Special Shabbat

Such a wonderful shabbat we shared this week.  Beautiful blessings and then our visitors arrived.  Thank you so all of the mommies, daddies, babysitters, grandparents and friends who helped to make our shindig so special.

Happy Vacation!!

Together at the Shabbat Shindig

Looking around the Shabbat Shindig I saw laughter, creativity, celebration, and family. Thanks to all who made the day a special one!

View more photos here.

Bim Bam Bim Bim Bim Bam

TBSCC Family Chanukah Party

View more photos here. Thank you to Aimee Stone for being our photographer.

Havdalah

If I had a hammer

Thursday was a day for experimenting with real hammers and some (golf tees) nails.  We had a large heavy piece of styrofoam to work with, and the children had lots of fun experimenting with techniques for getting the nails in and out of it.  Some tapped lightly and others enjoyed banging with gusto.  Everyone was respectful of one another as they waited for a turn and worked safely across from one another.  It is quite impressive to see what these young children are capable of!

 

Very Special Guests

Last week we had some very special guests come in to read to us!  Chloe and Max Glazer.  They each read us a book, we sang a few Hanukkah songs,   lit the candles and said the blessings together!

Chloe and Max we really enjoyed your visit please come back to visit us real soon!   

My Sister Can Tumblesault!

Last week, we had a sibling visit and read us a book.  Jack told us,"My sister can't read but she can do really good tumblesaults."  So we invited Molly upstairs to show us all how to do this tricky move!  Molly was very proud of her  tumbling, but Jack was even prouder of his big sister!   Nice moves, Molly!  Thanks for teaching Etzim!

Sharing the Wealth

The Keshet class had a surprise visit from our Levana friends today. The children came carrying many  puzzles which they offered to our class, and the Keshet children were happy to receive them. They are a welcome addition to our collection. We love the way materials cycle through the various classrooms of our school; what has become old and familiar in one class can be new and interesting in another. Thank you Levana, and let's visit often in 2013!

Shabbat Challah Covers

This week in Levana, the children decorated challah covers for Shabbat. They each had a white piece of felt which they covered with colorful, wet tissue paper. The colors from the tissue paper bled into the white felt, making for a beautiful design. Our friends practiced tearing the sheets of paper of the colors they wanted to use. We are looking forward to sending the covers home with everyone at our Shabbat Shindig!

Shabbat Scenes

The Keshet class spent its last school day of 2012 together today. It was a full and wonderful day, with lots of reading, hammering and sliding. As always our day centered around the celebration of Shabbat, with the  preparation of our own challah and "carry bags," and enjoying the beautiful challah with apples that Ben brought from home and proudly blessed. It was delicious!

Chanukah Fun with Josh

 Enjoy the smiles and joy!!!

I Throw My Latkes in the Air Sometimes

As Kohavim was enjoying the Hanukkah festivities last week, some children were singing the song, "Candlelight" over and over again. The lyric, "I throw my latkes in the air sometimes" sparked a discussion on what would happen if we really were to throw our latkes in the air. We decided that if we did throw our latkes in the air they would either stick to the ceiling or make a mess on the floor, but the children still wanted to try tossing latkes. So we developed a Latke Toss Game together.

In the Latke Toss Game, each player takes turns standing on the taped line. They get three chances to toss the latke from their frying pan. The children tossed the latke (in the game we used a bean bag) at cards labeled with numerals representing the amount of points you would receive.  The closest card to tossing line was labeled 1 and increased with distance to 5. Depending on where the Latke lands, that is the amount of points the player earns that round. Because each player gets three tosses each turn, the children had the challenge of tallying the three tosses together. 

After many practice rounds of Toss the Latke, the children signed in on the score sheet. Then they each took turns tossing the latkes. As the player took their place on the taped line, the other children cheered them on. The player then tossed "the latke" three times providing the other children with addition problems. If the player tossed the latke and it landed on a 2, then a 3, and then a 2 we had the challenge of adding all of those numbers together. What a fun way to explore "throwing our latkes in the air" and engaging in math!

Go Fish! The Benefits of Playing Cards

The children in Kohavim have been using playing cards! Children have counted the shapes on individual cards, placed the cards in number order, and matched cards with the same numeral. They have also been playing games such as "Go Fish" or a game some people refer to as "War," where they determine which player has the card with the highest or lowest numeral.  Some of the wonderful math opportunities playing cards provide for young children are to count, compare, and think about sequence. When engaging in card games, the children are also following a set of rules and developing good sportsmanship. When Brett noticed Zack had a large pile of cards he had won during a game he exclaimed that Zack was really good at these games. Zack then explained to Brett, that in the game of "war" you aren't good or bad, it just depends on the cards that you are dealt. You might want to get out the playing cards at home and explore them with your children!

The Last Unicorn

Most of the Haifa Lunch Bunch children were in the Unicorn class last year. At least once a week someone will ask why the class name was changed to Etzim. Today Ben asked if Etzim means Unicorn in Hebrew. We talked about the the meaning of the names of different classrooms, Etzim (Trees), Levana (moon) and classes named after places in Israel (Tel Aviv, Haifa.) but everyone was still wondering how to say Unicorn in Hebrew. Allison came by and helped us and then Rabbi Todd picked it up from there, leading a conversation with a captivated Haifa lunch bunch. Rabbi Todd told us "The English word unicorn has it's roots in Latin, with "uni" coming from one and "corn" meaning horn.  The Hebrew borrowed the second half from the English and replaced the first half "uni" with the Hebrew word for "one", echad.  The Hebrew word for unicorn is chadkorn.  Just like in English -"one horn."  The children thought about this and, upon Rabbi Todd's departure, used their lunch items to make unicorn horns.  Abby lamented "We were the last Unicorns."  Thanks Rabbi Todd, for some wonderful spontaneous learning!  

What to do when I don't like what you're doing?

Stop!  I don't like that!

In our classroom, we take care of ourselves by using our words to express what we like and what we don't like.  Sometimes classmates might stand too close.  Other times they might take something that we are still using, or knock down something we have just built.  As adults, we have a set of strategies when we don't like what someone has done.  First, we let them know that we want them to stop.  Then, we might explain why.  If this doesn't work, we might get a friend or colleague to help us.  On the rare ocassion when all of this doesn't work, we ignore the behavior or remove ourselves from the situation.

The Shamayim children are beginning this extensive process of building their problem solving strategy skill sets.  Today, we started talking about how we feel when another child is doing something that we don't like or makes us uncomfortable.  We feel mad, sad, scared, frustrated.  The first problem solving strategy that we will try is:

Stop!  (Hands on the hips making triangles with your arms and a strong voice).  We are advocating for ourselves.  Making our needs and feelings known and beginning to take care of ourselves.

We role played and practiced this together.  We also talked about how we take care of each other by supporting a friend when they are not comfortable.  Sonia showed us how she would help Bennett if he wanted someone to stop.

Strong problem solving skills are key to resiliency and success in later childhood and adulthood.  We are excited to embark on this important life skill together.

Friends!

Zach and Noah have been spending a lot of time together playing "Daddy and Baby".
Zach (Daddy) speaks in a quiet gentle voice to his baby as he reads, feeds and cares for him.  Later in the day Zach helped Noah place beads on wire. Noah was making a bracelet for his mom.
Zach, thanks for being such a fine friend!   We appreciate that you are always willing to lend a helping hand to a friend, classmate or teacher! 

Kids Taking Photos!

Zach, Micah and Elias exploring with the camera!

Pumpkin Pancakes

 

Avi smiles in anticipation of making pumpkin pancakes.
Samantha adds a cup of pumpkin to the mix.
Ellen watches while Samantha stirs the batter.
Olivia dips her pancakes in maple syrup and enjoys snack.

Levana Knows How To Share

We hit the jackpot when we asked Levana if they had an extra sorting tray today.  They gave us a color wheel which Ben and Josh used to sort pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.   Later we used it as a transitional tool, identifying colors we were wearing wearing.  Tina also shared some bread, jelly, and a round cookie cutter so we could make some instant jelly "donuts" for snack.  What generous neighbors! 

Eliana cutting out her sufganiyot!

Pairs of Painters at the Easel

Painting at the easel has taken on a whole new way of doing art. In the Levana class we have opened up both sides of our easel so that two children can work at the same time. The children are very aware of a friend painting around the corner. Besides having to wait for the easel to be free when only one side is open, the children invite others to paint and on occasion trade sides at the easel. As our children mature, we see them becoming more aware of and desiring connection with one another.

Careful - It is contagious

It seems as though the Haifa children recently heard of someone with a broken leg in a cast. Not wanting to miss any excitement of a broken leg in a cast, someone had an idea. Can't paper and tape make a cast? Anything is possible. First one person had a "cast", then the contagion spread like wild fire. Many children had 2 broken arms and 2 broken legs and still were able to move freely around the room. Isn't the life of a 4 year old fabulous?
Sauci and Alison

Lunch bunch conversations...

One of the best part of lunch bunch is the casual conversations the children have with one another as they eat in small groups. One of the gifts we can give our children is the freedom to express their ideas in a safe environment and question and seek answers without fear. It was amazing to be the listener in this conversation which just materialized as they were chatting with one another.

"God made moms to make people," said Zack.

"Who was the first one who had the first mom?" responded Dylan.

"Our mommy's mom. God made moms and dads so that moms could make us so we could be alive." said Zack.

"I know God made people, cuz people come out of moms' bellies."

Dylan continued to question and wonder... How could mommies be little babies, then who would be in the belly?

Zack said, "Moms and dads are kids to some people."

WOW is all one could say.

Nature Art

Where's the Paintbrush?

The children had an opportunity to do some finger painting this morning.  After an explanation and a brief demonstration, they understood that no brushes were necessary.  This creative opportunity has a sensory element that can be strange at first.  Sometimes we forget that children need to be exposed to new things over and over before they become comfortable and allow themselves to explore more deeply.  We plan to offer this activity on several more occasions to allow the children to become more comfortable with the medium and the experience of having wet, gooey, paint covered fingers and hands.

A work in progress!

Wooden blocks are always a great medium for the children to play with on the rug in the center of the Levana classroom. Many of our friends enjoy using the plastic tool sets to hammer, saw, and measure the blocks while constructing towers, castles and other creations.
Sydney worked very intensely to build a structure as she came up with an idea of what she wanted to make. It was a work in progress, as she continued to add on throughout free play.
It is always interesting to see what the children create. We will continue to allow the Levana students to explore balance, building and mixing mediums through their play with wooden blocks!

Singing a Solo

The Keshet children love to gather each day for circle. They sing our good-morning songs, and readily learn new songs. Today several of the children sang solos, choosing a variety of favorite nursery rhymes, including Twinkle, Twinkle,  ABC's, and some inventive free-form vocalizing. They were delighted to be in the center of the circle, and the Keshet audience was attentive and rewarded the singers with applause. The children are learning that we belong to a classroom community with our own rituals and customs, and that we can support and enjoy one another as we try new things.

My turn to be the teacher!

"The Goodnight Moon Game" is a favorite in the Levana classroom.  Typically, each student chooses a game card and a teacher offers up cards to see which child has the match.  This time, Sydney decided she wanted a turn to be the teacher.  Sydney echoed the exact words she heard the teacher use, "Who has a picture of a cat?"  "Oh, Abby does!"  or "Here, Lindsey, you have this one!"  Everyone was happy to play along!

Surprise Visitor ??

The Kohavim boys and girls had a surprise visitor last week. Ella, Lily's older sister came in to read a special book "the Only One Club". It is a heartwarming book about understanding and appreciating differences as much as our similarities. We were very lucky to have Ella come in to read to us. Ella thank you for coming in to read to us and helping us make Latkes . It was a lot of hard work snd we appreciate your help. Thank you Lily for sharing Ella with us !

New uses for old toys!

On Fridays, the students in the Levana class decorate bags to bring home their homemade challot.  We use different materials to decorate the bags.  Last week, we had different colored snowflake stampers.

We could never have imagined how creative the students would get with the stampers!  Not only did they use them to stamp and decorate the bags,  but they gathered and collected stampers in their challah bags, took off the tops to practice sorting and counting, and lined them up and knocked them down!