May 21-25, 2018
We can’t believe this was our last full week of our Pre-K year! It was a busy week filled with board games, math activities, and pre- reading exercises. The children played games such as Zingo Addition/Numbers version, the Lady Bug Game, and had many Uno tournaments. The children have been hard at work practicing for Pre-K Celebration. We practice the songs and the choreography every day in class! Room 1, the Hebrew Immersion class, joins us in the afternoons to practice as a bigger group. We can feel the excitement for graduation on a daily basis as the children will break out in song randomly throughout the day. While working in small groups, we will all of a sudden hear a couple children begin to sing “Shehecheyanu”, and then, shortly after, we hear the rest of the class chime in to finish the song. We also had the opportunity to rehearse in Main Sanctuary for the very first time. To hear their voices and see their beaming smiles filled with excitement brought tears to all of the Pre-K teachers! We truly cannot wait for you to be blown away by this incredible performance by your children. Room 8 enjoyed our End of the Year party this week, as well. Thank you to all of our parents for joining us to celebrate these past two years. We cannot express how much gratitude and appreciation we have for all of you. We all had a wonderful time at the party. Thank you for bearing with us through the tears! We hope you all have a great long weekend, and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Reminders:
May 14-18, 2018
We want to start off by thanking all of our Mommies, Grandmas, and Aunties for taking part in all of our Mother’s Week activities last week. We were blown away by the amount of participation and had such a wonderful time celebrating the special women in our life. The children jumped into a number and shape filled week by partaking in new table top activities. First, they practiced building shapes out of Geometric Shape Building Set. Without looking at the shape cards, the children created pieced together short sticks, long sticks, and curved sticks with small balls to make both 2d and 3d shapes. Wynter showed pride in her ability to make a sphere on her own. Paisley built about 10 triangles and stacked them on top of one another. Benjamin and Elliot made their own head scratches using one main ball and a handful of the turquoise curved lines. This activity exposed the children to more than just basic shapes and showed them how each figure is constructed. Having the opportunity to build shapes, rather than just identify them or draw them, provides the children with the fundamental skills of geometry. In addition, we set out a new version of Zingo! The children were ecstatic to learn a new variety of their all-time favorite board game. On Monday morning, Michael, Kayden, and Carter could barely hold back their excitement while signing in after they noticed the new Zingo! Game set out on Table 3. This is the Zingo! Number Bingo 1-2-3 version. The children began with the green side of the card, which focuses on counting illustrated in a grid of 9 squares. Each square on this side contains images of various groups of objects with the corresponding number written out. This game was a hit! The children rotated groups in playing the new game including being a player and being the “Zinger.” We loved seeing their enthusiasm for numbers and counting. What a great foundation for math! We also started a group discussion on the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. Before reading NO Rules for Michael by Sylvia A. Rouss, we posed the question, “Why are rules necessary?” We also asked, “Who makes the rules?” Elliot said, “If we don’t have rules, then something will get out of control.” Wynter thought that someone might get hurt if we didn’t have rules. Carter thinks G-d makes the rules, while Kora says that Mom makes the rules. On the other hand, Mason said that Dad makes the rules, and Ayla believes teachers make the rules. After reading the story, the children began to understand the idea of chaos versus order. Can a classroom run without rules? Ask your children what their thoughts are after reading this story. Room 8 celebrated an all-white Shabbat in light of Shavuot. We enjoyed singing songs, saying the prayers and going to Temple wearing our flower crowns with Ella’s family. Thank you for joining us for our almost, last Shabbat!! Shabbat Family Schedule: 5/25- Michael Reminders:
Week of 4/30-5/4
We had quite a busy week in Room 8 as we are beginning to wrap up the year. We began the week by discussing a very important holiday coming up next week. Some of the most important women in our lives will be celebrated all week long for our school Mother and Grandmother’s Week. In honor of Mother’s Day, we cannot wait to show our gratitude and love for all of the wonderful mommies, grandmas, aunties and more during our classroom events next week. In addition to these activities, the children are preparing a lovely and thoughtful surprise for their mommies. We can’t wait for you to see all their hard work. We are extremely proud of how far their artistic skills have come over the past two years, which are made very apparent in this two-step project. Room 8 celebrated the Jewish holiday, Lag B’Omer, this week. This is a joyous and celebratory holiday as we are remembering the end of the plague in Israel and an important Rabbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. To celebrate in Israel, we enjoy picnics, bonfires, singing and dancing. In honor of this holiday, we enjoyed a celebration with Room 1, the Hebrew Immersion class. We gathered on their patio to eat snack, make s’mores, and enjoy a special chocolate cake for the celebration. Ask your child if they sat with a new friend for our Lag B’Omer event! The children took a liking to a new shape activity that we set out each morning. This activity consists of various cards that display which materials the children need to make a variety of shapes including basic shapes, geometric figures, and 3d shapes. For instance, to make a hexagon, the card will state that you 6 orange balls and 6 short green sticks. Then, the child has to use these items to create the hexagon. The children started with the simple shapes such as a rectangle, circle, and octagon. As the week progressed, the children began gravitating towards the harder cards such as a square cut in half or a cylinder. It was fascinating to see the kids manipulate the balls and sticks to make sure the shape resembled the picture on the card. We continued to prepare for Pre-K Celebration by singing the song set every day. The kids are doing a fabulous job and working very hard to memorize the lyrics. We can see their excitement in learning these new tunes as they will breakout in song while playing Legos on the rug or drawing at the Art Center during free play. While we do not want this year to end, we cannot WAIT for all of you to see their performance. Thank you to Paisley’s family for joining us for Shabbat and Paisley’s birthday celebration this week. We loved hearing a story, singing songs, and saying Shabbat prayers in class. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 5/11- Benjamin 5/18- Ella 5/25- Michael Reminders:
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Pre-K Room 8Mari Greifer Archives
March 2020
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