January 22-26, 2017
How is the concept of ethics related to the holiday of the trees? As Tu B’Shevat is approaching, we wanted to find a way to tie in our past unit on ethics to the current holiday. In the past two weeks, the children were exposed to a variety of values and morals through children books and discussions on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One value that stood out in each story was “respect”. Elliot, Ayla and Kora described the meaning of respect as, “being nice.” We asked the children, “Why is it important to respect trees?” and “How do we respect them?” Paisley said that we need to respect trees because trees make paper for us and also give us fruit. Kayden explained, “Trees give us wood to build houses and oxygen so that we can breathe. After listening to the story Happy Birthday, Tree! A Tu B’Shevat Story, the children understood the importance of treating the trees and the earth with respect and kindness. Skyler told her peers that we can be respectful by watering trees. Wynter shared, “We can be nice to trees by giving them love. We can make a card for the trees and tape it on the tree.” Ella thought that it is just as important to water the plants as it is to water the trees. Carter said, “We have to pick the fruit off the tree so that it does not get bad.” Mason followed up with, “We have to pick it before it gets moldy otherwise we waste it and can’t eat it.” Over the course of the week, the children demonstrated a thorough understanding in the importance of trees in our lives and how we can continue to help them grow. Tu B’Shevat is celebrated by enjoying foods that symbolize the land of Israel. These include figs, grapes, olives, dates, and pomegranates. While the children will get to taste a variety of fresh and dried fruits next week on Tu B’Shevat, we prepared a special snack for the children to taste the specific items found on the holiday seder plate. Each plate had wheat crackers, fig jam, black olives, green olives, raisins, and a cup of pomegranate juice a the head of the setting. A Tu B’Shevat tradition involves trying a new fruit that has not been eaten all season. In light of this custom, we provided the children with a taste of a dried peach since peaches are just coming back into season for spring and summer. Benjamin’s favorite tester was the black olives. Owen loved the dried peach leather, and Kora enjoyed the raisins. We are excited for the children to have the opportunity to try an abundance of fruits next week at our Pre-K Tu B’Shevat celebration. Room 8 also enjoyed a week full of board games! The children participated in three different games including Monopoly Junior Party theme, The Ladybug Game, and Candy Land. Board games translate into both social and academic skills that children can, in turn, apply to their everyday lives. Each of these games require at least 2-4 players meaning that the children must practice and develop social and communication skills in order to successfully play the game. The children have the opportunity to strenghten their relationship with children they might not usually play with while building on the rug. In addition, board games might not appear to be overtly academic, but they always have an underlying lesson to teach. For instance, Monopoly Junior encourages social skills along with counting, number recognition, patterns, rules, and even reading. Even if children might view the game as an academic activity with numbers, letters and reading, once they get involved in a game, they can’t help but have fun! When playing Monopoly Junior with a group of 4 children, many others approached the game and asked to also play. No matter the board game set up on the table, we always hear children’s laughter as they play. We will continue to play these games so that each child will have the opportunity to fully master each set of rules. We can’t wait to introduce new games as the children grow their skill sets through the remainder of the year. We are starting something new in Pre-K that we are very excited about. We have begun to introduce the Handwriting Without Tears program. This award-winning Pre-K curriculum is developmentally appropriate and designed so that all children can thrive and build a strong foundation for kindergarten. This program uses music and movement to engage children and help them develop good learning habits. Children learn actively as they play, color, draw, count, build, and sing. We’ll be teaching your child to:
Your children will learn important readiness, early writing, literacy, and math skills. These potentially complex subjects will be broken down into simpler tasks that develop on what children already know. This way, they can master skills one step at a time as they build lifelong learning habits. Thank you to Kayden’s family for joining us for Shabbat and celebrating his 5th birthday! We loved singing songs with your family and singing “Happy Birthday.” Shabbat Shalom and have a great weekend! Mari & Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 2/2- Paisley 2/9- Carter 2/16- Ella 2/23- Neda Reminders: 1. 2/3- Tot Shabbat AND Wise School Gala 2. 2/5-2/9- Father and Grandfather’s Week – events TBA 3. 2/9- All School Shabbat for Father’s and Grandfather’s – 11am in ZH 4. 2/12-2/16- EC Picture Week (Room 8 classroom picture day TBA) 5. 2/19- No school President’s Day 6. 2/20- No school PD Day 7. 2/23- Beit Issie Farmers Market
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Pre-K Room 8Mari Greifer Archives
March 2020
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