Dear Families,
It may be snowy as can be outside, but the Owls are thinking of a symbol of warm places – coconut trees! We have begun a new unit centered around a favorite children’s alphabet book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Junior and John Archambault. In this fun, rhyming book, the lower-case letters of the alphabet climb up a coconut tree only to weigh it down and then fall out.
This book is familiar to many of the children. It’s familiarity, combined with its repetitive nature, make this an excellent book for the children to participate in during read-alouds. We also listened to the book being read by Ray Charles on CD. Being able to chime in during book reading supports young children in having fun with books as well as learning to make connections between spoken words and written text. Rhyming books that play with words, such as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, support children’s phonological awareness (or the awareness of the sounds in spoken language).
We have decided to turn the tree that we began making during our study of Tu B’Shevat into a coconut tree. This was a fun way to transition between units. We spent a lot of time working on our tree this week, and were excited to finally display it in the Dramatic Play Area. We used rollers and textured brush to paint the trunk and branches brown. It took two coats of paint to cover the tree! This was a wonderful way for the children to practice identifying the parts of the tree that we had studied during our preparations for Tu B’Shevat. The children were curious about painting inside the large cardboard tube that we are using as a tree trunk. When Nicholas did this, he remarked that he was making sap, because he knows that trees have sap inside. Finally, we had to tape many green leaves on our tree. Long-term projects such as this one help the children build meta-cognitive and organizational skills, as they learn to break down large ideas into sequential steps.
One highlight of the week as a fun new game – Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bingo. The children had a great time finding the various letters of the alphabet on their bingo mats, and shouting out bingo when they got three letters in a row! This was a fun way to practice identifying letters. As we said the name of each letter called, we practiced making its sound, and even thought of a few words beginning with that letter.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom has been a fun way to introduce the children to lower-case letters. We worked together on a large new puzzle with lower-case letters, and hung up a new alphabet poster in the book corner displaying lower-case letters. The children also played a new teacher-made matching game during our Free Play Time on Wednesday, matching upper-case to lower-case letters.
The weather has had us cooped up inside, but we have found some fun ways to move around indoors. We have been working hard to practice positional vocabulary words (up, down, next to, in front of, under, behind, etc.) and to continue to build spatial awareness. We’ve done puzzles, and figured out where to put the pieces. We’ve also played many a round of Simon Says, and moved our bodies under tables, behind friends, in front of teachers, etc. “I Spy” has also been a great way to work on these skills, as the children have tracked down toys hidden under tables, behind furniture, and even inside of other toys.
We have also been busy building the children’s writing skills this week. Dictation experiences are important to children’s writing and language development, as they see their words printed and then hear them read back to them. We have begun to use blank label stickers to offer children the opportunity to have their words written down. Journal writing, which we do once a week, is another opportunity for children to have their words recorded. This week, we read the children’s journals aloud at Circle Time. It was heart-warming to hear them all complement each other’s work.
We wish you all the best for the weekend ahead, and we wish for a little less snow next week!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Happy Tu B'shevat and Happy 5th Birthday to Noah!
Dear Families,
It has been another fun week in the Owl Room! We continued to prepare for Tu B’Shevat by studying trees. Using a felt board the children learned to identify the different parts of trees, including trunks, roots, branches, and leaves. We discussed how there are no leaves on most of the trees here in Brookline in January, but that in Israel, Tu B’Shevat comes during the time of year when buds and leaves are beginning to emerge again.
The children then created their own drawings of trees, and even labeled the different parts of their pictures. It was wonderful to discover how many details the children could include in their illustrations. At school, we often encourage the students to be sure to “do their very best work.” This helps the children to begin to reflect upon their finished projects. Even with a task as simple as a crayon drawing, giving children verbal support can help them to take their skills to a new level.
The children also had the opportunity to do a different kind of puzzle this week! On the yellow table, we laid out pictures of the life cycle of a tree (beginning as a small tree and ending with a fully grown tree), and asked the children to try to put the pictures in order. Sequencing activities such as this one contribute to children’s literacy and math skills. They learn to organize their thinking sequentially, which is important for telling and understanding stories. A sequencing activity with different sized object also helps children to build their mathematical vocabulary as well as size estimation skills, as they note the varying size of pictures and talk about them.
We also have been busy at work on a big tree for our dramatic play area. The children have painted paper green to create leaves for the tree. We are using a large cardboard tube (recycled from Morah Larissa’s new rug) for the trunk. The children suggested that their tree needed more than a trunk and leaves – it also needed branches! Luckily we found some smaller cardboard paper tubes (from rolls of paper towels) to tape onto the “trunk.” We are looking forward to painting the tree and attaching the leaves. Stay tuned for the fun ways we will use our tree…even after Tu B’Shevat! Collaborative art experiences such as this offer children a much different type of learning than when they work alone on their own projects. Working together encourages children to learn from each other, and to build on each other’s ideas and creativity. We enjoyed watching the children figure out different ways to work together to create and attach the branches to the tree.
On Thursday this week, we celebrated Noah’s fifth birthday as well as Tu B’Shevat! It was a wonderful day of celebrating. We enjoyed cupcakes for Noah’s birthday, and remembered to say “Toda Raba,” or “thank you,” in Hebrew, as we ate our yummy treat.
We observed Tu B’Shevat by having a traditional seder. Some of the children were even able to remember the last time they had a seder – on Passover last year! Like the Passover seder, we did a lot of reading, eating, singing, and drinking together. We drank four cups of grape juice, each of a different color (one white, one white with a drop of red, one red with a drop of white, and one red), to represent the four seasons. We also tasted fruits in three categories: fruits with peel that we do not eat, fruits with seeds or pits that we do not eat, and fruits that we can eat in their entirety. The children tasted oranges, bananas, apples, peaches, plums, mangos, olives, carob chips, grapes, and raisins. At school, we ask the children take one bite of a new food, even if they are sure that they will not like it. Some of the children were excited to discover new fruits that they like!
We have spent time this week focusing on a skill that is always present throughout our curriculum – learning to recognize and identify different shapes. A new toy, “Shape Finders,” has been fun to use for “Shape Walks.” The children each have a turn to carry a small wand with a shape attached, and look for their shape throughout the room. We have found circles, rectangles, squares, ovals, diamonds, and triangles. When we talk about shapes at school, we use both common vocabulary (corner and side) as well as mathematical vocabulary (vertex and edge) to talk about how we know which shapes are which. Pattern blocks and even unit blocks are great ways for children to explore their geometrical knowledge. One day, we even made a puzzle with the foam unit blocks. The teachers photocopied some of the blocks, and the children had great fun matching the three-dimensional blocks to the two-dimensional images.
We wish you all the best for the week ahead.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
It has been another fun week in the Owl Room! We continued to prepare for Tu B’Shevat by studying trees. Using a felt board the children learned to identify the different parts of trees, including trunks, roots, branches, and leaves. We discussed how there are no leaves on most of the trees here in Brookline in January, but that in Israel, Tu B’Shevat comes during the time of year when buds and leaves are beginning to emerge again.
The children then created their own drawings of trees, and even labeled the different parts of their pictures. It was wonderful to discover how many details the children could include in their illustrations. At school, we often encourage the students to be sure to “do their very best work.” This helps the children to begin to reflect upon their finished projects. Even with a task as simple as a crayon drawing, giving children verbal support can help them to take their skills to a new level.
The children also had the opportunity to do a different kind of puzzle this week! On the yellow table, we laid out pictures of the life cycle of a tree (beginning as a small tree and ending with a fully grown tree), and asked the children to try to put the pictures in order. Sequencing activities such as this one contribute to children’s literacy and math skills. They learn to organize their thinking sequentially, which is important for telling and understanding stories. A sequencing activity with different sized object also helps children to build their mathematical vocabulary as well as size estimation skills, as they note the varying size of pictures and talk about them.
We also have been busy at work on a big tree for our dramatic play area. The children have painted paper green to create leaves for the tree. We are using a large cardboard tube (recycled from Morah Larissa’s new rug) for the trunk. The children suggested that their tree needed more than a trunk and leaves – it also needed branches! Luckily we found some smaller cardboard paper tubes (from rolls of paper towels) to tape onto the “trunk.” We are looking forward to painting the tree and attaching the leaves. Stay tuned for the fun ways we will use our tree…even after Tu B’Shevat! Collaborative art experiences such as this offer children a much different type of learning than when they work alone on their own projects. Working together encourages children to learn from each other, and to build on each other’s ideas and creativity. We enjoyed watching the children figure out different ways to work together to create and attach the branches to the tree.
On Thursday this week, we celebrated Noah’s fifth birthday as well as Tu B’Shevat! It was a wonderful day of celebrating. We enjoyed cupcakes for Noah’s birthday, and remembered to say “Toda Raba,” or “thank you,” in Hebrew, as we ate our yummy treat.
We observed Tu B’Shevat by having a traditional seder. Some of the children were even able to remember the last time they had a seder – on Passover last year! Like the Passover seder, we did a lot of reading, eating, singing, and drinking together. We drank four cups of grape juice, each of a different color (one white, one white with a drop of red, one red with a drop of white, and one red), to represent the four seasons. We also tasted fruits in three categories: fruits with peel that we do not eat, fruits with seeds or pits that we do not eat, and fruits that we can eat in their entirety. The children tasted oranges, bananas, apples, peaches, plums, mangos, olives, carob chips, grapes, and raisins. At school, we ask the children take one bite of a new food, even if they are sure that they will not like it. Some of the children were excited to discover new fruits that they like!
We have spent time this week focusing on a skill that is always present throughout our curriculum – learning to recognize and identify different shapes. A new toy, “Shape Finders,” has been fun to use for “Shape Walks.” The children each have a turn to carry a small wand with a shape attached, and look for their shape throughout the room. We have found circles, rectangles, squares, ovals, diamonds, and triangles. When we talk about shapes at school, we use both common vocabulary (corner and side) as well as mathematical vocabulary (vertex and edge) to talk about how we know which shapes are which. Pattern blocks and even unit blocks are great ways for children to explore their geometrical knowledge. One day, we even made a puzzle with the foam unit blocks. The teachers photocopied some of the blocks, and the children had great fun matching the three-dimensional blocks to the two-dimensional images.
We wish you all the best for the week ahead.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
Friday, January 14, 2011
Welcome Christopher Smit!
Our week started with a bang as we held our first Show and Tell Day in the Owls class. This special event was a reward for filling up our “Good Choices” jar last Friday. We gathered in the multipurpose room and each student had a chance to sit in the teacher’s chair and share three things about what they brought to class that day. It was wonderful to hear the compliments they gave each other as they had the chance to hear all about the items. The children took such pride is sharing their precious objects with their classmates.
As we wrapped up our Bread Unit this week, we continued reading variations of The Little Red Hen, this time with the hen making a pizza. Studying multiple versions of the same story helps to build children’s critical thinking skills as they compare and contrast similarities and differences. One difference that they noticed in each version was whether or not the hen shared her baked goods with her unhelpful friends.
What would a story about pizza be without an edible prop? The children continued their passion for cooking by creating their own mini pizza bagels for snack on Tuesday – what a treat! Even a simple cooking project such as this allows the children to build their sequencing skills. For example, they learned to put the sauce on their bagel first, and then the cheese. It also nurtures the interest that four and five-year-olds have in doing “real work” and being independent.
The Owls were also excited to complete their own giant book about bread. This book contains drawings by the children as well as some of their favorite facts about bread. This was a great way for the children to express their mastery of the concepts that they had learned during this unit. Dictation is an important writing experience, as the children have the opportunity to see their words written on paper and then read to their peers. The children each dictated a fact one day, and then had an opportunity to “edit” their words the next day. This gives us an opportunity to help children to change some of the grammatical errors. For example, a child might say “I eated some bread.” The next day, during the editing process, a teacher will say, “Your wrote ‘I eated some bread. Grown-ups usually say ‘I ate bread.” Would you like to change your words?”
On Tuesday after snack, we welcomed the Bears into our classroom for a “playdate.” The Owls were able to practice being good hosts and did a wonderful job sharing our classroom space and materials with our guests. Having opportunities to play with our slightly younger friends encourages the children to be role models and to “teach” their friends what they know. We were honored to be able to read our bread book with the Bears at Circle Time. We encourage you to come in and check out the giant book for yourself.
Morah Larissa has introduced the skill of pattern recognition this week during Morning Meeting and Circle Time. Children have been invited to recognize and reproduce patterns made of concrete objects, an important pre-math skill that can be easily replicated at home. Please ask Morah Larissa if you would like some guidance with this activity.
While we were slammed with our first school-day blizzard mid-week, the Owls didn’t skip a beat as they returned to class on Thursday eager to learn about our next unit: Tu B’Shevat. This holiday, which begins at sundown on Wednesday the 19th, celebrates the birthday of the trees. The students worked on many tree-related activities throughout the day, including leaf rubbings, learning a new reverse numerical tree poem, painting with pinecones, and adding paper leaves with what they know about trees to our own classroom tree. Before our break for lunch, the Owls collected objects from around the room (i.e. pencils, blocks, cars, books) and sorted them into two categories: items that come from trees and those that don’t. The children are learning just how much trees do for us. At Circle Time that afternoon, they continued to recognize rhythm and rhyme in poetry in the reading of It’s Tu b’Shevat by Edie Stoltz Zolkower.
On Friday, we began to delve deeper into how trees (and other plants) grow and the beauty of seeds. We read the classic story, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and continued our interpretive readings by acting out the text. We will be doing our own planting next week and the children are looking forward to our Tu B’Shevat seder and tasting all of the delicious foods associated with the holiday.
We are all so excited to welcome Cristopher Smit and his family to the Owls classroom. We hope this week’s weather hasn’t made their transition from the Netherlands to Boston too difficult! It is great to see the children include him in their playing and teach him all there is to know about being an Owl. His beautiful smile is a wonderful addition to our class!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
As we wrapped up our Bread Unit this week, we continued reading variations of The Little Red Hen, this time with the hen making a pizza. Studying multiple versions of the same story helps to build children’s critical thinking skills as they compare and contrast similarities and differences. One difference that they noticed in each version was whether or not the hen shared her baked goods with her unhelpful friends.
What would a story about pizza be without an edible prop? The children continued their passion for cooking by creating their own mini pizza bagels for snack on Tuesday – what a treat! Even a simple cooking project such as this allows the children to build their sequencing skills. For example, they learned to put the sauce on their bagel first, and then the cheese. It also nurtures the interest that four and five-year-olds have in doing “real work” and being independent.
The Owls were also excited to complete their own giant book about bread. This book contains drawings by the children as well as some of their favorite facts about bread. This was a great way for the children to express their mastery of the concepts that they had learned during this unit. Dictation is an important writing experience, as the children have the opportunity to see their words written on paper and then read to their peers. The children each dictated a fact one day, and then had an opportunity to “edit” their words the next day. This gives us an opportunity to help children to change some of the grammatical errors. For example, a child might say “I eated some bread.” The next day, during the editing process, a teacher will say, “Your wrote ‘I eated some bread. Grown-ups usually say ‘I ate bread.” Would you like to change your words?”
On Tuesday after snack, we welcomed the Bears into our classroom for a “playdate.” The Owls were able to practice being good hosts and did a wonderful job sharing our classroom space and materials with our guests. Having opportunities to play with our slightly younger friends encourages the children to be role models and to “teach” their friends what they know. We were honored to be able to read our bread book with the Bears at Circle Time. We encourage you to come in and check out the giant book for yourself.
Morah Larissa has introduced the skill of pattern recognition this week during Morning Meeting and Circle Time. Children have been invited to recognize and reproduce patterns made of concrete objects, an important pre-math skill that can be easily replicated at home. Please ask Morah Larissa if you would like some guidance with this activity.
While we were slammed with our first school-day blizzard mid-week, the Owls didn’t skip a beat as they returned to class on Thursday eager to learn about our next unit: Tu B’Shevat. This holiday, which begins at sundown on Wednesday the 19th, celebrates the birthday of the trees. The students worked on many tree-related activities throughout the day, including leaf rubbings, learning a new reverse numerical tree poem, painting with pinecones, and adding paper leaves with what they know about trees to our own classroom tree. Before our break for lunch, the Owls collected objects from around the room (i.e. pencils, blocks, cars, books) and sorted them into two categories: items that come from trees and those that don’t. The children are learning just how much trees do for us. At Circle Time that afternoon, they continued to recognize rhythm and rhyme in poetry in the reading of It’s Tu b’Shevat by Edie Stoltz Zolkower.
On Friday, we began to delve deeper into how trees (and other plants) grow and the beauty of seeds. We read the classic story, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and continued our interpretive readings by acting out the text. We will be doing our own planting next week and the children are looking forward to our Tu B’Shevat seder and tasting all of the delicious foods associated with the holiday.
We are all so excited to welcome Cristopher Smit and his family to the Owls classroom. We hope this week’s weather hasn’t made their transition from the Netherlands to Boston too difficult! It is great to see the children include him in their playing and teach him all there is to know about being an Owl. His beautiful smile is a wonderful addition to our class!
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
Friday, January 7, 2011
The Block Corner and "Social Stories"
Dear families,
Happy New Year! It has been a joy to watch the children return from their vacation. It is remarkable how much the children have all grown since September. They have all acquired so many new skills this year: writing their names, using words to solve problems between friends, counting with one-to-one correspondence, saying blessings before lunch and snack, and sharing their ideas with each other.
We continue to work on filling up our “Good Choices” jar. This has really made the social and emotional expectations of the classroom more concrete for many of the children. They have internalized many “good choices” that might yield a reward of putting fruit in the jar. For example, they know that they will get to put a piece of fruit in the jar if they share a toy with a friend or help a friend to clean up a toy. Our primary goal is to support the children in using verbal skills, emotional resilience, and flexibility to solve their own interpersonal conflicts. These are wonderful skills for children to have not only for kindergarten, but also the years ahead. Having a group reward further nurtures the children’s learning of these skills. Our next reward for filling up the jar will be having a “Show and Tell Day.” This will come very soon -- we will be in touch over e-mail. The children will be encouraged to bring in a very special object from home -- a favorite book, a family photograph, or a stuffed animal would be wonderful. We have already told the children that the toys will stay in their cubbies and that we won’t allow any toys that make noise or can turn on and off. These parameters will help the children to choose something that is truly special and reflects their rich lives at home, rather than a favorite toy.
We have been particularly supporting the children in their play at the block corner this week. The block corner is a popular area of the room, and it is a great area for the children to build their cooperative play skills as they work to build together and negotiate decisions. We have used a “Social Story” to reinforce some of the strategies that we would like the children to learn to use in the block corner. A “Social Story” is a book (created by Morah Larissa, in this case) that introduces, in the first person, the expectations for social interactions in a particular situation. For example, in our “Block Book,” the children listen to a page that says, “I think of a plan before I start my building,” and see a photograph of children playing in our block corner. We are working with the children on planning their work (which reinforces meta-cognitive skills), on communicating their ideas with each other, and on coping during a disappointment, such as a falling block structure. We are happy to send home copies of this and other Social Stories with families if you are interested in reinforcing these skills at home. Please let us know if you are interested.
We have continued with our study of bread this week. On Wednesday, we pretended to take an airplane trip to Ireland. We made four-leaf clover collages, read an Irish folk tale, and even made our own loaf of Irish Soda Bread. The children have really learned about the chemical reaction created when baking soda is mixed with an acid (the reaction that causes quick breads to rise). They were, however, a little disappointed that there was no “explosion” when we mixed together the dry and wet ingredients when making the dough for our bread. We did see some bubbles though!
On Thursday, we created a graph of all of the kinds of bread that we made in our class during this unit. Can you believe that we have made five kinds of bread? The challah was the most popular, followed by the crumpets that we made and tasted. Reading a graph together allows us to build important mathematical vocabulary words, including more than, less than, greater, and fewer.
We have begun to study a popular fable this week: The Little Red Hen. We read one version of the story multiple times. Reading a book multiple times is crucial in the literacy development of young children. When children remark that they have already heard a book, we remind them that re-reading a book is a “strategy” that “good readers” use. Multiple readings deepen children’s comprehension of a book and are a great way to reinforce new vocabulary words. During our “re-readings,” we acted out the book! The children took turns being the hen, the mouse, the cat, and the dog. This was a fun way to participate in the book, and a great way to reinforce tricky vocabulary words.
Later in the week, we read a second version of The Little Red Hen. Studying multiple versions of the same story helps to build children’s critical thinking skills as they compare and contrast similarities and differences. On Friday, we will see what happens to the Little Red Hen when she goes to a kibbutz in Israel! Next week, we will even read about the Little Red Hen making pizza!
Our study of the Little Red Hen has provoked an interest in farm animals among the children. We have introduced farm animals in our block corner, and have also introduced new plastic farm animals that are great for sorting. Sorting is critical to children’s math development, as they begin to notice multiple attributes. It is also important for literacy development, as children build vocabulary through sorting. Sorting is also an important skill for reading. In order to recognize a range of marks as letters, children must be able to sort them. They also need to be able to sort unfamiliar words into word families.
We wish you all the best for the weekend ahead.
Shabbat Shalom.
-- Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
Happy New Year! It has been a joy to watch the children return from their vacation. It is remarkable how much the children have all grown since September. They have all acquired so many new skills this year: writing their names, using words to solve problems between friends, counting with one-to-one correspondence, saying blessings before lunch and snack, and sharing their ideas with each other.
We continue to work on filling up our “Good Choices” jar. This has really made the social and emotional expectations of the classroom more concrete for many of the children. They have internalized many “good choices” that might yield a reward of putting fruit in the jar. For example, they know that they will get to put a piece of fruit in the jar if they share a toy with a friend or help a friend to clean up a toy. Our primary goal is to support the children in using verbal skills, emotional resilience, and flexibility to solve their own interpersonal conflicts. These are wonderful skills for children to have not only for kindergarten, but also the years ahead. Having a group reward further nurtures the children’s learning of these skills. Our next reward for filling up the jar will be having a “Show and Tell Day.” This will come very soon -- we will be in touch over e-mail. The children will be encouraged to bring in a very special object from home -- a favorite book, a family photograph, or a stuffed animal would be wonderful. We have already told the children that the toys will stay in their cubbies and that we won’t allow any toys that make noise or can turn on and off. These parameters will help the children to choose something that is truly special and reflects their rich lives at home, rather than a favorite toy.
We have been particularly supporting the children in their play at the block corner this week. The block corner is a popular area of the room, and it is a great area for the children to build their cooperative play skills as they work to build together and negotiate decisions. We have used a “Social Story” to reinforce some of the strategies that we would like the children to learn to use in the block corner. A “Social Story” is a book (created by Morah Larissa, in this case) that introduces, in the first person, the expectations for social interactions in a particular situation. For example, in our “Block Book,” the children listen to a page that says, “I think of a plan before I start my building,” and see a photograph of children playing in our block corner. We are working with the children on planning their work (which reinforces meta-cognitive skills), on communicating their ideas with each other, and on coping during a disappointment, such as a falling block structure. We are happy to send home copies of this and other Social Stories with families if you are interested in reinforcing these skills at home. Please let us know if you are interested.
We have continued with our study of bread this week. On Wednesday, we pretended to take an airplane trip to Ireland. We made four-leaf clover collages, read an Irish folk tale, and even made our own loaf of Irish Soda Bread. The children have really learned about the chemical reaction created when baking soda is mixed with an acid (the reaction that causes quick breads to rise). They were, however, a little disappointed that there was no “explosion” when we mixed together the dry and wet ingredients when making the dough for our bread. We did see some bubbles though!
On Thursday, we created a graph of all of the kinds of bread that we made in our class during this unit. Can you believe that we have made five kinds of bread? The challah was the most popular, followed by the crumpets that we made and tasted. Reading a graph together allows us to build important mathematical vocabulary words, including more than, less than, greater, and fewer.
We have begun to study a popular fable this week: The Little Red Hen. We read one version of the story multiple times. Reading a book multiple times is crucial in the literacy development of young children. When children remark that they have already heard a book, we remind them that re-reading a book is a “strategy” that “good readers” use. Multiple readings deepen children’s comprehension of a book and are a great way to reinforce new vocabulary words. During our “re-readings,” we acted out the book! The children took turns being the hen, the mouse, the cat, and the dog. This was a fun way to participate in the book, and a great way to reinforce tricky vocabulary words.
Later in the week, we read a second version of The Little Red Hen. Studying multiple versions of the same story helps to build children’s critical thinking skills as they compare and contrast similarities and differences. On Friday, we will see what happens to the Little Red Hen when she goes to a kibbutz in Israel! Next week, we will even read about the Little Red Hen making pizza!
Our study of the Little Red Hen has provoked an interest in farm animals among the children. We have introduced farm animals in our block corner, and have also introduced new plastic farm animals that are great for sorting. Sorting is critical to children’s math development, as they begin to notice multiple attributes. It is also important for literacy development, as children build vocabulary through sorting. Sorting is also an important skill for reading. In order to recognize a range of marks as letters, children must be able to sort them. They also need to be able to sort unfamiliar words into word families.
We wish you all the best for the weekend ahead.
Shabbat Shalom.
-- Morah Larissa and Morah Kate
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