Chanukah and Dr. Seuss

We had Chanukah fun by playing dreidel, made menorahs and Chanukah decorations. We invited the parents in for a Chanukah party where the children did fun math games and science experiments. Furthermore the children helped make yummy latkes and apple sauce.

Our Menorahs 

In the midst of learning all about Chanukah we also had an author study. Our author was Dr. Seuss and we mainly focused on his love of rhyming. While reading his books we listened for the rhymes that he used in the book. We also practiced our own rhymes. We then made our own Chanukah rhyming book. Each child got to write out the word that they rhymed and drew a picture interpreting what their page described.

                   

Our full rhyme book was:

Chanukah is finally here, It's our favorite time of year
King Antiochus made the Jews feel mad, But in the end they were no longer sad
Judah Macabee was so strong, He showed King Antiochus that his rules were wrong
The oil was meant to last one night, But for eight nights the oil continued to light 
It is such a special sight, To see the Chanukah candles burn so bright
Each night we sing the bracha out loud, Everyone is just so proud 
With the dreidel I get to play, I made this one out of clay
I like to watch the dreidel spin, Maybe this time I will win
Golden latkes go in my tummy, Oh boy, are they so yummy
Sufganiot and gelt we get to eat, It is such a special treat 
Chunakah present we get to enjoy, Maybe it will be a new toy
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, Chanukah is so great
Chanukah is so much fun, I get sad when it's all done. 

Painting Class 1

We took a look at Van Gogh's Starry Night and noticed the swirling lines he used to convey movement. We made our own swirly night sky by finger painting with blue paint and we added gold glitter to create  starlight. 

Painting Class 2

 This week we learned about Paul Cezanne, who was known for painting still lifes.He would paint many common objects found around him (ex. fruit and flowers). We then created our own still lifes, by looking at a bowl of fruit and painting what we saw. 

Painting Class 3

This week we looked at Wayne Thiebaud's Three Machines. We decided to make our own gumball machines using crayons for the machine and dot paint to create the gumballs.  

                  

Thanksgiving

This week we have begun to focus on Thanksgiving. We learned about the Teepees (that the Native Americans lived in. We learned that the Native Americans used many colors and patterns to decorate their beautiful homes. To have the children have a full experience of teepees we constructed their own life size teepee. The children helped by decorating a sheet of butcher block paper with different colors and patterns. 

We decided it would be fun to investigate a pumpkin. We each had a turn to feel and smell the outside and inside of the pumpkin and described what we saw and felt. 

We decided to leave a few seeds inside the pumpkin and we added soil and water to our pumpkin. We are conducting an experiment to see if anything will grow. Only time will tell. We plan on taking such good care of our pumpkin. We will water it and sit it by the windowsill to give it sunlight. 

We also made Thanksgiving turkeys to share with our families, saying what we are thankful for. 

We finally, at the end of our week, shared a Thanksgiving feast with the class next door. We ate candied yams, pumpkin pie, roasted potatoes, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It was all delicious. 

Painting Class 

This week we created Mondrian inspired art. We glued on black strips of construction paper and painted with primary colors.

Painting Class 2

This week we did not paint. It was the day before Thanksgiving and I wanted all the children to be able to take their artwork home for the long weekend. We learned about how Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. We then, with Cray-pas, created our own artwork using the same technique. We made our own pictures by coloring underneath the tables instead of on top!

Fall

This week we have been focusing on the changing of the season. The weather changes and the trees start to look different. The leaves on the trees are changing colors and falling to the ground.  We asked the children to bring in leaves and we sorted them so many different ways: color, shape, and size.

 After sorting the different types of leaves we looked up the different names for the leaves in the book Awesome Autumn by Bruce Goldstone. 

We read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and made predictions of where Leaf Man was going to travel next in the book. As a fun art project the children created their own leaf man using leaves cut out from fall color construction paper. After assembling their leaf man they got to write where the wind was going to take him. This gave us an opportunity to have the children practice writing. 

   

Since the wind took Leaf Man to all kinds of interesting places we decided to next focus our attention on wind. We read The Wind Blew and we explained that when air moves it is called wind. Air is invisible to the human eye and impossible to feel until it moves. We asked the children to hold up a hand in front of their mouth and blow into it. This way they were able to feel the air.  We did a science experiment using straws and various objects, including: pom poms, leaves, Legos, a tissue, and a block. The children experimented, by blowing through a straw, to discover which items they were able to move with their breath (the wind) and which items they were unable to move. 

Lastly, we baked leaf shaped sugar cookies.

Painting Class

This week we focused on Andy Warhol. We specifically concentrated on his Marilyn Monroe series. We noticed that he used repetition and bright colors. We then created our own pop art work. 

 

Noah's Ark

This week we focused on Noah's Ark. In conjunction with the water of the flood, we did a wonderful science experiment. Noah’s ark was built of wood. Why? In order to find out why we conducted a Sink or Float experiment and we charted our predictions and results. 

     We also learned that Noah lined the different animals two by two and brought them into the ark as pairs. We played a matching game with pictures of different types of animals. The children took turns matching/pairing their animals to their friends’.

     For a project, each child decorated their own rainbow and raindrops. On each raindrop the children shared something nice that they can do for friends and family. We want to make sure we treat others nicely, just like Noah did.

We then learned how rainbows are made. We read What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Schwartz and did a science experiment, using a flashlight and a CD. We discussed that the sun (our flashlight) contains all of the color of the rainbow and when the sun passes through the water (the CD) the colors separate and we see a rainbow. We first turned off our classroom lights, and then turned on the flashlight, and then the light refracted off the back of the CD in order to create a lovely rainbow. 

        Additionally, we baked yummy rainbow cupcakes!

Painting Class

This week we focused on Pablo Picasso and his “Blue Period.” Picasso was sad during this period and chose to express himself through painting with blue. We noticed that he used a variety of blue shades and we decided to make our own expressive “Blue Period “ masterpieces.

Creation

       We worked on Creation for two weeks. We began by focusing on the Day 1. We closed and open our eyes to give a concrete example of dark and light. As a fun activity we gave the children black and white finger paint and let them mix the colors to explore the different shades they create when mixing them. We also focused on opposites. We played a matching game by matching pictures of dark/light, up/down, short/tall, hot/cold, etc.
            
        For Day 2 we read the book Little Cloud, by Eric Carle and then we created a collage, using tissue paper, separating the sky and the water. We also learned about how clouds absorb the water from the earth and then produce rain.  In order to make the concept more concrete we conducted a science experiment with the children. We took a clear bowl of water and added blue food coloring to make it look more like ocean water. We dipped cotton balls into the water and watched the cotton ball absorb the water. When we removed the cotton ball from the water we squeezed and watched as the water emptied out of the cotton ball (looking like rain).

         We then moved on to Day 3, when Hashem created grass, trees and flowers. We created our own trees – we used our strong hands and fingers to squeeze glue onto the pages and place a tree trunk, tree branches, and colorful leaves into place. We decided how many branches to use by rolling a die, identifying the number of dots, and then counting out the appropriate number of branches! This is a game that you can do at home with different items to help your child develop and fine-tune his/her number sense and math skills. We additionally discussed the changing of the seasons. We reviewed the four seasons and what differentiates them from each other.   
         
         This week we also concentrated on the number 7. We reviewed and counted the days of the week, as well as discovered different ways to make 7 using the counting bears. For example:  if there are five bears, how many more would we need to make seven? The children all really enjoyed counting and adding.

        We continued our unit on creation. We began by focusing on Day 4, Hashem created things which give us light. To give us light during the day, Hashem created the sun. To give us light at night, Hashem created the moon and the stars. We enjoyed discussing some things we do during the day versus things we do at night. We took out our class globe and discussed how the entire world does not get to see the bright sun or beautiful stars at the same time of day. The children learned that while some parts of earth are waking up and getting ready to start their busy day the other side of the world is getting ready for bed. To make this concept more concrete we lit a flashlight and spun the globe. The children were able to see that as the globe turned the flashlight stayed in one place, like the sun, and was not able to shine on all the parts of earth. For our Creation collage the children used metallic paper suns and moons and foam starts to represent night and day.

         Day 5 was when the creatures of the sky and water were created. Can you think of some things which live in the water? Can you think of some things which live in the sky? What do fish have to live in the water? What do birds have so they can fly in the sky? We compared and contrasted these creatures and made a chart of which creatures live where. We also used feathers and fish stickers to fill in the page of day five in our collage. 
         
      On Day 6 Hashem created the animals that roam the earth plus people, mainly Adam and Eve. We concentrated on sorting the different pictures and categorizing them by where they live. Which animals live on a farm? Which animals live in the jungle?  Of course after Hashem worked so hard and created everything in the world, Hashem was tired, and so he rested. Hashem had Shabbat on Day 7 – a day of resting from work, a day of peace and quiet. To celebrate Shabbat in our classroom we had a special pajama party in class.

Song of the week:

Creation Song

(Tune to "This Old Man")

Hashem created the world so fine

He did it all in 6 days time.

How did he do it?

What did he do?

Each day he made something new.

Painting Class 1

We got introduced to Jackson Pollock and his “Drip Period.” We viewed various paintings of his and examined the different colors and techniques that he used. We then emulated his painting style by creating our own beautiful Pollock-esque work. 

Painting Class 2

We viewed a few of Wassily Kadinsky's paintings. We noticed that he used many different shapes. We especially noticed all of the circles he used and then made our own circle print artwork. 

Yom Kippur & Sukkot

With the upcoming holiday of Yom Kippur we decided it would be appropriate to focus our attention to the topic of friendship. This week our class discussed what it means to be a friend and what friends can do with each other. The children gave us answers, such as, “Sharing toys with our friends”, “going outside to play”, and “reading books with each other”. We learned that being a friend means having to sometimes share and work together. In a large group we read the children the book Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni we then paired the children up in groups of twos and had them create a collage with using blue and yellow materials. This allowed the children to interact with friends they may have not gotten the chance to interact with yet. 

  

 To continue our theme of friendship the children also got a chance to create friendship bracelets using beads. Each child got to choose two different colors and create a pattern for the bracelet. The children worked hard on their bracelets to make sure that their friends receiving them would enjoy them.

This week we have also started learning about the exciting new holiday coming up – Sukkot! We spent time this week decorating our class sukkah with colorful fruits and vegetables.  and paper chains. It is so beautiful!

For math we focused on shapes. We talked about all the different shapes we can find in a sukkah and then we made our very own, using various shapes. We used a square as our sukkah, a circle as a table, rectangles for bamboo, ovals for leaves, and triangles for chairs. We made our sukkahs in a large group, following step by step directions. Everyone did such a great job! We had even more shape fun by playing musical shapes. As we played music the children danced, when the music stopped we called out a shape and the children had to find that shape on the rug. We had a lot of fun!

Song: 

(Tune of Ole my darlin’ Clementine)

You take the Lulav and the Etrog and you shake it all around.

You shake it this way; you shake it that way,

You shake it up and you shake it down.

Painting Class 

This week we viewed Georgia O'Keeffe's Red Poppy painting. We examined the colors O'Keeffe used and we practiced our brush strokes.

Rosh Hashana

This week we all learned about the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashana. We focused on the colors of apples and learned about the blowing of the shofar. We learned that Rosh Hashana is a celebration of the world’s birthday. We had the children create beautiful New Year’s cards and had them dictate to us what they wished for themselves for the coming up New Year. 

This week we did some collaging with glue on an apple cut out with red materials. This was great fun, and a good way to learn about colors; and what a wonderful way for us to strengthen our fine motor skills as we picked up small pieces of paper and place them on glue, which we squeezed out of glue  bottles with our strong hands! We also passed an apple around and described the way it looked and felt. The children gave us some great answers, such as, “its round”, “smells sweet” and “it’s smooth." We learned about where apples come from, and we predicted what color the inside of an apple is and what might be inside an apple. 

This week we learned about estimating. The children were paired in groups of two and asked to estimate how many apples tall they thought they were. After they made their predictions they lied on the carpet and had their assigned partner measure them with the apples. The children had a lot of fun guessing how many apples tall they were and measuring their friends.

We conducted an apple taste test where each child tasted a red, yellow, and green apple. Then each child chose which color apple was their favorite and then we graphed the results.  Believe it or not, there was a three way tie! Next, we moved on to honey. We baked delicious honey cake and sent a piece home. Each child had a turn to mix, stir, measure, and pour ingredients. We then charted what food we like to eat with honey. So many children said “apples.” How appropriate! 

We then experimented with sound. Last week we learned that there are three different sounds that the shofar makes and we got to learn the names of them; Tekiah (one long sound), Teruah (three separate sounds), Shevarim (nine small sounds)  This week we listened to the different sounds of the shofar, counted the blasts, and compared the different sounds that the shofar makes. Is it long or short? Is it high or low? Is it soft or loud? We then attempted to emulate the sounds, by blowing into our hands.

Songs of the Week 

"Five Little Apples"

5 little apples growing on a tree

5 little apples growing, I see.

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came an apple- Mmm, was it good!

Now how many are left? (4,3,2,1…) 

"Dip the Apple"

Dip the apple in the honey make a bracha loud and clear Le Shana tova U’metukah have a happy sweet new year (tune of ole my darling Clementine)

(Tune to “Wheels on the Bus”)

 The Shofar in the shul goes toot, toot ,toot

 Toot, toot, toot; Toot, toot, toot

 The shofar in the shul goes toot, toot,

 On Rosh Hashana morning

PAINTING CLASS

We looked at Georges Seurat's famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte, where he used the painting style called Pointillism. We then painted our own pictures, by using Q-tips to create a similar style to Seurat.