November 26-30, 2018
We spent this week focusing on Hanukkah, which begins this Sunday! Ask your child how many nights of Hanukkah there are. We began with the facts and explained the traditions of the holiday including lighting the candles, how many nights, the hanukkah, and the dreidel. The children had the opportunity to make their own hanukkiyahs. We were completely wowed by their creativity! They had the option of choosing various items such as colored wood blocks, colored rocks, colored rectangle tiles, wood numbers, sequins, and more. Each hanukkiyah represents the child’s unique thought process and ideas. We loved seeing their minds race as they tried to pick which items they wanted to use. For instance, Luca was fascinated by the pieces of wood that resembled wheels, which he used to turn the hanukkiyah into a vehicle. Avital chose to use the colored wood numbers to represent each night of hanukkah. Christopher used all green colored gems to line the edges of the hanukkiyah. Every single child used different materials and no two hanukkiyahs are alike. We can’t wait for you to take them home on Friday and use them to light the candles on the first night of Hanukkah this Sunday! The children learned new songs this week in honor of the upcoming holiday. We continue to practice these songs throughout the week. We noticed that the kids took a liking to these songs so much that we often hear them break into song while playing. All of a sudden we will hear “Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah, come light the menorah…” being sung while the kids are working on one of their 100 piece puzzles. They look forward to showing off their singing voices as they perform these songs during our Hanukkah party next week. We, the teachers, cannot wait to celebrate the miracle of light with all of you and eat latkes and sufganiyot! Next week, in addition to the class party, we will teach the game of dreidel, after we make our very own dreidels. We also want to thank all of the parents who took their child to the book fair and purchased a book for our class! We are so appreciative of these new books and look forward to reading them with all of the children. We hope everyone has a very happy first night of Hanukkah and enjoys lighting the candles with your little ones! Happy Hanukkah and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Reminders:
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Newsletter Room 8
November 12-16, 2018 What does it mean to give thanks? Who are you thankful for? These are two of a few questions we asked the children during circle time this week. With Thanksgiving approaching, we are focusing on the two pieces of the word Thanksgiving, “thanks” and “giving.” The first time we asked the children what they are thankful for we heard a variety of answers. For instance, Grayson told the class he was thankful for his sister because she is so smiley. Blake said, “I am thankful for my dad, and I can ride bikes with him to spend time with him.” We want the children to recognize the importance of both being appreciative for what we have and to understand the importance in helping others. We asked the children to think about two questions at home to reinforce this important concept. First, “What are you thankful for?” We realize that we are grateful for many things in our lives, but not all people might have these same things. The second question that the children took home was, “How can you help others to show your appreciation or what can you give?” This second piece of the conversation is equivalent to the Jewish laws of mitzvot. Ask your child what a ‘mitzvah’ is and see if they can give you an example of a “good deed.” Both expressing and feeling gratitude are important values in everyday life. We want to instill the value of appreciation at an early age because learning to appreciate our own lives or being able to “step in someone else’s shoes” helps the children relate to others and decrease negative feelings of comparison. While this is just a beginning conversation in a significant life value, we will continue to weave this concept into many more topics throughout the year. The children demonstrated a grasp on gratitude and giving when they presented answers to these questions during a large group discussion. We saw a variety of ideas reflecting that the children were thankful for such as Sasha’s toothbrush, Jordan’s drawing of his bed, and Luca’s picture of his family. Sasha explained that he was very thankful for his toothbrush because it helps him not get cavities, which would hurt a lot. In the idea of giving, Julian brought a bandaid and explained how he could give it to someone if they fall down. During this conversation and after she had already shared the sova she brought, Amanda was eager to share an interesting thought that popped into her head. With the fires going on this week, Amanda stated, “I have another thing to share that I am very thankful for because of something that just happened. There were fires and my friends didn’t have anywhere to stay and my family gave them a place to stay and a home to come to.” She continued with, “I am so thankful that my family could be so helpful to our friends when they needed the help.” We were blown away that the entire class is beginning to develop a strong understanding of this essential value. Room 8 enjoyed working with a new medium of art this week. We introduced Plasticine clay, an easily pliable clay that comes in a variety of colors. The children loved working with this material! First, they used the modeling clay to form their name on a paper plate. Next time you visit the classroom please take a look at the hard work they put into this project. The children used concentration, fine motor skills and patience to place tiny pieces of the plasticine clay onto the lines of each letter. They are instructed to rip off a small piece, push it down on name written in pencil and smush it up or down to smudge it over the letter. The key is to use an appropriate pressure and strength to pull off small pieces and place them on the penciled line. This activity is incredible for strengthening fine motor skills. It also enhances patience because the children have no choice but to take their time to complete this project. If they rush, there will be large pieces of clay out of place making their name unrecognizable. After completing the name plate, the children drew pictures and used plasticine clay to add color and texture. We are very proud of each child and can’t wait for you all to see their amazing creations on the back wall of the classroom! We look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving as an entire grade level next week and sharing our carrot cake creation. Have a wonderful weekend, and Shabbat Shalom! Mari & Aaliyah Reminders:
Week of November 5-9, 2018
This week in Room 8 we tried a new form of learning. Rather than introducing a new unit or game during large group circle, we enjoyed time gathering knowledge in small groups. The children had many opportunities throughout the week to work with various peers in small learning groups. Each group participated in different activities such as learning a new board game, The Ladybug Game, painting a water color masterpiece without mixing colors, practicing pattern creation with the Pattern Tiles, and mastering a Match It! Upper & Lower Case Letters puzzle. After completing one exercise, they patiently waited to be assigned the next activity. We love this method of learning because it enables developmental growth and promotes a strong level of social interaction and cooperation. While it is important to gain the skills necessary for large learning circles, such as listening, patience, and public speaking, small group learning skills are just as essential. Working in a small group of 3 to 4 children encourages each child to form social interactions and build relationships. Teamwork is a crucial skill that is necessary in both academics and future life endeavors. We enjoy working closely with these small groups to get to know each child as an individual and better observe them at work. In these small groups, the children most enjoyed learning the board game, The Lady Bug Game. This game emphasizes mathematical skills like counting, teamwork, following multi-step directions, and concentration. The children have to pay close attention to the card that they draw to find how many spaces to move, which direction to move in based on the red arrow, and if they will get another turn. There are many components to this intricate game, and we are proud that the children have worked hard to master the many rules. Each day they become more comfortable with the board game and always offer to help a friend if they are in need. Aside from small group work, we conducted a large learning circle in line with our Root Vegetable Unit. The vegetable introduced this week was an onion. Ask your child if they saw a big or a small onion! We hope they tell you that it is the biggest onion they have ever seen since it was larger than both Sasha and Cameron’s face! As a class, we passed the monstrous onion around so that the children could feel, smell, and inspect every crevice of the vegetable. Then, they contributed incredible details about what they saw, smelled, and felt. For instance, Kate said that it was very heavy and that she saw a white watermelon that looked kind of like this. When looking at the first layer of skin, Cameron stated, “The skin feels like paper.” As the children touched the skin, it crumbled easily in their hands. Then, we peeled the top layer off, and Scarlett exclaimed, “It is dirty!” Brayden chimed in and said, “It came out of the dirt row from the ground so that is why there is dirt on the bottom.” The children felt the second layer of skin, which felt more like plastic than paper. Grayson noticed that it did not crumble as easy as the first one. We were all waiting for the onion to make us get a little teary-eyed, but no one shed a tear! Since the children enjoyed the carrot vegetable out of all of the root veggies, we decided to use this item as the focus of our Thanksgiving Feast. More to come on this next week! Reminders:
Week of October 29- November 2, 2018
Room 8 ventured into the next vegetable of our Root Vegetable Unit, carrots! We introduced this next vegetable in a different way than usual. Instead of gathering facts and information about what we already know, we told the children to ask questions. What is the difference between a question and a statement? Ask your child! We explained that asking a question is a way to learn about a topic and find out more information. What do you want to know about a carrot? We were blown away by the critical thinking skills exhibited by the children and how quickly they grasped the concept of questions vs. statements. Evie asked, “Why does the purple carrot have yellow at the top?” While Brayden questioned, “How do they get their colors?” We continued the carrot discussion by cutting them and trying the orange, yellow and purple carrot. Christopher described the orange carrot as hard, and he also stated, “At first, it wasn’t crunchy but as I continued to chew it was super crunchy.” Kate chimed in, “It was VERY crunchy.” The yellow carrot was next, and Jordan examined the inside of the carrot. He noticed little yellow circles inside that were a darker yellow than the outside. Then, the purple carrot was the most fascinating to the children. When we cut it open, there was yellow inside! Julian noticed that the purple carrot did not have the same juice as the orange carrot. Sasha exclaimed, “I have a question!” He went on to ask how the yellow got inside the carrot. These were all great facts and questions that the children came up with, and we will research these answers through books and discussions over the next couple weeks. The children had the opportunity to also taste cooked carrots. We roasted the colored carrots after mixing them with olive oil and salt and pepper. Most of the kids loved the roasted carrots. They compared the taste to potatoes! Many of them thought it tasted similar to how the potatoes tasted. While we had a short week, we spent a lot of time focusing on number recognition. During our calendar discussion in circle time, we noticed that the children struggled to understand the difference between numbers in the 10s, 20s and 30s. It is a difficult concept to comprehend that numbers in the 20s start with a “2” and numbers in the 30s start with a “3”. We wanted to develop this skill early on so that the children understand that a 27 is a “2” and a “7,” rather than a “7” and a “2.” This is basic concept that sets up learning for any mathematical material in the future. It also emphasizes patterns and the importance of how things repeat over and over again. In addition, counting is another building block for all mathematics. Exposing the children to these higher numbers at an earlier age elevates their comfort level and increases their confidence in applying these skills. We will continue more discussions on root vegetables next week by introducing another veggie and trying out some new recipes. We will also incorporate number recognition into many activities through the rest of the course of this year. We hope everyone has a great weekend! Shabbat Shalom, Mari + Aaliyah Reminders:
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