Maps, Birds, Letter W and much more!

Dear Kindergarten Families,

We had lots of fun this week in Kindergarten!

In English Language Arts, we learned the letter Ww and the sound /w/ it makes (as in ‘win’). We practiced forming upper and lowercase Ww letters using our Handwriting Without Tears books, wooden planks, and finding words that start with W and drawing pictures of them. In our Words Their Way Spelling program, we practiced reading and sorting words with the short vowel /o/ and with the /sh/ sound. The children have been introduced to the /sh/, /ch/ and /th/ sounds and we will continue practicing these digraphs.

In Writing, we continued our Persuasive Writing Unit. We began writing letters to Nicole or Shelley about what we would like to improve in school. Students learned the words “Dear” and “because” to include in their letters.  We also talked about making our opinions and ideas more convincing by adding reasons. The children had to think of and write 3 reasons for their ideas about improving our school.

In Social Studies, we began our “Maps” unit. We talked about different kinds of maps and what they are used for. We even looked on google maps and found the street view of our school and then zoomed out until we could see planet Earth. We began to create maps of our classroom using different materials: blocks, drawings and collages. Look up various maps with your children at home, compare the map of NY to the map of the USA and to the map of the world, etc.

In Science, we continued our unit Exploring Plants and Animals. We talked about birds. We learned about the differences between birds and that all birds have feathers. We labeled the different parts of a bird and did charades with related vocabulary: wing, feather, fly, walk, swim. We also explored different types of beaks and how they relate to the types of food that birds eat.

Hebrew and Judaics

This week we continued learning about objects in our classroom (kitah).  For example, shulchan – (table) , kiseh- (chair), shatiach- (rug), luach ( board), delet (door), chalon (window), sefer (book), tzvaeem (crayons), tzaatzuim (toys) lego, koobiyot ( blocks), bubot (dolls), mapa shel Israel ( map of Israel), torah. The children formed sentences describing our classroom:“Bakitah yesh tzvaeem” (In the classroom there are crayons.) or  “Bakitah yesh Shatiach” (In the classroom there is a carpet.). We started discussing objects we have at home Bayit ( house) and focused on our bedrooms ( chadar sheina). Related words are: mitah- bed, chalon-window, vilon-curtain, aron-closet, karit-pillow, smicha-blanket.

We also started learning about Noach and his Ark. We learned about the structure of the teiva (ark) which Noach built; there were 3 floors, the first floor was for garbage and food, the second was for the animals and the third floor was for Noach his wife and his three sons. We talked about the animals in the ark and the fact that they were paired, one female and one male. In addition, we learned that the kosher animals were grouped seven by seven (kosher animal like cows, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and do you believe it? – giraffe ).  Some animals were Kelev- dog, Chatul- cat, kangaroo-kangaroo, aryeh- lion, nachash- snake, tzav- turtle, pil- elephant, dov- bear. We also read the books “The Amazing story of Noah’s Ark” by Marcia Williams, “Lama leNoach Ein Manoach” by Gil Kopatch, and “Maase BeOzney Haman” by Shlomo Abas.

We have been collecting Pennies for the Purim Penny Drive! So far, our class has filled a whole coffee jar and is trying to do two more jars!

Shabbat Shalom,

Regina, Rachel, Irit, and Ilana

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Jewish Drum Tales – drumming along with a Purim Story!

Marshall’s uncle Ian was our Mystery Guest from Chicago!

Learning about Maps!

Using blocks, drawings and collages to create maps of our classroom!

Presenting our work to our friends

Learning about different kinds of birds and beaks used for finding food: tweezers like a woodpecker, pliers like a cardinal, straw like a humming bird, scissors like an eagle, and chopsticks like a robin.

Labeling parts of a bird