I Had a Little Penguin...

To celebrate our newfound knowledge of penguins, Gan Gimmel created our very own penguins out of paper mache!

Please click here to see our creations!

Little Picassos

Gan Gimmel recently learned about Pablo Picasso as part of our art curriculum. We focused a lot on Picasso’s Cubist Period since he is famous for starting Cubism. When looking at his works, we noticed that Picasso’s paintings seemed to look like many different pieces put into one. The people that he painted looked silly; painted with bright colors, faces split in half, and eyes and mouths facing different directions.

 

Pablo Picasso. Dora Maar au Chat. 1941.

Inspired by Picasso’s Cubist style, we decided to make our own portraits. First we made faces and put lines through the middle to split them in half. Then, using different bright papers with various designs, we created eyes, ears, mouths, hair, and more! Inspired by Picasso’s love of collaging, we collaged the features onto the faces. Come take a look at our Picasso portraits hanging in our classroom!

I built myself a succah......

Do you know what happens when you put plastic cups in the oven? We do!!!

   We made a mobile to hang in our succah that had many different steps.

First we each decorated seven plastic cups.

                                 

  

 After all our cups were colored, Morah Alana put them in the oven. We watched as they melted and went from a tall cup to a flat circle! 
             

We then attached pipe cleaners to our circles which we carefully beaded. 

    

                                                   
Next we attached our pipe cleaners to a hanger. 

                                               

After which we colored our lulav and etrog and glued on our picture. We finished it by adding the sheva minim which are special crops that grow in Eretz Yisrael! 

A Day at the Museum!

Gan Gimmel had the best time today on their field trip! We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The children were so excited to see the  real paintings and actual works of art by the Master artists that we learned about in class. This was the culmination of our year long study of famous artists.  We saw works by Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat, Rembrant, Picasso and many many others. The children were given special handouts that directed them to locate certain paintings. They were so excited and engaged the entire time! 

Our fabulous day ended with a yummy lunch time picnic in Central Park. The children created such a kiddush Hashem wherever they went. They followed the rules of the museum by speaking softly and walking nicely as a class. A security guard even gave us a nice compliment! Bystanders were amazed that children who looked so small could know so much about art.  Special thanks to J.Z.'s grandma, Tamar's mommy, Ruthie's mommy and Liana's mommy who joined us as chaperones. What a great day! 

Tu B'Shevat in Here! (Well almost here)

 Gan Gimmel is eagerly anticipating Rosh Chodesh Shevat!

The children learned that over winter vacation we will celebrate Tu B'Shevat.  In honor of this special holiday that celebrates the trees, Gan Gimmel began working on a special family tree project.  The children learned about the different parts of a tree- the roots, the trunk and the branches.

 

Then, they painted beautiful trees onto cardboard (a way to recycle and save the trees!) Finally,  the children collected all of the Hebrew names for their grandparents, parents and siblings.  They copied the names using Hebrew block print. Copying is a wonderful way for children to practice forming letters.

 They cannot wait to bring home the finished masterpieces!

Shulchan Shabbat - What Makes Shabbat Special to YOU?

At this week's Shulchan Shabbat, we first spoke about the different words relating to Shabbat that we know in ivrit! Then, the yeladim illustrated pictures using oil pastels to create images of their favorite parts of Shabbat. All of the responses were wonderfully creative and completed independently. Below you can view some of the wonderful illustrations and creations that stemmed from our sentence starter, "My favorite thing about Shabbat is..."

The yeladim from each of the Ganon and Gan classes all had the opportunity to use our iPads to take a picture of their own illustration. I simply can not wait for the "voice-over" activity of having the children tell their part of their class story about what makes Shabbat special to them!

100th Day of School

We had fun celebrating the 100th day of school. We made special headbands and sashes. All of the gans got together in the cafeteria to celebrate - playing bingo, exercising, and making objects of art using 100 different things. In our classroom, we counted out 10 different kinds of snacks - 10 each. Counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's to 100 was the order of the day, including Joey giving Morah Marcia 100 hugs. In addition, the class went on a special treasure hunt - finding 100 pennies that were hidden around the room. We completed the day with the story "Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten." Wouldn't you like to be in Gan Gimmel?

Who Am I?

Gan Daled was excited to learn about the great artist and sculptor, Pablo Picasso. They especially enjoyed hearing about his Blue Period and his Rose Period.

Picasso invented Cubism.When he created a Cubist portrait he tried to show all sides of the face at once. This made the eyes and noses look like they were in the wrong places. The children used their fine motor skills to create their self-portraits in Picasso's style

The March of Gan Aleph's Penguins!

Gan Aleph began exploring the fascinating world of penguins! We learned all about where penguins live, what they eat and how they surf and dive for fun! We focused on the emperor penguin, african penguin and macaroni penguin and learned what makes each penguin different from the next. We read the book If You Were a Penguin, by Wendell and Florence Minor, which we used as a springboard for writing. The children imagined themselves as penguins and wrote what they would eat, which kind of penguin they would be and even gave themselves a name. Vicky named herself "Oreo" while Matan named himself "Snow!" We then used water bottles, paint and many different materials to create our penguins... and wow, did they come to life! The children had to think about what features made their penguin different and then add that feature to their "penguin doll"(ex. the macaroni penguins have yellow hair!). Do you have any fun or interesting facts/stories that you would like to share with Gan Aleph about penguins!?

Investigating Trees

At this time of year, just before Tu B'Shvat, we typically learn about trees. In our integrated curriculum, the children have many opportunities, in both Hebrew and English, to participate in social studies, science, math, art, literacy, and music activities, all pertaining to trees.

Morah Shira took a small group of children outdoors to explore a tree up close. She taught Hebrew vocabulary for each part of the tree, and gave the children clipboards and charcoal for sketching. The children were encouraged to look carefully, and even given magnifying glasses to get a closer look.

The sketches will be brought inside and used in further investiations. Connecting children to nature, building Hebrew speaking skills, encouraging careful observations, and giving time, space and individual attention for deeper learning -- kindergarten at its best!

Me And My Shadow

Gan Daled learned about the great artist, Rembrandt, who lived in Holland. He is known for his use of light and shadows. Rembrandt painted many self portraits. The children used charcoal to make their own self portraits which resembled Rembrandt's etchings. Even though charcoal is difficult to work with, the children used their fine motor skills to produce beautiful self portraits in Rembrandt's style.

Gan Daled became print makers and discovered that it is possible to make many copies from a single master. They engraved pictures onto a piece of foam to make a plate and covered it with paint. The children put a piece of paper on the plate and pressed down carefully. They observed that the picture that was printed was reversed.

Gan Daled was excited to imitate one of the greatest artists of all time. Have you ever seen a Rembrandt painting?

To learn more about Rembrandt visit :http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/

Marc Chagall in Gan Bet

The art of Marc Chagall was evident in every area of our classroom. In the baking center, the children were busy creating "stained glass" cookies. They mixed the dough and shaped the cookies. They used blocks to smash lollipops in sandwich bags, and then added the crushed candy to the center of each cookie. What a surprise when the cookies were baked: they looked just like stained glass windows!

In the art center the children experimented with flowers to paint backgrounds for their pictures. They tested different methods of applying the paints. It was fun to use flowers instead of paint brushes, and the results are gorgeous!

Portrait of a Friend

Jeremy and Benny found a new use for the acrylic easel in Gan Bet. Benny climbed in, and Jeremy sketched him with pastels. They laughed and took turns as artist and model. Observation skills, visual motor skills, creativity, and so much fun!

Chanukah Art

Following our Election Day conference on process art, we purchased some 3 sided acrylic easels. Morah Alana and Miss Judy stood a chanukiah inside their new easel, and the children were able to carefully observe as they painted. Today, the Pre-K children had "play dates" between classes, and Amira got a chance to use bright colors to paint the chanukiah. When the children are done, the teachers capture the work by placing a large sheet of paper over it, and having the children press. Beautiful!

House Art and Chanukkah Activity

We have continued to investigate houses. We toured the neighborhood and compared houses. We looked for shapes that the houses had in common and found many shapes that were the same. After investigating Edward Hopper, a still life painter, who loved to paint houses the children took on the task of painting their own houses. We are sharing a glimpse of their work.

Chanukah has been a focus of activity. the children are busy learning the story and retelling the story. We are making special project for the holiday. We have been working on a special drip mat for their chanukiyah. They are designing and creating their own drip mats.

Communal Mural

Reflecting on last week's professional conference on process art, the early childhood teachers worked out a new way to celebrate Rosh Chodesh. Each month, our six classes will contribute to a communal mural. The children will be given a choice of materials to help them express what they know and feel about the upcoming month. Our Rosh Chodesh Kislev mural is proudly displayed in the main halls of our school. Come and see it!