Back to school in 2013!

We started the new year with several new units all at once. It's been very busy, but we've definitely beat off the winter doldrums (and done some awesome sledding, too.)

We returned to personal narratives in writing workshop. Children are writing about things that really happened to them. Our emphasis for the week was including "itty bitty details" in our writing. We read a number of wonderful picture books that serve as mentor texts - modeling the skills we are learning. These include The Paperboy, by Dav Pilkey Whistling, by Elizabeth Partridge, and The Art Lesson, by Tomie dePaola. Everyone starts his or her writing with a three-page blank packet - there's an assumption that Kindergarteners need at least that many pages to tell their stories. Many children are stapling on more and more pages in order to flesh out their "small moments."

Our readers are soaring! It's always thrilling to watch children progress in their independent reading skills. I hope you are enjoying listening to your child read the homework books. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this new routine. It's fine if children can't or don't want to read books some nights. We simply don't send home a new book until the last one is finished and returned - but there's no problem with taking a night (or several nights) off.

As children continue to read books during guided reading and independent reading time, they are also developing decoding skills with their phonics packets. We are currently "becoming experts" in the short vowel sound i.

In Hebrew we've taken advantage of the weather to focus on snow clothing to launch a unit on clothes. We've played games with mittens, hats, boots and snow pants and learned to describe the temperature outside as kar (cold) and cham (hot), adding the word m'od (very) when appropriate. As we learn about (sometimes) frigid temperatures, our Israeli emissary Ron is teaching the children about signs of spring in Israel as part of the upcoming holiday, Tu B'shevat, the New Year of the trees.

Martin Luther King's birthday is coming, and the Gan has been steeped in songs of the civil rights movement. We read several biographies about Dr. King, and this week we will turn our attention to other leaders in the civil rights movement, including Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges. On Thursday afternoon we'll visit Michelson Galleries, where Rich Michelson will read us his picture book Busing Brewster, a story about school integration. We've learned the songs If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus, Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, and Stayed on Freedom, all of which have been added to the Gan Spotify list. Here's a link to the video I sent out earlier in the week, with Felicia Sloin teaching us the last song in sign language. We'll share this song, and perhaps a few more, at Friday's MLK assembly at 8:30.

Stayed on Freedom with sign language from hilary Gollis on Vimeo.

If you are looking for more resources to make MLK Day meaningful for you and your family, I highly recommend the website Freedom's Feast, an "interactive civics program that uses major holidays in our American calendar to pass on the stories, values and behaviors we care about to our next generation of American citizens and leaders."

Perhaps the most exciting topic of study is our new science unit, Balls and Ramps, that Andrea will fill you in on. We've also been sewing (most of your children brought home their needlework last week; a few children are still finishing up)....and, well, lots more.

We've been having some camera issues but I'll send a link to a new photo album later in the week.