Week of 10/23-27/17 Dear Room 8 Parents, We started our week off discussing a brand new topic with the children. In discussing various fruits for Share Day, we noticed that the children did not quite understand that food is categorized into different groups. Specifically, all food is grouped into 6 groups known as grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy and other (including sweets and oils). The children expressed curiosity in the various food groups and began asking which group certain foods belonged in. In line with the interest of the children, we began this topic by reading The Edible Pyramid by Loreen Leedy and When I Eat by Mandy Suhr. We explained each of the 6 groups and asked the children for an example of a food that could be in the specific category. For instance, Kora stated, “Waffles are in the wheat group.” In the fruit group, Paisley contributed peaches, and Carter thought of a unique vegetable, green beans, which fall under the vegetable section. Ayla said that kebob is a protein, while Benjamin used turkey bacon as an example. For the dairy group, Kayden gave the example of cream cheese, and Mason added string cheese to the conversation. Lastly, all of the children gave great examples of the “other” category including gum balls, sour patch kids, chocolate cake, and more! We worked with the children on creating their own picture of the food pyramid. Ask your child, “What shape makes up a pyramid?” Using two diagonal lines and one straight line, the children drew their own triangle. This activity helped to strengthen their fine motor skills by allowing the children to practice their ability to draw straight and diagonal lines. These skills are the basis for creating other shapes and letters. The kids broke the triangle up into 6 sections by drawing 5 straight lines across the larger triangle. We developed a color code based on food category to color in each section. The children used concentration, patience, and a strong grip to stay in the lines while coloring in each section with oil pastels. The bread section was brown, the fruit section was orange, the vegetable category was green, the protein was pink, the dairy was white and the sweets section was purple. Next time you stop by Room 8, take a look at the incredible food pyramids and the unique thoughts the children contributed to our conversation. In honor of this discussion, our Share Day theme was a “Potluck Lunch.” Each child chose the category in which they wanted to bring a food item. We limited 2 children to each group, except we asked 3 children to bring in protein and vegetables to ensure a healthy and hearty lunch. The children had the best time categorizing each food item. All through lunch, we overheard the kids talking about which group they were eating in that moment. For example, Ella said, “I am eating the protein because it is an egg.” Owen explained how his favorite part of the pyramid is the sweets because he likes the sweet and sour taste of Sour Patch Kids. Michael did not like pasta and bread group because it was too chewy and soft. Room 8 spent time this week practicing letter recognition and sound association through ABC Bingo, ABC snake puzzle, and ABC Word Match Puzzle. We are so impressed by the progress all of the children are making. We love hearing when the children recognize a “D” or any letter in the room and start making the sound associated with it. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Reminders:
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Week of 10/16-20/17
Room 8 was very excited to finally be at school for a full week! We started off the week with another compare and contrast conversation. In lieu of Sukkot and the idea of sleeping outside in a Sukkah, we compared a house to a hut. We explained that a sukkah is like a hut, a simple structure that serves as a house. Then, we asked, “What is the difference between a hut (or a sukkah) and a house?” We noticed that the children immediately gravitated towards describing the similarities and differences of the insides of a house and hut. Owen was the first to volunteer information stating, “A hut does not have a bathroom and a house does.” Kayden explained that a hut and a house are different because a hut does not have a garage like a house, while Carter said that a Sukkah does not have a staircase. Some of the similarities that were mentioned included that both a hut and house have pictures inside and you can sleep inside both. Another interesting similarity was that both have walls. Michael brought up an interesting difference regarding the walls or as he stated, the frame, of a house versus the frame of a hut. He explained that we can see the frame of a hut, but we cannot see the framing of a house. We are excited to dig deeper into the idea of how a house can be built and what goes into creating a frame. Ever since sorting the large bag of M&M’s and counting how many candies were inside the large bag, the children are showing a great interest in many math related activities. They have begun to demonstrate curiosity in estimation, counting, sorting, categorizing, and understanding numerical value. In light of their interest, we began the week with an Estimation Jar. On Monday, we filled a jar with miniature pattern tiles. The children had to make their best educated guess, estimation, by looking at the jar to determine how many items were actually in the container. We received a wide range of guesses beginning at 20 and going as high as 100. During morning circle, the children had the opportunity to count the items. They sorted the small cubes into groups of 10 to make the counting simpler. In doing so, the children are not only strengthening their counting abilities, but they are also becoming exposed to the idea that there are different ways to count. The children were amazed at the end result. There were a total of 106 miniature pattern tiles in the jar. The following day the children arrived and were eager to guess the correct amount of new items filling the jar. We have continued this activity throughout the week using various sized objects to fill the jar. This activity teaches new vocabulary, the understanding of numerical value, and the ability and importance of being able to form an accurate estimation. In addition, the use of various sized objects exposes the children to the idea of spatial recognition in math. For instance, they learned that larger objects, like corks, might look big, but in fact, they take up more space, meaning there are less of the corks in the jar. We are excited to grow this critical thinking concept through the rest of the year starting with forming a connection between estimation and compare and contrast. We had a wonderful Shabbat celebration with Ayla’s family! We want to give a big thanks to Sherin and Hooman for bringing in a delicious hallah, singing the prayers with Room 8, and reading a story. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Reminders:
Dear Room 8 Parents,
Room 8 had a busy week focusing on Sukkot. The holiday of Sukkot emphasizes the importance of appreciating nature and focusing on our surroundings rather than the comforts we are used to in our home. During Sukkot, we welcome the harvest, and we are ready to “harvest” or pick the fruits and vegetables that have been growing all summer. We started the week by visiting the sukkah on the Pre-K patio outside our room. We looked around and described what we saw. The children learned that the sukkah is made up of 3 walls and a roof. There is a special requirement for the roof of the sukkah that makes it different than a house. The children learned that the roof has to be open to the sky so that we can see the stars at night. Many use Palm leaves to cover the roof but still leaves holes to see the sky. Ask your child what you need to build a sukkah. They might even sing you the song, “This is What You Need to Build a Sukkah.” The children were able to practice their fine motor skills and their ability to produce a complete picture by drawing their own sukkah. They learned that a sukkah is constructed in the shape of a rectangle and is decorated by fruits that are often circle shapes. Take a look at their incredible drawings next time you visit the class. We also had the opportunity to visit the annual 3rd Grade Sukkah Exhibit. The kids enjoyed seeing how the 3rd graders made models of a sukkah out of various materials. Benjamin loved the Lego sukkah, while Ella liked the sukkah with the twinkly lights. In light of our nature theme and Sukkot, last week’s Share Day theme was to bring in 3 different pieces of nature. As the children presented their items this week, we categorized the items. Our categories consisted of: flowers, sticks/twigs, rocks, leaves, herbs, seed pods, and fruit. Owen brought a fig, which went to the fruit category. Mason used his critical thinking skills and made a connection between the fig and a lemon because they are the same shape and have the same brown stem. Benjamin found sticks on his nature walk. Carter put a leaf in the leaf category. Paisley found rosemary and lavender, which she said had a smell to them. This meant they are herbs. To emphasize mathematical language and further emerge this idea from last week’s leaf measuring, we asked the children, “Which category has the least amount of nature items?” Neda noticed that the rock category had the least because there was only 1 rock. Kayden explained that the fruit plate was the same as the rock because there was only one fig. Then, we questioned, “Which is greater: the twig category or seed pod category?” After Skyler counted the twigs and Carter counted the seed pods, Ayla exclaimed, “9 is more than 6 so the twigs are greater than the seeds.” We are so impressed by the children’s ability to grasp this mathematical concept. We can’t wait to incorporate more of these concepts into our fall learning and see how the children begin to use these in everyday play. In honor of Sukkot, this week’s Share Day theme was to bring your favorite fruit. We discussed Share Day on Friday, so that the children could enjoy a delicious fruit salad for Shabbat snack. We were amazed by the variety of fruits that were brought in including peaches, blueberries, mango, strawberries, and more! Next week, we will introduce a new critical thinking concept: cause and effect. Stay tuned for experiments and discussions regarding our new topic. Reminders:
Week of 10/2-6/17
Dear Room 8 Parents, This first month of school has flown by and your children continue to amaze us every day. Last weeks' Share Day theme was “Something Sour.” The children took an interest in this theme and asked to taste all of the food items that were brought in. While tasting these foods, the children noticed that we had both a fresh lemon and a dried lemon. They began asking questions about these two items including, “How does a lemon become dried?” and “Why are they different?” In light of the children’s interest in these two items and our past emphasis on compare and contrast language, we encouraged the children to compare and contrast both lemons to understand the similarities and differences. Throughout this discussion, it became clear that the children were beginning to deeply comprehend how to think critically and understand the concept of details and adjectives. We began to notice the children's understanding when we cut 2 fresh lemons in half, one cut lengthwise from the stem to the bottom and the other cut down the middle. Then, we cut the lengthwise lemon in half again to create a “wedge” like shape. Immediately, Michael noticed, “It is a crescent.” The kids began to look at the wedge in a different way, beyond shapes and colors. Elliot described the wedge as similar to a banana. Carter said, “It looks like a watermelon slice.” Ella compared the lemon wedge to a moon. Lastly, Paisley connected Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to this class discussion and noticed that the lemon wedge was very similar to the shape of a Shofar. The details and comparisons that the children used demonstrated that the children were grasping the concept of comparing and contrasting and using details. We are excited to see the children think outside the box, thereby sharpening their critical thinking skills. Next, we presented the dried lemon and asked, “What do you see?” Again, the answers were so much more than just stating the color or shape. The children are beginning to process the concept of how to describe an object based on your senses on a higher, more advanced level. Mason described the dried lemon as similar to a ball, and Elliot said it looked like a pumpkin. Kayden said, “It looks like an orange because of its round shape.” Then, Michael said it looks like chipmunk food (which we figured out was an acorn). Paisley said it looks like a Jack-o’- lantern, in which she was referring to a pumpkin. In learning how to use critical thinking skills, the children are putting in place the building blocks for learning how to learn. We are interested to see where the children will take this concept as we go through Sukkot, the fall season and more! Room 8 welcomed the new season of fall this week. Since we did an in-depth study on various types of squash last year, this year we wanted to do things differently. Instead of choosing a teacher-directed topic, we are going to introduce the themes of the season of fall and see how the children respond. We began by taking the children on a nature walk to expose them to fall nature. After a brief discussion on the similarities and differences between some of the trees that we saw, the children collected a variety of leaves, twigs and seeds. The following morning we set out the nature walk findings along with various sized magnifying glasses, kaleidoscopes, and one small round measuring tool. After observing the leaves through the magnifying glasses and the seeds through the kaleidoscopes, we overheard the children talking about how to measure the leaves. They gravitated towards the measuring tool, a small plastic circle with a ruler of 2.5 inches on it. The children did not quite know how to use the ruler, so in asking Teacher Aaliyah, she provided them with a slightly larger 12-inch ruler. They came back and said this was even too small! Aaliyah then gave them a yard stick to continue their measuring. The children worked together to figure out how to measure each leaf, stick, branch and twig. They put the yard stick on the floor and compared the lengths. They would say, “This one is 16!” and “This one is 8.” We introduced the word, “inches” and explained we measure in “inches.” Next time you drop off or pick up, take a look at our measuring window! Since the children showed a great interest in observing the differences between leaves and branches, we will continue to facilitate their learning in this topic. We also saw the children incorporate the concept of compare and contrast into their own play and discovery. This was just another piece of evidence supporting how they are grasping how to think critically. We cannot wait to see what other topics and discussions emerge from the children’s interest in nature. We hope you all have a wonderful long weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Reminders:
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March 2020
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