Kindergarten Blog 5/25

Dear Kindergarten Families,

It was another very busy week in Kindergarten.  Students had a guest baker, attended two performances, and started some new units in Writing and Social Studies.  

In General Studies we began our mapping unit in Social Studies. With great excitement students explored a variety of maps including maps  of the world, the United States, Brooklyn, the NYC subway, and NYC bike lanes.  We then made our own map of the classroom.  Next we will sketch and then map maps of Smith Street.

In Writer’s Workshop we are working on publishing our last stories.  We have introduced three editing tools: asterisks, carrots, and paper flaps for additional sentences.

In Science, we’re anxiously awaiting our butterflies! We learned about metamorphosis, and about the similarities and differences between butterflies and moths.

In Hebrew and Judaic studies, we started off the week getting to be guests at the First grade’s (Kitah Aleph) beautiful Siddur ceremony. The Kindergartners were wowed by the First graders’ performance: their singing, prayers, dancing and stage presence were all truly amazing. Many Kindergartners mentioned they can’t wait for their own Siddur ceremony next year!

We were also treated to a special visit from Leora Mezei, Rami’s mother, who came in and taught the Kindergartners about different Shabbat and holiday breads from Jewish communities around the world. We learned about unique and delicious breads like “jachnun” from Yemen, and “defo dabo” from Ethiopia. Together we all made a special Shavuot bread that originated in Jewish communities in Spain/Portugal and was then carried on by Jewish communities in Saloniki, Greece called “Pan de los Siete Cielos.” This sweet yeasted bread is decorated with many different traditional symbols made out of dough, like Jacob’s ladder and the tablets/Ten Commandments. It was delicious and such a great collaborative project for the entire Kindergarten class to work on together. Big thanks again to Leora for sharing her time, knowledge and enthusiasm with us all. 

In Music, Kindergarteners have been learning about the characters in Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf – learning how to recognize the sound of each character’s main instrument and musical themes. This is helping them to solidify their understanding of the instruments of the orchestra.

The week ended with ice cream from an ice cream truck to celebrate Shavuot.

Shabbat Shalom,

K Team