Music, art and puppets!

Dear Kindergarten Families,

We had lots of fun this week in Kindergarten! It was great to speak with all of you during conferences! We also talked about using kind words and being careful not to hurt others with our words.

In Math, we began learning about Time. We had a discussion of what we know about time and talked about the fact that time can be measured in minutes, seconds, hours, days, weeks, months, years, centuries, etc. The children were practicing reading the names of the days of the week. We listened to a fun song by Eric Carle “Today is Monday” and sang along and practiced writing the days of the week. We also learned about the parts of a clock: face, hands, numbers and made our own model clocks which we will be using for a couple of weeks.

In English Language Arts, we learned the letter Xx and the sound /ks/ it makes (as in ‘Max’). We practiced forming upper and lowercase Xx letters using our Handwriting Without Tears books, wooden planks, and finding words that start with X and drawing pictures of them. In our Words Their Way Spelling program, we practiced reading and sorting words with 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.

To practice the motions for sounds with your child, watch this video: https://vimeo.com/260170539

In Writing, we continued our Persuasive Writing Unit. We read many wonderful books about writing letters and defending one’s opinions, such as “I Wanna Iguana” by Karen Kaufman Orloff, “The Perfect Pet” by Margie Palatini, and “A Pet for Petunia” by Paul Schmid. Then, the children wrote letters to their parents asking for a pet they want. We used the words dear, because, please, and love in our letters. We hope you enjoy reading them during your conferences!

In Social Studies, we continued our “Maps” unit. We used the story “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McClosky to help us understand how to read maps. As we read the story, we followed along with where the characters were on a map on the whiteboard. Then, we colored in our own maps.

Hebrew and Judaics

This week we started learning about the story of Passover and the Exodus from Egypt ( Yetziat Mitzrayim). The children sang the song “Avadim Hayinoo” and acted out – Avadim (slaves) in Mitzrayim (Egypt) versus “Beney Chorin” (free people).  We learned about Moshe, Pharaoh and the 10 plagues (Eser MaKot). We described the houses of the Egyptians filled with frogs jumping everywhere: on the bed (”al hamitah) and on the head (al harosh), on the table ( al shulchan) and on the window, (al hachalon). It was a good practice for using our Hebrew vocabulary we learned so far. We also started working on our own Hagada and practiced singing the “Ma Nishtana” and “Kadesh Urchatz”.

In Hebrew, we continued reviewing the different objects we have at home.

Related vocabulary is :  shulchan- table, kiseh- chair, shatiach- carpet,  mitah- bed, aron-wardrobe, menorah- lamp,, delet- door, chalon- window, vilon- curtain,  karit- pillow, smicha-blanket. The children formed their own sentences describing things they have at home: “Babait yesh shulchan”, “babait yesh shatiach”…,  and in our room (cheder): “ bacheder yesh mitah”, “bacheder yesh shulchan.”

In addition, we sang the song “ Ani Kam Baboker,” which is about our morning routine and the song “Yesh Li Bayit” .  We read books such as “Ayelet Metayelet” by Rinat Hoper, and “Habait shel Yael” .

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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Milah’s parents were our Mystery Guests and taught us how to do collaborative art while playing music

X is for xylophone!

Learning about maps

Sam from 2nd grade was our Mystery Guest and read the book “I Wanna Iguana”

Noa’s father played a viola for our class

Learning about reading maps while following the book “Make Way for Ducklings”

Harry’s mom brought her puppets and showed the children how they can create their own puppets

Art with Iviva:

We are already preparing for Passover! This week, we reviewed the story of Passover, describing what we remember about Moses and the Pharaoh, and how the Jews fled Egypt. We began decorating Affikomen bags, which we will use in our Seders at home.