Ms. Terri: NCECA Exhibitions 2010

Hello All,
Happy Spring! I wish you all a restful Passover break.
I am hoping to see you at this year's NCECA festivities.
Perhaps you may be able to catch one of the two shows in which I will be participating.
Here's a Link to NCECA.
There is great work this year.
Hope you get to see it!
Warm regards,
Ms.Terri

News from Miss Gloria's Class: 03/19/10

Friday, March 19, 2010 Letter of the Week: Y

On Monday, we read Little Star by Antonin Louchard. Little Star is a starfish who wonders about all of the places where it can live. Little Star can live in the ocean, on the shore, flying towards the sun, and above the stars. This is a beautifully illustrated pop-up book that has Little Star traveling high and low to find its home. The theme of our art museum trip is Art and the Sea (A High Seas Adventure!). For our group art project, the boys and girls made three ocean murals using paint, glitter, and foil. We also read Fish, by Missy Kavanaugh and Sarah Gurman. This book shows a collection of brightly colored ocean fish.

On Tuesday, at the museum, we looked at paintings of the sea. The boys and girls saw beautiful seascapes by Claude Monet and Fish Magic by Paul Klee. The children also enjoyed two hands-on activities. Our tour guide asked the boys and girls shake a blue glittered fabric like the waves in the ocean. They also created a stormy ocean scene and a calm ocean scene using pieces of felt placed on a felt board. We read Water by Frank Asch. In this book, we learn that water is all around us.

On Wednesday, the journal group made a frog for Passover to put on their page. Frogs were one of the ten plagues brought upon the Egyptians. The story group read Happy Passover, Rosie by Jane Breskin Zalben. In this book, Rosie celebrates Passover with her family. Happy Passover, Rosie tells about the afikomen, the seder plate, and the Four Questions that ask, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" In yoga, Miss Kim asked the children to practice yoga breathing and to tell the other children what they like to do in the spring. The boys and girls played "Yoga Freeze Tag" and they took an imaginary trip to the forest where they posed as lions, snakes, dogs, frogs, and giraffes.

On Thursday, we read Matzoh Mouse by Lauren L. Wohl. This book tells how a young girl could not resist eating chocolate-covered matzoh before the holiday of Passover. For our art project, the boys and girls made afikomen covers. 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. Next week, the children will be taking home their afikomen covers with a special treat inside.

On Friday, we read Passover! by Roni Schotter. This rhyming book tells how Passover is celebrated in the home beginning with cleaning the house, cooking the Passover meal, reading from the Haggadah, hiding the afikomen, and then, finding the afikomen. For our art project, some children painted their afikomen covers and the other children made frogs.

*Thank you to Katherine, Tommy, Michael, and Jordana for being our super "kids of the day" this week and for Alex, Maya, Max, and Avery for being our super "kids of the day" next week.
*Thank you to all of the parents who accompanied us on the trip to the Art Museum. The last trip will be on Tuesday, May 11.
*Our Passover holiday break will begin on Friday, March 26. We will return back to the Playschool on Wednesday, April 7.
*Summer camp applications are now available. Camp begins on Monday, June 7. Please let us know if your child will be attending.
*Next week, we will continue to learn about Passover by reading more books and learning more songs, we will learn letter Z, and we will make flowers for our spring bulletin board.
*Here are some other important dates to mark on your calendars:
Friday, April 23 - Spring Shabbat Dinner
Wednesday, May 5 and Thursday, May 6 - Parent Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, May 19 and Thursday, May 20 - The Playschool will be closed for Shavuot
Thursday, May 27 and Friday, May 28 - Playschool Graduations
*Have a great weekend! Happy Spring! Happy Passover! See you on Monday!

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

Class News From Pre-K Week of March 15th

Hello Everyone!

These next two weeks our unit will be Passover! We have read many great books about the holiday, and made some beautiful projects! We made an matzoh cover, baby moses, wrote in our journals and even made a crazy matzoh man!

We have covered so many letters in our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks, and are getting close to completing the whole alphabet

We have had some practice adding and subtracting, and are getting great at writing out our numbers.

Our class performed an award winning play last week in drama, and we were so excited and honored to have all of our parents and Miss. Gloria's friends come to see us perform! A big THANKS to Miss. Vanda for working so hard with us to make our play a success!!

Thanks A Million to Andrea Layden, our Royal Reader this week!

* Spring Break will begin on Friday, March 26th. There will be no school that day. We will return back to playschool on Wednesday, April 7th

Our field trip to the Arden Theatre will be on Tuesday, April 20th!

Wishing Everyone A Warm and Wonderful Weekend

Miss. Ali

Friday, March 12, 2010 Letter of the Week: Y

On Monday, we read Sammy Spider's First Passover by Sylvia A. Rouss. Sammy Spider learns how the Shapiro family celebrates Passover by preparing for the seder. The seder is the dinner that is held on the first two nights of Passover. During a seder, the story of the Jews' freedom is told, prayers are said, and songs are sung. We also have been reading about the story of Passover in My Very Own Haggadah by Judyth Robbins Saypol and Madeline Wikler. This book is a simplified seder sevice written for preschool children. For our art project, the boys and girls made seder plates. On the seder 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 The Way to Captain Yankee's by Anne Rockwell. Miss Calico decides to visit Captain Yankee. She tries to find his home by following a map. Unfortunately, she gets lost. She looks at her map again and follows it carefully to find Captain Yankee's home on Pebble Point. We learned these letter Y words: yes, yak, yoga, yesterday, yogurt, yawn, yell, yo-yo, yellow, yarn, yard, yummy, and you. For our letter Y art project, the boys and girls made a yak, a long-haired animal used to transport goods through the mountains.

On Wednesday, the journal group made an xray using a black X and chalk on their journal page and the story group read What is Passover? by Harriet Ziefert. This lift-the-flap story tells how Passover is celebrated in the home. In yoga, Miss Kim asked the children to name their favorite animal as they practiced yoga breathing. Today was yoga game day and the children played "Red Light, Yoga Light", "The Dog and Snake Game", and "Pass the Yoga Ball".

On Thursday, we read This is the Matzah by Abby Levine. Matzah is the flat unleavened bread that is eaten during Passover. The eating of matzah reminds the Jewish people of their ancestors' quick departure from slavery in Egypt when they could not wait for the bread to rise. For our project, the boys and girls made their name tags for the trip to the Art Museum. We had the fabulous opportunity to see the children in the Pre-K class perform an original play called, "The Snow Princess Witch from the Sky Finally has a Birthday". The children chose their own original characters and their drama teacher, Miss Vanda, developed and wrote the play using these characters. The story takes place in a small neighborhood toy store where the toys come to life. The goal of the toys is to have a birthday party for the Snow Princess Witch so that she will be happy and experience the joy of having a birthday party. All of the children did a fantastic job, and maybe, someday, we will see them on Broadway!

On Friday, we read Dinosaur on Passover by Diane Levin Rauchwerger. In this book, an enthusiastic dinosaur visits a family for Passover. For our art project, the boys and girls made locusts to add to our Passover bulletin board. Locusts were one of the ten plagues brought upon the Egyptians.

Have a great weekend,
Miss Gloria, Miss Allison, Miss Sophie, Miss Mindy and Mr. Noah

Pre-K Play Excerpt!

News from Miss Gloria's Class: 03/05/10

Friday, March 5, 2010

Letters of the Weeks: Q and X

On Monday, February 22, we practiced singing the songs that we will sing during our Purim Parade. The boys and girls will sing about King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, Mordechai, and Haman. Also, they will sing about hamantashen, a triangle-shaped pastry filled with fruits, poppy seeds, or chocolate. We read Goldie's Purim by Jane Breskin Zalben. For our art project, the boys and girls made king and queen crowns. On Tuesday, we learned these letter Q words: queen, quiet, quack, quick, quilt, quarter, and q-tip. We read Sylvia Jean Drama Queen by Lisa Campbell Ernst. For our letter Q art project, the boys and girls decorated the letter Q with a queen. On Wednesday, the journal group decorated their page for Purim and the story group read Thump, Quack, Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. In yoga, Miss Kim asked the children to name their favorite thing that can fly. They practiced some stretching yoga poses and took an imaginary yoga trip to the forest.

This week, on Monday, the children did a fabulous job performing the songs that they have worked so hard to learn. They looked great in their costumes and they felt very proud to be performing for all of you. Thank you very much for bringing in all of the luncheon foods and for supporting our programming in the ways that you do. We read I. Q. Goes to School by Mary Ann Fraser. This book tells how I.Q., the classroom pet, waits patiently to become the "student of the week" in his class.

On Tuesday, we learned letter X and the words, xylophone and xray, and words that have an X in them such as, fox, mix, taxi, exit, excellent, exercise, six, fix, box, and our friends, Max and Alex. We read Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems. Everyone knows that dinosaurs are extinct until they meet Edwina. For our letter X art project, the boys and girls decorated the letter X with an xylophone.

On Wednesday, the journal group made an xray using a black X and chalk on their journal page and the story group read Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox. In this book, Hattie the Hen spots danger, but the goose, pig, sheep, horse, and cow are not afraid. When the animals see that a fox is nearby, the cow comes to their rescue by sounding a loud, "Moo". In yoga, Miss Kim began the class with yoga breathing and asking each child to name what they like to snuggle with. Our imaginary yoga trip was to go to the desert.

On Thursday, we read An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni. This book tells how Jessica, the frog, finds what she thinks is a large stone, but it turns out that it is really an alligator egg. For our art project, the boys and girls painted a ceramic gift for Passover. The ceramic projects make great keepsakes of your child's preschool days.

On Friday, we read Max by Rachel Isadora. In this book, Max finds a way to warm up for his Saturday morning baseball game by going to his sister's dance class. For our project, some children painted their ceramic Passover gift and the other group of children made a map, with X marks the spot, for the hidden treasure.

*Thank you to Sam, Jack, Lila, Marisol, Simona, Avery, and Leila for being our super "kids of the day" for the past two weeks.
*The delicious hamantashen that we served for Purim can be purchased at Eiselen's Pastry Shoppe in Roxborough. The store is located in the Ivy Ridge Shopping Center on Ridge Avenue and Domino Lane.
*Our third trip to the Art Museum will be on Tuesday, March 16. Please let us know by Friday, March 12 if your child will be attending.
*Our Passover holiday break will begin on Friday, March 26. We will return back to the Playschool on Wednesday, April 7.
*Summer camp applications will be sent home soon.
*Next week, we will learn about letter Y and Passover.

Have a great weekend!

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