Kindergarten Blog 4/21

Dear Kindergarten Families,

We hope you all had a wonderful break. The kindergartners returned from vacation looking like 1st graders!

In Handwriting, kindergartners have begun new handwriting workbooks, in which they practice writing full sentences, with a capital letter in the beginning, and a period at the end. We are emphasizing writing slowly and carefully to practice our best handwriting.

In Writers Workshop, we read Fireflies, and are continuing to practice careful story planning and adding lots of details to make our stories interesting and exciting. We continue to work on leaving spaces between words, writing letters for every sound we hear, and thinking about clear beginning, middle, and ends to our stories. In reading we continue to work on short vowel sounds and decoding CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and reading books, playing games, and doing activities that help us practice that skill. 

In Science, kindergartners began a new unit on living vs. nonliving things. We made a big list of everything we know about living things, discussed the questions we have, and crafted a “living checklist” to be able to determine whether or not something is living. The checklist asks whether something: 1) breathes, 2) needs nutrients, 3) drinks water, 4) grows and changes, and 5) can make more of itself (reproduces).

In Math we began to learn about telling time to the hour.  We looked at individual clocks and noticed two hands, one long and one short, and the numbers from 1-12. We saw markings between each number.  When we looked at the clock on the wall we noticed a third hand that we could see move. We are adding clocks to our schedule showing what time different activities begin and using times in our morning message.  We also practiced counting to higher numbers by counting by tens and then ones.  For example to get to 53, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 51, 52, 53. 

In Social Studies we are working on building our made up families with Model Magic, first creating skin tones and then forming the people and adding clothing and hair.  Many have decided to add a pet  to their families, including one pink butterfly.  

This week in Hebrew and Judaics, the students learned about Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). We broke down what it means to be “atsma’i” (independent), and in what ways we’re all independent in our own lives, and the significance that holds. Each student shared with the class what makes them independent and what they can do on their own.

We also learned about the flag of Israel and what colors make up the flag. We spoke about why the colors of blue and white were chosen as Israel’s national colors, and Kindergartners examined a tallit (prayer shawl) and noticed how elements from a tallit are incorporated into Israel’s flag.

We learned about the symbol of Israel, which is the menorah and two olive branches. Kindergartners remembered that the menorah was an important part of the Chanukah story, and that the olive branches were a significant part of the story of Noah’s Ark.

During our morning meeting we’ve added the counting of the Omer, the days between the beginning of Passover and the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. Kindergartners have learned to recite the blessing we say when counting the Omer.

This week we also learned about the North African Jewish holiday of Mimouna.. Kindergartners learned that it’s a holiday that originated primarily in Morocco, and now is widely celebrated in Israel and around the world amongst Jewish communities. It’s a joyful holiday that is celebrated on the last night of Pesach, once eating chametz is permitted once again. We learned about the various delicious foods people prepare and eat during Mimouna, listened to traditional music from Jewish Moroccan culture, and emphasized that the holiday is one where people open their doors to guests, friends and neighbors to partake in the holiday together. On Friday, we even got to taste authentic mufletta- one of the hallmark Mimouna foods. Such a fun and delicious end to the week!

Vocabulary:

יום העצמאות independent day

סמל symbol

דגל flag

מדינה state

We hope you’re all enjoying the Spring weather!

Shabbat Shalom,

K Team