Friday, December 18, 2009

News from Miss Gloria's Class: 12/18/09


“Nes gadol hayah sham”
Friday, December 18, 2009 Letter of the Week: L

Last week, we continued to learn about Hanukkah through stories and songs. We read Chanukah Lights Everywhere, written by Michael J. Rosen, Hanukkah by Roni Schotter, and What is Hanukkah? by Harriet Ziefert. Our Hanukkah art projects were making a handprint menorah, Letter C for candles, and a clay menorah with two candles, one shammash candle and one candle for the first night of Hanukkah. This week, on Monday, we read Hanukkah Lights by Ben Lakner. This book tells about the miracle of Hanukkah and how the oil for the Temple's menorah, which was only enough for one day, lasted for eight days. Hanukkah Lights also tells how to light the menorah and how to play the dreidel game. For our art project, the boys and girls made latkes sizzling in a frying pan. Each day this week, we lit the Hanukkah candles and said the Hanukkah blessings to celebrate the holiday.

On Tuesday, we read Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights by Leslie Kimmelman. This book tells how Hanukkah is celebrated in the home. For letter L, the boys and girls thought of words that begin with L, such as, lollipop, legs, lamb, lion, library, love, lettuce, letters, lights, and our friends, Lily, Lila, Leila, Lane, Lucas, and Leo. For our letter L art project, the children made Hanukkah lights on the letter L. First, they painted the letter blue and placed colorful tissue paper squares over the paint. The letter L was made with holes so that the light would shine through the paper.

On Wednesday, the journal group put dreidels on their page and the story group read Beni's First Chanukah by Jane Breskin Zalben. In this book, Beni celebrates the "best Chanukah ever". In yoga class, Miss Kim asked the children to find objects in the room that were in the shape of a circle. The boys and girls played "Yoga Simon Says" and they took an imaginary trip to the park. They posed as bicycles, a sliding board, and a seesaw. They also had a picnic lunch where they made large sandwiches and sipped a big drink through a straw. At the end of each class, the children say "namaste" to their friends for having a great yoga session.

On Thursday, we read A Blue's Clues Chanukah by Jessica Lissy. Blue and her friends celebrate traditional Chanukah activities like playing the dreidel game, eating latkes, lighting the menorah, and singing songs. For our letter L project, the boys and girls made lobsters.

On Friday, we read The Hanukkah Mice by Ronne Randall. In this book, the mice are in search of the Hanukkah lights. They discover the chocolate coins, sparkling dreidels, delicious doughnuts, special gifts, and on the last night, they find the beautiful menorah with all of the candles aglow. For the art project, the children made Hanukkah cards.

*Thank you to Sam, Jonah A., Lucas, Lila, Alex, Marisol, Maya, and Simon for being our super "kids of the day" for the past two weeks.
*Thank you to all of the parents who attended the Parent Teacher Conferences. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to speak to all of you.
*The Playschool will re-open on Monday, January 4, 2010.
*Our second trip to the Art Museum will be on Tuesday, January 12. Please let us know by Friday, January 8 if your child will be joining us. Parents are most definitely welcome on the trip, too. We will be having lunch at the museum. All lunches should be packed in a bag that is disposable.
*When the Philadelphia Schools are closed because of inclement weather, the Playschool will also be closed. This information can be found on the TV, radio, or on the School District of Philadelphia's website.
* Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year.

Miss Gloria, Miss Allison, Miss Sophie, Miss Mindy and Mr. Noah

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Happy Holidays from the Pre-K!



Hello Friends, Family and Special Grownups!


The Pre-K'ers have been learning about Hanukkah and Winter these past 2 weeks of school.


This week we made marvelous mittens, a hand menorah, and some pretty dreidels!

We also lit the Menorah for each night of Hanukkah!



We have been counting down the days until our winter break, and have been hard at work practicing our letters and numbers before we leave for our break!


Miss. Vanda came for drama, and the kids had a great time acting out one of our favorite classroom books .."If You Give A Pig A Pancake!"


Books We Read This Week:




Eight Nights of Hannukah- Rosen


The Rugrats Book of Chanukkah- Sarah Wilson



The is the Dreidel- Frye and Levine


What is Hanukkah? Harriet Zeifret


Chanukkah Lights Everywhere- Rosen Iwai




We would like to wish Ben and Molly Katzen, and Max Ladenson a very happy 5th Birthday!!



Also a Big THANK YOU to Michael Ladenson, our great Royal Reader this week!!




Winter Break will begin on Monday, Decemeber 21st. School will resume on Monday, January 4th.




Stay Tuned for information about our fieldtrips coming up in 2010!


Please also be aware of your Royal Reader date for the new year. A copy is hanging outside of our classroom if you would like to refer to that!




Hope Everyone has a very happy, healthy and enjoyable holiday and new year!


See you in 2010!!




=-) Miss. Ali
















Friday, December 4, 2009

News from Miss Gloria's Class: 12/04/09


Friday, December 4, 2009 Letter of the Week: H

On Monday, we learned letter H words, such as hair, hat, hungry, hippo, horse, head, hug, and house, and we also began to learn about Hanukkah. We read Sammy Spider's First Hanukkah by Sylvia A. Rouss. This Sammy Spider adventure tells how Sammy learns about Hanukkah. He learns how to spin a dreidel and how to light the Hanukkah menorah. Mrs. Spider surprises Sammy by spinning him eight very special gifts. For our art project, the children made candle headbands that they can wear at the Hanukkah Happening. We sang "I Have a Little Dreidel" and the boys and girls had fun trying to spin dreidels. They found it to be quite challenging, but we will keep on trying.

On Tuesday, we read Hooray for Hanukkah! by Fran Manushkin. In this book, the Hanukkah menorah becomes brighter and brighter as each of the eight nights of Hanukkah are celebrated. For our letter H art project, the boys and girls decorated the letter H with latkes, a dreidel, and a menorah. They used hot pink paint and glitter to decorate the letter H. We learned more songs for Hanukkah and tried spinning the dreidels once again.

On Wednesday, the children, in the journal group, colored a picture of a dreidel and the children, in the story group, read Hungry Harry by Joanne Partis. Harry, the frog, is so hungry, but he has a difficult time trying to catch his dinner. The dragonfly is too quick, the snail is too clever, and the worm is too squiggly and squirmy. Finally, Harry finds a delicious dinner just waiting for him. In yoga, Miss Kim asked the children to name their favorite yoga pose as they practiced yoga breathing. The children took an imaginary yoga trip to the zoo. The boys and girls played a new yoga game where they put a cottonball in the palm of one hand, blew on it, and their partner tried to catch the cottonball before it fell to the floor.

On Thursday, we read This is the Dreidel by Abby Levine. This book tells how Hanukkah is celebrated in the home. The menorah is lit each night, latkes are eaten, dreidel games are played, families get together to celebrate the holiday, and gifts are often exchanged. For our art project, the children made dreidel decorations.

On Friday, we read The Magic Hat by Mem Fox. In this book, a wizard's hat moves like this, and it moves like that. As it moves through the air, the hat lands on the heads of people and changes them into animals. For our art project, the boys and girls made dreidel men to display in the Social Hall for the Hanukkah Happening on Sunday.



*Thank you to Simona, Simrin, Julian, David, and Michael for being our super "kids of the day" this week.
*Our Hanukkah Happening and Playschool Open House will take place on Sunday from 11 AM to 1 PM. For the celebration of Hanukkah, we will have dreidel games, arts and crafts, music, and homemade latkes for all. We hope to see all of our Playschool families there!
*Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on Wednesday, December 9 and Thursday, December 10. There will be no classes on both of these days. Teachers will be available to watch the children during your conference time. The sign-up sheets are on the door.
*There will be no Afterschool Arts on Tuesday, December 15. All children will be dismissed at 12:30 PM.
*The last day of Playschool, before the winter break, will be on Friday, December 18. The Playschool will re-open on Monday, January 4, 2010.
* Next week, we will learn letter C and sing songs, read books, and make art projects for Hanukkah. The first night of Hanukkah is Friday, December 11. Have a great weekend and we hope to see you at the Hanukkah Happening!

Miss Gloria, Miss Allison, Miss Sophie, Miss Mindy and Mr. Noah

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Hello From Pre-K!

Hi Moms, Dads and Special Grownups!




We had a great week back from our Thanksgiving Break. This week and the continuing weeks our unit is Winter Weather. We made some beautiful snowflakes, illustrated a winter weather storybook, and even made a yummy marshmallow snowman!




We also made some beautiful Hannukah decorations for our Hannukah Happening Party on Sunday!




We were happy to see Miss. Vanda again, and did a super job acting in drama class!




Books We Read This Week:


"Oh Can You Say What's The Weather Today?" Tish Rabe


"All You Need For A Snowman"-Alice Schertle


"Is That You Winter?"- Stephen Gammell


"Prize in the Snow"- Bill Easterling


"The Snowman Storybook"-Raymond Briggs






Thank you to Deb Glassman and Morris "Zaide" Glassman, our fantastic Royal Readers this week!




Some Reminders**




Playschool Hannukah Happening Party is this Sunday, December 6th from 11am until 1pm. Please join us for fun, food and games!




Parent/Teacher Conferences will be on Wednesday, Dec 9th and Thursday, Dec 10th. Please make sure you check out the time you have signed up for. There will be NO SCHOOL for children on these days, but childcare is avaliable during your scheduled conference in Miss. Gloria's classroom.




There will be no Afterschool Arts club on Tuesday, December 15th.



Winter Break begins on Monday, December 21st. Classes Resume on Monday, January 4th.






Enjoy Your Weekend!


Miss. Ali