We learn in many different ways!

 

The kindergarten child is enthusiastic about his/her environment and curious to learn more about the world around him/her. At Zimmer we help stimulate their interests and provoke a desire to learn in many different ways.

As the season of autumn transformed our world outside, we read together, Why Do Leaves Change Colors? When we were outside one afternoon we noticed a tree whose leaves had begun to change color. The children pointed out that only the leaves on the top part of the tree where turning from green to orange. The leaves closer to the trunk of the tree remained green. “Why do you suppose the leaves are changing color in this way?” I asked the children. They speculated, “the leaves on the bottom stay warmer longer”, “the leaves on the top lost their green first!” After observing the tree, we came into the classroom and carefully drew sketches of the tree. We will continue to observe the same tree and record our observations throughout the year.

Games are a fun and familiar way for the kindergarten child to learn. Number recognition and counting are practiced in this game. The children are also developing important social skills as they play the game together.

Listening to stories helps us develop vocabulary, comprehension, and grammar. Through discussion we begin to understand sequencing, story structure and genre. Active listening is an important life long skill. The kindergarten children hear stories from guest readers, such as Mrs. Zimmer who recently read, It Could Always Be Worse, and Morah Ann (our Head of School) who read, The Keeping Quilt. Finally, at the end of each day, the children can’t wait to hear me read another chapter in the book, Pippi Longstocking.

Working on puzzles is a great way to boost memory and problem solving skills as well as improving hand-eye coordination. The children work together to complete a common task and feel great about their shared accomplishment!

Play doh is a great tool for building the fine motor muscles we need for proper handwriting. As we are learning to recognize numbers, the children use the Play doh to “write” the numbers they know!

Many group activities reinforce letter sound recognition in our classroom. We use the computer to further individualize each child’s learning. These activities are tailored to the meet the individual needs of each child. Using the mouse, promotes hand-eye coordination. Working individually boosts our self-confidence!

Sharing special celebrations builds our sense of community as a class, and as a school. The Kindergarten and Kitah Alef share Kabbalat Shabbat together each Friday afternoon. As our guests, the Kitah Alef class helps us to learn the Shabbat songs and blessings. Sharing this special time is the perfect way to end our week as we all prepare to welcome Shabbat!