Week of 4/23-27 Room 8 enjoyed a week filled with board games, card games, Solar System conversations, Pre-K Celebration rehearsals, and more! We began the week by introducing an old, but classic, card game to the children, Go Fish. The children took a quick liking to the game and insisted on playing every day this week. Whether they were looking for the Snapper card or the Clownfish, they loved saying, “GO FISH!” When they needed a break from the newly learned card game, Uno was a favorite this week. Ella and Skyler have mastered the card game and are now able to play without the laying their cards down on the table for everyone to see. Since their hands are still a little too small to hold up all 7 cards at once, they use another board game box as a barrier between the cards. It is exciting to watch the children master not only the basic rules of each game, but also develop the strategies needed to win the game. Ella’s favorite card to use in Uno is the one that makes the next person skip a turn, while Skyler enjoys using the flip card to turn the order around. Throughout circle time this week, we continued our discussion on the Solar System. We talked about the order of the planets based on size and location. Ask your child what planet we live on! The children had the opportunity to take their newly learned planet knowledge to the Art Center. We asked them to draw the planet or star that poses the most interest to them. For instance, Mason chose to draw Earth because “Earth is where I love. On Earth, there is water and land.” Kayden drew a very brown small planet and stated, “I drew Venus, and it is the hottest planet.” Owen used a green pastel to draw Uranus. He explained, “Uranus is green and a gassy planet. It is also 7th from the sun.” The children continue to show much interest in learning new material associated with the solar system and planets. We are excited to continue this conversation over the next few weeks and include more books, art projects, experiments, and details regarding space. As we sadly near the end of the school year, we have begun rehearsing pieces of the Pre-K Celebration program! The children are filled with excitement, as well as nerves, to graduate from Preschool and move onto their next adventure. They are even more excited to be able to perform for all of you in June. We had our first Pre-K Celebration rehearsal with our Director, Jen. She taught the children a new song in which they will be performing along with sign language to go with it. Elliot was the only child that volunteered to explain the meaning of ‘sign language.’ He stated, “Sign language is when you talk with your hands.” Ask your child to show you some of their new moves, or you can be surprised for the day of celebration! Our Pre-K Celebration rehearsal inspired the children to break out into song and dance all week long. Paisley insisted on showing off her dance routine from her etra curricular dance class. To the song “Hair Up” from the Trolls Movie, Paisley showed the class her entire dance routine. We were so impressed by her confidence and dance skills! Ella, Wynter and Skyler followed her performance with a show of their own. They sang and danced for the rest of their friends. Since the class was in a performing mood, we made a dance train! The children showed off their excellent dance moves of jumping, spinning, twirling, tumbling, hip shaking, and more. We had the best time dancing the afternoon away! Thank you to Mason’s family for joining us for Shabbat this week. We loved singing songs, saying Shabbat prayers, and celebrating Mason’s birthday as a class. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 5/4- Paisley 5/11- Benjamin 5/18- Ella 5/25- Michael Reminders:
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Week of 4/16-20
Wow, have we had a busy week in Room 8!! The children have been engaged in our class topic of Israel in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday. While we celebrated Israel’s actual birthday on Thursday, our week was filled with activities, projects, and conversations all relating to different aspects of Israel. Last week, we began our discussion on the country of Israel by relating it to the Passover story. We asked, “Where did the Jewish go after leaving Egypt and Pharaoh?” All of the children quickly exclaimed, “Israel!”, which they followed up by saying how Israel is in Asia. After discussing the colors of Israel and the Israeli flag, we took time this week to take a closer look at a city in Israel, rather than only looking at the country as a whole. Haifa, the third largest city in Israel, was our city of choice. Room 8 spent the week learning details about this city and understanding how it might connect to the city we live in, Los Angeles. First, we showed the children the Israeli flag and the Haifa flag and asked, “Are they the same or different?” Paisley exclaimed, “They are completely different!” Ayla said, “The Haifa flag has red with the blue and the white. That is not like the Israel flag.” The children were fascinated that the city had their very own flag! Instead of making Israeli flags for Yom Ha’atzmaut, we decided to make the flag of Haifa. Since this flag is slightly more complicated than the flag of Israel, the children collaborated to create one large Haifa flag. Each child contributed to the process and drew a part of the design, colored it, or exercised their cutting and gluing skills. Michael wrote the word ‘Haifa’ for the flag. Paisley outlined the blue mountain, and Mason and Owen used a blue pastel to color it in. Elliot drew both red light houses, and Kayden drew the whole white boat. Ask your child which piece they contributed to the flag! The children were so proud of their creation and enjoyed showing it off to their friends during the birthday celebration on Thursday. In addition, we conducted a circle discussion early in the week to teach the children various important facts about Haifa. While this topic was not a crowd favorite at first, they became increasingly more interested as they gained more information about the city. Ayla loved the fact that both Haifa and Los Angeles have beaches. Skyler gravitated toward the idea that Haifa conducts many imports and exports. Ask your child the meaning of these new vocabulary words! Sklyer commented, “Boats go in and out and import toys. Then, they drop them off somewhere else.” Check out our Connections Chart next time you visit Room 8 to see the details, in both pictures and words, that the children came up with about Haifa and Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Room 8 volunteered to make hummus to bring to the grade level celebration of Israel’s birthday. Since we made hummus last year as a class in Explorers, we thought it would be nice to try it again! Instead of only making it for one class, we had the daunting task of making enough hummus for over 60 children! That is a lot of garbanzo beans! Teacher Mari worked with a small group of children to make over a half a gallon of hummus. First, each child squeezed a half a lemon into a bowl to prepare the lemon juice, which was the first ingredient to go into the food processor. Then, we added 4 tablespoons of olive oil and turned the processor on for about 30 seconds. After cracking open 4 cans of garbanzo beans, Kayden, Ella, Mason, and Paisley drained the liquid into the sink, poured the beans into a bowl and rinsed them. The hummus began to come together as we slowly added the beans into the food processor. Wynter and Ayla were in charge of scooping the beans into a cup and adding them into the food processor through the larger opening as the machine continued to mix the ingredients together. We added a pinch or two of salt to give some flavor to the Israeli dish. With a few more additions of olive oil, water, and garlic salt and a couple more stirs, the hummus was perfect! After the first batch, we did it all over again with another 4 cans to fill a 2.5 quart bowl to the brim with hummus. The children absolutely loved eating the tasty snack with their peers from other classes during the celebration. They beamed with pride and confidence when they told other friends that they made the hummus themselves. Paisley made a point to tell her teachers that the celebration was, “so much more than cute, it was splendid!” They also enjoyed other delicious food items popular in Israel and took part in Israeli dancing. We truly had an incredible week honoring Israel in many different ways including conversation, stories, food, dancing and more! Thank you to Wynter’s family for joining us for Shabbat this week. We loved singing songs, saying Shabbat prayers, and parading around the Temple for Israel’s birthday during Shabbat services. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 4/27- Mason 5/4- Paisley 5/11- Benjamin Reminders:
Week of 4/9-13
Welcome back, Room 8! We were so happy to see all of the children and dive right back into our studies. The children shared details and information about each of their Spring Breaks, including Camp Saken, trips to Mammoth, Bali and Great Wolf Lodge, playing in the pool, and more! Teacher Aaliyah brought back a special treat from her Spring Break journey to Kent, Ohio. Aaliyah visited Grandpa’s Cheese Barn, where she found an unusual snack that she shared with the children. Rather than a bag of kernels to make popcorn, Aaliyah found a dried cob of corn that was preserved in a way that it could be placed in the microwave and made into popcorn. The children were in awe of this unique treat and amazed how the shriveled cob of corn turned into popcorn! The kernels popped off the cob into regular pieces of popcorn that the children greatly enjoyed. The children tried the popcorn before adding flavor, and they also tried it after we added olive oil and salt. They enjoyed the treat both ways! In addition to the popcorn, the children tried pure raw honey, another product from Grandpa’s Cheese Barn in Ohio. Although we did not agree, the children insisted that it tasted like cinnamon. After our Spring Break conversations, we introduced the next Jewish holiday, which will take place next week. We asked the children if they remembered where Israel was, in which they quickly replied, “Asia!” Then, we explained that Israel is celebrating its 70th birthday next Thursday. Over the next week, we will discuss the symbolism of Israel and why each item is important to the country. Some of these symbols include the colors of Israel, blue and white, and foods such as hummus. We also decided to introduce a completely new topic to discuss through the end of the school year. In light of Room 8’s interest in many science related topics, we opened up a conversation surrounding planets and space. After placing three solar system posters on the wall, the children were exploding with questions regarding the images. Paisley asked, “Which layer of the earth is hotter?” Michael asked, “What planet is closest to the sun?” Carter inquired, “Why do rocks fall on the planets?” Ella also posed a great question when she said, “Why does the blue planet have gas?” Benjamin exclaimed, “What planets do aliens live on?” We cannot wait to delve into this topic and explore the possible answers. On Thursday, we discussed the meaning of the word “orbit.” We placed the children in a formation around Benjamin, who was posing as the sun. We explained that the children spinning around are like planets orbiting around the sun. They found this very entertaining and funny. We can’t wait to see where this conversation and topic goes over the next couple of weeks. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 4/20- Wynter 4/27- Mason 5/4- Paisley 5/11- Benjamin Reminders:
Pre-K Celebration: Thursday June 7, 2018 - DROP OFF--9am START TIME- 9:30am |
Pre-K Room 8Mari Greifer Archives
March 2020
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