Shhhh, Benny is hibernating! Have a Nice Vacation and a Happy New Year!!
This week in kindergarten the children completed their Fat Cat Books and brought them home to read to their families. We practiced words in the "at, an, and am" word families and played games to reinforce the spelling and pronunciation of those words. The children were introduced to the concept of long A, which says its name, like in the words way, rake, rain, and sail.
In math, they are working on remembering the formula when writing number sentences with combinations of five, i.e. 2+3=5 and 1+4=5, as well as writing numbers in the correct direction. We also had discussions about Black Bears, including where they live, their physical characteristics, and other interesting facts. They are lighter than Grizzly bears and are therefore able to climb trees using their sharp claws. The children practiced hibernating in the bear cave as well. Next week, which is only Monday and Tuesday, we will finish our focus on A, add a page for November to their yearbooks, and watch a beautiful story about a bear raised by a human. The children have been going up to the multi-purpose room every day at dismissal to light candles and sing Hanukkah songs. On Friday, the kindergarten class will be the featured group who will lead us in song and candle lighting! This week, we were quite busy in Hebrew and Jewish studies. The class continues to recite the Chanukah blessings each day and learn Chanukah songs, including "S'vivon Sov Sov Sov", "I Had a Little Draydel" and "Maoz Tzur". They finished up their books about Chanukah and read them together in class. They loved making home made Chanukah hats and the frying pan potato latka game. In Torah, the class discussed how in the story of Noah, G-d promised to never again destroy the earth. We talked about ways that we can protect the earth. In Hebrew, the children added a few more words to their letter "chet" vocabulary. "Chatool (cat)", "Chamsa", "Chooltza" (shirt), and "Chatza'eet" (skirt). "Chag Sameach" - Have a great holiday, and Shabbat Shalom!! This week, the children will continue learning to recognize the letter A and practice the sounds it makes. We will be introducing long A and its sound, and we will be reading books and doing projects to reinforce this concept. We will be talking about and reading books about Black Bears and learning about their characteristics and habits. The children will make a Black Bear Book which will come home hopefully next week.They will also be working on making number sentences using combinations of five.
In Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the children will continue to learn new "chet" vocabulary words. In Torah, we will have some additional projects for the story of Noah, and the class will hear the story read entirely in Hebrew. During T'filah, the children will be working on the "V'Ahavta" prayer in addition to practicing our repertoire of prayers. We continue to talk about "Chanukah", learning the prayers and songs, and finishing up a story book that we have been working on. What a busy, exciting week in kindergarten! Benny was here again to introduce the children to their first vowel, A. There were so many states that Benny could have been to before he arrived in Marblehead, like Arkansas, Alabama, and Arizona! They made astronauts and acrobats which were immediately hung on the bulletin board for the whole school to see. They are learning to write upper and lower case A and identify its sound in the beginning and middle of words. They learned about the "at" family and brainstormed words in that family, i.e. fat, cat, sat, mat, hat, bat, that, vat, and pat. They are illustrating and reading a short "a" book called, "The Fat Cat Book," which they will bring home to share with the family next week. Our study of bears continues as the children learn about Grizzly bears. They also discussed the difference between having hands and having paws. One child acted as a bear, and the other was our human. Each tried to pick up and use certain objects, such as a pair of scissors or a marker. They were able to understand how important it is to have movable fingers and a thumb! As always, the children were reading and writing every day, and they continue to work on combinations of five in math. The most exciting thing by far was a visit from the people at Project Teva! Each child participated in the making of recycled paper from their own scraps. If you check your child's backpack, you will find a sample of this paper. This week, in Hebrew the students began learning the letter "chet" , its sound and vocabulary words. They learned "Chalon" (window), "Challah", "Chanukah", and "Chalav" (milk). We will continue learning additional vocabulary next week. In Torah, the students learned the story of Noah and the Ark ("Teyvah"). The story was told using the "Godly Play" approach. This approach uses few materials, requires a special place where the children sit quietly and respectfully, and engages the students in a creative and imaginary way. The class talked about how Noah was a righteous man and how important it is for all of us to be righteous people. The students created a page for their Torah and also a poster for our in class Torah board. We continue to talk about the upcoming holiday of "Chanukah", learning the history of the holiday, its customs and rituals. The students have been practicing the blessings over the candles and also singing some holiday songs. This is a big week in kindergarten! The children will learn the shape and sound of their first vowel, A. This vowel will help them on their reading journey, because now they will be able to make words. They will do many projects over the next two weeks that will help them learn to read and write the letter. They will also make their first letter book that reinforces the short a sound, and they will bring it home to read to the family. Our discussions will continue about bears, habitats, and hibernation, focusing this week on Grizzly bears. We will also have a visit from Project Teva instructors who, with the children, will make recycled paper out of our scraps. If your child has a stuffed bear that he or she would like to bring in and leave here for a few weeks in our Bear Museum, please put their name on it and send it in with your child. We will use these for activities such as sorting, measuring, and weighing,
From Grade Two: The second graders have been learning about bees and the plight of the bee population. Moved by the issues surrounding bees' survival, they decided to write letters to our senators and governor about laws governing pesticide use and the shipping of bee colonies. Inspired further by their exploration of the bee population, they have launched a fundraiser for Heifer International to purchase bees. The fundraising project was presented in an entertaining and informative skit to the entire school at Friday's assembly. To make a donation please visit the second grade fundraising page: https://fundraise.heifer.org/fundraise/team?ftid=41388 In Hebrew, the class will begin learning the letter "chet", its sounds and several vocabulary words. We will continue discussing "Chanukah," creating projects, and learning about the history, traditions. and blessings. In Torah this week, the students will learn the story of Noah and the flood. We continue to work on "T'filot" (prayers) almost every day that we meet.
Here is a picture of last week's Thanksgiving Hat Parade! This week we will be focusing on the letter N. The children will learn its sound and how to write it in its upper and lower case form. They will do many hands-on projects to reinforce the letter as well.
We will begin our unit on hibernation and mammals this week. The children will learn about mammals and habitats as well as hibernation and will begin by discussing which animals live in certain habitats. Our concentration will be on bears, and over the next few weeks, we will explore different types of bears, their environments, habits, and other important facts. They will also learn to write the number five and work on combinations of that number with unifix cubes and other materials. We will also make a class telephone book with a page for each child. We will keep this book in class to be used in the Pretend area. In Hebrew, the children will be finishing up the letter "Hey", adding more words to their ever-growing vocabulary. Bentzi will come to visit the class to wrap up the letter. In Torah, the children will learn about Noah and the flood. The students will begin studying about the upcoming holiday of "Chanukah". We will begin with the history of the holiday, learning the story of the Maccabees and how they won the war. They will also learn the customs, traditions, and foods of the holiday as well. Reminder: There is a great program tonight at the Marblehead JCC, "Nurturing Your Child's Greatness." The speaker, Jeanine Fitzgerald, is an international human behavior consultant and child specialist, and she will speak on the topic, "Learn to Uncover the Hero in your Child." I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Fitzgerald speak, and I guarantee you will have an enjoyable as well as informative evening! There is no charge, and the program begins with wine and cheese at 7pm followed by the speaker at 7:15. |
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April 2015
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