Room 8 spent the week focusing on the holiday of Purim, which is coming up next week. We began the week by reading a few books about the story of Purim and the importance of the holiday. First, we started out by reading Sammy Spider’s First Purim, which explained a brief overview of Purim. The children learned the characters that are part of the story of Purim including Vashti, Esther, Haman, Mordechai, and King Ahashverosh. The children had the opportunity take their time to color a picture of each character. This activity not only helped reinforce their fine motor skills, but it also helped develop their own ideas about each character. We connected the theme of shapes to Purim because of the significance of the shape of Haman’s hat. Ask your child what shape Haman’s hat is. They might also say “BOOOOO” when they hear you say Haman’s name, as he is the bad guy of our story.
Then, we read a book called The Purim Superhero. This inspired the children to design and creat their very own Purim costumes based on a particular character. There was a large variety of what every child chose! Avital made a costume of Queen Esther, while Julian and Cameron made a costume fit for King Ahashverosh. Scarlett and Kate chose to make a costume for Vashti. Haman ended up being very popular with Blake, Grayson, and Brayden creating his costume. We can’t wait to wear our costumes next Thursday for Purim Character Dress Up Day! This project helped reinforce the characters of Purim, as well as introduce a different theme of art. Rather than using all new materials, the children could only choose from recycled items. The base of the costume was a brown paper bag, and each child chose from a variety of different recycled fabrics. From simple colored patches, to patterned samples, to corduroy pieces, the creativity was flowing in Room 8. We can’t wait for you to see them when they wear them next week for Purim Character Dress Up Day on Thursday. After telling the full Purim story a few times, the children had a chance to act it out. They were overjoyed to have this opportunity and followed the story perfectly. We will continue to act it out next week, and each child will get the chance to play a different character. We enjoyed celebrating Shabbat with Jordan’s entire family this week! We look forward to next week’s adventures, and we will see you on time for Monday’s Picture Day! Shabbat Shalom, Mari & Aaliyah Reminders: 1.3/17- Purim Carnival 2.3/18- Pre-K Picture Day 3.3/19- Superhero dress-up day 4.3/20- Wacky Hair Day 5.3/21- Purim Character Dress up day 6.3/22- Purim Celebration in EC- Dress-up day on Shabbat 7.3/27- 12pm pick-up EC Conferences 8.3/28- NO school- EC Conferences 9.4/4- PreK video recording day
Room 8 Newsletter
It seems like this year is flying by, and we cannot believe it is March already! We started our week on Tuesday with fun in Music with Maestro. We are already starting to sing the songs we will sing at celebration, and the kids are having a great time learning them. In our outside time on Tuesday, we noticed the children continue to show an interest in nature. While running around on our patio, Sasha and Grayson asked us if we had magnifying glasses that they could use to look for things out on the yard. This snowballed into the entire class looking for nature items, and of course, some treasures all around the yard. They used binoculars, magnifying glasses, and cups to get a better look at what they found. We loved seeing how the children took one of our lessons and built upon it themselves. This is a true example of emergent curriculum, and we were so happy to see the children thriving in this environment. Room 8 has had a blast the last couple of weeks focusing on different kinds of art projects. We spent time on mixed media working with tape, water colors, and pastels. The children also had the opportunity to learn to draw with details by looking closely at our nature walk findings. Last week, the children were opened up to the world of painting with acrylic paint. In pairs, each group of two learned to paint either an object or background in a step by step process. For example, Cameron and Evie learned to paint a sunflower from start to finish. They began by drawing a circle to make the center of the flower. Then, they were instructed to mix red and yellow to create an orange like color to begin constructing the leaves. They continued to follow the steps shown in the video and produced an amazing first painting. Another small group, including Jordan and Avital, followed the instructions of how to make a sunset painting. They did an incredible job using patience to work step by step to mix each color and create a true sunset scene. They used oranges and purples and yellows to create their sunsets and added shadows and tints to evoke a real-life image. Next time you visit Room 8 take a look at the original painting compared to your child’s. They are pretty spot on! The children showed a true love for this activity and continue to ask us when they get to do it again. We can’t wait to work on our next painting to elevate our skills. We also transitioned into the next holiday that is coming up this month. Teacher Aaliyah opened up the discussion of the holiday, Purim, by reading Sammy Spiders First Purim. The children enjoyed listening to the story of Purim after hearing the book. Ask your child what the special noisemaker is called that we use on Purim when we hear Haman’s name. The children will have the opportunity to make his/her own grogger next week, as well as, hamantaschen. We also look forward to connecting our unit on shapes to this holiday. Stay tuned to see how we will make that connection! The children are excited to act out the story of Purim next week and delve into even more discussions on Purim. We hope everyone has a great weekend and is ready for lots of Purim fun next week! Shabbat Shalom, Mari & Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
We started off the week by jumping into a lesson on shapes. Last Friday, the children were given the task of going on a scavenger hunt around the room to find items of various shapes. We quickly learned that we needed a bit of help in this department, so the children were given a small homework assignment to bring in a few objects of more complex shapes. On Monday, our circle time consisted of the kids sharing what they found at home. Kate drew lots of shapes! She drew ovals, stars, triangles, hexagons, and hearts. Christopher brought in a star shaped wand and drew a picture of it. Julian brought in a big Stop! sign to represent the shape of an octagon. The children are beginning to form a strong understanding of the rules that come along with naming shapes. We explained that shapes are a set “rule.” They cannot be square-ish or a circle/rectangle. Shapes follow rules. For example, a rectangle has to have 4 sides with two sides measuring the same length and the other two sides much be the same length. The concept of both shapes and rules are the building blocks for many future educational processes. Whether your child is reading, writing, comparing and contrasting, learning to recognize shapes is apparent in all of these concepts. Once children know shapes they can apply this to writing their letters, mathematical concepts and critical thinking tasks.
All of the Pre-K classes gathered for a special presentation on Wednesday. We were very lucky to experience an incredible speaker, Daniel Marks, who discussed where all of our recycled items end up. Ask your child what the process is! Mr. Marks explained how his company makes recycled paper, and they received nickels for the aluminum cans that they brought in to give to Mr. Marks. It was a fascinating topic for the children and an excellent way to be exposed to new ideas to see how the world works. It was another rainy day on Thursday, so the friends in Room 8 had a great time playing musical chairs and freeze dance. Teacher Mari conducted a small group project that focused on painting and following instructions. The small group of 3 children learned to listen carefully to a step by step instruction on how to paint a sunflower. We were impressed by their final outcome and will continue to work on the task of following directions. We enjoyed celebrating Shabbat with Cameron’s entire family this week! We look forward to next week’s adventures, and we will update you as soon as we know when our Picture Day has been rescheduled! Shabbat Shalom, Mari & Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
2/18-22/2019
Room 8 continued our theme of ethics this week with more stories and conversations. In order to emphasize the importance of comprehension, we sat with the children in small groups and chatted about each child’s favorite ethics-themed book. Brayden loved the book Mixed. He identified the dark side as being when the primary colors didn’t want to mix together. He also said the colors came to the light side of ethics when they mixed to create green, and then they liked each other. Many of the books we have read the past few weeks have an underlying message about morals and ethics. They also have a theme of art. We stayed in this realm by reading another book with the subject of art and a lesson of morals. The book titled, Snippets, is a fun story about paper shapes. It demonstrates how paper can be cut into many different shapes and not just fall into one of the categories of defined shapes. The large variety of shapes of paper can create a beautiful, unique work of art rather than just using one square or circle. We emphasized that no matter the shape, it is always important to work together. Working as a team and demonstrating kindness will get one much further than lacking empathy. Through this story, the children were able to reinforce the importance of ethics and create a new art project. After reading the story, the children had the opportunity to create their own snippets. In small groups, the children cut as many snippets as they could. Once they finished cutting a certain color of construction paper, they demonstrated kindness and asked their friends if they could help. Then, they chose pieces of snippets to put together a unique work of art. For instance, Julian put together a face using all snippets! It was amazing! Luca made a full person and even attached fingers made of snippets. Kate created a garden scene using snippets. Next time you are in the room take a look at the window of creativity. Room 8 started a new weekly activity of Yoga this week. Every Wednesday, we will gather in the Yoga Studio in Katz to practice yoga with a specialized teacher, Cheryl Silberman. This was our first week and the children seemed to really enjoy the 30-minute experience. They learned a few new poses and stretched on their own yoga mat. They also journeyed to Australia! Ask your child about their adventure and what animals they saw. We enjoyed celebrating Shabbat with Scarlett and her family this week. We look forward to next week’s adventures and Thursday’s Picture Day! Shabbat Shalom, Mari & Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
February 11-15, 2019
Room 8 had a colorful week to say the least! On Monday morning, we opened up a conversation on the idea of multiple perspectives, one of the pillars affiliated with the Wise Learning Process. Multiple perspectives can be defined as different points of view. The notion that people can see the same story in different ways is a complicated concept to grasp for young children. We wanted to introduce the children to this complex subject to create a basis for future learning. In order to do this at a simpler level, mixing and creating colors became the subject of this conversation. We began by asking, “What are the primary colors?” Ask your child if they remember the three colors that can never be created by any other color. We followed this question with a demonstration in mixing colors including red and blue, green and blue and red and yellow. As the new colors formed, the children were amazed by the transformation. We inquired, “Can you make this new green or orange lighter or darker, and how?” Sasha exclaimed, “We can add black to make it dark green.” Blake said, “Let’s add white to make a light blue like sky.” The children learned two new vocabulary words, tints and shades. Tints are created when you add white to make a lighter variation, and shades are darker values, such as dark blue or black. Teacher Aaliyah brought out a stack of paint color swatches to demonstrate the large variation that can occur with mixing colors. The concept that one color can come in thousands of shades and tints and be called all different names creates a basis for children to understand the idea of multiple perspectives. One might see a variation of green as dark green, but someone else might see it as olive green or dark yellow/brown. Everyone sees things differently, which is powerful and crucial concept needed to be successful in school and in life. Teaching this idea at a young age helps children accept others’ opinions, learn to comprehend a bias, and understand classification. We will continue the idea of multiple perspectives and take it a step further in our unit on Purim. After our large group discussion, the children had the opportunity to make their own color variations in smaller groups. At first, they chose two primary colors to mix. For instance, Grayson mixed blue and yellow, and Scarlett mixed yellow and red. Grayson wanted a lighter green, so he added white and called his new color Lime Green. Scarlett desired a peach-like orange. At first, she added more red paint, but then lightened it up with white. Her creation was called Peach Lipstick. Later in the week, we read the story The Littlelest Paintbrush. While this did not highlight the subject of colors, the story connected our new unit to the past unit on Ethics. The book emphasized how we need to use a variety of brushes, in size and shape, to create a masterpiece. The children understood that, at first, the brushes were on the “dark side,” as they would not include the little brush to work with them. The little brush went on to be used by the artist, whom stopped using the bigger brushes. Christopher shared with his peers that the big brushes felt bad for excluding the little brush demonstrating a grasp on doing the “right” thing. We have noticed through every day activities and play that the children portray a strong grasp on choosing the right instead of the wrong. During their conversations in play, we enjoy seeing one friend tell another, “Remember to be on the light side instead of the dark!” Developing a concrete understanding on ethics sets the children up for a moral future. We are excited to connect this to future topics this year. Thank you to Evie’s family for joining us this week for a great Shabbat. We hope everyone has a fun and restful 4-day weekend. We will see you all on Wednesday! Shabbat Shalom, Mari + Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
Room 8 had the best week having our dads and grandpas visit our classroom. On Monday and Tuesday morning, we enjoyed teaching our dads to play our all-time favorite board games. They learned to play The Lady Bug game, Connect 4 Launchers, and Zingo Numbers. Scarlett and her dad played an intense game of Zingo, while Cameron and his grandpa battled it out in Connect 4 Launchers. Grayson’s dad enjoyed helping Grayson and his friends stack the colored stacking cups on the rug. We loved seeing the children laugh, compete, learn and spend quality time with the men in their families. On Thursday, we invited the fathers and grandfathers to join us for P.E. with Coach Danny. We had a fabulous turn out! To see the dads and grandfathers take part in a class all-touch kickball game was not only entertaining, but also a special moment for your children. Evie’s dad kicked the ball so hard it hit the ceiling! Amanda and her dad and Kate and her father ran so fast around the bases that they had more than 7 runs.
The best part of the week with our dads and grandfathers was celebrating Shabbat with them in temple on Friday. With almost every dad from our class in attendance, we have never seen the children so ecstatic and enthused to be singing Bim Bam and saying the Shabbat prayers with their dads and grandfathers by their sides. It was an unforgettable day and week, and we are so appreciative that you all were able to take some time out of your busy schedules to join us in Room 8. Both the teachers and your children want to give you a huge thanks! In addition to our mornings with the dads and grandpas, we conducted a lesson to deepen the understanding of details in artwork. As I mentioned last week, the children took part in a nature walk, where they both observed items and had the opportunity to draw one of the things they saw. To take this lesson a step further, we set out some of the findings from the nature walk including various leaves, a pine cone, twigs and a seed pod. Each child chose one of these objects to draw. We wanted to emphasize the importance of including details in their illustration, rather than only drawing the basic shape of the item. We want the children to understand that a leaf is more than a green circle with a green line for the stem. What other shapes and lines do you see when you take a closer look at a leaf? Amanda said she sees very tiny little lines inside the leaf, while Christopher recognized the tiny yellow balls that were attached to the stem of the leaf. This lesson teaches the children how to identify individual features, otherwise known as details, in the item they are viewing. Being exposed to the skill of recognizing various parts of an object helps strengthen critical thinking skills and vocabulary. Young children greatly benefit from looking at an item in depth because we use this part of brain in every aspect of life. Next time you visit our classroom take a look at the incredible detailed drawings the children made of our nature walk findings. We want to wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom, and we will see you on Monday! Shabbat Shalom, Mari & Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
Newsletter Week of January 14-18, 2019
Room 8 started off the week with a Pre-K and all school celebration for Tu B’Shevat. We began celebrating the birthday of the trees by coming together as a grade level for a service lead by Rabbi Sari. We gathered in the Shalom Garden as Rabbi Sari led us in song and prayer to honor the important pieces of the Tu B’Shevat seder items. Then, the children had the opportunity to taste these components including oranges, raisins, green olives, black olives, grapes, and pomegranate seeds. Christopher loved the oranges, while Jordan enjoyed the pomegranate seeds. Kate shared that she liked the grapes, and Scarlett loved it all! This celebration was followed by an all ECC celebration in Plotkin Chapel. We were excited to sing and dance with Jen Shankman, Teacher Hannah and Teacher Lashelle, as they all helped lead the children in Tu B’Shevat themed songs. Ask your child if they can sing one of these songs for you! Then, we were able to partake in a unique experience in Geldin Chapel, the area outside of Plotkin. For the first time, the entire Early Childhood Center, every child, helped plant a new Myrtle tree on our campus. This was an extremely special experience for the children in that they were able to see, feel, and do what others do in Israel on this holiday. This hands-on experience provided the children with a deeper connection to the importance of trees and the meaning of this holiday. We were overjoyed to see how excited each child was to shovel two scoops of dirt to fill the hole where the tree was placed. Next time you have time to peruse the campus have your child show you the new tree. As we culminated our discussion on Tu B’Shevat, we wanted to link pieces of this topic to our next critical thinking concept of Ethics. In order to transition into this more complicated subject, we began by asking the children, “What can you do that would hurt the trees?” This conversation allowed us to introduce the concept of right versus wrong. In discussing Tu B’Shevat, we understood all of the “right” things to do to the trees and environment such as planting more trees, watering the trees, and being thankful for all that the trees give us. Our friends came up with great examples of actions that would be “wrong” towards trees. Jordan shared, “You can’t take something sharp and cut down the trees.” Then, Brayden said, “We can’t cut them down because you will break the trees life.” Julian followed with, “If we cut down trees, we won’t have paper or oxygen.” This demonstrated that the children had a thorough grasp on what is considered “wrong.” We followed our first discussion on right vs. wrong by reading our first book on the subject of Martin Luther King, Jr. While these two topics, trees and Martin Luther King, Jr., are very different, they share a similarity in that they both provide evidence of how we can act right and wrong. We will continue to highlight and dive further into the importance of ethics and how it is a value that presents itself in our everyday lives. We wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom and have a wonderful weekend! Mari and Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
Newsletter Week of January 14-18, 2019
We continue to celebrate and learn about the Birthday of the Trees, otherwise known as Tu B’Shevat. This week we read three more books related to the holiday. First, we read Netta and Her Plant, which highlighted the life of a little girl who plants a tree. The children understood that trees, like people, grow with age. The tree starts as a seed and slowly grows taller, just like humans. The children compared a tree to a human and found that there are more similarities than we thought. This might sound like a funny comparison, but ask your child to tell you the similarities because there are lot more than you think! We also read the books A Tree is Nice and Dear Tree to emphasize how important trees are in our lives. The children learned that there are many different kinds of trees. There are similarities in what each tree gives to us, but there are also many differences between the trees. For instance, Brayden explained how one tree gives us apples, while Jordan shared that other trees can provide us with olives. Sasha understood that all trees give us paper and oxygen, and Julian said, “All trees give us wood to make these tables!” The children showed an in depth understanding of the importance of trees and how we cannot live without them for many reasons. Due to the rain all week, we were not able to go outside and explore the large variety of trees on campus. Next week, we are excited to go on a nature walk and conduct a new art activity outside. The children were introduced to the Tu B’Shevat seder items, each of which symbolizes the beginning of the agricultural year in Israel. Ask your child if they can name one of these and where it comes from. This holiday helps us connect with Israel to celebrate the time in which fruit begins to form after surviving the hardest part of winter. Next week, we will get to experience a true Tu B’Shevat celebration by trying the first 12 fruits that begin to blossom in Israel. These include figs, grapes, olives, dates, and pomegranates. 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. In light of the heavy rain, Room 8 got creative this week with our in-room activities! Whether we were playing the new numbers Zingo or dominoes, or passing the ball during a game of Categories, or partaking in a new mixed media art project with tape and pastels, the children were quite busy all week. While we kept ourselves occupied, we are looking forward to better weather next week so that we can spend some more time in nature in honor of Tu B’Shevat. We wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom and have a wonderful long weekend! Mari and Aaliyah Reminders:
Shabbat Family Schedule:
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Pre-K Room 8Mari Greifer Archives
March 2020
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