Our Community -Transportation

This week Pre-K friends discussed what transportation is and how people use it in our community. Friends said that transportation is something that moves people or things from one place to the other. To see what kinds transportation is used in our community we went on the walk.  We saw buses, trucks and even a police car, but everyone agreed that a car is the most used form transport.  

Some people use bicycle to get around.

But some people use trains. We decided to explore how trains work and took ride to Coney Island Avenue station. First of all we learn that for all things that we need or want, we pay.To get on a train, Morah bought a metro card that cost $2.25 for a ride. We waited for a train on the platform. There is a big map on the platform where we checked what train we need to get to the Coney Island Avenue, there are speakers that  an operator uses to announce changes in train schedule. There are benches where we sat while waiting the Q train. We noticed yellow  lines on the platform that warn people to stay away from the edge. 

Finally we got on the Q train. At the time it was not crowded and everyone had a seat on the bench.

There is a map in the train as well. Chava Evalyn showed Queens on the map.

When we arrived on Coney Island, we were surprised to see many trains. We saw the F, N, Q, and D trains.Trains on one track moved in one direction and trains on the other track moved in a different direction. 

We noticed that trains have many cars. Each car is linked to the next car. We counted 12 cars connected to each other in one train.   

What a trip! We wanted to take the train to other places but it was time to come back to the school.  

In the class, we discussed what we saw on the trip and draw pictures of it.  

Literacy Month

This week we were happy to welcome our parents.

Ron's mom read the book about Paris, France.  

Friends learned that people just like you and I live in Paris.

Chava Evalyn's mom read us book about a Jewish family who while preparing

for Passover realized that they have enough room for all guests but Only Nine Chairs.

Yonni's dad read the book "Moonless Night" in Hebrew. It was great experience for Pre-K friends.

Leah, Ariel's sister, read his favorite book " Ten Little Monkeys: Jumping on a Bed".

Alan's mom read us the book about tornadoes.

At the end of this week, we got a surprise bag with sign "Pre-K".

All friends were curious about the bag. We were very surprised to see A lot of New Books!

 THANK YOU,dear Pre-K parents, for an excellent gift!

We can't wait to start reading these books! It is the best surprise ever!

THANK YOU!  

Our biggest thank you to all parents who made Pre-K Literacy Month into the great experience!

  You should know that even thought this Monday is the last day of the Literacy Month our door is always open for you. Pre-K friends are looking forward seeing you in our class!

Meet the Illustrator Ann Koffsky

On Tuesday, a big surprise awaited us - we met a real illustrator, Ann Koffsky. She told us that there are lot of people in charge of making books: the author, the illustrator and the publisher. When an illustrator gets a story it looks very boring - only words. The illustrator reads the story very carefully. Her job is to draw pictures that will match the story. How does she do it? First, she plans what should be in the picture.

                                Then she does the research. Ann's illustrations to the book are about cousins - One lives in America and other in Israel. Ann made a research about how American and Israeli houses look like , and what are American and Israeli traditional food.

The draft is ready. There is only one more thing to add- color. Ann told us that colors like people have feelings. Blue- sad, black - angry, there are happy colors- yellow, green, orange, red.

This final draft became the cover of the book. 

If you are interested in more information about Ann D. Koffsky, please visit her website.

http://annkoffsky.com

Parshas Vayakhel

http://torahtots.com/parsha/shmos/vayakel2.htm

Shabbos Box

Our Shabbos box items have begun to come in! We already have our:
~Candles
~Tzedaka Box
~Challa Board
~Shabbos Book
~ Shabbos Table Companion
We hope to send home the Shabbos box by next Friday, March 4rth.
If you haven't sent in your item yet please try to have it in by Thursday, March 3rd.
Thanks for your cooperation!

LIteracy Month

This week we welcomed Nosson's mom in our class. She came to read one of Nosson's favorite books. Nosson bought "Sara finds a mitzva" a book in our Book Fair and instantly it became one of his favorites.In the story,when Sara finds a little toy duck forgotten by someone on top of a mailbox, she and her grandmother start a search for the owner that takes them from place to place. The Torah teaches that we should make every effort to return lost items to their owners. This mitzvah, Hashavas Aveida, is one that Pre-K friends can appreciate.  

Emy's mom came to read Emy's favorite book " My Very Own Name". The story tells about how animals participated in naming a newborn owl. Each of the animal brought a letter to make a name. An elephant brought the letter  E, a moose brought the letter M, an alligator brought the A and so on. When all letters were collected the little owl was named, and the name was Emanuel Khodorkovsky.  It was fun to read this book, to see familiar letters and learn about animals.

Don't talk to strangers

Pre-K Friends discussed a very important matter of safety! We learned 4 strager rules:

1. Stay an arms reach and step away from strangers. Stand up, back up and run to soemone who can help you if you feel afraid.

2. Don't talk to strangers.

3. Don't take anything from strangers- not even your own things.

4. Don't go anywhere with someone you don't know.

Dear Parents, here is a rhyme that will help your child to memorize the stranger rules.

Strangers are people
whom you don't know
if they come too close
just get up and go.

Don't talk to strangers
and don't take a ride
if they try to touch you run fast and hide.

Find someone you know
or run to a store
if your parents aren't home
try the neighbor next door.

Don't walk alone
when you're out and about
and if someone approaches you
give a loud shout.

Sometimes strangers
look fine and okay
whatever they offer
you just say, "No way."

Tell someone you trust
and tell them fast
remember the place
the stranger was last.

Community Helpers- Police Officers

On Thursday, we had special visitors in our classroom- Police Officers. Before we met our guests we put our heads together to think what a Police Officers job is. Here is what our friends said, They take bad people to jail. (Zaylin)                They give tickets. (Nosson) They give tickets for driving fast. (Chava Evalyn)                               They save people. (Yonni)                                  We also thought of questions we want to ask police officers. Police officers Mike and Jerry were very kind to answer all our questions.

Jacklyn asked: "Why did policemen come to our classroom?"

Police Officer Jerry said that they came to tell friends about their responsible job in our community. 

 Shimon asked :"Why did they become policemen?"

PO Mike said that he always wanted to help people. PO Jerry said that he become a police officer just like his dad.

Alan asked: " Why do you have guns?"

POs said that they carry guns to protect themselves and protect other people from some people who don't make right choices.

Yonni, Zaylin and Aaron wanted to know " How do policemen save people?"

PO Mike said that when they get a 911 call they rush to the place where the help is needed. 

Emy asked: "Why policemen bring bad guys into the jail?" 

POs said that by being in jail these guys have time to think about what they did. 

Nosson and Ron wanted to know "Why policemen give people tickets?" 

PO Jerry said that it is another way to make people think about right choices, and teach them that before they do something they need to stop and think.

Zaylin and Ariel wanted to know if police officers ever saved an animal.

PO Mike shared a story when he found a lost dog that was wondering on a street. He took the dog to a pound ( animal shelter) where all lost animals placed until their owners are found.

Police officers Mike and Jerry invited us to see their police car. A police car is supplied with a radio, and  flashing colored lights. Red lights mean EMERGENCY! Police men turn them on to attract the attention of other road users: drivers and people on streets. In addition to visual warnings, most police cars are also fitted with sirens, which can alert people and cars of the presence of a police car. We were so lucky to get into the police car and to test the siren and lights.

Thank you police officers for stopping in our classroom and answering our questions.

This week we learned

The letter A week was super exciting for Pre-K friends!  We learned that Aaron's, Alan's, Ariel's and Alisa's names start with the letter of the week! Ron and Alan were especially happy to share with their friends that their moms names start with the letter A.

Our devoted treasure hunter Ron brought an Apple to share with all friends:)

Thank you, Ron:)

To make the letter A one needs two big lines and one little line. Start from the top a big line slides down, jump onto the top, a big line slides down, and a little line in the middle. We practiced making the letter A using cookie dough.
We learned that the letter A likes to smile. When we say "A" sound we smile and say /a/ like in Apple, Apricot, Ant, Alan, Ariel, Anna, Add, and Africa .

To review the letter A go to http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-a/load.htm?f

To preteach the letter V go to http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/letter-v/load.htm?f
The Parents "V" Treasure Guide: vase, van, vacuum, vaseline, vest, violin, vegetables, volcano, velvet,vitamin, video

Highlights of the week

  The gym is always fun for Pre-K friends. Friends were teamed up. They tested their strengths. It was a test of strength, will and teamwork. Pull, Pull, pull, and have a great time. 

Playing with Community Helpers toys, friends create life scenarios where help of firemen and policemen was needed. Friends built a firehouse and police department for community helpers.   

Apricot Jam Cookies for snack! Delicious! 

What can be better than self-made cookies? Do you know that by making cookies you can teach your child social skills of sharing, math concepts of counting, measuring and shapes. To make these cookies, friends rolled the dough, shared one cookie cutter to make circles, then with the Morah's help they used plastic knives to cut out wanted shapes in some of the circles (if you look carefully, you can see triangles, diamonds, and rectangles), spread apricot jam, and covered with shape-cut circle. 

These cookies were a big success among Pre-K friends! Not a crumb left!    

Samach

This week we are learning the letter samach. Samach looks like a circle with two big curves.

   

A samach is a circle shape just like a seder plate.

 Our mnemonic was seder plate samach.

Other words that begin with the word Samach is:

Sukkah

A sofer is the person whom writes Torahs and Mezuzahs. He uses a quill (feather) and ink to write the Torah.

 A Siddur is the book with different prayers that we can say to Hashem.

Attention! Library Books!

Dear Pre-K Friends,
Our friend Shimon cannot find his two library books and his library card that was placed in an envelope within these books. One book is about Dora the Explorer, and other book he can't recall the name.
We are asking you for help! Please, check the library books your children borrowed and see if may be by accident they took Shimon's books home. If you find them, please place them in Shimon's cubby! We would appreicaite your help very much!  

Literacy Month - First Week

Literacy Month is gaining speed! Exciting events have happened this week in Pre-K. On Monday, Zaylin's mom read  "Curious George in the Big City." In the story, George got lost. Pre-K Friends put their heads together to think what would they should do if they, chas veshalom, get lost. What would be the right choice? One friend said that they need to find a policeman and tell him about.  All friends absolutely loved the part of the story where George jumped out of the box to surprise his friend with theYellow Hat.

On Tuesday, we went to the Book Fair. Before going to the sale, we discussed what would be the way to choose the right book. First, we look at the cover of the book and think what this book could be about, is it something that we want to read about? Then we take time to look through the pictures to see if it matches our prediction. Everyone had a great experience choosing the book to buy. Thank you, Moms and Dads, for supporting our Book Fair Experience.

On Wednesday, we visited the Brooklyn Central Library. We joined the Mazel Elementary School friends for the Reading Program where a librarian told us how to use our library cards. She read some books to us that we had the great pleasure of listening and learning a song about ravioli.  Then we choose books to borrow, checked them out and went back to school.

On Thursday, Yonni's mom came to read  the book "Library Lion." This story is about a lion who starts visiting the local library but runs into trouble as he tries to both obey the rules and help his librarian friend. From this story we learned that it can be ok to break rules when you need to help your friend. We love reading and we love our parents even more! We can't wait to see more parents coming to our class for reading!!!

Mazel Tov Aaron!

                               Mazel Tov to our dear friend Aaron!

He turned five years old! Our friends wished Aaron a lot of toys, to have a Birthday Cake, to have a lot of friends and to learn Torah! The Morahs wished Aaron to be healthy and do a lot of mitzvas!
Thank you to Aaron's parents for the presents to our Pre-K friends as well as the book about baby animals for our class library. May you have nachos from Aaron!

Nun Sofis

Nun Sofis has a little line on top and an extra big line that goes down.

The word Niggun (song) ends with a nun sofis. A niggun is a Jewish song that often has no words and very connected to the Neshama (soul) of the person who composed it. This week we listened to lots of niggunim.

Here is an example of a niggun below:

http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/764366/jewish/Bnei-Heichalah.htm

Our Community- Construction

Community is a group of people who live and work together. Some people live in buildings, some people live houses. In class, we discussed how a building is different from a house. Friends said that the difference is in the size. Morah pointed out that other difference is how many families can live in a house and in a building. Friends said that about 100 families or more can live in a building and only one or two families live in a house. Who builds buildings and houses? Everyone knows! BUILDERS! In class we talked about what goes on during construction. Concrete is poured to make a foundation, walls are built, pipes are laid, and wires are connected. We noticed that there different types of jobs within a construction crew who have different responsibilities. Jobs may include architects, engineers, carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, and painters.

Morah told us that architects are the people who get the idea and plan how a house will look like, how many rooms it will have, how tall it will be, and what shape it would take.

Architect Ron designed his house for his family and a pet Rhino.

Architect Alan designed his house for his grandmother, mother, father and him.

Parshas Tetzaveh

http://torahtots.com/parsha/shmos/tetzave2.htm

Events for Parents

There are two very worthwhile events coming up for parents this month:

1)  Next Thursday - Our school literacy specialist, Myra, is coming to school to speak to parents at 7:30 in the evening. She will be speaking about literacy, reading to kids, and how to choose books!!!!!

http://new.evite.com/?utm_source=yahoo_mail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=host_conf#view_invite:eid=0320AARBSZI3CI7JQEPAGM5WEFUYXU

2) On the last Wednesday of the month - the 23rd of February, Rabbi and Mrs. Chani Okonov will be hosting the second Parenting Discussion Group.  It's for MOMS and DADS!!!  The topic will be about how parents deal with our children's misbehavior: "When They Don't Listen"

Here's a link to the event posted on facebook with all info:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174184705958446&index=1

 

We hope you all can make it!

PTA

Dear Parents,
Please be advised that we will be having Parent-Teacher meeting next Tuesday, February 15th. Meetings are fifteen minutes long from 4:30 until 7:45 P.M. Please sign up for an appointment on the sign-up sheet on the left side of our classroom door.
Thanks for your cooperation.

Highlights of the week

Right to the top!

Our Friend - ER Dr. Zhanna

R is for Ron and for Red Rubber Boots, Red Pants, and Red Shirts :)

Building Beis Hameidash

Rosh Hodesh Rally "Make a Right Choice" game

Shma Israel!