Newsletter Room 9 February 11th -15th 2019
This week in room 9 our discussions took us in many different directions. We’ve been having many discussions about being wasteful and about recycling. At the art center, the children have been using paper goods during free art to create objects. We’ve all noticed how much paper, paper plates, and paper bowls have been used. During our many conversations, the children have commented on the fact that these products come from trees. We asked the class: How can we use art materials in a respectful way? Whitman commented that “We can lock it all up to keep them safe.” Hunter said, “We can put all the paper stuff on a high shelf and then when we want to use it we can ask the teacher.” Avery said, “We can ask the teacher if we can use one and if they say yes we can use it.” Riley said “We could put all of it in a box and not lock it up.” Adler then raised his hand and said, “We could lock them somewhere outside so we can use it outside and we can tape it.” Then Isabella said “If you ask the teacher they will let you.” We could see that all of the children were more invested and mindful of how much they were using the paper goods and we know going forward they will be more conservative in their use. This week we also continued our theme of ‘ourselves’. We again mentioned the book Elmer and asked the children what the book is about. We heard: It’s about an elephant, it’s about patchwork, about Elmer being funny, and about Elmer wanting to look like everybody else. The main point of the book is to be happy with who you are, and that it’s okay to be different. We then paired the children off and had them sit across from each other. We asked them to look at their partner and notice each of their details, e.g. hair color, eye color, so that they can notice that we all are different from each other. Then at the conclusion of their drawing we asked what is special about their friend? We heard such great comments, such as: he is so friendly, he does funny jokes, he plays cool games, she has an oval face, her hair is long, he is smiling, we both like to play on the bikes, etc. Next week we plan on doing this exercise again using different partners! During our group discussions we also brought up the fact that we are not coming to school on Monday, President’s Day. We had hung up portraits of President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln earlier in the week and several children had asked us why they were on the wall and who they were. When we talked about the portraits, many in the class excitedly mentioned what they know about the President. “He lives in the White House.” “He makes all the laws.” The teachers explained that our first president and our sixteenth were so important and did so many impactful things that their faces are even on our money! We passed around a one dollar bill with President George Washington on it and a five dollar bill with President Abraham Lincoln on it. We also read a book called I am Abraham Lincoln by Brad Meltzer. It’s a terrific book that really gives us a glimpse into Abe’s life. During Storah time with Rabbi Josh he told a great story about Moses. Moses went up to the top of Mt. Sinai and when he came down Aaron had a gold statue of a cow which all the Jewish people were bowing down and praying to. G-d was angry and didn’t want the Jewish people to pray to idols. The Jewish people were sad and felt ashamed and they realized that they should never pray to a statue. G-d accepted their apology and never again the Jewish people pray to idols. On Thursday the class had the opportunity to help make hallah from scratch using yeast, flour, eggs and other ingredients. Many children were eager to help, while others wanted to continue building with Tinker Toys or create at the art center. Making hallah dough is a wonderful process that changes over time as the yeast works its magic. The dough grows as it expands from the yeast. On Friday the children love to come in and start to make their own special hallah. Reminders: No School Monday, Feb.18th Pres. Day No School Tues. Feb. 19th Prof. Dev. Day Library Reader: Wed. Feb.20th Nimni Family No Shabbat Family: Fri. Feb. 23rd Recycle Talk: Wed Feb. 27th Picture Day: Thurs. Feb.28th
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Pre-K Room 9Linda Gafni Archives
March 2020
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