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Class of 2021 (3rd Grade)

Our New Intern in PreK!

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We are so pleased that our kehillah will be welcoming a student from the MET High School in Providence (http://metcenter.org) to our classroom. Kiara will be joining us on Wednesdays and Fridays; she has chosen our PreK for her internship and Andrea will be mentoring her. Kiara is interested in how children learn about emotional awareness and self-regulation. Kiara joined us today for a few hours, and her gentle spirit, authentic engagement with children, and beautiful smile captivated us all! Within a few minutes, we were holding her hands, showing her around the room, and then leading her outside where she played tag with us. We are all so happy she will be part of our community. We asked Kiara to write a paragraph introducing herself to our community:
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“My name is Kiara. I am a tenth grader at the Met High School. My birthday is June 7th. I am 15 years old. My favorite color is purple. I am an only girl and I have four brothers. I love taking pictures and although I am not the best swimmer, I love swimming. I love reading and listening to music.   I have a nephew who is 1 and I absolutely love babysitting. I also love spending time with my family. I used to have a dog named Tuesday. She was a poodle mixed with a hotdog. I gave her away about a year ago. I am getting a new dog that I want to name Chuchi. When I grow up I want to work with kids, because I love kids. Another career I am looking into is being a veterinarian because I have always had a love for animals and it is just something I am extremely passionate about.”

An Exciting Week at School!

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It is only our second week of school and we have already experienced so much! We are more familiar with our rules and routines (our school shoes have been a big hit!) and have made many new friends.

This week we have begun learning about Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year. We are now creating decorations for our classroom, practicing how to say “Happy New Year” in Hebrew (l’shanah tovah) and singing a song about apples and honey (tapoochim oo d’vash). We were excited to discover that during Rosh Hashanah we should eat sweet things – like honey and apples! This helps to remind us to have a sweet new year. Building upon the connection between apples and Rosh Hashanah, we read The Apple Tree’s Discovery.

Inspired by the book, we cut some apples open and discovered the stars inside! We then tasted different kids of apples (including Honeycrisp and Granny Smith). Afterward, we peeled and cut some more apples, put them in a pot with a little water, and heated them.

The next day, we examined our cooked apples and noted that they seemed to have “shrinked.” Most of us decided that the heat “melted the apples down!” We mashed our cooked apples and made applesauce. We shared that it tasted: “good, bad, juicy, cinnamony, delectable, and delicious!” It was exciting to eat something we had made.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in specialties this week. During Library we are always excited to check out books and spend time with Library Bear; during Design Lab we were captivated by the book Not a Box by Antoinette Portis and afterward built space ships and houses out of cardboard. We have enjoyed gym with Mrs. Sugerman and look forward to using the Gym on the third floor when construction is complete. During Music, Mr. Elad taught us a song he wrote about the seasons and we marched to the beat of his drum!

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We also unveiled our keillah’s “job chart” this week.

Our job chart reflects our community’s values and teaches us to be responsible for our classroom and our friends’ safety and well-being. Our jobs are:  hazzan’it (prayer leader),

mevarech l’shalom (classroom greeter); loach shanah (our calendar-person); mezeg a’veer (weather-person); bee’kor cholim (caller of the sick) and feeder of our fish:

oseh shalom (peace-maker):

rosh ha’sho0rah (first-in-line):

machzeek et ha’delet (door holder):

so’pher yeladim (counter of children), o’rot (light-blinker) and acharon ha’shoorah (last-in-line). Ask your child if she or he remembers her/his job!

Finally, we celebrated Shabbat as a kehillah. Not only do we light candles, drink sweet grape juice, and eat delicious challah, but we also make special wishes (using magic glitter) and have a rockin’ Disco Dance Party. See the video below (or click on the link):

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We wish you all a peaceful and restful Shabbat!

Our First Week of School!

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Our first week of school is nearing its conclusion, and we are continuing to have a wonderful time getting to know our new friends, exploring our learning centers, and collaboratively creating rules and routines as we begin to build our kehillah (community).

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We have enjoyed so many new things in our classroom, including: playing in our block area with animals, recyclables, and tape measures;

observing our “goo,” massaging our bean ball, and kneading our “thinking putty” at our sensory table;

reading in our Loft with friends;

doing puzzles together;

creating castles, planes, and spaceships at our train table;

discovering shells using magnifying glasses and tweezers at our Science Table;

spending time with Herman the Worm in our Quiet House;

and carefully observing our new goldfish and snail in their aquarium.

This week we shared with each other what we enjoyed doing in PreK. These are some of our comments:

* “I liked the green scissors and I liked the Art Center. I liked Circle Time ’cause I liked sitting down. Sitting down was fun.” (Nathan)

* “I liked Circle Time. I liked drawing. I liked plaything with Nathan.” (Shira)

* “I liked playing with playdough. I liked playing with Adrian.” (Asher)

* “I liked doing funny stuff in Circle Time. I liked playing with magnatiles.” (Adrian)

* “I liked playing the game where we stood up and sat down during Circle Time!” (Sabine)

* “I liked ot play with Miss Andrea and Miss Laurie. And with my friends. And playing with the lion.” (Leo)

* “I liked writing and reading to Sabine in the Loft. And looking at the goo.” (Millie)

* “Well, it’s not over! I liked snack time. I liked Circle Time and I liked sitting on the mats.” (Zemer)

* “I liked drawing at the Art Table.” (Aeden)

* “I liked playing with magnatiles.” (Ilan)

* ” I liked playing with the magatiles and the animals!” (Bentzi)

We look forward to another week filled with laughter, joy, and discovery. Shabbat Shalom!

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What a wonderful first day we had in PreK! Welcoming all our students and their families into our classroom gave us such joy.

After we said goodbye to our grown-ups, we enjoyed discovering our classroom learning areas, including the art and literacy center, the library, the science table, and the dramatic play area  . . .

During Circle Time, we greeted each other and then  jumped, danced and laughed our way through “Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes” (in Hebrew and English!)

We also created wonderful shapes and creatures with playdough (our playdough even has sparkles in it!)

Throughout the morning, giggles, smiles and hugs filled our classroom!

We look forward to another fun-filled day together tomorrow.