Kindergarten Blog 11/11

Dear Kindergarten Families,

It was a pleasure meeting with many of you over the last two weeks to talk about the incredible progress your children have made thus far in the school year!

We are preparing for the Thanksgiving Food Drive, which will benefit the Community Fridge on Hoyt Street.  We read a book called Maddie’s Fridge in which a child realizes that her friend does not have much food and helps her out.  We talked about the fact that some people in Brooklyn don’t have enough food and we can help them out by bringing in items for the Community Fridge, where people can come and take the food that they need. Children have a note in their backpack listing needed items and can begin bringing them in on Monday the 14th. 

Children had the opportunity to learn about Dios de Los Muertos from classmate Alma, who celebrates the holiday with her family.  We learned that it is a day to remember people who have died, by, among other things, honoring them with an altar with pictures and favorite foods. 

On Wednesday, Kindergarteners had an extra special recess on the roof with their Fourth Grade buddies! The buddies created secret handshakes, and played Sharks and Sailors and Four Corners.

In Science, Kindergarteners are learning about the 5 Senses. Last week, we talked about how when we make scientific sketches, we can break it down into smaller shapes, and practiced this skill by observing Lego blocks with magnifying glasses and sketching them. This week, we learned about how our ears act as cups to catch the sound waves all around us to send messages to our brains. We played the game Guess That Sound! Kindergarteners then paired up and took turns listening to the sounds of objects being dropped on the floor and guessing what object was dropped.

In Handwriting and Phonics, we learned how to make W and Z, and the sounds they make. We studied Zeke’s name for Z, and Mrs. Wishy Washy (a favorite book character) for W. We also learned about a “pinch grip”, which is the correct way to grip our pencils!

In Math we started playing a new game called Racing Dice.  Children have a grid with the numbers 1-12.  They roll two dice and record the total on the grid, watching to see which number “wins.”  We also started a graphing unit, documenting information about how we get to school, hair color, eye color, and favorite color, fruit, and ice cream flavor.  Children then make statements about what they notice about the data. 

In Writer’s Workshop we are finishing up our information books, adding covers and an editing checklist.  On the editing checklist children check off categories such as “Added details to my pictures,” “Added letters to my words,” and “ Practiced reading my book.”  We are looking for a time to read the books to our Buddies. 

In Hebrew this week, Kindergarten learned different body parts:

 ראש head rosh, עיניים eyes eynayim, אוזניים ears oznayim, אף nose aff, פה mouth peh. 

We learned the sentence “יש לי insert body part” (I have a…. Yesh li….)

We also learned how to describe what colors we are wearing:        

 אני לובש/ אני לובשת מכנסיים /חולצה בצבע 

I’m wearing a (insert color) pants/shirt

Ani lovesh/loveshet michnasayim / chooltzah be tzevah (insert color).

In Judaic Studies we continued learning about Creation. We are now learning about the second day, when the sky and land were differentiated/created. 

We used the past week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, which has the phrase that G-D tells to Avraham: “Look up at the sky and count the stars. Can you count them? So shall your children be,” as a peg to learn the Hebrew words for several celestial things like: שמיים sky shemayim, כוכבים stars kochavim, ירח moon yareach, שמש sun shemesh, and קשת rainbow keshet. Having a lunar eclipse this week made for a great opportunity to talk about the moon and the sun in Hebrew too! 

שלום הורים יקרים!

בקבוצת דוברי העברית בגן התחלנו את היחידה אני וגופי. הילדים השתמשו באוצר מילים של איברי הגוף על מנת לתאר את עצמם. התלמידים רכשו אוצר מילים חדש (חייכן, מתבוננות, נבונות) על ידי השיר אלה הפנים שלי.

התחלנו לקרוא את הספר הביצה שהתחפשה, שאלנו שאלות על מנת לחדד את הבנת הנקרא וכישורי השפה של הילדים.

במהלך השיחה על הספר השתמשנו במילים תדמית, גאוותן,מחוספס, דוגרת, אפרוח, בוקע

היחידה והתכנית מכוונת  לחזק את הזהות העצמית, מודעות עצמית, והחיבור לאחרים בקהילה שלנו.

Shabbat Shalom,

K Team