Kindergarten Blog 1/27

Dear Kindergarten Families,

It was another busy week in Kindergarten! Read all about what your children have been learning below.

In Hebrew/Judaic studies, this week we are learning about the holiday of “Tu B’shevat”  טו בשבט. The 15th of Shevat is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees as well as the season during which the trees begin to bloom in the Land of Israel.

We learned about the parts of the tree and its fruits. We asked why the tree is important? And what does the tree give us?

The children took part in the conversation and answered the questions.

Vocabulary:

oxygen-חמצן

Chair-כסא

table-שולחן

closet-ארון

pencil-עפרונות

toys-צעצועים

paper-דף

fruits-פירות

We talked about the seven species- Shiv’at ha’minim-wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranate, olives, dates.

We sang the song-Tu B’shevat Hegiah chag Lailanot and finally the children drew and painted an almond tree.

In Music class, Kindergarteners have started learning the musical language of Solfège (Do Re Mi). They now know the pitches Do, Mi and Sol. They enjoy learning about Solfège with their favorite cat Sol Mi, and Sol Mi’s favorite song “We All Sing With The Same Voice.” Through that song, they’ve also been learning about harmony – in the world and in music.

In Writer’s Workshop we did some Show and Tell Writing.  Children brought in special objects from home and drew them, labeled them, and wrote sentences about them. We focussed on looking carefully at the objects and including as many details as possible.  Later they chose an item from the classroom and they did the same thing.

In Math we began working with addition story problems. We saw that addition is joining two groups of objects together and worked on writing the math sentences that go with each problem.  For example, if there were six ducks and six more came along we say six and six make 12 and write 6 + 6 = 12.

We also used the 100’s chart to figure out that on the 80th day of school there were 20 more days until the 100th day of school and to count by tens.  Children enjoyed looking at the 100’s chart and noticed many different patterns.  

In Phonics children continued to work on their individual alphabet charts.  We introduced two new snap words, look and see, and continued reviewing initial letter sounds and short vowel sounds.  Children went book shopping to choose new books for their book baggies and the opportunity to read books with a teacher.  

In Science this week, the Kindergartners learned all about capillary action (how water travels up roots). Kindergartners watched as two paper towels soaked up blue and yellow water from two different cups and slowly dripped water into a third empty cup, making green. (View the pictures to get a visual!) The paper towels act as roots sucking up water from the soil (outside cups of blue and yellow water) and into the stem of the plant (the middle cup).

As always, we concluded our week with our weekly K/1 Sing and Kabbalat Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom,

K Team