This week in the Fours May 4, 2012
Music with Marcy was all about singing and playing our instruments and most importantly, learning to cooperate. We sang the train song and pushed our trains along with a partner, taking turns and helping one another.
Wednesday we had music with Cantor Janet. The fours could be heard singing their Hebrew songs all over the building!
As you know, we have been doing a Book Club in the fours. The children are bringing in some of their favorite books and we are reading them and discussing them. We ask questions like; What do you think will happen?, How is the main character feeling? and What would you have done if this were you? These questions encourage the children to look closely at the story and how it may relate to them.
We've read many of the Mo Willems books . As you can see in the hall, we read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. We discussed why the pigeon shouldn't drive the bus and put the children's words on the wall for all to see. The fours made their own buses - guess who is driving the bus!???!
We also read Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too and the newest Mo Willems book, The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? In that book, the duckling gets the cookie because of the way he asked for it. The class talked about the right way to ask for things and how it feels when someone does something nice for you.
Other books we have read include Are You My Mother, by P.D. Eastman (aka Dr. Seuss), Max On His Tricycle by Anabelle Guido Van Genechten, Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky, and Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff. Because the children have loved this so much, we will continue through next week.
At one point in the day, one four was talking about time and waiting 5 minutes. We decided to see what 5 minutes of quiet time felt like. The teacher set the timer and we all sat quietly for 5 minutes. When the timer rang we asked how it felt. Some children said it felt like a really long time, some said it felt good and was "relaxing". Most of the fours agreed on the fact that it was boring !
Our caterpillars arrived at the beginning of the week. They started out as teeny, tiny caterpillars, and are now getting to be big, fat caterpillars! We continue to observe their changes every day, and can't wait till they turn into butterflies!
We celebrated Shabbat with Justin's Mommy, Aunt, and Grandma. It was fun to have so many guests in the room.
Shabbat Shalom,
Joyce and Tara
