Pre-K / TK - Ms. Kristine & Morah Raizel

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

We have finally finished our exploration through the alphabet.  This week we worked on the sounds for /Q/ and /U/.  We started with the sound for /U/.  We learned that /U/ is a vowel that makes two sounds but we focused mainly on the short vowel sound.   We made colorful umbrellas and painted a rainy day background.  For the umbrella handle, of course,  we used a U. For our final added touch, the children stamp cut little U’s to look like raindrops… sort of.  We just liked saying, “It’s raining U”s”. Finally, by popular request, we made unicorns. The children painted their unicorns with great detail.  Some children even decided to cut them out and make stick puppets. 

For /Q/, we made fancy quails with feathers and a beautiful, brightly painted background.  /Q/ is a hard letter to say and hear because it sounds a lot like /C/ or /K/. The children also learned that Q and U are partners.  Q can't do anything without U,  but U can go places without Q. They thought U must be a pretty good friend.  That's pretty cute.  For an added layer of fun, we made "quilts".  We used scrap pieces of paper from various activities and the children made 'quilt like' designs.  These quilts aren't very cuddly, but they were fun.  We concluded with our word match and writing.  

Our ABC books will be going home next week, once the finishing touches are done. The children are so excited to share them with you.  It truly is a collection of hard work that gives them great pride.  

Please check your child's backpack throughout the week.  They come home with a lot of work  that they are so proud of.  I have found items that go back a month in some backpacks.  This could be a good time to ask them about their day at school and what they are learning. 

TK REMINDERS:

• Our next swim day is Wednesday, May 6. 

• Please make sure you send a home lunch on days your child does not like school lunches.

• Please send your child with a clean water bottle  everyday.

• Please keep your child’s cubby stocked.  If soiled clothes go home, please replace them as soon as possible.

 FROM MORAH RAIZEL

It has been a lovely week at the Hebrew Academy Preschool.  The children had the chance to learn more about our special homeland and celebrate Israel Day.  The children enjoyed delicious cupcakes and, of course, a yummy falafel lunch.   We read the books, Sammy Spider's First Trip to Israel by Sylvia Rouss, and Shalom Everybodeee!: Grover's Adventures in Israel by Tilda Balsley.  

After Israel Day, the children heard the story of Rabbi Akiva, a great sage and Torah scholar who lived during the Second Temple. His story is one of strength and resilience, and it is never too late to learn Torah if you try.

Last week, the children were asked what they knew about Israel:

• Shneur: That the saltwater is very salty, so no animals can drink from it, and you can only water it from sunset.
• Tohar: Yaakov from my family.
• Goldie: They have wheat.
• Hannah: That Sarah had a tent.
• Pearl: The kosel.
• Shiloh: That they have a flag, white and blue.
• Zalman: The Chanukah Story.
• Ari Lev: Beis Hamikdash.
• Netanel: The kotel.
• Avigail Ninnette:  I know they speak so much Hebrew.  My grandma and grandpa live there and they know so much Hebrew, more than me!
• David: The Maccabis lived there.
• Chaim: The Beis Hamikdash.
• Jackson: The Jewish people live there.
• Ruby: The wall.
• Tzivia: The Yivanim made a mess.
• Elias: I know that every day when a problem happens and then a good thing happens, they turn it into a holiday.

Next week, we will be learning more about Rabbi Akiva and his great student, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Shabbat Shalom!

 FROM MS. KRISTINE

Welcome back after a very long Pesach break.  It was nice to get a break from the alarm clock, but I was ready to get back to school.  I really missed all the children.  It was nice to hear about the trips, adventures, and family time, and now we are ready to get back to work. 

We began our week by making our April calendar.  The children wrote their numbers and made fun art.  The theme was flowers.  I have done various designs in the past, but I couldn't decide which one to do, so I had the children decide.  I gave them all the materials from the different samples and watched them create their own version.  They all came out bright and original.  It was fun to see them work. They started with cupcake liners.  We had very fancy and colorful options.  We also had white as an option and the children got to color them with paint or markers.  They created their garden environment and added details.  As a little math challenge, they added real sunflower seeds to the center of their flowers.  They needed to make each seed number equal to the rest. By doing this, they got an introduction to multiplication, once they counted their seeds.  If they had 3 seeds in 3 flowers, they discovered 3 seeds 3 times is 9.  I love seeing them commit time and show patience to their projects.  They are so proud in the end.

As we welcome in a new month (even though it’s half over),  we decided to paint flowers (free hand) for our April art.  The children had so much fun and stayed so focused as they worked in great detail.  Their challenge was to fill the page while maintaining balance in their art. I love seeing the pride in their work as their skills and abilities continue to develop.  Our room is bright and colorful with our happy flower art.  

For creative writing, we wrote about what we would like to plant if we had a garden.  It was nice to hear some of the kids have gardens at home and are beginning to plant.  We also talked about vegetables they love to eat. Everyone had very clear ideas of what they would like to grow and they all did great illustrations to go with their writing.  I expected to see a lot of flowers, but we also had some kids choose carrots, cucumbers, avocados, strawberries and apples..  We have some ambitious and brave gardeners in our group.

FROM MORAH RAIZEL 

It was so nice to see the children after Pesach break.  We had a chance to catch up and reflect upon our Pesach experiences.  The children were excited to share all of the things they did over vacation. The children learned that we count forty-nine days from the second night of Pesach until the next holiday, Shavuos, where we celebrate the giving of the Torah.  There is a mitzvah to count each of the forty-nine days, called the counting of the omer.  The children each have their own chart, which they mark each day.  

Clay!  This week, the children were introduced to air-dry clay.  Clay is a great medium that improves fine-motor skills, as it is much more difficult to work with than playdough.  The children got busy creating their own clay sculptures. 

Next week we will be celebrating Israel's birthday.  We have begun talking about Israel and why it is special to us, as Jewish people. The children looked at pictures and shared what they knew about Israel.

Wishing you a restful and peaceful Shabbos,

FROM MORAH RAIZEL 

We did it!  We finished all of our preparation for Pesach!  Whew!  It was a lot of work.  The children are proud of their accomplishments and are excited to bring home their special pesach projects.  We have learned the story, the preparation for Pesach, and all about the Seder.  

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, safe, and kosher Pesach!

Shabbat Shalom,

    This week, we worked on the sound for /K/.  We talked about how K seems to be doing someone else's job... /C/.  We do not get into the rules about when K should be used because that is not a PK/TK conversation, and those rules still have contradictions.  We just learned that K makes the sound in words like king, koala, kangaroo, key and kite.  It is a fun letter to write and it gave us an excuse to play with kinetic sand, keys, and make kites. 

    We made koalas hanging on a tree with beautiful backgrounds for our books.  The children painted their environment and cut and designed the tree for their koala. Then, they painted, cut and assembled their K to make the koala. They came out very cute. 

    We also made kangaroos with a pouch and the children were able to fill their pouch with things that start with K.  I made the activity a little more challenging by giving them pictures of  things that do and do not start with K.  Everyone was able to choose the correct items on their own.  Because we have such a creative group, some children decided to use the items that do not start with K in their picture. You might notice a moon in their sky or see that their kangaroo is eating grapes or using an umbrella.  Some children decided to tape the (not K) pictures on the back and write the beginning letter under the picture, while one child took the challenge to write the whole word.  It was so nice to see the children engaged in the activity and I loved watching it happen organically. They are really becoming independent and confident with their work.  We finished the week with our word match. 

    For creative writing, we talked about what we love about spring.  There were so many great ideas and everyone was able to stay on point.  They did beautiful illustrations and everyone wrote their words.  No more tracing in TK.  They are really feeling confident and willing to challenge themselves.  Their pictures came out bright, detailed and unique to each child.  

    We also made kites to welcome in Spring.  The weather was so nice this week, and the children have been loving to run around outside, so we needed to make kites.  We got really lucky because the wind started to pick up just enough, right when we went out in the afternoon.  They were so happy.  It was a nice moment we all got to share together.     

    For literature, we read Koala Lou by Mem Fox.  This is a beautifully illustrated story about a young koala who competes for her mother's heart when a new sibling is on the way.  She learns that families come in all sizes and that there is no second place in a mother's eyes.  This is a touching story for young siblings and growing families.  The children really connected with this classic story . We also learned that koalas are not bears as they are commonly called.  They are actually marsupials.   

    I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Pesach and restful break.  I look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks.

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

This week we worked on the sound for /Z/.  We made fun zebras.  The children painted the background with vibrant colors and drew distinct zebra patterns to make each one look unique. The contrast with the black and white zebras and the bright backgrounds was very eyecaching. After painting, they cut out and added their parts to make very unique zebras. We followed with our word match. Some children also copied some words that start with Z.  Remember, we are exploring the letters phonetically, so we are not quite done yet.  /Z/ is close to the end because it is very hard for some children to say and isolate. It can also be confused with /S/.  

As a fun art activity, we made zig zag art. They children drew freehand zig zag patterns, and painted in their pattern lines to make very cool, very unique abstract art.  This activity is similar to the scribble art we did way back at the beginning of the year. However, this took more control.  The lines were designed and patterned, rather than random. They were also way more confident to paint in the lines with care and more control. This project showed me how far our children have come with skill and confidence. 

For literature we read King of the Zoo by Erica Perl.  I started by asking the children who they think the king of the zoo might be.  I got great answers like, "The lion, because he's king of the jungle". I also got responses like the gorilla because they are so strong and the cheetah because they are so fast. A popular animal was the giraffe because they are so tall. One child even said the zoo keeper. Everyone had brilliant responses because they followed with a reason for their choice. This is a fun book about a chameleon named Carlos who thinks he's King of the zoo.  Once he finds out he's not the only 'king', he goes to challenge each animal and does what chameleons do, blend in.  He returns to his home defeated when a little girl notices him, which is hard to do, and thinks he's the greatest. Once he gets love from just one girl, his heart is full. It's a sweet story.  For our story connection, the children drew a picture and wrote about their favorite zoo animal, or who they would pick to be king.  Here are their answers:

My favorite zoo animal is:

Ari- giraffes because I love Avi

Avigail Ninnette- zebras because they are pretty to me

Chaim- monkeys because they can do tricks

David- chameleons because they swing with their tails and they can pattern (be invisible)

Elias- elephants because I love when they squirt water out

Goldie- giraffes because they are tall

Hannah- giraffes because they have long necks

Jackson- lions because they roar so loud

Netanel- cheetahs because they are so speedy

Nuna- dolphins because I love their color

Pearl- zebras because they have stripes

Ruby- monkeys because they don’t hurt people

Samuel- lions because I just like to see them

Shiloh- pandas because I like when they are black and white and that’s my favorite colors, black and white

Shneur- cheetahs because they are fast and they can camouflage ( because of the spots) 

Tohar- giraffes just like Avi

Tzivia- hippopotamuses because they are so cute

Zalman- lions because of their hair

Our next swimming day will be next Wednesday, March 25th.  Please bring your child’s swim gear by next Monday if you have not already done so.  It is so much more relaxing for everyone when items are in the cubby before actual swim day. 

Thank you,

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

This week we learned about the water cycle.  The children were amazed at some of the facts we read.  We learned that water is recycled, meaning we don't get new water.   Water is a "one time" gift from HaShem.  All the water on Earth has been here for a very long time and it just keeps going around and around in the water cycle.  The water cycle filters the water so we always have 'fresh' water available.  The coolest thing we read in one of our books is that dinosaurs might have drunk the same water  (water molecules) we have around us.     

First, we made a fun craft were the children built the water cycle with colored paper, cotton balls and markers to create and label the water cycle diagram  They did a great job remembering such big words like condensation (clouds), precipitation (rain), evaporation (process to give us water vapor), and water collection.... the water we see all over our beautiful earth.  They were so cute when we had water play outside as they made brilliant connections with what we learned (puddles getting smaller and concrete drying). 

We did the classic water cycle experiment demonstrating condensation with a large bowl,  a small bowl inside surrounded by warm water, and ice on top of clear plastic wrap. The children were able to make wonderful connections with what they saw and what they learned about the water cycle.  The water cycle is a really big concept, but they did an amazing job and understood what they learned.  

We will also try to do  an experiment where we place cups of water in direct sun, shade, and darkness to see the evaporation differences.  They have already predicted the cup in direct sunlight will evaporate the fastest, but they aren't sure what will happen to the cup that will be hidden from the sun.  They know that the sun is what makes it all happen.  We will report our findings next week.  

To conclude, we  did a coloring page/ word match with our new vocabulary.  Once again, they were successful and confident with their work.  

Our letter this week is /O/.  As a vowel, the children learned that it makes two sounds, but we mainly focused on the short vowel as in olive, otter, ostrich, and octopus.  For our craft, we made very funny octopuses. The children first looked at real pictures of octopuses for inspiration, then they painted their O with watercolor and tempera paint for their deep blue water background.  They also used the rolling pencil trick to make their arms curl. They added very big eyes to give a cute look, while also connecting with some of the facts we learned about what makes them interesting.  We learned that an octopus has 8 arms (not tentacles) and each arm has its own brain, giving them a grand total of 9 brains. Octopuses also have 3 hearts, and very sophisticated eyes (camera like), making them even cooler and creepy at the same time.  

Reminders for a successful day in TK:

CHANGE OF CLOTHES:  Please keep your child supplied with a change of clothes, underwear and socks.  When they go home with soiled clothes, please replace them, because we never know when they will need to be changed again. With our nice weather, water play has been very popular and we want to keep everyone dry and comfortable. 

WATER BOTTLES :  Please send your child with a water bottle each day.  If they have a bottle, they are more likely to drink water and stay hydrated. 

Thank you,

• Shneur: I liked everything.
• Ari: Matzah and egg.
• Shiloh: Grape juice, matzah, and egg.
• Pearl: I like celery, egg, and grape juice.
• Tohar: I ate matzah and then eggie, but I didn’t like the yellow part. I ate marror, tears, celery, and matzah.
• Goldie: Grape juice and matzah.
• Zalman: My favorite part is dipping the egg in saltwater.
• Hannah: I liked everything.
• Sam: Drinking the grape juice. I love grape juice.
• Elias: Eating new foods like potato, onion, and marror.
• Tzivia: Drinking the grape juice.
• Nuna: Sitting.
• Jackson: The marror.
• Chaim: Drinking grape juice and eating matzah.
• Netanel: Everything.

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

This week we welcomed the new month by making our March calendars.  They wrote their numbers and made beautiful rainbows for the art. They were given a simple rainbow outline with the beginning letter for each color word in the given spot. They felt so proud when they were able to guess the color based on the beginning sound. This is our introduction to color words. They painted their rainbows and added their own detail (sun, raindrops, clouds).  

For our March art sample, the children made beautiful rainbow mosaics.  This takes some patience because they take a strip for colored paper, and they need to cut it into small enough pieces to follow the arch of the rainbow. Because rainbows make most children so happy, they enjoyed the process because they could see their colorful rainbows come to life. They followed with adding fluffy clouds out of cotton and a blue background for the sky. As always, they were so proud of their work and so happy to hang them up.

We did a fun little experiment where the children used markers to color thick lines of each color of the rainbow on the top and on the bottom of a thick paper towel.  Then, they placed each end of the paper towel into two bowls of water.  Soon, they were able to see the water absorbed up through the towel, transferring the color from the ink with it, making a beautiful rainbow. The children got so excited when they saw the rainbow appear.  

We also decided to make fresh play dough.  This time we did blue and green. We made play dough very early in the school year, so we were due for an update. They were able to participate in the process much more and they kneaded the dough very well. They are trying to talk me into making all the colors of the rainbow, so we might end up with our own little play dough factory. I will keep you posted. 

In celebration of Purim, the children drew pictures of how they dressed for our school celebration.  They did an amazing job with the details and they were able to write the word to finish their sentence.  They are so proud and they feel so motivated when they see what they can accomplish.  

Thank you and have a wonderful weekend,

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

This week we worked on the sound for /W/.  We made wonderful walruses.  The children painted their background and walruses, and they assembled everything to get pretty cute walruses with the W for their tusks (elongated canine teeth). They were very proud of the end results.   We also did our /W/ word match.  As a challenge, some children chose to write some W words.  

We couldn’t decide if we should do walruses or worms for our books, so we did both.  The children made a wonderful garden scene with wiggly worms.  They got to put them underground and/or above ground.  They added flowers, the sun, clouds, rain etc.  They got to tell their own little stories.  As an intro to our growing/ planting and insect units, we talked about how important earthworms are to the earth. They thought it was really cool that they live underground, wiggling around to loosen the soil; helping the trees grow. And with all the beautiful trees, we get amazing gifts like fruits and healthy air to breathe.  Thank you worms. 

We also made fun wallets.  First, the children colored and cut out items that start with /W/.  Then, they got to make unique wallets, picking their favorite colors for the paper and the tape.  They did a great job folding and taping their wallets together.  We even used a little velcro dot to make it feel more fun and authentic.  The children put their /W/ pictures in their wallets when they were all done.  For an added challenge, they wrote their name and Wallet on the outside. 

For sensory/art, we wrote W's on white paper with white crayons. They were invisible until we painted watercolor over the page.  It was exciting to see the writing appear and, of course, the children said, “Wow”.

We also had a wild time with water beads.  They are so cool. We did an experiment, soaking a small amount of the little specks in a jar to observe the change. We talked about the change being really cool, but it is not magic.  The children got to see them and touch them as little specs (the size of a poppy seed), and after soaking in water, they swelled up to become large beads. The next day, we added more water, and they got even bigger. We divided our beads into two jars, allowing for more space to grow.  You guessed it, they grew some more.They understood the little specks were able to soak up and hold the water to form the large beads. They were so fun to explore.  They feel wet, but your hands come out dry.  You can't help but say, "Wow", when you put your hands in the bowl. We all had fun with them.

For literature, we read Where the Wild Things Are,  by Maurice Sendak (1963).  This is a classic and a favorite book for many people, young and not so young.  Sendak encouraged imagination and expression.  Our favorite part of the story is that Max's dinner is waiting for him when he "wakes up".  We did a story connection activity where the children got to color an environment from the story and add their favorite "wild thing" to their picture.  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

FROM MS. KRISTINE

I hope everyone had a fun and restful three-day weekend.  We only had four days together but we managed to pack in the fun and get a lot done.  

This week we worked on the sound for /G/.  We talked about how /G/ can be tricky because it makes two sounds, soft G (giraffe) and hard G (goose).  We focused mostly on the hard G for TK, but we acknowledged the two sounds.  We made gorgeous geese for our books. The children got to paint an environment for their goose and cut and assemble their pieces to make a pretty great goose.  We also played fun word games to practice hearing the /G/ sound.  We followed with our word match. 

We focused a lot on creative writing this week.  The children talked about what they would like to be when they "grow up".  We talked about future careers as well as positive attributes.  The children did a great job focusing on how they can help their community someday by picking a job they love to do and can help others along the way.  I was impressed with how they presented these great ideas because they had great reasons for their choices. Here are their answers, word for word.

When I grow up, I want to be:

Ari Lev: a chef (cooker)

Avigail Ninnette: a doctor

Chaim: a daddy and a doctor

David: a lawyer and a train builder and a bus driver

Elias: a fireman with a black hat

Goldie: a ballerina

Hannah: a teacher

Jackson: a lion walker (I guess)

Netanel: a basketball player and a soccer player

Nuna: I’m not sure

Pearl: a mommy

Ruby: an artist at my house

Samuel: a teacher

Shiloh: a lifeguard

Shneur: a builder with real bricks

Tohar: help doggies not be sick

Tzivia: a zookeeper

Zalman: a fireman

With all this wonderful rain, we read some fun books like Move Over Rover by Karen Beaumont and Storm is Coming by Heather Tekavec.  The children find the books and place them on my chair before story time.  Now that’s adorable.   We wrote about what we love to do when it rains outside.  Most of the children love to be home and play with family.  However, we had a few rainbow catchers and puddle jumpers.  It was cute to see them drawing their beautiful pictures of rainy days while the rain fell outside.  

As a reminder, please do your best to dress your children for this cold weather that seems to want to stick around. Layering is always best. Also, make sure your child has extra clothes for cold and warm weather.

FROM MORAH RAIZEL 
This week, we welcomed the joyous month of Adar. Adar is such a happy month because it hosts the holiday of Purim. In honor of the month of Adar, the children made self-portraits. It is impressive to see their skills improving each month! In honor of Adar, we also made clown puppets. We read a book called Esther’s Spark. The book speaks about a special spark  that we  all have, also known as a neshama, a soul. Esther listened to her spark, which told her that she had the special opportunity to save her people. If we listen closely, we can also hear our spark speaking to us.

FROM MS. KRISTINE

This week we celebrated the 100th day of school.  It was fun and educational.  Everyone was so excited to finally put straws in the hundreds pouch.  The process of transferring  the 10 ones to the tens pouch and then realizing we had 10 tens was exciting.  They were so intrigued as we tied up 10 tens and made it 100.  For our fun craft, they made a gumball machine with 100 gumballs.  The children got 10 strips of colored stickers with 10 per strip.  They quickly realized 10x10 is 100.  The gumball machines were bright, colorful and so cute.  

For fun, we also beaded necklaces.  The goal was to add 100 beads, but everyone was happy with their finished product, even if they were a little short. 

For creative writing I asked the children what they would buy if they had $100.  They did beautiful illustrations and wrote their words.  This is always fun because the value of $100 is often lost at this age, or they just dream really big.  Here are our answers from the children (word for word).

If I had $100, I would buy: 

Ari- 100% of the movie theater…all the tickets.

Avigail Ninnette- a rose.

Chaim- an apple tree.

David- a real bunny that’s in a cage with food inside.

Elias- so many shirts and so many pants and a speaker that talks to me with a special AI that asks me what music I want.

Goldie- two balls to play with.

Hannah- a rainbow picture that’s really big for my bedroom and lots of balloons for my mom.

Jackson- a fancy pigeon.

Netanel- a parrot.

Nuna- a bunny.

Pearl- a make up kit.

Ruby- plain gum. (she drew 100 pink pieces)

Sam- a garden.

Shiloh- a 100 cakes with 100 candles with 100 layers and a 100 sign.

Shneur- a ginormous bouncy castle with a slide.

Tohar- a diamond phone and 100 dogs.

Tzivia- a camera, just like my sister.

Zalman- a waterslide.

For phonics we learned the sound for /X/.  This is a challenging sound to isolate and hear in words because they mostly appear in the middle or end of words.  Words that begin with the sound for X are few and far between so we made rainbow xylophones with the sticks to form the X. They were fun to make and very cute.  As a fun activity, the children made “X-rays” by tracing their hands on black paper with white crayon. Then, they used Q-tips as bones, making X rays, TK style.  We also made X-ray fish because they are cool.   

For President's day, we talked about what it means to be a good leader and make good choices that help everyone.   We read some fun books like George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy.  This is a really cute and true story about when two battling sides called a truce during a very difficult battle to return a dog to his rightful owner.  Children always connect with this story because it shows how even during a bad time, people can be pretty awesome.  For our project, we made Lincoln's log cabin with craft  sticks, geometric shapes and a real penny portrait in the window.  

 Have a great 3 day weekend, 

FROM MORAH RAIZEL

This week, we began learning about the holiday of Purim!  It’s our favorite time of year.  I ask the children what they remember about Purim. Here are their responses:

Tohar: Chocolate.

Goldie: Hamantashen.

Hannah: Queen Esther

Pearl: Dress up

Shneur: We put on masks.

Ari: We put on costumes.

Zalman: Achashverosh.

Shiloh: I like the costumes and the masks.

Netanel: Dressing up.

Avigail Ninnette: Eating hamantashen.

David: Gragger.

Chaim: Those puppets.

Jackson: Putting the same hat that is the same color as the dress up that you’re doing for Purim.

Ruby: Eating hamantashen.

Nuna: Shalach manos.

Tzivia: Um…dressing up.

Elias: A big meal at our house.

Sam: My Grandpa came.

We began learning the story of Purim and had the chance to see an actual megilla.  The megilla is the scroll containing the Purim story.  The children are always quite entertained by the puppets and are excited when the story has a joyous ending.

The children have been exploring the different Purim items in the classroom and have participated in art activities in honor of Purim.

We did it!  We finished our brachos unit.  The children worked on the bracha of ‘shehakol’ this week and enjoyed hard-boiled eggs, which were surprisingly popular.  

Looking forward to more Purim learning next week! 

Wishing you a restful and peaceful Shabbos!  

 FROM MS. KRISTINE

Thank you to everyone who came to our Generation’s Day celebration! Your time and efforts are always appreciated by everyone. It is beautiful to witness all the love and support our children receive from all the people they are blessed to call family.   

We started our week setting up our calendar for the new month by transferring all our numbers back to the white board.  Everyone loves to get a turn to go up and find the correct numbers.  We are getting so good at this, so we have challenges where they take the numbers out of order and they need to figure out where it belongs.  They love this and everyone feels successful. 

We made our February calendar by writing our numbers, and for Tu BiShvat, we made our favorite trees for the art.  We used really cool stencils of bare trees to paint the trunk and branches.  They were so amazed when they lifted up the stencil to see what they made. Once that dried, they painted their leaves with very tiny brushes to get very delicate leaves.  They finished by making blossoms for their trees with tissue paper.  They carefully took tiny pieces of colorful tissue and did a little pinch and a twist to get a nice 3-D effect.  They came out so pretty and they were so excited to take their calendars home.

They loved making them so much, they wanted to make another.  This time, they had a more detailed stencil, making the tree more challenging. I was on board with making them again, because I was happy to have them to hang up for a while. They will probably make their way in their books.

For phonics this week, we worked on the sound for /Y/.  We mainly focused on the beginning sound we hear in yak, yo-yo, and yellow, but they learned Y has other jobs and can make other sounds .  For our books, we made yaks.  The children painted and cut out many parts to assemble their very unique yaks.  Each yak had its own personality, making them so much fun for the children to look at once they were hung up.  We also did our word match. 

For fun, we explored yellow play dough and used yarn for some creative art.

We did swim this week, so our next swim day will be February 18. Please bring your child’s swim gear and towel before this date.

FROM MORAH RAIZEL 

We had such a lovely Tu B’Shvat celebration at school on Monday. The children made special Tu B’Shvat hats and joined us in singing songs in honor of the trees.  In the classroom, we tasted olives, figs, and dates, three of the seven species of Israel that are customary to eat on Tu B’Shvat.  We did a reflection where the children shared why they appreciate trees.

The Parsha of the week is Yisro, Yisro, Yisro,                                             The Parsha of the week is Yisro,  That is the Parsha of the week!

This week, we learned all about Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law, who decided to join the Jewish people based on the miracles that he heard about.  Yisro brought Moshe’s wife and children and blessed Hashem.  Yisro noticed that Moshe would sit from morning until evening, answering the various questions of the Jewish people.  Yisro suggested that Moshe appoint people to help him so questions could be answered efficiently. And that is exactly what Moshe did.  

We read about the giving of the Torah in the Parsha this week!  We learned about the special mountain, Har Sinai, and the unity that occurred as the Jews gathered to receive the Torah.  We learned a song about the Ten Commandments.  Here it is!

1, Hashem, that’s all there is,

So 2, make no images.

And 3, be careful with Hashem’s name,

4, keep my Shabbat flame.

5, respect your mom and dad.

6, don’t kill, that would be bad.

7, to your spouse, stay always true,

8, don’t steal, it's not for you.

9, when you testify, don’t tell a lie.

10, what you have is best, so don’t go after someone else’s share.

After singing the song, we discussed what each commandment means.  

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos!

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

This week we worked on the sound for /V/.  The obvious focus this week, staying with our letter sound is .... volcanoes.  Yes, it is Volcano Week and the children had a blast.  We had so much fun learning fun facts about volcanoes, painting volcanoes and we even built and erupted our own volcano in the classroom. 

Volcano Week:

- We started with everyone making their own volcano by cutting and assembling shapes to form the volcano and they used paint for lava.  And, as always, we had our letter ((V) hidden in the art.  They all came out vibrant and bold.  

- As a class project, we also made a special volcano that we could erupt.  We started with making a mold and mixing the plaster. Everyone got to participate during the process.  They also got a preview in 'states for matter' as they saw the liquid quickly turn to a solid. They were all amazed at how quickly it changed. Once it was fully set and dry, everyone got a turn painting it to make it look colorful. We then got to create a mixture (another new science term) to get a chemical reaction and make 'lava'. We added a little dish soap to increase the fun.  The children had a blast and learned a lot along the way.  

- We also go to explore lava rocks.  They learned that lava is basically cooled by air or water. They got to feel a solid smooth rock compared to a porous volcanic rock. They thought it was amazing that the volcanic rock was bigger but so much lighter. They learned that it had pockets of air trapped in it when it was cooled. We also examined geodes (also volcanic rocks) and learned that the beautiful sparkles in the center came from the water as it cooled with minerals trapped inside.  The children were so excited to see the geodes get cracked open with the beautiful crystals inside.  After our experiment, they were able to identify how each rock was formed (cooled) based on how it looked and felt.  

In keeping with /V/, we also made a vase full of flowers that had /V/ pictures on them. It was a little tricky because not every flower had /V/ things on them.  They did a great job identifying the correct pictures.  The activity was also challenging because they had to do a lot of cutting (making their own leaves and stems) and connect the flowers with the stem inside the vase.  This took some fine motor work to get all the little pieces in the right place.  They were very proud of their finished product.  We concluded with our word match. 

Continuing our winter theme, we read The Mitten.  This is a Ukrainian Folktale, adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett.  This story teaches sequencing, allowing for the child to make predictions.  With a pattern in the story, the children feel confident being able to retell the story successfully.  For our story connection, we made giant mittens that the children decorated and laced.  Then they colored and cut out animals to put inside the mitten, giving them a nice prop to hopefully use to retell the story at home.  They worked hard on this activity and had fun.  Everyone was excited to take their stuffed mittens home. 

On Thursday, we reached the 90th day of school. To reinforce counting by 10’s, we revisited the tens board.  This supports their understanding of place value and quantity for numbers 10-99. They are so excited to reach 100.

FROM MS. KRISTINE 

This week we worked on the sound for /L/.  As we move throughout the alphabet, some sounds become more challenging.  /L/ is easy enough to hear, but for some, it is hard to say.  We practiced isolating the sound, along with listening for it in words.  We made lovely llamas for our books.  The children painted a vibrant background and made cute llamas with yarn for hair. We concluded with our word match.  Everyone did their best work and felt successful during the process.  

For literature, we read The Lion Inside, by Rachel Bright.  This book is about a tiny mouse who feels unseen and ignored.  He wants to be loud and noticed like the lion, so he gets the courage to ask him if he could teach him to roar.  When they come nose to nose, he finds out the lion is actually afraid of mice.  Once they talk and understand each other, they realize they can both be seen, and heard without shouting or roaring.  A brave little mouse can have a lion’s heart, while a big lion can also be gentle and misunderstod.  Our children learned that everyone, regardless of size, has inner strength by being kind and brave.   We also  read  Llama Llama, Red Pajama, along with many other books by Anna Dewdney.  This series is always fun to read to the children.  

For geography, we learned basic facts about planet earth as we explored our very cool classroom light up globe.  We learned that the equator is the imaginary line that runs through the center of the earth and this is "generally" the hottest climate on earth.  We talked about how the sun is always directly overhead the center of earth, making it so hot.  As we move further north, or south, the weather gets cooler.  And, once you get to the very top (North Pole), or very bottom, (South Pole) we get ice, and the coldest weather on earth.  We learned that some animals live  there, such as polar bears in the north and penguins in the south, but never together.  The children were also pleased to know they live somewhere in the middle of these two extreme climates.  For our connection, we colored our earth  and labeled it with N, S, E, W.  To finish it off, we placed a polar bear on the top,  and a penguin on the bottom.  Everyone did an amazing job and they were able to explain their work.  It was fun to see their excitement.   The children also colored, cut and labeled a globe with North Pole, South Pole and equator. 
On Wednesday, I sent home a letter talking about a new 'Take Home' activity we will be doing called The Adventures of Avi.  When your child is selected at random, they will get to take home a cute bag with a classroom stuffy, a journal and a book for one week.   Every child will get a turn, but as it is a random selection, you will be surprised along with your child.  Please refer to the letter for the details.  I have more copies if needed. 
Thank you,

FROM MORAH RAIZEL 

This week, we focused on the bracha, Hagafen, said before drinking grape juice.  We read the book From Vine to Grape Juice, written by Meish Goldish.  The book goes through the entire process of making grape juice.  We also read When I Fell Into My Kiddush Cup by Sashi Friedman.  Besides creating hagefen-inspired art, the children got to make their own grape juice by crushing grapes in a ziploc bag using a wooden rolling pin.  It required a lot of upper-body strength, and the children got very creative with their crushing methods. Many friends were fans of the juice.  Surprisingly, they said it tasted like grapes!

The children created their fourth self-portrait in honor of the new Hebrew month of Shvat.  Being that this is a monthly activity, it is incredible to see the children’s skills improve, even from the previous month.  The children used chalk pastels to add colors to their self-portraits.  They learned about smoothing the pastel with a finger or two to blend in the color.

In this week’s Parsha, Bo, we learned about the last three of the ten plagues.  We learned about the lamb that the Jewish people brought into their homes, which they later roasted.  The blood of the lamb was painted on their doorposts so the angel of Hashem would pass over their houses.  We also learned about Pharaoh running out in his pajamas in the middle of the night, telling Moshe to leave Egypt immediately!  Moshe told Pharaoh that the Jewish people would leave Egypt during the day, when everyone would be able to see.  

The Shabbos Backpack is in rotation!  Over the next nine weeks, every child will have a turn to bring it home. 

Tu B’Shvat is coming!  We will begin talking about the New Year for trees next week! 

Shabbat Shalom!  

 FROM MS. KRISTINE

We had an interesting week with this summer-like weather.  I am sure it has been appreciated as a contrast from the rain.  The children loved revisiting water play outside, so that was nice.  I personally, am not ready to say goodbye to winter.  Let's see what next week has in store for us.

This week we worked on the sound for /R/.  This is a challenging sound for many of our children to say.  When it is a hard sound to say, it can also be hard to hear and isolate.  Our children, however,  did a great job.  They made quirky robots with metal heads (they wrapped cardboard in aluminum foil) and used lots of fun materials to make each one look unique. They had so much fun being creative and differant. We also did our word match.

For art, we painted red roses. I showed them a simple technique to follow, and they went from there. They had fun and loved seeing all the pretty water colors blend together.

For sensory fun, the children played with rainbow rice and rubies.  They sifted and dug through the rice to find the rubies and tallied their quantity.  It spontaneously turned into a fun game.  

For creative writing, we wrote about what we love to do outside at recess.  We have so many options for outside play, so our answers  were very diverse.  The most popular answers were:  riding the red bike (I'm sure many of you have heard of this popular item), playing in the sandbox, riding the ponies, climbing on the dome, and running around with friends on our beautiful playground. 

For literature, we read Rescue Bunnies by Doreen Cronin.  This is a cute story about a rescue trainee that, when given a challenge, chooses to do the right thing, even when it isn't popular.  This book quickly became a favorite in the classroom.  We made our own helicopter and rescue bunny connected to a safety rope. They asked if they could add more details to their page by adding the rescue truck.  It was nice to see how their excitement stimulated so much creativity. 

As we continue to work with word families (3 letter words), we are focusing a lot on rhyming.  We did a picture match where the children identified and matched items that rhyme.  They did a great job and felt proud of their success.  They also matched 3 letter words to a connecting picture.  They felt so accomplished when they were able to see what they could do. 

As the weather fluctuates, please make sure your child has a change of clothes that coordinates with the weather.  Our children are happier and feel more successful when they are prepared and comfortable.  

Thank you,