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Week of October 12-16, 2009
Dear Parents,
This week in Kindergarten it was a pleasure welcoming back all our students from Sukkot vacation. We loved hearing all about how the children used what they had learned in school to enhance their Sukkot holiday!
We began our study of the weekly parsha as we learned about Parshat Bereshit. The children listened to the first few lines of Bereshit in Hebrew, in order to make them aware that the parsha name is always near the beginning of each individual parsha. We explained to the class that this year they will learn “Kindergarten Torah” and each year the parshiot will be reviewed and expanded upon. For this reason, your child should be able to tell you what was created on each of the first six days, that the seventh day was set aside as a day of rest, Shabbat, and they should also be able to tell some of the story of Adom and Chava. The children were very excited about learning their first parsha and we hope you will set aside time each week at the Shabbat table to discuss the parsha together. Besides completing a project showing all the days of creation, we also learned a song to go with this week’s Parsha. In addition we are very excited that Rabbi Mordechai Ginsparg will begin weekly Friday visits to talk to the entire Kindergarten about Parshiot, Middot and Holidays.
This week we began our study of the Alphabet and the children are learning a chant about the letters and their sounds. The order of the letters studied this year will be based on our handwriting program, Handwriting Without Tears. We began learning about the letter “F” as in “firefighter.” We were amazed at how many words the children were able to think of that began with the letter “F”. We made special folders in which to put our “F” projects and the first page was finding all the “F’s” in a silly sentence. For our special Friday snack we are going to be eating French Fries! We will continue working on the letter “F” next week.
We had our first Art class with Mr. Glassman on Tuesday, where we began working on fall tree pictures. We look forward to the next step in this process next week.
SPECIAL REMINDER:
On Monday, October 19th for our trip to Wagner Farm please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather, as most of our time will be spent outdoors. We request that children bring either a dairy or pareve lunch on this day.Thank you for your help.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Zenia Cohen and Morah Linda Kagan
Week of September 29 – October 1, 2009
This week in Kindergarten was spent learning more about Sukkot and talking about Simchat Torah. We discussed how a Sukkah has to be a temporary dwelling and how the roof cannot be solid, but open enough to see the stars. We learned the bracha to say when we sit in the Sukkah as well as the one we say on the Lulov and Etrog. We hope you enjoy the projects your child has brought home, including those that were laminated in order to use in your Sukkah.
For Simchat Torah we discussed how the reading of the Torah both concludes and begins anew on this holiday. The children made tie-dye flags to use in shul for hakafot and we practiced marching in anticipation of the holiday. Rabbi Linzer came to visit on Thursday with a Sefer Torah. He talked about the various parts of a Torah, and how a Torah is made.
Looking ahead to our return after Yom Tov, we will be beginning our study of the alphabet letters and their sounds, as well as beginning to learn the weekly parsha.
For Your Information:
1. We are focusing on the first paragraph of the Birkat HaMazon until after the holidays. Please practice with your child as you celebrate with your family in the coming weeks.
2. A list of the tefillot we have been learning was sent home with the holiday projects. Please daven with your child daily to reinforce what we have learned so we will be ready to introduce new tefillot when we return.
Chag Sameach,
Morah L. Kagan
Morah Z. Cohen
This week in Kindergarten we started learning all about Rosh Hashonah. We learned about the different sounds of the shofar. We also began working on several projects which we know you will enjoy.
We drew portraits of ourselves after talking about body parts and facial features. Our artistic efforts are currently displayed in our room, and we will save them until the end of the year to compare and see how your child has grown.
Our class had a discussion about all the things we expect to learn how to do in Kindergarten and we completed a writing and drawing activity to go with our discussion.
One of the highlights each week is our special singing time when we get together with the other kindergarten class to sing many wonderful songs.
We were excited to have our first gym class where the children learned how to do many exercises.
In computer class we are learning how to use the program “KidPix.” It is amazing how quickly the children are becoming “computer savvy.”
We have begun working on our “Handwriting Without Tears” program, by doing several
pre-writing activities.
The children had fun hunting for different shapes in our classroom.
We had our first Hebrew class with Morah Cheryl this week.
We are so proud of how well our students are getting settled into our classroom routine, and we look forward to seeing you at our Open School Night on Monday, September 14th at 7:20 p.m. to tell you all about our program!
Morah Cohen and Morah Kagan