Getting ready for shabbat, and some other stuff

This whole week some great things have been going on in writing workshop. Many children are on their third or fourth story. They understand that that for writers, "when you're done, you've really just begun." There are almost always more details to add before moving a story to the "finished' side of the writing folder.

We're also starting to work on phonemic awareness, hearing the individual sounds that make up words, by working on careful listening. We played guessing games by listening to a variety of sounds, from rattlesnakes to eggs frying in a pan (all from a sound effects website, of course) which was really a lot of fun.

In math, we've been making number books, based on the picture book Ten Black Dots. Each day, children practice writing a number and using the corresponding number of dot stickers to make an original picture. We've seen that one dot can make a flower, two dots can make eyes, and lots of other creative ideas. We've also explored various ways to sort buttons and pompoms, while continuing the routines of tracking weather and counting the days of school.

At buddy time, children worked with an individual buddy to fill out a "get to know you" sheet. The pairings from Thursday are likely to be our pairings for the first half of the year, and then we'll consider making a second grouping. Throughout the year we'll do all kinds of activities with our buddies, from science, to art, to Torah study, to field trips, to reading buddies.

We baked our first loaves of challah on Friday, with master baker Caitlin Caulfield, last year's teaching fellow in the Gan.  Each week, the shabbat helpers will mix and knead the dough on Thursday afternoon, and after a slow overnight rise, will braid the challahs in the morning. We make four loaves, and for the first part of the year enjoy gifting two of our delicious breads to other members of the school community. You'll be happy to know that during the second half of the year, home made challahs come to each home as part of the Shabbat Box. We welcomed shabbat in our classroom with songs, instruments, and practicing the traditional blessings. I'll be sending home a schedule for shabbat helpers in a few weeks, once we are ready to welcome parent guests.

Here's a link to our latest photo album. Enjoy!