FROM MORAH RAIZEL
It has been so exciting to count the omer each day. We are excitedly anticipating Shavuos. This week, we continued learning about how we celebrate Shavuos. We learned about Rus, whose megillah we read on Shavuos. We read the book Mother of Majesty, written by Genendel Krohn, and Shavuos Guess Who by Ariella Stern. We learned that Rus was King David’s great-grandmother. David passed away on Shavuos, and part of the story of Rus happens during the harvest, which is one of the names of Shavuos.
This week, the TK children practiced spelling their names with Aleph Beis rocks and wooden tiles. They also painted their final self-portrait. This was their tenth and best self-portrait. The children made beautiful flowers in honor of Shavuos.
These are the songs we learned in connection with the counting of the omer and Shavuos.
Counting the Omer Song
We’re counting, we’re counting the days,
Today is the _____ day we’re on our way.
From Pesach until Shavuos time,
7 weeks until 49.
Day after day, the weeks are passing by,
Until the day that we stood at Har Sinai,
The day that we love, Chag Hashavuos,
When Hashem gave us the Torah and Mitzvos.
(Repeat)
Mountain Song
I am a mountain so very high, I can reach way up to the sky,
The Torah should be given on me, Cuz I am as tall as can be,
you see.
Oh No!
I am much wider than you, And there are so many things I can do.
The Torah should be given on me, Cuz I am as wide as can be, you see.
Oh NO!
Little Har Sinai just stood there and sighed. I know I’m not big, I know I’m not wide.
I’m happy to be Har Sinai, that’s me! And I’m happy just how Hashem made me.
Oh YES!
Wishing you a restful Shabbos and a wonderful Shavuos!
May we merit to receive the Torah joyfully and internally.
FROM MISS KRISTINE
As we come to the end of our insect unit, we decided to make fun ladybugs that were colored, cut, assembled and given spots. They did a great job folding a circle in half to make two even halves. I offered the children cut out circles, but they wanted to draw their own. The children successfully counted the spots they put on each wing and created a math equation to show the sum. They even read the equation correctly, showing a 1:1 correspondence with the spots and the numbers. As an added detail, some children asked for brads to make the wings move. That was an idea from one of the children,so it was extra cool.
Because next week is a short week, and our days together are coming to an end, we worked on our June writing and June art a little early. For our writing the children had the prompt: During the summer, I love to… Their answers were great and their illustrations were amazing. Here are their answers..
During the summer I love to…..
- Ben: go to Israel
- Chaim: go to summer camp
- Leah: go to Florida
- Masha: go to the park
- Musia G.: go to Atlanta
- Mussia P: go to SGI camp
- Pinny: go swimming
- Sarah: go to New York
- Savannah: go to Lego Land
- Shira: go to Camp SGI
- Tova: go to SGI
- Tzion: be with my friends
- Yossi: go to SGI camp
For our June art, we painted an underwater scene. We first made a handprint, and the children added the detail to make their hand look like a clownfish. We started the year with a handprint for the first day of TK, so I thought it was fitting that we end with one as well. However, at the end of TK, we made individual and detailed art out of that handprint. They also added detail to the underwater scene and finished with a beautiful blue water color. We had 13 proud artists who were excited to hang their work.
Our literature focus this week was Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. This is a great story about a beautiful fish who loves, more than anything, to be the most beautiful fish in the sea. However, after an unfortunate incident, he learns an important lesson about what can happen when he is unkind to others. In the end, he discovers the power of kindness. Rainbow Fish finds out that true happiness comes from sharing and being a friend to others.
For our story connection, the children colored a fish and added scales, including the special shimmery scale from the story. I gave the children a general guildline, but I encouraged creativity and telling their own story through their art. We ended up with some very original fish and some very proud children.
We did not swim this week, but almost everyone has their swimming prepared for next week. It is a good thing because after a 4 day weekend and holiday, remembering swim clothes would be a challenge.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Shavuot,