A Day in the Life of a Preschooler

June 2019

Children in the 4 year old classrooms use NEW Hatch Techsmart Interactive White Boards during circle time graphic activity comparing the number of children in the class that are 5 and the number of children that are 4 years old. This interactive technology helps children gain the literacy and math skills they need to achieve long-term academic success.

 

January 2019

Did you know Pluto is no longer considered a planet? It’s Space Week at the J!

This week we are learning all about Outer Space! We created our own solar system on our bulletin board with everything from planets to the sun and we can wait to add our astronaut pictures and imagine we are floating in outer space! Throughout Space Week we will continue to explore the universe and engage in projects, games and activities that enhance our understanding of what we are learning.

February

The JCC celebrates Purim with performances from the 4 year old classrooms.

December

Toddlers create painted brick wall for Humpty Dumpty to sit on. Exploring Kinesthetic, or tactile learning takes place by the students carrying out physical, hands-on activities.

 

September

Milton & Betty Katz JCC children wear red, white and blue in honor of Patriots Day and in memory of nearly 3000 people who died during terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Patriots Day 2017 - Full School Photo2Patriots Day 2017 - Full School Photo

Miss Tonnie

Pre-School: 4 Years Old

Celebrating Rosh Hashanah

Miss Tonnie Faunteleroy and Sloan Bell from the Milton & Betty Katz JCC’s three year old classroom making shofars, traditionally made from the rams horn. The shofar is evocative of the Torah portion that we read on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

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January

Miss Jenn

Pre-School: 4 Years Old

Painting Nursery Rhymes

In a cooperative art project students work together to create a spider web for the Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Nursery Rhymes play a valuable role in laying the foundation for reading readiness, building vocabulary and developing sound discrimination.  Bridging the story with the art project encourages creativity and visualization of the story components.

The finished product!

Itsy Bitsy

February 

Miss Linda & Miss Jess

Pre-School: 4 Years Old

Dinosaurs

During Dinosaur Month at the Katz JCC Early Childhood Education Center, children in the four-year-old, pre-school classroom are exploring dinosaurs through various experiments and art projects and uncovering facts in age-appropriate literature.

Activity 1: Creating Fossils<

Students use clay and stamps to create their own fossils, imitating what these ancient creatures left behind for scientists to discover.

Dinosaurs

Activity 2: Volcanoes and Extinction

After listening to a chapter from Usborne Discovery: Dinosaurs by Jonathan Shiekh-Miller, teacher Miss Linda leads the class in creating their own volcanoes out of cardboard followed by a science experiment using baking soda and vinegar to demonstrate an eruption.

Activity 3: Becoming an Archeologist

Children uncover toy dinosaurs that are frozen in ice using droppers and saltwater.


December

Miss Lisa & Miss Wendy

Toddler Class: 18 to 24 months

Book: Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows

Children explore the winter trees in the story Hibernation Station. Encouraged by teachers to think about how they look and how they may feel, focusing on colors and new words that generate their imagination.

Activity: Hibernating Trees

Children are given paint and cars and encouraged to run the wheels of the cars through the paint to create their own hibernating branches. Through this activity, children are gaining language and fine motor skills, and exploring creative, imaginative and emotional development.