Week of February 12-16, 2018
Room 8 dove right into the week by starting with a critical thinking exercise to introduce the upcoming holiday. On Monday, we showed the children a variety of pictures of kings, queens, and castles. For example, the children looked at a picture of Queen Maria Theresa of Spain (1600s), King of Louis XIV of France (1600s), and a photo of the palace of Versailles. Then, we said, “Ask questions about these photos. What do you want to know?” Paisley started the conversation by asking, “Is that a queen and what is she sitting on?” Elliot followed with, “What is inside the castle?” Kayden asked, “Why is there water around the castle?” Michael asked, “Do they have cars?” Some more friends quickly chimed in as Owen said, “What year did they start building castles?” and Skyler asked, “When did they live?” The questions flowed as the children tried to figure out what was going on in the photographs in front of them. As the conversation began to wrap up, we explained that these pictures of kings, queens, and castles are connected to the next holiday, Purim, because the story involves kings and queens in a castle. Throughout this exercise, the children must pose all of their thoughts in the form of a question. Rather than “telling” us details or information, they have to “ask” questions to find out the facts. The Wise Learning Process calls this activity Puzzlement. We conducted another Puzzlement lesson, just using a different topic of potatoes, earlier this school year to introduce a different style of thinking. Through asking questions, the children develop and enhance their critical thinking skills. In addition, this activity promotes the importance of looking at the fine details and asking questions to gather information. By teaching the children this skill at a young age, it allows them to understand that one must ask questions to learn. On Tuesday, the children listened to Teacher Aaliyah tell the story of Purim. We discussed each character’s trait that makes them unique to the story. For instance, Esther was the second Queen of Shushan, known for her bravery and confidence, as she stood up for the Jewish people. We will continue to discuss these characters and relate this holiday back to our unit on Ethics. Share Day theme this week was, “If you could be anything for the day, what would you be?” In keeping with the theme of Purim and characters, the children had to use their imagination and creativity to come up with their answer. Michael wanted to be a surgeon so that he could help people, while Elliot wanted to be a NBA player on the Bucks for one day. Neda wanted to be Cinderella for the day so that she will have a Fairy Godmother that will make her special dresses, and Wynter wanted to be a sparkly mermaid because she could swim in the ocean and take care of the animals that she loves. We loved hearing their original ideas and wish we could help turn them into a reality! We want to thank Ella’s family for joining us for Shabbat this week and helping us celebrate Ella’s birthday. We enjoyed singing songs and reading stories with the entire family! We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Shabbat Shalom! Mari and Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 2/23- Neda 3/2- Skyler 3/9- Owen 3/16- Ayla 3/23- Kora Reminders: 1. 2/19- No school President’s Day 2. 2/20- No school PD Day 3. 2/23- FRIDAY Beit Issie Farmers Market – BRING BERRIES on THURSDAY 2/22 4. 3/2- EC Purim Shabbat – Dress up day 5. 3/3- Tot Shabbat 6. 3/13- 12pm Early Dismissal – ½ Day Parent Conferences 7. 3/14- NO School – Parent Conferences
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March 2020
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