We send an email to families each day to talk about the school and each class' activities. Here are some recent samples of the Today We. Please note that for this webpage, we have abbreviated each child's name to just their first initial in the interest of privacy.
TODAY WE: February 18, 2009
I was quite honored to be invited to the Soosim’s Art Gallery opening. To see their work, which began with a visit to the J’s Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery Home Plates exhibit, grow to this is amazing. Their visit sparked an interest in galleries and questions about them, (for example: do they all look the same and have the same art inside?). Tal and Kendall took a small group to the Edison Place Gallery to show another example of a gallery space. They spoke with our Gallery director (Wendy) and the Edison Place Gallery Coordinator (Anna), both of whom were gracious in answering the many questions the children had. It has grown from there to a small group of children wanting to create their own art gallery in the classroom; we like to encourage small group work as an integral part of implementing a Reggio curriculum. M and Y curated the exhibit, and many of the Soosim contributed pieces to it. Tal worked with the curators to hang the pieces, and the class decided to have a gallery opening to invite the Soosim parents and special guests to view the work. Tonight’s gallery opening, a grape juice and cheese reception, will be a great culmination of the process so far. However, we imagine that it might inspire other classes to visit and perhaps create their own with the advice of the Soosim, particularly Yasha and Miriam.
The Soosim would also like to invite you to come visit the Soosim Art Gallery (you can follow the arrows they, cut out and hung around the building) when you have a chance. It’s lovely to see the work and the documentation of the process (i.e. how they got from there to here).
Warm regards,Sarah
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SOOSIM (PreK) "Horses"Teachers: Dena Kahn and Tal Oxenberg
What a day! First, it snowed and later, we have the official opening of our art gallery. Very cool! After watching the snow for a bit, we began our day by reading three chapters in the Magic Tree House #6.
After that, we headed straight to the gym. We played hockey and used the scooters and even played a little lacrosse. Once back in the classroom, we had our meeting. We noticed that we had never put the opening of the gallery on the calendar, so that was the first thing we did. Then, we practiced our dates. Today, Dena challenged the class a bit by choosing random days on the calendar and asking volunteers to state the date. Everyone did very well. After our meeting, we had snack and went to work! Some worked with Tal to finish preparations for tonight, and some worked on the tree we started making last week out of bark, cardboard, pipe cleaners and other found materials. Others played alphabet bingo with Dena.
Another group was playing in the dress-up area, and another group built space ships out of blocks and played Star Wars. Dena discovered a Star Wars web site for kids, and we played some trivia games on there. We also watched a clip of how filmmakers use story boards to plan out the film before shooting. They draw pictures of the scene, write notes about dialogue and take notes about how the scene should be shot. Lunch time came quickly. We ate and played a game, sort of like 20 Questions. It was fun. We read the rest of Yakov and the Seven Thieves before rest time. Now, we are either still resting or playing with Dena's yoga pretzel cards. In a few minutes, we'll all be up and finishing preparations for tonight. See you then!!!
ZVI'IM (4 year olds) "Deer"Teachers: Alexandra (Alex) Grossberg and Alexandra Wurlitzer
This morning the Zvi'im began the day with the usual free choice play.
It was a bit crowded at the light table with D, G, F, Y, E, O and J, but we were all playing together nicely. The boys were playing Fraggle Rock, which has quickly become a popular game (based on the TV show) in our classroom. S, C and D were busy whipping up oatmeal in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. Before snack, we sat down to read one of our classroom favorites—Corduroy. A joined us just in time to catch the end of the story. After finishing our story, we sat down to a snack of cheese and raisins.
Then, we were so excited to see snow falling this morning that we decided to create some snowflakes, which somehow then evolved into masks. D and E then began a conversation about Purim, and decided they wanted to dress up as Tinkerbell and a spider. After so much sitting, we knew it was time to burn off some energy so headed down to the gym! After nap, we decided to read a new book called A Sense of Shabbat by Faige Kobre. It had great real life pictures of all the aspects of celebrating Shabbat, which sparked a lot of curiosity in everyone. So, after finishing the story we went around and asked, “What do you find special about Shabbat? What special ways do you celebrate Shabbat at home?” Based on what we each shared, and some of the questions some of us had, we are going to spend some extra time tomorrow preparing for Shabbat on Friday. Until tomorrow, have a relaxing evening!
Check out the bulletin board in the Preschool Lobby for samples of our latest art work. Some are sketches of flowers with watercolors and others are sketches of various items in the room.
PEELIM (3 1/2 year olds) "Elephants"Teachers: Laura Caplan and Hilary Levinson
We began this morning with free choice time. J spent some time in the mail center, and E, M and C played in the dress up area (with firefighter hats and hardhats). S and C played with the blocks.
We cleaned up and sat down on the carpet for morning meeting. We talked about how it was snowing this morning, but if it warms up, the snow will turn to rain. Then, we did our handshakes (first time serious, second time silly) and counted our friends.
Before small group work, we decided to read two books. First, we looked at J’s bird book. We read a few small parts, one about bird eggs and one about baby emperor penguins. Then, we read J’s Berenstain Bears book about their messy room. Many Peelim said that they have that book, too.
After our stories, we went to our stations. A, M and J started in the snack area (we’re still working on serving ourselves our own snack). M, C and S began in the sketching area; they worked on sketching scenes from out post office field trip. In the mail center, J, M and J wrote letters to their classmates.
After our small group work, we cleaned up again and sat down on the blue carpet. We read part of J’s Circus book, and then we went down to the gym. The Peelim played with the basketballs and volleyballs and raced each other around the gym.
After the gym, we came upstairs for lunch. Then, we had some visiting time. J and J hung out on J’s cot, and A and M hung out on A’s cot. J, C and M visited with each other.
Soon, it was time to read our story and turn out the lights. After nap, we’ll have snack, and then we’ll get to choose our very own stamps to use in the mail center. We’ll use these stamps in lieu of a name—to both address and sign our letters.
GIRAFIM (3 year olds) "Giraffes"Teachers: Jennifer Carmel and Hannah Rosen
Today we started out the day by reading some books on the rug. Then, we had some free choice time. J, N and G built a Metro bus; it had wheels, doors and seats for the passengers, but then it fell down. They thought it was really fun, so they decided to build another and knock it down. B joined them in knocking down the bus and then he, J and G built goose-neck cranes, logging trucks and dump trucks out of the blocks and construction vehicles. B and J discovered that they both loved Buzz Lightyear and went around the classroom pretending to be Buzz and a dinosaur. They switched off who played which character. Z, M, P, N, L, A, M and J listened to Jennifer making up stories, with their names in them.
After cleaning up, we sang our welcome song and then we talked about our upcoming visitors. As we talked about yesterday afternoon, J's Papa, Jacob is coming in tomorrow to talk about Puerto Rico. J gave us a little preview about Puerto Rico at circle time. She told us there are "rocks on the beach." This let us know that there are beaches and places to swim in Puerto Rico. She also told us that they speak English and Spanish in Puerto Rico. Before we got up for snack, we each got a chance to see where Puerto Rico is on our globe.
For snack, we had milk and cereal with raisins and then we had little time to read stories on the rug by ourselves before going to the dance studio. We had a lot of fun skipping, hopping, playing with balls and dancing in the dance studio. Afterwards, we came back to the classroom for lunch and nap.
After nap, we are going to have snack and then free choice time, before cleaning up for circle time. After circle time, we are going to either motion commotion or the gym to get our giggles out.
TIGRIM (2.5 year olds) "Tigers"Teachers: Lindsay Jones and Claudia Logan
Today we started our morning playing with magnet blocks to build space ships and also we made a very long train tracks for our trains. Then it was time for clean-up and circle time where we read the story Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct (our plants Edwina and Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie are named after characters in this book). When we were done with Circle Time, we had snack and then went to Motion Commotion where Lindsay and Claudia created a new set-up so we could challenge our jumping skills. After some very impressive jumps, we headed back to the class for small group activities. Two of us worked on sketching our favorite penguins from the video we watched last week. We printed out pictures of each penguin that we saw, and we got to pick one to sketch. The rest of our friends either worked on a floor puzzle or read a story in the quiet corner. Once our sketches were done, and we completed the dinosaur puzzle, we cleaned up and went to the dance studio and listened/acted out the “Bear Hunt” song. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch and nap. In the afternoon we will have free art time, quiet reading, and we will end in Motion Commotion.
DOOBIM (2 year olds) "Bears"Teachers: Sara Baumgarten, Jettana (Tana) McArthur and Rachel Most
Today the Doobim started the morning by painting with watercolors. We used two different kinds of watercolors, the pre-mixed liquid and the palate kind where you have to dip your brush into the water and then into the paint. The kids experimented with pouring the water on the paper and then adding color or using their brush to spread the pre-mixed color on the paper, as well as trying it out the conventional way. We had a lot of fun doing that. The paintings are up on the wall where the finger-painting pictures used to be, if you want to come check them out! After that we played in the tent for a while and read stories on the rug in small groups. Then, after snack, we went to the gym AND Motion Commotion where we ran and jumped our hearts out for about an hour. This afternoon we will probably go back to either the gym or Motion Commotion because these kids seem to have a lot of extra energy today—maybe it’s the funky weather! At the very, very end of the day, Rachel's grandmother may stop in for a surprise visit!
TODAY WE: February 9, 2009
Happy Tu B'Shevat, "Happy Birthday to the Trees"
We will be celebrating the "birthday of the trees" all this week. Each class has either begun their discussions or begun their project work on Tu B'Shevat. It's a day to celebrate trees, to talk about tikkun olam ("repairing the world") and planting new things. The folks at Garden District were quite helpful as the children decided that they wanted to buy a plant or plant some seeds, figured out what they'd need, learned how to take care of plants and went to buy everything to get started.
We will continue throughout the week, culminating at Shabbat on Friday. We will sing the Tu B'Shevat songs that the children have been learning in their classes and in Music, try some "first fruits" and collect Tzedakah for the Jewish National Fund to plant trees for Israel. Donation boxes will be in the Preschool Lobby or your child's class this week.
Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday),
Sarah
The Soosim class has had a very busy day! We remembered right away that today is Tu B'Shevat, the Birthday of the Trees. Immediately, we started brainstorming ideas for projects we could do to help celebrate. We decided on three main projects: 1. Planting seeds to grow plants we could eat. 2. Making a tree for our classroom out of interesting materials in our closet and 3. Drawing pictures of trees. Before starting our projects, we headed down to the gym to burn off some morning energy. We played with the scooters and basketballs and also played some lacrosse. Then, we came back to the room for snack (carrots, raisins and cheese slices) and to work with our calendar. Dena returned today and was so pleased to see how all the hard work with the calendar was paying off. There was such a huge improvement in working with dates from two weeks ago when she left.
Then, we went outside to have fun on the playground in this beautiful and unseasonably warm weather. Dena noticed there has also been a lot of improvement in ability on the climbing wall at the playground. What a difference two weeks can make! From the playground, Tal brought S, C, I, S, B, J, and E back to the classroom to begin work on the projects there. Dena took L, Y, E, D, M and N to the Garden District store where a saleswoman, Jesse, helped the class select some seeds, a pot and soil for planting. We chose multi-colored carrots (who knew red, purple, white, and yellow carrots were possible!), basil and chives. By the time we got back to class, it was time for lunch. Before we had rest time, we chose new jobs for the week. We also began a new chapter book called A Jigsaw Jones Mystery: The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster by James Preller. After rest time, we got up and immediately returned to working on our projects. B, L, N, M, Y and D helped Dena plants the seeds in two pots. C, J, E, S and I began making the tree using pieces of real bark and wrapping paper for leaves. Now, we are eating snack and then we'll likely head back to the gym. What a busy day!!! Can't wait for another one tomorrow!
We began our day with some free choice play in the classroom. C used the light table magnets to make a hopscotch game for S and D. Here is her explanation of the game: "This is called hopscotch, and this is how you do it. You need to pick up your rock and throw it. You get to pick up squares and bring them with you."
B was busy at the table drawing straight lines with his ruler and blue marker. O pretended that his body was a boat. He was diving into the ocean (the blue carpet in the back of the room). He even let Alex pretend to be a passenger on his boat.
After clean up, we met at the carpet for a special Tu B'shevat circle time. We practiced the song we learned last week ("I Have a Friend...") and listened to two more songs about Tu B'shevat and trees. We all had an opportunity to do our very best tree poses. J, F, and E were very tall trees that had to stand on their toes, and G, Y, and L were little trees getting ready to grow big and tall. A and C were trees with fruit on their branches. After we all got to show off our trees, we learned four new Hebrew words:
We practiced saying sentences using our new Hebrew words. S told us that the shemesh is in the shamayim, and B told us that the geshem falls from the shamayim. J told us that an etz needs geshem to feed it water (mayim).
After snack, we went for a walk up 14th Street to the plant store at 14th and S Streets, but once we got there we saw a sign on the door saying that the plant store was having a winter break. We were a little bit disappointed, but we still had fun being outside in the sun! When we got back to the classroom, we met on the carpet again to practice our songs again. We get to perform some of our Tu B'shevat songs this Friday during Shabbat so we will be practicing a little bit every day to make sure we are ready for our performance! We even learned some new dance moves to go along with the song.
After nap time, we will meet on the carpet to read Dr. Seuss's book The Lorax in honor of Tu B'shevat. We will end our day with some time in the gym.
Happy Tu B'shevat!
What a beautiful day! The Peelim decided we should take full advantage of the nice weather, so we spent much of the morning outside.
At our morning meeting, we talked about how today is Tu B'Shevat, the birthday of the trees! First, we discussed all the things that trees give us:
We talked about how, in Israel, it's already warm enough for the plants to begin growing. It's not warm enough for anything to start growing here, but we can imagine that trees are starting to flower in Israel. We looked at where Israel is on the map and talked about how it's very far away. Then, we talked about the things we need to make a plant grow:
Finally, we decided that we would go buy our very own plant to keep in our classroom!
We put our coats on and headed outside. It is quite nice today, so we sang our happy weather song. We walked all the way to Safeway to see if they had plants, and they did! They had lots of green and flowering plants, and we could smell the flowers. We decided to check the hardware store before we made a purchase, to see if they had seeds. The man at the hardware store told us that they usually sell seeds, but it's still too early in the year. We figured we'd be better off getting a plant from Safeway, so we went back to the Safeway store and picked out a pretty green plant with little flowers (a kalanchoe). We waited very patiently while Laura bought it, and then we headed outside toward the P Street Park. On the way to the Park, some of the Peelim started singing a Tu B'Shevat chant.
We had a great time at the park. S, J, and M played on the climbing wall together. C ran in and out of the tunnels with M and J. A and M played on the big swing. After a while, we were hungry and ready for lunch.
At lunch, the Peelim had the chance to try some almonds, which are often eaten in Israel in Tu B'Shevat (since they come from trees and bloom early). The Peelim also did a great job of eating their muscle foods. Then, we had some visiting time, and soon it was time to turn out the lights and read our story.
This afternoon, we'll probably do some calm activities after all the excitement of the morning. We'll go run around, and then it will be time to go home!
Today we started out the day with some free choice time. We read stories on the rug, played with the blocks and pretended that we were cats. We all got very distracted when some new things came into our room. We now have a map of North America and a globe to look at. We were very excited to see where Washington, DC, is and places that we have visited are. Then, we decided that we wanted to draw, so we made sure to clean up what we were working on before starting. Then we decided if we wanted yellow or white paper, thought of what we wanted to draw and then drew our pictures with pastel crayons.
After we finished our drawings, we cleaned up the table and then had circle time. After singing our welcome song, we talked about how some of our friends got haircuts. M, A, M and L all said that they got haircuts this weekend and everyone talked about how pretty they all looked, and that everyone in the class was pretty. Then, we talked about how nice the weather has been. We decided to go around the circle and say what we did outside.
After we went around the circle, we read a story. It is Tu B'Shevat, the birthday of trees, so we decided to read a special book about a tree called The Giving Tree. We were very captivated by how much the tree gave to the boy. We realized that she gave the boy everything she had. Then, we talked what we could give the trees: rain, dirt and sunshine.
After circle time, we had milk and cereal for snack. After snack, we went on a special walk to the plant store. At the plant store, we bought soil and parsley seeds so that this afternoon, we can plant our own "trees," for Tu B'Shevat. Before we came back inside, we played on the lawn outside of the JCC. Some of us watched as the trucks, cars and buses went by and others pretended to hop like frogs.
When we came back inside, we had lunch and then nap. After nap, we are going to have snack and then we are going to plant our parsley trees. While we plant our trees, we are going to listen to some special Tu B'Shevat songs. Afterwards, we are going to clean up and have some free choice time, before going to the gym to end the day.
We began the day using blocks, smaller connecting blocks, quiet corner, kitchen and beads. We had some smaller groups in the different areas to play and share ideas. Next we had snack followed by circle time. In circle we discussed what we did over the weekend. Here is what we shared:
After discussing our weekends we moved onto Tu B'Shevat. We learned how this day is special because it is the birthday of the trees. We discussed how important it is to be nice and take care of trees and plants. Since we have our own class plant, Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie, we decided he needed a new home. We took a walk all together to a store called The Garden District. We explained we needed a new home for our class plant, Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie, so we needed dirt and a pot. She helped us pick out the right size pot and the right dirt. The woman at the store was so interested in our class plant she asked us to take a picture of him and bring it in for her to see. We said good-bye to the nice woman and promised to return with a picture of Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie. On our way back to school we stopped at Stead Park for a nice morning play time.
After a very busy morning we made it back to class for lunch and nap. After nap we had snack where much discussion was going on about making a new home for our class plant. Everyone seems so exited to make it tomorrow! While we waited for parents to pick up, we looked at some polar animal books, did some puzzles, and talked a little more about plants. Have a great day, see you tomorrow!
Today the Doobim started the day with some painting. D and M made green paint in jars, while Kit mixed yellow and red on her paper to make orange. L and I painted with just red, and L, W and J used blue and red to make purple.
After painting, we had some free play. D, M and I played with the dolls. L played with his trains. W and L played in the tent. J and L tried on clothes in dramatic play, and Kit decided to keep painting. Then it was time for Circle. We read the book No Biting that W brought in and talked about safe behavior for the classroom. Then we sang "Baby Beluga" and "I'm a Little Snowman."
After snack, we put on our jackets and headed out to the park. On the way, we talked about how today was Tu B'Shevat, the birthday of the trees. So we sang "Happy Birthday" in English and Hebrew to the trees we saw on the walk. At the park, we had fun jumping, climbing and sliding. Next it was time for lunch. We all enjoyed talking about what we were eating. After nap, we will finish the day with a story, free play and time in the gym.
ContactSarah Rabin Spira, Director, Early Childhood, Youth and Family Programst. 202-777-3278e. sarahr@washingtondcjcc.org