Newsletter Room 9 February 20-21 2019
We hope you all had a nice long weekend with your families. While we were here on Tuesday, the teachers were busy at Wise School learning at our Professional Development Day. One of the highlights of our day was getting to learn all about “Loose Parts.” This term was coined by architect Simon Nicholson. He believed that we are all creative and that “Loose Parts” in an environment will empower our creativity. Loose parts can be natural or synthetic. It is something that will help children inspire imagination and creativity on their own terms and in their own unique way. It creates endless possibilities and invites creativity. Loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up and taken apart and then put back together again in multiple ways. It encourages problem solving and is child-centered. An example of loose parts is paper tubes, ribbons, caps, lids, wood scrapes, wire, foam, cardboard, shells, rocks, stones, sea glass, twigs, acorns, etc. Our classroom already has been using some loose parts, and the children love incorporating them in their daily activities, such as during block play, dramatic play and the art center. In the future if it’s possible for you to save and bring in any “Loose Parts” you collect at home...for instance, corks from wine bottles, toilet and paper towel rolls, or anything cool that you think would inspire your child’s imagination, it would be most appreciated. Each year in the winter, the entire Pre-K begins to introduce our 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: · Develop social-emotional skills to support learning · Build physical coordination, strength, and crayon grip · Recognize letters and numbers · Learn habits for writing capitals and numbers (Start at the top!) · Ask and answer questions · Build vocabulary · More… 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. On Wednesday, Apple Nimni, Sarah’s Mom, was the library reader. We enjoyed hearing two books and we just loved hearing them. Thank you so much Apple for coming in and reading to us, we appreciate it! A very exciting piece of news for Room 9, is that every Wednesday we will be having a Yoga class in the new yoga studio. We had our first class on Wednesday and the children were so happy during the class. They loved doing the different poses, and the teacher, Cheryl, was so great and helpful. We all had a terrific time and can’t wait until the next class! During Storah time with Rabbi Josh, he told us a wonderful story about the importance of friends in our lives, and that we all have to take care of each other and help one another, in good times and bad. He said that it starts with just saying “hi” when we see a friend. Thank you to the Pitoun Family for being our Shabbat Family. We loved having all of you together celebrating Shabbat with us in Room 9. Next week we will be celebrating the birthday of Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss. If your child has a favorite Dr. Seuss book at home, please bring it in. Please label it with your child’s name. Shabbat Family March 1 Toplitzky Fam Library Reader March 6 Pitoun Family Picture Day Feb. 28th @ 12:30 No School March 4 (BJE Spring conference)
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Pre-K Room 9Linda Gafni Archives
March 2020
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