Preschool News
Amy's Director Notes
I hope your children (3’s and 4’s) went home from school on Wednesday and told you all about the wonderful Tu B’Shevat Experience we had that day. Tu B’Shevat is one of my favorite holidays because it encourages us to really look at the world around us and appreciate all the beauty that we normally take for granted. Instead of just celebrating the birthday of the trees, I wanted the children to partake in a whole experience that celebrates the beauty of the earth. The Experience was divided into 8 stations. The children were divided into groups of 5 and traveled with a teacher to each of the stations, one group at a time. The stations were as follows:
1. Recycling – Here the children learned that if we just throw away all our trash, the world would soon be buried in garbage. The children sorted the garbage into paper, bottles, caps and trash. We were then saddened to see that the trash pile was still the largest so we discussed ways to reduce our trash by using re-usable containers.
2. Snack – Here the children examined different fruits and put them into categories: fruits that are completely edible, fruits whose skin we don’t eat and fruits with inedible seeds. They also discussed how fruits come from vines, bushes and trees and are the seeds of the plants. We need the fruits so that we will be able to grow more plants. Then of course we ate the fruits of our labor.
3. Bird Feeders – Here the children heard the story of when the birds helped out Moses and as a reward we feed them. This Torah story is always read around Tu B’Shevat and reminds us of how people and animals have always been connected. Our bird feeders were made by shmearing soy butter onto bagels (donated from our friends at Bagel Hut on Rt 34) and dipping it into bird seeds. I’m sure the birds at your house will appreciate the feeders during the next couple of cold days.
4. Musical Trees Game – Here the children played a game like musical chairs except instead of a child getting out, a chair was pulled out. This was to simulate trees being chopped down and the children were the animals scrambling for homes. Then we started adding “trees” to show the children that if we plant trees we can help the animals. This station was a lot of fun.
5. Music and Movement – At this station the children sang various holiday songs and moved and swayed like trees. Thank you to Morah (teacher) Helen from the Religious School that ran this station for us.
6. Tree Station – This station had 2 parts. First the children colored a tree and taped it onto a giant map of Israel to represent planting trees there – you can see this hanging opposite my office. Then the children took twigs and glued them to a page, added the desert sand and blooming buds to make blossoming almond trees just like the ones that are now blooming in Israel.
7. Planting – Here the children first created the planters. These were made by reusing old newspapers – no waste and they can then be planted whole in the ground. Next they filled the pots, added some wildflower seeds and gently watered. Please keep them in a sunny spot so the children can watch them grow at home.
8. Story Time – Finally, at the end, all the children joined me for a wonderful story called “A Tree Is Nice”. Here we all listened to all the wonderful things trees do for people, animals and the earth. Back in their classrooms the children colored leaves and dictated to the teachers why they think trees are nice. These leaves were then attached to a tree trunk hanging in the hallway between the office and the ladies room – take a look.
The 2 year olds were a little too young to participate in the experience this year but will make their bird feeders tomorrow and have assorted fruits with their challah.
As you know, in addition to all this we have been collecting Tzedakah all month to purchase trees in Israel. Tomorrow I will collect the change and show the children how just a few coins each Friday add up and enable us to do something wonderful like help others or purchase trees. Wednesdays experience took a lot of work and planning and I’d like to thank those who helped me out. Thank you so much to Melany McCarthy and Debbie Rau for helping man some of the stations and to Ann Gabel from the Religious School and Lisa Solomon (my sister) for also helping us out that day. And even Miss Louise came in to run the Musical Trees station, and idea she had discovered a couple of years ago.
Speaking of Miss Louise, I am happy to report that she is feeling much better and will be returning one morning a week to do music with each of the classes. She started this past week and it was a real treat for the children to sing, dance, and play instruments with her again. She is also returning as the Tuesday Enrichment teacher with Miss Denise and had a great day this past Tuesday exploring birds with the children.
Registration has begun for next year and our summer camp. If you have any questions about teachers or curriculum please feel free to ask me. Remember – no registration fee if you sign up by the open house.
KinderPrep - Miss Stephanie & Miss Jennie
We kicked the New Year off with a party! Each child cut paper strips into confetti which was thrown into the air at the end of the countdown. We enjoyed delicious treats sent in by each child and drew/dictated everyone's resolutions for 2010.
In addition to celebrating the New Year, we also celebrated MLK Day and Tu B'Shevat. We discussed the importance of friendship and that MLK reminded everyone that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside since we are all the same on the inside (just like an M&M)! The children celebrated Tu B'Shevat (the birthday of the trees) with a Tu B'Shevat Experience complete with 7 stations which each involved a craft, song, snack or story about the holiday. The children had a great time! During class, we planted parsley seeds which we hope will grow in time for Passover to be part of our seder plates.
The letters we learned about this month were Jj, Xx, Yy and Zz. We estimated the amount of jelly beans in a cup and made our own finger-print jelly beans in a jar for letter Jj. We looked at real x-rays, (and made our own using Q-Tips), and went on a treasure hunt to find the X that marks the spot for letter Xx. We made yellow yaks for Yy and a zoo (complete with a zebra, lion, giraffe and monkeys) for letter Zz.
February will bring Groundhog's Day, President's Day and Purim. We'll also learn about letters Gg, Vv, Qq and mixing colors!
Kinderprep - Miss Audrey & Miss Carrie
The month of January started with a wonderful New Year’s celebration complete with party hats, food, resolutions, dancing, a countdown using a yo-yo for the letter “Y” and, of course, confetti. The focus of the month was our Winter Unit. We experimented with water, a liquid, and brainstormed on ways to turn it into ice, a solid. Using a large block of ice, each child had a chance to “drive” a matchbox car down our ‘slippery street.” Then we “salted” the street, like the large trucks do, and the ice started to melt. It was not so slippery when the salt was down. During our experiments our “turtle eraser pals” accidentally froze in the cups of water they were living in. Oh no! We had to brainstorm on how to save them. Each child got to try out their idea, which included fanning, blowing, using hot water, heat from our hands (we played “hot potato” with one) and even heat from our tongue (one child licked their ice.) Some children used “brute strength” as they just pulled their turtles out and others cracked the ice by banging it on the desk. One child used the microwave and another remembered the slippery road experiment and used salt. In the end, all the turtles were saved.
We examined pictures of snowflakes and learned that they all have 6 sides and none are exactly alike. We took advantage of a quick snowfall to catch falling snowflakes on black paper and examine them with a magnifying glass. We had more winter fun as we transformed our room into a winter wonderland with the children’s SNOW paint pictures. The “paint” was made in small groups with each child in the group having a specific ingredient to measure and mix. We also made sleds and sparkling snowflakes for our bulletin board. These projects help the children continue to develop their fine motor and kindergarten readiness skills as they measure, mix, knead and squeeze until they get the desired results.
In anticipation of Tu B’Shevat, we talked about how it can be winter in NJ but spring in Israel. Using a ball as a globe we illustrated how the earth rotates and how the sun shines on different parts of the earth at different times. Each child took a turn at being the earth or the sun as we acted out our human version of “sunrise, sunset.”
As usual, the alphabet was incorporated into our daily programs. We reinforced “Y” for the New Year, “J” for January, “H” for hibernating winter animals and “X” for the eXtraordinary ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thriving Three's - Miss Corey & Miss Natalie
We have been very busy this month and January just flew by. When we returned to school the children had a wonderful New Year’s party where they all tasted foods of different colors and made rainbows with New Year wishes.
We learned about penguins and made paper bag penguins. The children also built igloos made out of sugar cubes and frosting.
We are now learning that bears, snakes, ladybugs, turtles, bats and mice hibernate and butterflies, birds and fish migrate. The children made great caves where our bears will sleep through the winter and the children that stay after lunch made snakes out of felt and learned that they hibernate in holes underground. We also started making hummingbirds to represent the animals that migrate.
Throughout the year we have been working on recognizing the children’s first names and we are now going to switch and start working on their last names.
On Monday we were happy to welcome Miss Louise back to school. She will be teaching our students music once a week, the children were very glad to see her.
We’ve been learning about Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees, and on Wednesday we joined the rest of the 3’s and 4’s and traveled to different stations in the social hall. The children planted, recycled, played games, had a fruit snack, and made a blossoming almond tree. The event concluded with Miss Amy reading “A Tree Is Nice” to all the students.
Thriving Three's - Miss Denise & Miss Ellen
January was a fun month. We explored winter weather. We discussed what to wear, what to eat and how to stay healthy. We dressed snowmen, bears and penguins in appropriate clothing. The children had a lot of fun creating an igloo with sugar cubes and frosting. There were some great painting projects as well. We discussed Martin Luther King Day, showing kindness and friendship is a way to help people. At circletime we discussed what the children could do to help people. They came up with some great ideas - I hope they all cleaned up their rooms like they promised. Circletime has grown, the children are eager to discuss their thoughts and news. Taking turns is a big part of it. We are polite and listen to each child speak. We have been playing more games, learning to be good winners and losers. I try to impress upon them that the game and the interactions is the fun part, not winning.
The unit we are working on now is hibernation and migration. There are so many fun books and songs on this topic. We learned a bear needs to eat a lot of food before he sleeps for the winter. Miss Ellen brought in an assortment of interesting bears. The children each picked one and we had a big tea party to send them off to hibernation. They chose the play food they wanted and we had a great time. We made a cave out of a sheet and put the bears to sleep. For migration, we started with butterflies. With very little help from me, they knew the butterflies needed flowers to eat, and they need to fly somewhere warm. Our tie dyed butterflies were fun to make. We ended the month with our Tu B'shevat experience. In the social hall the children traveled from station to station. They learned how to feed birds that live in trees. Recycling and reusing, planting, watering all saves trees. Good fruits, nuts and pretty flowers grow in trees. There were songs and games all geared towards celebrating trees. The Tu B'shevat celebration was a lovely break from the long cold winter. The children commented to me it was like springtime. Almost.
Terrific Two's - Miss Judy & Miss Pilar
January was a jumping month in our classroom. We began the month by welcoming our New Year 2010 and shaping up to the New Year by painting with shapes and adding exercise to our musical movements. We can jump, jog, skate, march, wiggle and dance. We created “designer” mittens and learned about things that come in 2’s. We learned the nursery rhyme “the Three Little Kittens” and will not lose our mittens. In an effort to encourage good health, we learned about the doctor and his/her job to keep us healthy. We explored a unit on food by tasting the colors of the rainbow. We tasted orange cantaloupe, red strawberries, yellow bananas, green peas and honeydew and purple grape juice. Our supermarket was a highlight. The children enjoyed shopping in the store and role playing customers and cashiers. We grouped our foods, played food lotto and made shopping cart pictures. We voted on a name for our store and Stop and Shop was the winner! In honor of Tu B’Shevat we created almond trees and birdfeeders.
At the beginning of the month we opened up a second Terrific Two’s class and welcomed our newest students, Goldie, Sarah, Lloyd, Daniel, Trevor, Joshua and Zachary, as well as Miss Randi. These children jumped right into our classroom routines and are having a great time with their new friends.