News from Ms. Gloria's Class, March 27, 2009

Friday, March 27, 2009 Letter of the Week: A

On Monday, we read Sammy Spider's First Passover by Sylvia A. Rouss. Sammy Spider learns about the Passover seder and finding the afikomen at the Shapiro's holiday dinner. Our art project was to make a Passover seder plate. On the plate is a hard-boiled egg, which represents a sign of new life, the lamb bone, to represent the lambs that were killed to mark an X over the Hebrew homes, salt water, which stands for the tears shed by slaves, parsley for the spring, bitter herbs for the bitterness of slavery, charoset which represents the mortar used to make bricks, and matzah, the bread that did not have time to rise when the Hebrews left Egypt.

On Tuesday, we read A is for Art Museum by Katy Friedland and Marla K. Shoemaker. In this alphabet book, we read each letter as it told about a piece of art or a location in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The boys and girls recognized some of the art and the rooms in the museum from their visits. For our letter A art project, the children put A animals, ant, anteater, and alligator, on their letters. They painted the letter A using aquamarine colored paint.

On Wednesday, one group of children read Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres. This colorfully illustrated book shows how some vegetables grow above the ground while others grow below the ground. The other children colored frogs for their journal entry. They sang, "Frogs here, frogs there, frogs are jumping everywhere". In yoga, Miss Kim asked the children to name their favorite fruit as they practiced yoga breathing. They played "Red Light, Yoga Light" and made yoga poses for frogs and dinosaurs. The boys and girls jumped 25 times on their imaginary pogo sticks to and from their river bank destination. They also posed as crabs, butterflies, and the warm, golden sun.

On Thursday, we read Matzoh Mouse by Lauren L. Wohl. This book tells how a young girl conld not resist eating chocolate-covered matzoh before the Passover holiday. For our letter A art project, the boys and girls made imaginary animals with unusual heads, bodies, tails, and legs.

On Friday, we read Dinosaur on Passover by Diane Levin Rauchwerger. For our art project, the boys and girls made afikomen covers. Next week, they will take them home with a special treat inside. The afikomen is the piece of matzah that is hidden by the leader of the seder, the Passover meal. After the seder, the children search for the afikomen, and the child who finds it, wins a prize.

*Thank you to Brooke, Laura, Jonnah, Hayden, and Jack F. for being our super "kids of the day" this week.

*The children have been learning songs for Passover. Please ask them to sing the songs for you.

*Please sign-up for summer camp as soon as possible. Our enrollment works on a first come - first served basis until we have a full enrollment. Camp begins on Monday, June 8 and runs through Wednesday, July 29. We have flexible options for camp scheduling.

*In looking forward to April, the Playschool will be closed from Monday, April 6 through Friday, April 17 for Passover. The Playschool will resume on Monday, April 20. Our Spring Shabbat Dinner will be held on Friday, April 24. A class picture will be taken on Monday, April 27. All children should attend so that they are in the group picture. Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30. Our fourth trip to the Art Museum will take place on Tuesday, May 5. More information will be forthcoming.

*Next week, we will learn about letter E and Passover. Have a great weekend!
Miss Gloria, Miss Allison, Miss Lily, Miss Sophie and Miss Mindy