General Studies – Ms. Krzykwa and Ms. Ziessman
Here’s to an Amazing Year!
It feels like only yesterday that these 22 little people were walking into our classroom for the first time, excited to begin kindergarten! As always, the year has flown by too quickly and we cannot believe we are about to send them on their way to first grade! We thank you for letting us borrow your wee ones for this short amount of time and having faith in us to teach them as much as we could. We have definitely learned a lot from each other this year!
We’re so very proud of these kindergarteners and all that they have accomplished! They are a remarkable group of leaders who have been highly inquisitive, motivated to learn, and have been dedicated help those in need. We are committed to supporting them however we can in the future. Our motto is and always will be, once they are in our class they will forever be our students!
We also want to thank you for your support throughout this entire year. Your dedication to your children and our school has been a key element in the success of this school year! We have had so much fun and we will miss everyone greatly! Enjoy your summer vacation and please stop by to visit any time!
Love,
Ms. Krzykwa and Mrs. Ziessman
Don’t Let Your Kids Lose Important Skills During the Summer!
Summer is a time for fun, sun, vacations, and relaxation! It is also a time to continue practicing all the skills your kids have worked so hard to learn this year. We want everyone to come back in the fall relaxed and prepared to jump right into first grade! So, try to put aside 15 minutes a day or every other day for some practice. Here are some easy things to do:
Log onto Portaportal at www.portaportal.com! Just type in hmjdsk into the guest log in and you have access to all the websites and games your kids have loved using during the year to practice skills.
Use Raz Kids! This can be accessed through portaportal. Once on the site, it may ask you for a teacher username. If so, just type in jziessman and then your child will have numerous books at their fingertips that are appropriate for their reading level. *Hint, if your child reads, listens, and does quizzes for every book, including those in the green section, the site will automatically give you the next set of books.
Earn a free book! If you go to Barnes & Noble, inquire about summer reading for kids. You will receive a sheet that your child can record books they read. Once they have read 10 books, bring the sheet back to Barnes & Noble for free book from selected titles.
Practice Writing! Have your kids keep a journal about camp, special family activities, or family vacation. If they don’t want to do a long term project, have them write short books about their summer adventures. If they write encourage them to use lower case letters, appropriate capital letters, and punctuation.
Count, Count, Count! Counting in all ways by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s needs to be practiced, because it can be easily lost.
Have a lemonade, cookie, popsicle, or balloon animal stand! After selling their wares, they can have money to identify, sort, and count. Money is tricky and needs lots of practice!
Have playdates! We know it’s hard to find common times to get together with friends, because everyone’s schedule is crazy during the summer. However, we cannot stress enough how important it is to keep working on the connections your child has made with their classmates even during the summer. It will make it a lot easier for kids to re-enter school when they feel confident that they have friends waiting for them!
We will be checking my email occasionally during summer if you are having trouble with portaportal or have any other questions!
Hebrew – Hamorah Barbara
This will be the last kindergarten Hadashot this year. The kindergartners began their Hebrew and Judaic studies in August, 2013. They have learned so much this year and I am so proud of their accomplishments! The kindergartners love speaking Hebrew, singing Hebrew songs, dancing Israeli dances, playing Hebrew games, listening to Hebrew books and performing in Hebrew puppet shows. They loved sharing (in Hebrew) each day what they were eating and later quizzing their classmates on “Hebrew bonus words”. Their excitement for Hebrew and Judaic was felt throughout the day.
The kindergartners loved learning about each Jewish holiday. Their enthusiasm began in the month of Tishrei with Rosh Hashanah and continued throughout the year until the month of Sivan with Shavuot.
Our Torah discussions centered around the weekly parasha and how we can apply the lessons from the parasha into our lives. Your children continue to show menschlikit behavior throughout the day. The kindergartners pride themselves on doing mitzvot and applying our core values to their lives.
I would like to conclude this Hadashot by wishing you and your families a safe and enjoyable summer vacation. It has been a sincere pleasure teaching your child this year!!
Shalom V’Lihitraot,
Barbara Taragan
Art – Ms. Orkin
What we have been doing in art class
- Drawing, cutting, and folding paper jungle and ocean animals
- Drawing and coloring animal habitats in the jungle and ocean
- Drawing and coloring class thematic alphabet books
- Visiting the Minneapolis Art Institute and viewing the artwork students studied in class
A special thank you to the Posada and Lerner families for their recent creation of the Sharon Lerner Visual Arts Fund, which supports HMJDS art field trip programs.
It has been a pleasure and honor to create with your children and get to know them. They have grown so much in skill and maturity. I hope you will encourage their creativity this summer.
Some suggestions for fun summer art activities are:
- Drawing a sidewalk chalk mural drawing, then jumping into an imaginary world they create (like Mary Poppins)
- Tracing their bodies in chalk
- Making sand sculptures at the beach – visit the Lake Calhoun sand sculpture competition in August
- Visiting art fairs, galleries, family days at the Walker and MIA, and the Science Museum
- Attending art camps around town
- Drawing from observation in a sketchbook with pencil and watercolor
- Playing with play dough or clay, or making junk sculptures
See you around the pool and next year as first graders and parents of first graders!
Thank you to our art room volunteer coordinator and parent and grandparent helpers for making art a special, caring and smooth running environment!
Music – Mr. Shaw
One of the highlights this in year in Kindergarten music was our “Children Around the World” performance. Be sure to check out the video on the HMJDS YouTube page and feel free to send the link to extended family members who live far away.
While watching the students perform in May I had flashbacks to the start of the school year when I first worked with the students on being able to distinguish the difference between the four kinds of voices. As a music educator I get a lot of satisfaction when I see students being able to apply the concepts and skills they have been taught over time. I think about songs that were first introduced to reinforce the learning taking place with the Jewish holidays. The classes learned songs like “Tapuhim Ud’vash,” “A Rosh Hashanah Wish,” “Build a Sukkah,” “To Be a Torah,” “Get on the Ark,” and so many wonderful Hanukkah songs.
The students’ knowledge of music concepts like pitch and rhythm increased dramatically over the year. Many of the songs were taught by rote or using movement but some were taught using music pedagogy like solfege. I think about the observations we made using the Orff instruments. The students learned that larger instruments produce lower sounds and smaller instruments produce higher sounds plus the eye-hand coordination needed to play a steady beat. I so enjoyed working with all these energetic and loving children who brought so much joy to the music room.
Physical Education – Mr. Lindquist
I just wanted to share that I had a wonderful experience working with your children this year. It’s always remarkable to witness the motor development that occurs throughout all of our physical education units. There is no better way to finish off the year than with our Field Day activities and the Kindergarten swimming unit. It just happens to be at the perfect time of year to learn and improve our water skills before the summer swimming season begins. This is also the time of year where I assign homework. Yes, you read this correctly. They will have to find a way to be active every day during the summer. This could mean playing at the park, going on a bike ride, using a scooter or roller blades, hiking, or even playing with a ball or Frisbee with a friend.
I can hardly wait until I see them this fall to see how much they have grown and changed!
