Dear Purple Room Families,

    There is so much learning happening in our classroom! It is hard to decide what to write about; here are just some snapshots of learning that occurred this week. It is a privilege to teach such inquisitive, creative thinkers, and to create an environment that allows each one of them to thrive.

Jewish Learning

We daven every day, and it is a musical, energetic part of our day. The children have been expressing interest in each having their own siddur to daven from. This week, we began the project by illustrating pages that will become the siddurim. We talked together about what sorts of pictures we will draw for the siddurim. What are we grateful for? What does it mean to be grateful? What makes us happy? This led to many thought-provoking conversations. If Batman makes you happy, should you draw a Batmobile in your siddur? One child said no, Batman doesn’t belong in a siddur, while another child said that since Batman tries to make good choices and fight bad guys it reminds us to make good choices. The simple act of illustrating pages with crayons allowed the class to delve deeply into the complex ideas of gratitude, making choices, and what inspires us. During these types of conversations, the morahs work to model for the children what it sounds like and feels like to have a respectful disagreement. We can have different opinions, and it is interesting to talk it through and learn what another person is thinking.

Math Learning

This week we have been working with the idea of “five and some more,” giving students a base from which to subitize the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9. When a person sees a group of up to five objects, they can use perceptual subitizing to “just see” the quantity. Once quantities get larger than 5, we use conceptual subitizing to swiftly understand the number. This means using a concept you know, such as doubling or addition facts, to quickly subdivide and understand what you are looking at. For example, you could see two groups of 4 and instantly know they are 8. We are teaching the children to subitize 6, 7, 8, and 9 as “five and ___ more” because 5 is such an important quantity in our base-ten number system. 

We played a lot of games with the idea of “five and some more,” and we incorporated the concept into our dramatic play area. Building on the children’s interest in grocery shopping, we made a store with price tags and shopping baskets. Using coins, the morahs showed the children how to count out and pay for their items, and how nickels and pennies could be used to pay for items that cost “five and some more.” Some children chose to count only with pennies, some challenged themselves to pay for more than one item at once (addition!), and some asked to learn what “change” means (subtraction!). This type of play allows children to build their understanding and wrestle with a new concept authentically.

Literacy Learning

This week we have been learning short vowel sounds in myriad multi-sensory ways. We sing a song with hand motions that encourages children to think about the way their mouths move when shaping the vowels (a round motion for a short o, for example.) We’ve also been playing a lot of Knock-A-Vowel! In this game, the children say a short vowel sound and throw a bean bag to knock over a card with the vowel. This vowel sound practice is essential both for children who can already read and those who are just starting to identify letters. For those who are reading, phonetic awareness builds knowledge for future success in spelling and writing. For those just learning their letters, we are creating a solid foundation for future reading and writing!

In our Hebrew learning, we are focusing on our Hebrew names right now. The children are learning to identify the letters in their names. We sign in using our Hebrew names and  play games to identify our names. (If your child is reversing letters in either Hebrew or English when they write, don’t worry! It’s completely normal, even for children not learning two alphabets that go opposite directions. It’s part of learning to make meaning from letters.)

We hope you have a peaceful Shabbat, and get to enjoy this beautiful weather! 

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Shoshi and Morah Shaina

PS-- We are in need of some more nickels to keep our store going- the number of children who want to shop exceeds the amount of coins we have! If you are able to send in some nickels for our dramatic play area, we would greatly appreciate it.