Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Time to review

                                          This week we reviewed the letters "L" and "F".

                                              What letter do these toys names start with?
                                                 (a Log, lantern, lemon, lamb, lock)


                                                 What letter do these toys start with?
                                                    (fish, frog, and a fan)
To do more go to http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-l/load.htm?f
                          http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-f/load.htm?f

Mazel Tov!

Mazel Tov to our friend Jacklyn who turned 4 years old! 
All Pre-K Friends wish Jacklyn a healthy, happy year, to make new friends, to have a lot of toys, and to learn a lot!

Thank you to Jacklyn's parents for great presents in honor of Jacklyn's Birthday! May you have only naches from Jacklyn and Lauren! Mazel Tov!

Tools Help Us Learn

This week issue of the Weekly Reader will teach children about different tools they use in school. You can ask your child what he or she thinks is a tool? Explain that people use tools to make jobs easier.
  •  Ask what tools you use at home to make diner and where you keep them.  
  • If one want to write his or her name what tool they would use? Look at the pictures in the issue, discuss the tool being used by the child in the photo. Ask: How does this tool help us at school?
  • Explain that every tool has a own space. Ask: Why is it important that we clean and return our tools to their proper place?
Next week, we will take time to review the issue and discuss the importance of our class tools, how they help us. We also we learn the tools place and rules of using them. 

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Letter Bais

This week we learned the letter bais!

Bais looks like a house a bayis. It has a ceiling a wall, a floor a back porch and window in the middle!
Our friend Binyamin (Alan) starts with the letter Bais.

It's Sukkos in Pre-K!

We read a book about how to build a sukkah.
Zaylin and Ron make a sukkah in the block center.

Chava shakes the lulav and esrog in the sukkah. We shake the lulav in all directions to show that Hashem is everywhere.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

MAZEL TOV!

Mazel Tov
to our friend Shimon
who turned four years old!
All Pre-K Friends wish Shimon to have a healthy and happy year, to learn Torah
and make a lot of friends. 

Thank you to Shimon's parents from Pre-K Friends for great presents in honor of Shimon's Happy Birthday! May you have only naches from him!

To see this week pictures visit

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3048918017/a=148398453_148398453/

Weekly Reader

Dear Parents,
goal of Pre-K year to prepare our children to be motivated readers, explorers and learners. That is why every week we will include an issue of  Weekly Reader in children's homework. The Weekly Reader will give you a tool to help your child to develop critical thinking and early reading skills. Colorful images and age appropriate non-fiction making learning exciting and inviting. There is how to use first issue,
  • Point to the cover page, and ask how the photo and words on the cover can give clues as to what the issue is about.
  • Guide the child in turning pages. Point out the page numbers.
  • Ask what the child doing in this picture? How can you tell? What else do you notice in this picture?
  • Invite your child to talk about his or her school day. What does he or she like to do or don't like to do in school?
Enjoy the Weekly Reader together!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

This week we learned

The letter of the week is the letter F. Let's see whose names start with the letter F-
Flora- Emi's grandmother, Fira- Emi's great grandmother, Fred- Alan's father.
We need one big line and two little lines to make the letter F . When we write the letter F we start on the top: big line goes down, jumps on the top, little line on the top and little line in the middle.
To learn more about the letter F visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-f/load.htm?f
P.S. We will dedicate  the next week to reviewing two letters L and F.
We will have plenty of practice writing the letters and recognizing the sounds /l/ and /f/.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Sukkah Contest in Union Square

Attention Parents,
If you have time, there is a designer sukkah show/contest going on in Union Square Manhattan.
Check it out:
http://sukkahcity.com/
It's only happening today and tomorrow, September 19th and 20th!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Pre-Yom Kippur Highlights

Making Honey Cake:

Emy adds an egg

Alan adds oil
Shimon adds flour
Our finished product!





All dressed for the holiday:
Our friend Zaylin models off traditional Yom Kippur attire. He wears white clothing and shoes that are leather-free!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Family Pictures

Dear Parents,
we would like to ask you e-mail your family pictures, pictures of any exciting occasion that took place in your family and pictures of family members who are very close to your child to morahinna@gmail.com
We are going to use these pictures for different educational purposes:
  • having family pictures will help us to turn our classroom into a hommy and cozy place for our children
  • children will learn about each other and their families
  • children would love to talk about someone who is very close to them or share an experienced event- all of these will help them with language development
  • children will relate learned letters to the names of their relatives and friends
Thank you

Homework

Dear Parents,
Thank you for being so attentive and encouraging towards your children's homework. The homework will be given to the children twice a week. The goal of the homework is to practice and master learned skills in the classroom. In addition the children develop problem solving, critical thinking, attention, concentrating skills, and fine motor skills that will help them to become successful Kindergartners.
Here are some tips for helping your child with their homework.
  • Choose appropriate and less destractive place for your child to do homework.
  • Be patient and keep your cool. Encourage your child to try their best. Praise hard work, not perfection.
  • Encourage neatness.
  • Try to use the same language that we use in school. For example, to review the letter sounds say " The L says /l/, the L says /l/. Every letter makes the sound. The L says /l/.  Practicing writing the letter the way we learn it.  Say "Start from the top. The big line goes down. The little line on the bottom."  While the child is coloring something in, encourage him "to control the crayon and stay inside of a picture."
  • Choose a time for homework when both you and your child are not tired.  
  • Don't expect perfection! The children's fine motor skills are still developing... give it time and plenty of practice. 
  • Please do not do the homework for your child. If you see that the child needs more practice send us a note. We will discuss what should be done and how we can help. 
Dear Parents, When we work together as a team, we truly can give our children an exciting learning experience. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us.

This week we learned...

The letter of the week is the letter L. Take a look who are our "honored guests" - Leah, Ariel's sister; Leah- Yael's sister, Lena and Loren- Jacklyn's Mom and sister, Leon (Lenya)- Alan's grandfather.
Their names start with the letter L.

To make the letter "L" start from the TOP.
The big line goes down with a little line on the bottom.
To get more practice with the letter L visit http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-l/load.htm?f

Searching for the number 0. We learned that "zero" means nothing.

Yom Kippur



 Hashem loves us very much and we love him too! Before Yom Kippur we do extra mitzvos to make Hashem so happy.


Here our puppets Jessica and Samuel tell friends how they can use their words (instead of their hands.) This makes Hashem so happy! When Jessica made the wrong choice and took Samuels bowl without asking, she says she is sorry. Sorry means that we feel bad and will try very hard to make good choices next time. The next time Jessica want's Samuel's bowl, she asks him if she can have when he is finished.

Here are some other Mitzvos that we do before Yom Kippur. 


Tashlich
Our class took a trip to the ocean to do the traditional Rosh Hashana/pre-yom kippur Jewish custom of tashlich.

Alef

This week we learned our first Hebrew letter, the letter Alef!
Alef has a big slanted line and two little lines coming out of it. 
It kind of looks like an aviron, an airplane.
We have two friends in our class who start with the letter Alef: 

Ariel and Aaron!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

First Day of School!

Morning Free Play


Breakfast is important part of the day
Have you ever heard a shofar being blown?
Rabbi Avramel Okonov came to our class to blow a shofar.


 We thought it is easy to blow the shofar but it was not...

Tasting the sweetness of an apple with honey. Yum!
May all of our friends and their families have a Sweet and Healthy New Year!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Welcome to Pre-K

To our dear students and their parents,
We are very excited to welcome you to our class!
Looking forward to having a great year together!
See you on Monday!