LETTER OF THE WEEK: J
Welcome back to the Playschool and Happy New Year! On Monday, we read City in the Winter by Eleanor Schick. In this book, school is closed because of a blizzard. A young boy enjoys his opportunity to spend the snowy day with his grandmother. He eats a good breakfast, cleans his room, makes an art project, eats an indoor picnic lunch, walks through the deep snow, helps his grandmother make dinner, and then, he waits for his mother to come home from work. He has quite a busy snow day! For our art project, the boys and girls worked on a group project to paint a snowstorm. The boys and girls learned that now we are beginning the brand new year, 2011. They enjoyed wishing each other “Happy New Year” and “Happy 2011” as we sang, “The More We Get Together”.
On Tuesday, we began learning letter J. We learned these letter J words: January, jump, jog, jacket, juggle, jelly, jaguar, jet, our friends, Jacob, Jakob, Jordan, and Jack, and our teacher, Miss Julia. We read Jeanette and Josie by Claude Lager. When Jeanette got out of bed in the morning, everything seemed to be going wrong for her. She slipped on the carpet and broke the lamp. She stepped on the toothpaste tube and made a mess. She spilled her hot chocolate on a clean tablecloth. Once it began to snow, Jeanette went outside to play and she made a new friend in the snowstorm. For our letter J art project, the boys and girls painted the letter with purple paint to make the J look like jelly. The children practiced jumping and they also jogged around the classroom for letter J movement exercises.
On Wednesday, the children in the journal group colored a picture of a Weather Bear and the children in the story group read The Snowman Storybook by Raymond Briggs. In this book, James dreams that his snowman has come to life. When he awakens, he is disappointed to find out that his dream is finished and his snowman has melted in the bright sunlight. In yoga, Miss Kim asked the children to tell her what they did over the winter break as they raised and lowered the yoga ball. The boys and girls did more yoga breathing as they practiced blowing through a straw. As they blew through the straw, each child held a cotton ball at the end of the straw and they used their breath to make the cotton move. The children went on an imaginary trip to the jungle. Some children took turns posing as jungle animals as the other children in the group tried to guess what pose they were making.
On Thursday, we read The Night Before New Year’s by Natasha Wing. On New Year’s eve, a brother and sister are determined to stay up until midnight. They play cards, look at family photos, eat cupcakes, and take a walk so that they can stay up to welcome in the New Year. As the time is approaching, they just cannot stay awake and they make a New Year’s resolution to stay up for next year’s New Year’s eve celebration. For our art project, the boys and girls made two flowers that begin with letter J. One is called a jacinth, a reddish blue or deep purple flower commonly known as a hyacinth, and a jonquil, also known as a daffodil. We did aerobic exercises to the music on Preschool Aerobic Fun by Georgiana Stewart.
On Friday, we read Snip, Snip… Snow! written by Nancy Poydar. In this book, Sophie makes paper snowflakes while she anxiously waits for it to snow. Once it begins to snow, she sees the beauty in the snowflakes and learns that no two snowflakes are exactly alike. The letter J art project was to make a boy or girl jumping rope.
*Thank you to Maya, Giacomo, Maddie, Carly, and Brendan for being our super “kids of the day” this week.
*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.
*Please have your child try our Afterschool Arts Clubs. This week, on Monday, the boys and girls peeled and baked apples, on Tuesday, they learned about mixing oil and water, on Wednesday, the art project was to make a winter goose after reading Grandmother Winter, on Thursday, they rode scooters and played obstacle course games, and on Friday, the boys and girls celebrated Shabbat with the afternoon Pre-K Class.
*The Playschool will be closed on Monday, January 17 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
*We will be going to the Art Museum on Tuesday, January 25. More information will be given out next week.
*SHS will be having a Havdalah Pajama Party on Saturday, January 29 from 6 PM — 7:30 PM. Family and friends are invited to join together to mark the end of Shabbat. There will be songs, a story, and hot cider and cookies. Don’t
forget to wear your pajamas. More information will be available soon.
*Reminder: Please donate non-perishable food items to Philabundance. The collection box is located in the Lawrence Courtyard foyer.
Have a great weekend! Next week, we will learn letter C.
Miss Gloria, Miss Chloe, Miss Julia, Miss Mindy, and Mr. Noah
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