Sandy and Daniel opened up the World Atlas as their choice of books to read during quiet reading at lunch bunch. Soon the discussion was their trip to the North Pole. What they would find there and who they would see. Soon other friends joined in, Samuel contributed his thoughts on the wild life he would find in the North Pole versus , South Pole, and who lives in the Jungle.. You may want to ask these friends... I bet they would tell you. Sandy soon found a "chart" of symbols that were on the map. She said " I want to find these" and soon she and Daniel were off exploring the map to find these hidden treasures.
Consistent with our philosophy to encourage participation in developing curriculum, we provide children the opportunity to contribute their ideas to any activity or theme introduced or in process. We asked the children if the wanted to "design" their own tiles for their parents to "copy" for the curriculum night project. What could we use? Friends thought "markers, jewels, sparkles, hearts, and buttons." We set out the materials needed and friends selected the colors and quickly came up with their unique master pieces for their mommies and daddies to duplicate on the tile pieces. Friends will be adhering the decorated tile pieces to our newly constructed Aron Kodesh at a later time.
We asked them IF they thought their parents could do it. All of our friends thought "YES". Parents did not disappoint! The teachers grouped all the thoughts onto the lists of materials, without identifying, each child to their specific idea. Teachers take note, some friends said "mommy forgot the hearts, or mommy forgot the buttons." Clearly the children became invested in their creations and took great pride in them. Not to worry, situation resolved, mommy came in the next day and added the hearts. Situation resolved to everyone's satisfaction!!! Great job mommy!!!
Unicorn friends are great helpers in the classroom. They set up for morning meeting, placing the "sit upons" next to one another so everyone can sit for morning meeting. For Shabbat we have special mats with the words for the Motzi in both English and Hebrew. Friends are recognizing the "difference" in the printed word. Providing children with the opportunity to take responsibility for their environment, setting up for activities, cleaning up, and working cooperatively to complete a task, allows them to feel confident in their abilities, encourages team work, and sense of pride in their work.
You may have noticed that your children are naturally curious about the world around them. They may especially notice tall buildings or new houses. They may also be interested in building structures in their everyday lives-a home for their stuffed animals, a castle for their dolls, or a fortress for themselves. You may also see them finding joy in knocking these same structures down, or just gazing up at tall buildings with wonder.
As part of our science curriculum this year we are going to study building structures. Your children will develop a scientific approach to their investigating of structures as they focus on building tall structures and enclosures, trying out different building material, and discovering which materials work best for different kinds of construction.
At school, your children will do the following:
Build tall structures and enclosures using many different kinds of materials
Create drawings to represent what they have built
Research in books to learn more about different kinds of structures
Share their thinking and ideas
You can really help our explorations by encouraging your children to build at home. There is no need for you to have specific materials-children will delight in building with anything from Popsicle sticks to milk cartons. Lego and Duplo blocks are also popular, but children do not encounter the same challenges in terms of balance and gravity when building with these blocks. Your children will be delighted if, instead you encourage their exploration and show an interest in their discoveries, and even share your own observations-a new house or building going up in your neighborhood.
We can also use your assistance and expertise at school. If you have time to volunteer, come help us as we explore and build. Or if you are knowledgeable about construction, architecture, or anything else related to our study, let us know. We'd love to have you share your experience with all the children.
Sensory table activities encourage the construction of physical knowledge with regard to both liquid and dry materials. The sensory table provides an ideal area for active experimentation since it is designed to contain a substantial volume of either liquid or dry substances. Children can experiment with how these materials react when used with simple machines, which can also be incorporated into the sensory table. For example, a funnel is a type of inclined plane, while an eggbeater employs a wheel and axle. Children can also explore the movement and containment of liquid and dry materials, buoyancy, absorption, and measurement through carefully planned sensory table activities.
Last week the Tel Aviv All Stars had a great time playing/experimenting in the sensory table, with clear plastic tubing, funnels and colored soapy water. Sam called me over to the sensory table to inform me that, "There are blue chemicals in the water that we need to get out! The chemicals have germs so we need to pour the water down the drain to get them out!" He discovered when he pours the water into a funnel attached to a tube it flows down and out of the tubes(the pretend drain). But if he adds another funnel to the other end of the tube, and lifts up both ends of the tubes, the water gets stuck in the tube. Teddy Post, Mia, Aden and Lexi came over to see what was going on at the sensory table. Sam asked his friends to help him remove the "bad blue chemicals" from the water. They all were more than willing to help! Now that's what I call good friends!
Several of our children are working hard in dramatic play to prepare for Shabbat. Teddy Post is making sure our "house" is clean, Oliver ensures that there is enough food, and Aaron has been taking good care of the babies in our Tel Aviv family. Oliver said: "We have to wake up at 7:40 for everyone to come to our Shabbat. We are cleaning up for Shabbat so the whole class can come." Our children this year seem to appreciate the fact that Shabbat is different from every other day, and that it deserves special recognition. We made a Shabbat book which contains a page from each child. After reading and discussing one of our books about Creation, each child drew a picture of something from the book that he/she felt was meaningful. We will read the book together with our special guests in the classroom next Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom to all.
Friday is a day of getting ready for Shabbat. Each child makes a mini Challah to bring home. We are learning to braid at the same time! Every Friday we enjoy a lot of free play, book time is usually an interesting Shabbat story, and we join the entire school to celebrate Shabbat in the sanctuary. Today in the sanctuary, we had music with Max and sang all of our favorite songs! Have a great weekend. Shabbat Shalom!
Avram's job at havdalah this week was to walk around with the spice box and give everyone the chance to have a sniff of the sweet smelling spices. This ritual helps launch our week as a sweet one, and the power of the sensory experience is one even the youngest child can appreciate. Avram took his job seriously, walking around the enormous circle of children and teachers to give everyone a chance. Thanks for helping us all start the week of right, Avram!
We hope the Tel Aviv All Star parents enjoyed Curriculum Night! The teachers are not sure who had more fun creating "Loose Parts Sculptures", the parents or the children? The process of open exploration allowed the materials to lead both the children and parents to craft sculptural treasures!
As the children arrived this morning they asked, "When can I see what my mom/dad made me"? After our morning meeting was over, we invited them to go over to their mail boxes to see what their parents created.
They did not want to leave! All morning long, they went back and forth to visit/play with their three dimensional "friends". All the children were simply delighted!
Watch out Julia Child here we come! For the next several weeks the All Star "Lunch Bunchers" will be very busy cooking lots of new recipes. Today, at our afternoon meeting we reviewed with the children the list of Lunch Bunch ideas/themes they created back in September. The children all agreed cooking was what they wanted to do next! They came up with some great cooking ideas... pumpkin pie, lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, turkey and the list goes on and on!
The Scientist class had music this week with our new music teacher, Josh. He was a big hit with the Scientists. We were singing new and familar songs, as well as dancing around the room while Josh led us by playing his guitar. Some of his songs had hand motions and other songs we got to use musical instruments!! What a fun time we had. We are definitely looking forward to Josh's next visit.
Today , the Scientists were very busy making pumpkin muffins from scratch. Your children are great bakers. Anyone who wanted to help did, they were so helpful and were very patient while they waited for their turn. In addition to baking, we also got a little math lesson too. Two half cups make one whole cup and two quarter cups make one half cup. Everyone brought home one pumpkin muffin to share with their family. However, I think a few of the lunch bunchers may have eaten theirs for dessert! B'tey Avon!
During lunch bunch yesterday, Lucas and Jonathan were thinking of different ways to practice their aleph-bet. After finding a puzzle, Lucas decided they should try to put the letters back in aleph-bet-ical order. Jonathan agreed. Working together, they dumped all the pieces out, mixed them up, and turned them right side up. One by one they found each letter, asking to be reminded of the names and orders for each. They even negotiated their own system for taking turns, patiently waiting and allowing each other time to find letters!
Pretty soon they were humming the aleph-bet song, and Becca and Jayden started singing along. Later, everyone took turns tracing the aleph-bet with stencils. Today we'll think of more ways we can practice our hebrew letters!
Children typically go through a predictable series of stages in learning to write. Falling after the scribbling and early emergent stages, in which children use letter like shapes to imitate writing, the emergent stage involves experimentation with random letters or letter like strings. Emergent writers typically use letter sequences perhaps learned from his or her name. They may write the same letters in many ways. We often see emergent writers writing long strings of letters in random order. These are all important steps in learning to write. The Haifa class was focusing on supporting the children at their own developmental stage. As children wrote out gift tags to their parents, some used letter like forms, others used actual letters named by a teacher, and still others knew the letters they needed and wrote the words on their own.
The first months of school are all about learning the routines. At school there are new routines to learn for everything. Walking down the stairs is something the children do every day at school. Although many have stairs at home, negotiating the stairs with a group adds another dimension. The Sunshine class has learned to hold the railing and walk step by step down to the playground. The teachers add an element of rhythm and an upbeat feeling to the process by singing a down the stairs song. The children join in and are reminded of the strategies they need to negotiate this tricky task. Ask your child to teach it to you.
It was wonderful seeing our Unicorn families at Curriculum Night. You were without a doubt the best dressed carpenters in Needham! We hope you enjoyed your immersion into your child's world and taking part in building the Unicorn’s Aron Kodesh as a team. The teachers all agreed that the parents worked together almost as well as the Unicorns themselves and learned a lot about sharing.
We can’t wait to see how excited the class will be to continue their parents work and begin painting, decorating, and adding the tiles each parent designed! ~More photos from a great evening~
Sandy and Daniel opened up the World Atlas as their choice of books to read during quiet reading at lunch bunch. Soon the discussion was their trip to the North Pole. What they would find there and who they would see. Soon other friends joined in, Samuel contributed his thoughts on the wild life he would find in the North Pole versus , South Pole, and who lives in the Jungle.. You may want to ask these friends... I bet they would tell you.
