Kindergarten Blog 10/28

Dear Kindergarten Families,

This week, being our first full week of school in a month, Kindergartners are getting back into the swing of things and practicing our Kindergarten transitions and routines. We have learned new verses to some of our Morning Meeting songs as well as a new silly song for Kabbalat Shabbat called Chicken Soup!

In Phonics/Handwriting, Kindergartners learned all about how to write the letters L, K, and V, and the sounds they make.We looked at the names Lyla, Liam, Lev, and Viv and at the word Kindergarten. 

In Writer’s Workshop we divided our writing into two sides of our folder.  On one side (with a red dot) we put the work that we think is finished.  On the other side (with a green dot) we put the pages that we are still working on.  We talked about the fact that sometimes you can look back at the work that you thought was finished and add details to your pictures or words. 

In Reading Workshop we read the book The Three Billy Goats Gruff and began a very early discussion about the structure of a story.  We talked about who the characters were, what happened at the beginning, and what happened at the end. We said it had a happy ending.  

In Math we did an activity called Counting Jars. Children got a jar of items and had to count them accurately and record how many there were with both a number and a picture.  We started noting how many days we have been in school (on Friday it was 30) and we figured out how many more days there are in October (on Friday it was three). 

In Science, Kindergartners are beginning to become better observers. We made observe seashells with magnifying glasses, made a class list of our observations, and then make scientific sketches complete with labels.

In Hebrew this week, we learned about the season of fall: עונת הסתיו (oh-nat ha stav). The week started off quite rainy, so we used that opportunity to learn words like umbrella (מטריה meet-ree-ah), boots (מגפיים magafayim), and coat (מעיל meh-eel). We also learned about symbols of autumn in nature, like falling leaves (עלים ah-leem), trees (עצים etzim), wagtail birds (נחליאלי nach-li-eli), and snails (חילזונ / חילזונות chil-zon).

In Judiac Studies we continued learning the prayer Shemah Yisrael שמע ישראל. We spoke in depth about the word ואהבת ve-ahavta which is the first word in the phrase  ואהבת את יהוה אלהיך, one of the central phrases of the prayer. Ve-ahavta means “you loved” and the Kindergartners made maps of their hearts, drawing the people and things they love. We also painted a representation of תוהו ובוהו (chaos before the creation of the world) that we learned about from studying בראשית (Genesis). 

As usual we ended the week with a Kindergarten/First Grade sing and Kabbalat Shabbat.  We look forward to meeting with all of you in the next few weeks at Parent Teacher Conferences to talk about your wonderful children!

Shabbat Shalom,

K Team