Birthdays Galore!!

Today we had not one but TWO special birthday celebrations, Jacob and Lily!! Today was Jacob’s “official” birthday and Lily had her special celebration today for her birthday on Friday! Jacob’s mom, dad and brother Zach came in this morning and read two special books with us. Jacob shared one of his favorite stories, Harold and the Purple Crayon. I was not surprised that such a budding artist would love this book so much. It was great to see how engaged the class was with the story and a few children picked purple canyons out to color with later in the day!

Lily ‘s Mom Amy came in at the end of the day and also shared books with us. One of the books, Winkin Blinkin and Nod, was a book that Amy had when she was young and now reads to Lily. It is a lovely story with beautiful illustrations. The book was created from a poem and since then there has also been a song written to the same lyrics. After Amy read the story she played us the song on her phone. The class was mesmerized! it was so sweet that Lily and her mom shared such a treasure with our class.

Happy Birthday Jacob and Lily! It was wonderful to spend the day celebrating you and your birthdays today!

Creating Habitats for Hibernation!

Yesterday on our walk the Tel Aviv class read the book, “Time to Sleep” and we talked about how different animals stay warm throughout the winter months. We then built a structure in the woods to create a habitat for an animal that might need a place to hibernate in Needham. The children loved finding big sticks and trying to figure out how to make them balance. The class worked on communicating where they were walking while they were holding the sticks so that the sticks wouldn’t hurt their friends. Soon we created a neat dwelling place for an animal or for a Tel Aviv friend! Each child took a turn sitting in our structure. They were all so proud of what they built.

Today we played inside and were still able to create structures for different kinds of animals. Using the wooden blocks and plastic animals children were able to make places so that our animal friends can stay safe and warm in winter. Although this task was done on a smaller scale, children had to figure out how to make blocks of all different sizes balance, which was no easy task. We will continue to talk about how we and different animals stay warm we are prepared for when winter finally comes.

Another Lunch Bunch Outdoor Adventure!

Yesterday Max, Jared, Nathan, Micah and I went on another adventure to the woods behind TBSCC. We explored, played with leaves, and even had a special circle time where we read the book, Time to Sleep about a bear who is getting ready for winter to come. All the boys loved it and were able to interact with nature in different ways. Nathan collected concrete he found because he didn’t like the litter. Jared sat on a log and “fished:” for leaves with a stick he found. Max and Micah practiced their balancing by walking on a log and jumping into a pile of leaves. Many other games were played but it was neat to see just how much variety there was amongst the four boys. By the end of the day all of them were a bit tired and thought that the log was a nice place for a little “peace out time.” Lilah Tov Unicorn boys! Hope you had a fun day in the woods!!

Let's Do Some Movement!

The Rainbow children love to move around! Before playing outside on Tuesday, the children had fun dancing with Nancy (not to be confused with "Dancing Nancy"). Sophie, Audrey and Rose had a great time dancing and practicing their balancing skills!

Beginning to learn about Chanukah

Through hands on exploration the Rainbow children began to learn about Chanukah. The wooden menorah with the colorful candles was a very popular item. The children were very excited to take out the candles and put them back in again. Some of the children even "lit" the candles. This activity used fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as well as pattern recognition and grouping the candles by color. Spinning the dreidel was another popular activity. At first, there was a lot of "I can't do it." But with encouragement, the children tried and with persistence were able to spin the dreidel even if it only spun once and then fell over. We also read lots of Chanukah books and started to learn about the symbols of Chanukah. Look for lots more Chanukah fun in the weeks to come!

Volcano building 101 Day TWO

Today was the MESSY day. The paper mache was ready as were the strips. At first, we did not have gloves. The sensation of this, was quickly dismissed as unsatisfactory in the process. We decided a quick solution was to provide 'gloves'. Soon more boys and girls started to dip and paste. Joshua carefully lined up the strip, dipped, and on to the container it went. What a process. It still doesn't quite look like a volcano. There is much work to be done. Stay tuned. Tomorrow we will need to plan out how to make it BIGGER and WIDER. I  wonder what they will say??? Teachers want to know!!!

Volcano Building 101 Day 1

We were inspired by the Haifa class boys and girls to make our own volcano. We printed out some 'facts' about volcanos in an effort to respond to those curious minds "is there vinegar and baking soda in a REAL volcano? You may want to ask your children? But the pictures of the RED eruption, lava pouring, soon became the focus for creating our very own volcano. We provided the bowl, and newspaper. Now what did we need to do? We knew from talking to the Haifa class boys and girls, that 'paper mache' was needed and a bowl.  There were however steps that needed to be followed. We needed a plan. First we need newspapers in strips. So Day ONE was creating strips. Many , many strips. Luckily we had lots of newspaper to accompany their interest.  Some boys and girls started with scissors, creating long strips, and others ripped the paper in strips. These exercise help strengthen wrist development for writing, and is fun at the same time, all while serving our 'goal' of making our volcano. Just think of the satisfaction in completion.

Lighting the Chanukah Candles

The Chanukah menorah is called a chanukiyah. The entire family can share one chanukiyah, or each person can light his or her own. It is a good idea to place a tray or foil beneath the chanukiyah for the dripping wax! The candles are placed in the chanukiyah each night from the right side to the left (the same way Hebrew is read) but they are lit each night from left to right (the newest candle is lit first). On Erev Shabbat (Friday evening), the chanukiyah is lit before the Shabbat candles. Light and bless the Chanukah lights first and then the Shabbat candles.

There is one candle for each night of Chanukah, plus the shamash, or “helper” candle that is used to light all the others. All eight of the Chanukah lights should be the same height; the shamash is usually placed higher or lower on the chanukiyah, to differentiate itself from the actual Chanukah lights.

First light the shamash then use it to kindle the other Chanukah lights. There are three blessings said on the first night of Chanukah, and then two each subsequent night.

From The Jewish Parent Page of the Union for Reform Judaism

A Cozy Place to Wait

Take a peek in the upstairs hallway around 11am some day.  "Put your coat on and sit in your cubby," is a familiar refrain in that hallway, first from teachers and then repeated by the children themselves as they squeeze in.  Both the Haifa and Unicorn classes have individual lockers in hallway.  The size of the cubby makes the perfect place for these little bodies to wait as the rest of the class gets ready to go outside or to lunch bunch and the dividers between the cubbies provide a clear definition of the space. 

Attn: President of Rayclo, Inc

 Yesterday the lunch bunch Kohavim boys and girls wanted to mail their letter to the President of Rayclo, Inc., Carolyn Voisin. ( teachers used 'google' as a research tool to find this out). Before sending it out, we asked if there was anything else they wanted to add to the letter before it was sealed in the envelope.  The children responded "we hope you write us back!!! The letter was sealed in the envelope, but what else was needed? The children responded 'a mailman'. We didn't have a mail person, but Rachel was our mailperson. She asked the children if they wanted to see where the envelope would be going from her desk. We followed her to the office, where the children were able to witness the process this letter was taking towards its final destination: South Carolina. We learned that letters that are BIG need to be weighed to determine the cost to send. Rachel showed the children the special machine in the office that weighs and then issues a stamp with the value needed to process the delivery. Thank you Rachel and the ladies in the office for sharing your time with us and showing us the process of mail delivery. We will be waiting with hope of a reply.

Painting with Dreidels!

While it hasn't exactly been getting colder, that doesn't stop these Unicorns from knowing exactly what holiday is approaching around the corner...

Chanukah has been a hot topic around the Unicorn classroom and we have been getting into the swing of things, starting with some decorations!   With dreidels in hand, we have been dipping them in paint and practicing our spinning skills in preperations for our celebration! Our beautiful creations are drying on our blue rack in the classroom and have been glittered and are getting ready!  Come stop in and see them!

Chanukah came early today!!

Thank you Ellen for delivering our first Chanukah treat! We enjoyed opening the box and playing with our new menorah, potato latkes and frying pan!!

Interior designers and architects in the making

After snack today, we asked the Kohavim class if we could borrow their Magnetiles. We have a set of our own, but not a lot. The Kohavim children were generous with their Magnetiles and we brought their HUGE basket back to our room. First, Ben, Aliza, Sydni and Noah Sussman decided that they would recarpet our original carpet with a Magnetile carpet. It was so much more colorful and fun! Then, Lizzie, Jaedyn, Noah Sussman and Noah Sirlin decided that they wanted to make a tower. They worked cooperatively and excitedly as their tower grew and grew and grew. Before we knew it, they had made a tower that was almost as tall as they were!

What will happen next?

Today on the orange team, we had a chance to experiment! Each friend selected three colors to put into their cup of water. And then we watched and waited!

Abby: I think it will change color!

Nathan: It's getting bigger!

Sam: Mine is green.

Drew: Mine's yellow

Olive: Mine is yellow too!

Jared: It's fuzzy.

After watching for a few minutes, we pushed our cups to the middle of the table and went to play, then we checked again.

Abby: They are turning fuzzy

Nathan: They're bigger!

Jared: Mine is bigger also

Sam: Can I have another color?

So we all added one more color to our cups, watched, and compared the new one to the older ones.

Abby: It's smooth

Olive: It's bouncy

Before we went outside to join the blue team, we checked one last time:

They're certainly getting bigger and the yellow has dissolved into the water.... let's see what has happened tomorrow!

Havdalah Outside

Scissors and Gak

 Many of the Levana children are interested in cutting with scissors, and today we added a new dimension by switching from paper and cardboard to Gak. This mysterious substance (which we made in class last week) has qualities that make it perfect for scissor activities. It can be stretched very thin, or cut into thick chunks. It offers a little resistance, so that we must increase the pressure to the scissor handles. Gak makes a fun popping sound when the blades cut through it, and it doesn't stick to the scissors. In the top photos, Mia and Julia are using the loop scissors; below, Samantha and Sonia are having success with the traditional child-sized scissors.

what do you see?

We have been looking at symmetry this week in the Sunshine classroom. On Monday, we traced our bodies and tried to figure out if they had matching left and right sides. Today, we painted on one side of a piece of paper. Then, we folded the paper in 1/2 to see what would happen. We couldn't believe what happened! The same picture appeared on the other side! It was fun to decide what our picture now looked like. Brett saw his backpack, Sydni saw a monster and I thought Noah Sussmans looked a lot like a flying bird!

Let's get moving!

The Rainbows had some active fun with an impromptu dance and a bouncy experiment on the playground. Watch...

Let's get moving!

The Rainbows had some active fun with an impromptu dance and a bouncy experiment on the playground. Watch...

What is this?

What could the mystery tool be? It was little, with a clear tube and a black handle. The Rainbow kids were introduced to an eye dropper. Handy for eye drops, but also great for science. You might have thought we were painting, but in reality it was much more of a science experiment as children explored the droppers. How do you get the paint inside? How do you get it out? It's not as easy as it seems. And the results were stunning! Stay tuned to see our colorful dreidel decorations at the upcoming Chanukah party.

Rolling rolling rolling

The room was filled with laughter as Abby discovered a new way to use the tunnel. She faced out and gave her body a twist. To the right, to the left, she rolled over, then back again. More giggles! Pure fun with the added bonus of helping her to develop the body awareness skills she needs to use as her body grows and develops.

Body Awareness

When it's raining outside our bodies are busy inside. Ben loves bouncing on the ball with the handle, Abby loves the tunnel, and Jacob can't get enough of the wedge incline. Body awareness is an important skill for young children. As they explore these large pieces of gym equipment they are learning to navigate their body in space, use coordinated motions, and balance. What fun!