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It is always enjoyable to watch how the children react to new materials /playthings being brought into the classroom.  Having learned about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and completed miniature log cabins, the children welcomed the newly introduced Lincoln Logs building toy.  Since the logs have grooves that require them to be lined up perfectly in order to fit and stay together, this toy requires patience and perseverance and a different creative process to build a structure.

We like to bring literacy into our classroom utilizing a variety of means.  We have added word cards to our arsenal.  There are pictures of common things from nature (rabbit, puddle, butterfly) with the printed upper-case word beside it.  These were placed on a table with a basket of colored pencils.  The children are naturally curious and came to try their hand at writing the words.  We have also put out word cards connected to the holiday of Purim – the four mitzvot: tzedakah, shalach manot, reading the Megillah, and preparing the seudah; as well as grogger, mask, king, queen, hamentash, etc.

Many things took place this week connected with Purim.  We read and looked at several books connected to the holiday.  We read, It’s Purim Time, by Latifa Berry Kropf.  The children really liked this book because it contains photos of a PreK class doing the same things we do to prepare for and celebrate Purim.  We also looked at the book. Esther’s Story, by Diane Wolkstein.  The illustrations in the book depicted the clothing worn in ancient Persia in a more realistic way.  The attire of Queens and Kings is not like the Disney versions seen by many of the children.  The children had great fun dressing […]

The children were so excited to be able to spend some special music time with Morah Jill this week. Singing our “HELLO” song is a great way to start as we continue to sing and dance with Morah Jill. This week Morah Jill had everyone singing songs about snow. The children moved to the music holding silver tinsel, shaking it up and down like snow falling from the sky. Morah Jill brought out some of her special friends — penguins. The children picked which penguin they liked best. The big one (gadol) or the small one (katan). Most of the children liked the katan. Music ended with the kids dancing and shaking a tambourine along with getting to play three different chimes.

Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction about an early spring has not happened so far, as everyone stayed home Tuesday due to snow and ice. After a delayed opening on Wednesday all the children returned to school and enjoyed playing together. One of the fun games everyone enjoyed playing was the giant connect four. Though they may not know how to play the game correctly, all the children had fun taking turns placing the checkers on the slots. Thank you to the Einalhori family for donating this interesting game.

Morah Debra introduced the Sunflowers to BLACK MAGIC. The children were given toothpicks and shown how to scratch the black off the paper to find the rainbow underneath. It was a fun adventure for the children. They were able to make their own pictures.

The children have worked long and hard on their unit of Jan Brett’s THE MITTEN. They are so excited to have completed it and cannot wait to bring it home to show their families. This […]

After reading the book about Abraham Lincoln, we watched a video that told about his early life as well as what led to his presidency.  The children learned that he lived in a log cabin and only had one year of formal schooling. We had several photos of real log cabins in the classroom. The children remembered when they were in our outdoor classroom how they took the logs we have there and built with them using the mud we found. They also enjoyed building structures with Lincoln Logs. So we decided it would be fun for the children to create their own mini versions in the classroom.  This was another chance to explore how things are built. We explained that during the time Abe Lincoln grew up, they did not have the kind of tools we have today and had to build houses with the tools and materials available. Since there were vast woodlands in Illinois, it was faster and easier to build houses from logs.  We even have a small log in our classroom for the children to see.  The children used a small cardboard box and glued on plain wooden popsicle sticks.  They cut out a door and windows from repurposed coffee cup holders and glued these on as well.  Last, they cut out a picture of Abraham Lincoln and glued him to their cabins.  The fine motor skills and cutting ability of the children are quite good.  When you see the cabin, check out how closely they cut out Lincoln’s picture.
 
The children continued with the letter “Cc”; practicing forming the letter and identifying the words that begin with the initial “C” sound.  This culminated with a small project using a cut-out of […]

Thank you to Ethan and his family for sending in the delicious healthy snack for this week. The kids loved it!!

This week we completed our snowman project, which involved matching colors, gluing, the use of velcro, and dressing our snowmen, which incorporated identification of parts of our bodies. The children are proud of their snowmen and look forward to sharing them with you.

We then began our focus on two “Ps” — President’s Day and Purim. As President’s Day is an abstract concept for children this age, we decided to bring it to life by examining quarters and the pennies we put in our tzedekah box every day. We looked at both sides and the children noticed each coin had a man on one side. We explained to the children that they were very good men who helped a lot of people.

Morah Jill taught us a Purim song and introduced us to a chime bar.

More to come later this week.

Morah Sherry and Morah Blimie