Lunch Bunch Fun!

At the beginning of Lunch Bunch I showed the children a variety of art materials. I then asked them to choose the materials they wanted to use. Check out their colorful creations! Wow!!!!!!

Fun With Floam

Is it candy...dippin dots ice cream...sprinkles? No, its floam! A colorful, bumpy, squishy, substance that molds any way you like it and can be taken apart and put back together again quite easily. Floam is a favorite amongst the Rainbow kids and today was no exception. The kids created everything from Challah to fish to cake with lots of laughter, sharing and cooperation going on. The kids shared the cutting tools without prompting, and they even said ,"When you're done, can I have a turn?" The floam was brought out after Ellen came in to do the mystery game. The kids decided to carry the 'mystery' over to the floam, asking each other, "guess what I made?"

Painting With Wood

The Rainbows did not paint with paper today but instead painted with wood. We told the kids that wood comes from trees, and since we are learning about Tu B'Shevat, which is the birthday of trees, this is why we are painting with wood. The kids each got to choose their own wooden animal and paint it. They soon discovered that this was easier said than done. One by one as they were done painting the front, they all said, "I'm done." To their surprise, the teachers showed them that the animals had more than one side and, in fact, they were not quite done yet. The animals were 3D and all had a top, bottom, and sides. Several of the children enjoyed this activity so much that they painted several animals. There were ducks, snakes, elephants, and many more to choose from. Ask your child which one was their favorite!

Bean and plant!

Last week we placed bean seeds in a wet paper towel , placed them in a plastic bag and put them on the windowsill in our classroom. Each day we moistened the paper towel. On Monday we noticed a tiny root growing out of the seeds. Today most of the children planted a few of their bean seeds in soil and will continue to observe their bean plants.

We placed them back in the windowsill and will water them everyday! Stay tuned for a bean plant update!

More children are stepping forward to share

Although I did not get a picture of this(batteries stopped working), I wanted to write about Jesse Barnet's presentation at our second morning meeting today. Jesse worked hard on "an arts and crafts book" which involved many skills. He drew pictures using different writing implements, attached one picture to the next, and carefully cut fringe along the whole perimeter of his book. Jesse also shared the fact that he made a building out of wooden blocks that had people and furniture in it. He was proud of both of these things and was eager to share them with the class. More children are starting to share their work during meeting time as they see their classmates doing so. There will be times when we divide the group in half to hopefully make it easier for some of the children to speak in front of their peers.

Reflecting on our learning

Learning how to show their work at second morning meeting is a very rich experience for our children. They are learning how to organize their thoughts, give a brief presentation, speak in front of a group, listen to each other, ask questions, and give answers. Their pride in their work is evident from their expressions when presenting. The rest of the group applauds for each child at the end of the sharing. The children are also learning to think critically about the process of learning itself. What were the steps involved in their creation? How did they think of the idea? What were they happy with? Did something unexpected happen? What could they do differently the next time? Today Mia was showing her creation made from Magna-tiles. It had doors that opened, and I believe it was a laser that she gleefully said: "is shooting at Melissa!" I tried to redirect that one! Sam was showing his inkblot picture which was "an invisible butterfly. These are the two wings, and they are big, and come down here." Now the butterfly is invisible." Ilana and Hadley made a lovely series of colorful pictures of fun places to go and beautiful things to see. Josh said that his picture was of a "place where they kill people in jail. Whenever there is danger they call the police on the phone." Oliver shared his Magna-tile structure, saying: "I made this. The bathroom is in there. It's a space craft with a bathroom."It is important to understand that children of this age are wrestling with strong emotions, and are also trying to make sense of the world around them. It is perfectly natural that their artwork will express this and contain themes of violence, shooting, killing, etc. Fear not; this is healthy and to be expected.

Edible Dirt?

Edible Dirt

-chocolate pudding(dirt)
-graham crackers(sand)
-small pretzels(tiny sticks or mulch)
-one or two gummy worms
-one plastic clear up

What do you see?

The Kohavim children were so taken by the element of surprise around how their pictures would look, that we continued with this activity again today. Nathaniel said: "My picture looks like an A." Sam commented, "Mine looks like a bridge. Or a rocketship. Let's test it out." Sam enjoyed dropping his picture and watching over and over how it landed. Mia said that hers looked like "polka dots and also a bunk bed." Matt said: "My picture is one of the monsters from Journey to the Mysterious Island." I haven't quite figured out if that is a show or movie. Matt said he hadn't seen it. Can someone help me out?

Earthworms are more than fish bait!

Today we read Diary of a Worm. The book is just adorable! It talks about how earthworms are more than just fish bait! They are contributors to enriching and improving soil for plants, animals and even humans. Earthworms create tunnels in the soil by burrowing, which aerates to soil to allow air, water and nutrients to reach deep within the soil. We also discussed that the earthworm like humans, release waste from their body. Castings contain many nutrients that the plant can use.

We finished up our discussion by acknowledging how worms play the most important part in the ecosystem. They clean it up and do the natural recycling. We should respect these little amazing creatures and help them when we can(keep them out of harms way), as they are so helpful to all plants, animals and humans... Thank God for worms!

Growing Everyday

There's a special tree growing in the Levana classroom, and the children contribute their talents to its growth in many different ways. Some practice their cutting skills, and others tear paper to make leaves for the canopy. Olivia and Mia sat together at the table and chatted. Samantha and Eliana both spent long periods of time working individually, spreading glue and applying paper. Later, they worked together, passing materials back and forth, with each working on an area in need of greenery. Our  tree project has provided  opportunities for the children to work alone, with partners, or as part of a small group.

The Mystery Fruit Game

It was the Rainbows' turn for a visit from Ellen. She presented the children with a mystery: what fruit is in the bag? She gave us clues and we guessed until we discovered what was hiding inside. She might say, "It grows on a tree." and "It's crunchy." and finally, "It's red." With a couple of the fruits, we got stuck. Ellen would help us out by giving us a tiny peek at the fruit.

Ellen asked us to smell, touch, lick, and taste the fruits - like scientists might - and make observations. No one had to eat the fruit, but we had to act like scientists together as we explored the fruits. Some kids did choose to eat the fruits that were uncovered.

Did you know that a cucumber is a fruit? Ellen explained that anything that has a seed or seeds is a fruit. She invited the kids to find a fruit at home and close it up in a paper bag to share with us a school - but....shhh.....don't tell what's inside until we get to play the Mystery Fruit Game together again!

Tu B'Shevat is approaching, and we discussed the celebration of the trees at circle time. We talked about how the trees give us wonderful, tasty fruits, wood, paper, and even the gift of shade. We will be talking more about these topics over the next few weeks as we come to appreciate many varied aspects of trees.

If you guessed "Apple" - you were right!

Tu B'Shevat is Coming

Use these links to learn more about Tu B'Shevat, the New Year of the Trees.

Jewish Parent Page: Respecting & conserving the earth's natural resources

Holiday Happenings: Tu B'Shevat for young children & their parents

Tu B'Shevat songs for kids

Kumquats Around the World

Tu B'Shevat is a wonderful holiday for tasting new and interesting fruits. We'll be sampling many in the weeks ahead. Maria kindly brought in some kumquats for us to try last week. Maria's timing was wonderful as kumquats are a fruit traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year (which we were discussing that day), symbolizing prosperity for the new year. We have also been learning that it is traditional to taste fruit that grows on trees during Tu B'Shevat and kumquats are a tree fruit! We looked on the map to see three places we're pretty sure people might have been eating kumquats that day - Israel, China, and Needham!
The skin of a kumquat is sweet, while the inside is quite sour!  Thank you, Maria!

-Laura Walsh

Live art!

While Matt and Teddy Fox were discussing what kind of a statue they wanted to be, Nathaniel extended his hand and announced that he was the Statue of Liberty. The three of them enjoyed making human statues throughout the morning and then sharing their performances with the rest of the class during our second morning meeting.

It looks like a......!

The children loved reading It Looks Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw. They were fascinated to see the number of different things that a supposed splotch of "spilt milk" could look like. Their imagination spawned so many answers that I had trouble keeping up with them all. The book was new to most of them. We followed up the story by making our own pictures using white paint and black paper. This was a big hit as well. They were so excited to see what shapes emerged when they folded the paper in half after applying blots of paint to one side of the paper. Teddy Post continued to show his interest in making books by starting a spilt milk book today which he plans to continue to work on tomorrow. Any budding Rorschachers in the group?

Being a friend

Today, Jaedyn wasn't feeling so great. She was sad and wanted her mommy. After some cuddles, we suggested that she make a picture for her mommy. She asked Judi to draw her mommy and daddy. After the portraits were done, she wanted to add some stickers. Jaedyn took the stickers to the "kitchen" table and, shortly thereafter, Aleeza joined her. She asked Jaedyn if she could help her and the two girls added stickers together. Aleeza definitely wanted to help Jaedyn feel better. This act of kindness and display of being a friend is something that we try to highlight during our day. Kudos to Aleeza and all of the sunshines for working hard to use friendly and compassionate behavior at school!

Taking Turns

In the Levana class, we are learning the language of turn-taking. Turn-taking is a skill that we model and talk about in our interactions with the children so that they can learn what it means to have a turn, and can learn to say to one another, "Can I use that when you are done?" The children are gaining confidence that, while they may be watching and waiting at this moment, they will soon be able to perform; after we have our turn, then someone else will have a turn. One way that we demonstrate and practice turn-taking is by using musical instruments, such as the xylophone, together. The mallet is passed from one musician to another; knowing that our turn is coming up helps us to relax and enjoy the music. After Bennett played, he handed the mallet across to Elias and said, "Your turn!"

Same manipulative, different direction

As we continue to learn about trees and Tu B'Shevat, we borrowed some fun manipulatives from the Tel Aviv class. The bin was filled with small slices of tree branches and different wood pieces. It was neat to see how Ben and Lizzie used them differently!