/shoulders), lechayayim (cheeks). The children have been practicing saying “Yesh li ___” (I have __). We completed our tactile colorful balloon project this week. Last week, we introduced feelings, and how to ask someone how they feel and answer, and we are continuing to practice our phrases and get better at them. Additionally, students are now practicing being “Teacher”, leading the class in greeting each child in Hebrew, and going through the schedule for the day.

In Judaic Studies, as we move into the third day, we reviewed the vocabulary that came with the first two days of Creation and added some more for the third: yam/yabasha, etsim/prachim, or/choshech. We practiced Ma Barah Hashem? In Tefilah, we do Modeh Ani, Matovu, and Sh’mah, and the Parshat HaShavuah is Chayei Sarah. We finished the week with Kabbalat Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom,

Atalya, Dawn, and Anat