How fortunate we are that Evan Kenepp is a family friend of ECDC Teacher Linda Donohoe. Mr. Kenepp is an accomplished musician who has been playing bagpipes for over 10 years and was generous enough to play for us at our morning and afternoon assemblies on April 1.

The audience was seated and did not know what to expect. Then mysterious music was heard from afar and Mr. Kenepp ceremoniously entered the sanctuary.

Mr. Kenepp entranced us with beautiful Scottish music and with his knowledge of the instruments.

And who would not follow the Piper around the room with a Scottish march?

Thank you Mr. Kenepp for coming to ECDC!

But can you see it?

Here is the sequence of events that led to a magical moment.

• Mrs. Drook’s class showed interest in a book about sea creatures.
• Mrs. Drook added several sea creature books to the class collection.
• The children enjoyed several activities related to sea creatures.
• They became interested in the rock fish. They were fascinated by its ability “to disappear” among ocean rocks.
• Mrs. Drook added classroom activities about camouflage.

But no one planned the magical thing that happened when the children went outside that day.

Can you find the children?

A Conversation About Weather Goes Solar

The exploration of space in the classroom of Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Reinke started while discussing the weather on a very cold and sunny day. How could it be so cold and so sunny at the same time? That is the question posed by the teachers that started the space unit.

The children had many thoughts.

Porter: The sun is at the top facing down at the ground. The ground stays cold.

C.J.: The sun is round. I wish I could take a picture of it.

Porter: The fire from the sun makes the light.

Sam: The sun is a star.

Will: I love space planets.

Cici: The earth is a planet.

M.J.: Gravity is not in space. It makes you not fall.

Darsh: I don’t know if there are other planets. Do aliens have families?

Alie: I want to know if there are people far away.

Nico: I just want to learn about space.

Sam: Pluto is a doomed planet.

Solar System and Aliens

While following up with scientific fact-finding about planets, the children repeatedly returned to the topic of aliens. The children drew pictures of their imaginary aliens then made 3-dimensional models. All the while there was conversation about the various features of the aliens.

The children wonder: Do people live on other planets? Do aliens have families?

What do you think?

The teachers and children of ECDC celebrated Tu B’Shvat, the New Year of Trees. There is so much to learn, enjoy and discover about trees. We talked about all of the ways that trees help us – by giving us fruit, shade, and beauty. The children in Mrs. Brown’s class explored our building to find various use of wood. The children in Mrs. Suprano’s class were inspired by the bare maple tree in our playground and painted a winter mural. They are closely watching the maple tree through the seasons. At Assembly we sang a new song, Trees, Trees, Trees, and all agreed “We all need our trees, trees, trees!”

Mr. R’s Preserve theTrees Song – chorus

To Listen to the tree song, click here.

Trees, Trees, Trees

Have roots and trunks and leaves

Trees, Trees, Trees

Have buds and fruits and seeds

Trees, Trees, Trees

A home for birds and bees

We all need our

Trees, Trees, Trees

ECDC teachers and children are learning to enjoy and appreciate trees – all year round.

We are happy to announce that in honor of Tu B’Shvat, we raised $252 — enough to plant 14 trees in Israel.

Thank you to our children for earning quarters toward this cause and to ECDC families for your amazing generosity.

ECDC was fortunate today to welcome Irene Cheng, Violinist. Ms. Cheng is the mother of Maddie, who attended pre-school at ECDC.  She is also a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony and has been  making annual visits to our school to perform for the children. Today Ms. Cheng played a range of music from Twinkle, Twinkle to a Bach gigue. She played fast and slow, happy and sad, and loud and soft. We even had a chance to dance in the aisles, especially to the happy music.

Ms. Cheng gave the children an opportunity to play on a tiny violin. They sounded and looked like virtuosos in the making.

Many thanks to Irene Cheng and the Pittsburgh Symphony for sharing beautiful music.

How fortunate we are!

Teachers and children at ECDC have been experimenting with art materials.

With guidance from Barbara Moser, JECEI* Consultant, we are offering a wide variety of drawing materials and surfaces, such as oil pastels, chalk, aluminum foil, sandpaper and corrugated cardboard. When we offer interesting materials, the children respond with curiosity and the results are amazing.

We have a new space in the lower level corridor to exhibit our work. Please stop by to see our beautiful artwork.

*The Pittsburgh Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI) is a program supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

A Special Day

Music Educator, Margaret Hooton, sang Chanukah songs with us!

Here is an all-time favorite —

I have a little dreidel; I made it out of clay

And when it’s dry and ready,

My dreidel I shall play!

Chorus

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel I shall play

Here are more verses (or make up your own!) –

I made it out of soap. I put it in the bathtub to see if it would float.

I made it out of ice. It melted when I spun it, which wasn’t very nice.

I made it out of sand. But when I tried to spin it, it crumbled in my hand.

I made it out of plastic. Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, now isn’t that fantastic!

We ate latkes with applesauce!

Here is another song —

Let’s make latkes, lovely Latkes

Let’s make latkes for the holiday.

Grate potatoes, grate potatoes

Grate potatoes and an onion too!

Add some flour, add some flour,

Add some flour and an egg or two.

Fry the latkes, fry the latkes,

First on one side, then the other side too.

Eat the latkes, lovely latkes,

Eat the latkes and some applesauce too.

We made gifts for our families!

Story Time with the 4s

Temple librarian, Paula Altschul, read Sammy Spider’s First Hanukkah.  Sammy Spider wore his Chanukah socks!  After listening to the story, the students had fun spinning the dreidels from Mrs. Altschul’s dreidel collection.