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