Kindergarten Blog 11/20/20

Dear Families,

In Hebrew, we are learning new vocabulary for body parts.

Eyes – עיניים

Ears – אוזניים

Nose – אף

Mouth – פה

Tongue – לשון

Teeth – שיניים

Legs – רגליים

Hands – ידיים

Cheeks – לחיים

Shoulders -כתהיים

The students can form sentences about body parts they have (For example: I have hands). We are also learning how to say “I want,” and using our new phrase in everyday class activities (For example, “I want water”).

In Judaic Studies, we are adding new tefillot (prayers). Students now know Modeh Ani, Ma Tovu, Shema, and V’ahavta. Ask them at home, how to say them! We are continuing to learn about Creation, and are now up to the third day. We are also adding relevant Hebrew vocabulary to these discussions.

In Social Studies we read a book called Same, Same, but Different by Todd Parr, which is the story of two boys from different parts of the world and how they are the same and how they are different. Kindergartners then made a Venn Diagram with a partner, documenting the ways they are the same and the way they are different. Categories included age, favorite color, favorite ice cream flavor, eye color, pets (or no pets), families, favorite things to do after school. It was a good opportunity to learn more about a classmate.

Children continue to work on writing true stories about things that have happened to them. We continue to stress that a story needs a beginning, middle. and end and the reader needs to know who is in the story, where it takes place, and what happened.

In Math, we are learning about Ten Frames! Ten frames (grids with two rows of five boxes) help us count quickly and accurately. We made our own frames (see pictures below), and are playing games with them, to help us quickly identify numbers 1-10 (Sometimes without even counting them! Ask your student about this at home).

We also learned a card game called “Top It.” Each player has their own deck of playing cards, with face cards removed (at home you can split a deck). Players call out “1,2,3, top it!” The player with the higher number wins a point (It’s similar to “War”).

Shabbat Shalom,

Anat, Dawn, Talia, and Atalya

Questions to ask at home:

What did God create on the third day?
If my ten frame has a whole row filled in with counters, how many counters do I have? (Answer: five)
How do you play “Top it?”
How were you and your partner the same, and how were you different?

Music with Heidi

In music, Kindergarteners are perfecting their music reading skills and the coordination of having half of the class march a steady beat while the other half of the class performs the rhythms of our music rules rap. This week, they expanded on these skills by doing similar tasks using their mallets and shaker eggs.

Art with Iviva

In art, this week students made leaf rubbings. Iviva and Talia showed them how to use the side of a large crayon to press over their paper with the leaf underneath. They also thought about how to move the leaf under the paper to make multiple impressions on the same page.

Social Studies