Peek Through Our Window
A glimpse into our week at YLS
May 13, 2016
5 Iyar 5776
Dear Parents,
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Chana, Morah Rachael, and Morah Sharona
Explored
- We explored Israel as we continued our research into four Israeli cities- Tel Aviv, Tzfat, Eilat, and Jerusalem. After compiling all of our information, we created a play through which we could present this information. Mr. Chris helped us to use technology on our ipads to utilize a green screen in filming our play. In groups, we chose photographs that we felt best represented the cities that we researched. We set them as the backgrounds to our scenes, and as we filmed ourselves, we looked like we were really in the cities about which we were talking! We hope to use this technology again, soon! Click here to view our tour in Israel.
Discovered
- We discovered that we can manipulate forces, air pressure, and gravity to create balloon rockets! We experimented with balloons and took note of the forces we saw in action. We then attached the balloons to a straw so that we could cause the straw to move along a zipline. We experimented with different amounts of air pressure in the balloon to see how fast, slow, or far the straw would go. We also experimented with different materials to make the straw collide with something and obstruct its path.
Created
In honor of Yom Ha’atzmaut, we used our research on Israeli cities to create a mural for our learning space. The mural depicted the skylines of the cities we had studied.
- After much research and planning, we have finally built our Aron Kodesh! We used screws, hinges and wood to construct our Aron. We look forward to decorating it and putting it in our Beit Midrash!
Celebrated
This week, we celebrated Izzy’s 6th birthday! Izzy’s sister, brother, and mother came to school to help him share some of the Lego creations he had made at home. Many of the friends were in awe of Izzy’s skills in building with Legos. He also shared a birthday book divided into sections that told about his birthdays so far, his favorite holidays, and his family. We ended the celebration with cupcakes. Happy birthday, Izzy!
- On Thursday, we participated in a very active and exciting Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration! We danced upon entering the learning space that morning, and the fun continued throughout the day! After a tefillah chagigit, Morah Chana helped us make an Israeli treat for snack in the morning, and she led our morning meeting in Hebrew. We went on a hike in Wissahickon Valley Park (Forbidden Drive), and enjoyed freshly-grilled hot dogs outdoors. When we returned to school, we had time to experiment with our green screen and pretend we were dancing in Israel while other friends played Israeli bingo. We finished the day by watching the video we had created to share our research on Israel. We also watched a special video message from a gan in Chevron! Thank you to Morah Chana and the parent volunteers Ilana, Yoni, and Gershon for helping to make this day so special!
Wondered
As our Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration approached, we wondered what creatures we would find on our hike. We made hypotheses about what kinds of animals live in Wissahickon Valley Park with the help of an encyclopedia of animals. When we got there, we found several chipmunks, geese, and spiders. We even met an expert, who taught us how to identify carpenter bees and explained the difference between male and female bees. Although we were disappointed not to find any snakes, we enjoyed spending time watching animals in their habitats.
This week, we wondered if a book could come to life. We had a very special guest come in perform the book, “Shmulik Paints the Town.” Ms. Rochelle put on a costume that was exactly like Shmulik in the book and transformed our class into the book! We watched in awe as the book came to life and how each page in the book mimicked what we saw in real life! Thank you Sonya for sponsoring this event!
Ivrit at YLS
This week we learned about and celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut. Using our language skills, we discussed the difference between the Israeli flag and flags from other countries. We then built a large Israeli flag for our classroom and continued to use this experience to learn and practice the language related to shapes. We took a closer look at Israel’s national symbol and talked about the drawing of the menorah and what it symbolizes. One of Israel’s symbols is the יונת שלום. We learned that the word “shalom” has several meanings– hello, goodbye and peace. We then danced with streamers on our wrists to the song “אני נולדתי לשלום.” We spent some time thinking about Israel’s 68th birthday. We discussed the difference between presents we get on our birthdays and presents for a country. We thought about presents that Israel might want- flags, houses, and peace. I asked each child how old Israel is turning and they answered in a full sentence in Hebrew that Israel is turning 68. We also spent a lot of time looking at the map of Israel and the children know how to recognize the map of Israel.
On Thursday, Yom Ha’atzmaut finally arrived! We conducted morning meeting in Hebrew and for snack we prepared an Israeli chocolate dessert with blue and white sprinkles on the outside. We went on a hike and had Al-Haesh (BBQ) all while wearing our school shirts with the Israeli flag on it. When we returned, we played “Israel” bingo. All the items on the board were connected to Yom Ha’atzmaut and the State of Israel. The children really enjoyed the game and loved that they knew all the items on the bingo board. We got to see a video of a gan in Chevron wishing us a “Chag Atzmaut Sameach” and we sent them a video back wishing them the same.
The words and phrases were learned:
סמל המדינה: מנורה- Israel’s National Symbol: Menorah
יום הולדת למדינה 68- Israel’s 68th Birthday
יונת שלום- Peace Dove
אוכלים פלאפל- We eat falafel
דגל ישראל- Israeli Flag
כחול ולבן- Blue and White
מגן דוד- Israeli Star
שיר התקווה- Israel’s National Anthem- Hatikvah
מנגל -על האש- Barbecue
אני בונה בארץ ישראל- I am building in Israel
אני בונה בגן- I am building in Kindergarten
Songs we learned this week:
Specialties at YLS
Art: Patty Papatheodore
We focused on the moving figure. We learned about the artist Keith Haring. We drew moving colorful figures by using lines to help make the figure look like it was moving and made a small clay figure.