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
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