We began our week by introducing a new board game called Pete the Cat. This was huge hit in our class! The children were eager to learn the ins and outs of this new board game and they picked it up very quickly. The goal of the game is to get all of the cupcakes on the table for the party before grumpy toad eats all of them. This game emphasizes the importance of teamwork, while also enhancing early literacy skills and self-confidence. As the children move through the game, they pick cards that give them various tasks. One of these is to pick a song and sing it out loud. This task promotes self-confidence and public speaking skills at an early age. It can be very difficult for some children to make themselves vulnerable to a crowd. We love that this game helps the children practice this difficult skill. The more they partake in public speaking or performing activities the easier it will be for each child to master this skill. We hope to take the sting away from performing in front of a group and instead, make it a fun, creative and goofy experience. The children absolutely loved this game, and there was never a second this week that the game was free!
In light of the upcoming holiday of Tu B’Shevat, we reintroduced the topic of fruits and vegetables. We spent a good amount of time on this at the beginning of the year and wanted to review what we had learned as a transition into this holiday. We began with a large group discussion on another root vegetable, carrots. A large orange carrot was set out on the carpet in front of the children, and we asked, “Where do carrots grow?” Nixon shared that he thinks that they grow in the ground, and Lilah added that they grow from a root because they have a root at the bottom of it. We continued the conversation by asking about where the children have seen carrots. Alexandra explained that she sees carrots in her mom’s Persian stew, while Rian shared that she sees them in her sushi. Dylan always sees them in a circle shape in the fridge at his house. Then, we passed the orange carrot around and asked for details about the vegetable. The children took a close look, smell and feel of the orange carrot. They noticed that the carrot has lines around it, smelled a little sour, and there were circles inside. Next, the children were exposed to a purple carrot. They were convinced that it would also be purple inside, similar to how the orange carrot was orange inside. You can imagine their surprise when we cut it in half, and a bright yellow color appeared! We saw three colors inside this purple carrot including yellow, green, and purple. Lennon also noticed that the purple carrot was a little bit wet inside, which was different from the dryness we felt inside the orange carrot. Lastly, the children passed around a yellow/white carrot, which was also that same color inside. We finished the large group discussion by tasting all of the colored carrots. We concluded that they all tasted pretty similar, but the purple was a little crunchier than the orange. Also, all 12 children liked the taste of the carrots and asked for more at lunch. After discussion of this root vegetable and doing a few sessions of a fruit ring-around-the-rosy, we introduced the topic of Tu B’Shevat and the importance of this holiday. Ask your child if they can remember any of the items represented on the Tu B’Shevat seder plate. These include barley, almond tree, pomegranate tree, fig tree, grape vine, olive tree and date tree. Next week, we will take a closer look at these items and why they are important to this holiday. Per the request of the children, we will also taste some of these items, as they love a circle time discussion that includes a tasting. We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and we will see you next week! Shabbat Shalom, Mari and Aaliyah REMINDERS:
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Pre-K Room 8Mari Greifer Archives
March 2020
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