My Turn, Your Turn...

This week we have been exploring and learning about what the word  "friend" means.  Early on in the week  we asked the children, "What nice things do friends do?"
Elias- sharing, Adam- stopping to listen, Molly- negotiating, Micah R- playing together, Charlotte-play dates, Noah-they hug, Lily-share, Samantha- share, Micah G- hold hands, Josh-they
kiss, Josie- they play together and Zach-take turns.

Today in lunch bunch Micah R mentioned that he really likes to play "slap jack" at home.  I suggested we all play together.  The whole group was excited and interested to learn how to play.   Micah and I explained how to play.  We all had a ball!  Everyone became familiar with each card in the deck...#10, #5, the Jacks, Queens etc.   Every time someone placed down a card they told the group what it was, except for the "Jacks"!  Quickly the children caught on , if you see a "Jack" put your hand on it really, really, fast!   If your hand is there first, you get to keep all the cards.  "Slap Jack is a great way to teach children how to take turns and it's a lot of fun!

Negotiate!

This week Bruce stopped into the classroom to teach us the 5th problem solving strategy.  Last but not least is NEGOTIATION! 

We asked the children what does negotiate mean?  Their responses, "Thinking, talking and sharing".  Bruce and Sasha took it a step further and modeled how to negotiate the sharing space in the back jack chair.  Bruce and Sasha both wanted to sit in the back jack chair.  First they pushed each other a little and then clearly stated "I want that chair!"   Then Bruce suggested that they share the space and sit in the chair together.  Sasha liked that idea a lot!  They negotiated and worked it out!

 Bruce stayed for a while and demonstrated how to negotiate with foam blocks and encouraged the children to continue to use all the problem solving strategies at home and at school.   We thanked Bruce for coming, and said our goodbyes!  He had a play date with Nemo and Dory of course!

To fill a Grogger

The sensory table contained three bowls, a few spoons with very short handles, and a funnel.  It was time to put something into the bottles we decorated on Tuesday.  The kids spooned colored rice, black eyed peas, and red kidney beans into the funnel and watched them pile up in the bottom of their groggers.  Next, they tested out the sound and decided when they had enough things to make a satifsying sound when shaken.  

The short handles on the spoons make it impossible to use the palmar grip, so the children must use the pincer grasp to hold the spoon.  This grasp is the basis of the pencil grip which the children will develop over time.  We're always working muscles to help develop coordination and strength.  There was also a challenge in keeping the rice in the spoon all the way from the bowl at the bottom of the bowl to the top of the funnel.  

At circle time, the Purim puppets told the story of Haman (boo!!!!!) and of the brave Queen Esther.  We practiced shaking the groggers when we heard Haman's name - and stopping together in order to hear more of the story.  We plan to share the story of Purim again and again in the next few weeks.  

A Special Visitor!

Today Margit Fried, a former Tel Aviv student came and visited our class today! Margit brought two books with her, Corduroy and The Only One Club and read both of them with confidence. Both these books had great lessons about friendship and it was a nice tie-in to our theme this week. I was so impressed with how well the Tel Aviv class sat and listened to these fabulous stories. It is always so fun having Tel Aviv alum visit the class and I get to see many of them in Mayim and see how their friendships have continued past TBSCC. Thanks again Margit! It was great having you visit today!

A day at the office

Syndey and Lily spent some time "at the office" today.  They had phone calls to make, memos to write, papers to shred and stickers to apply...not to mention many emails to return.  Sydney enjoying working "like her mommy" and Lily mastered making the letter X with sticker tabs.  Its fun to connect our school day with  the grown up activities that our mommies and daddies do.

3, 2, 1 BLASTOFF!!!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BLASTOFF!!!
The floor began to rumble as our feet stamped against the floor and we quickly drum-rolled on our legs to simulate the rocket being blasted off into space. We had built a rocket ship out of our parachute and our regular Tel Aviv chairs and tables. It all started earlier in lunch bunch when Zach and Micah Gladstone were looking at a book of outer space. I asked them if they wanted to visit the places in the book and they nodded at me eagerly, so we decided to do just that, and in order to visit space you need to build a rocket ship! So we built a rocket ship, packed our bags filled with lego-remotes, plastic food, and a few books to keep us entertained. Before we took off we ran out in the hallway to grab our winter hats-it was very important to make sure that we were prepared with the latest space headgear. We climbed in the rocket and blasted off! After the excitement of take-off had worn off, we traveled outside of our cozy ship and saw a plant that was filled with hungry aliens! Oh no! Well, if they were hungry then we should feed them! We all headed over to the sensory table and made cupcakes for the aliens out of dirt. Then we realized we hadn't celebrated Shabbat in space!! We got out our candle sticks and challah cover and lit a candle to make sure that the day of rest was remembered no matter where in the universe we were. As the candle burned, Zach's mom came in to pick  him up and suddenly the group had to return back to the earth. As soon as we had landed, Micah Gladstone turned to me and asked,
"What's the lunch bunch activity?"
Little did he realize that an hour and a half had passed while he had been to the moon and back.

This wonderful, imaginative afternoon reminded me of the power of imagination. So often we as teachers are focused on implementing curriculum and it was wonderful to spend an afternoon with five wide-eyed curious, excited kids and just PLAY, really, truly, play. So often the kids come up with the best, most exciting ideas and I enjoy following their lead and learning with them so much.
It was a wonderful afternoon of adventure, I think the kids had a pretty good time too : )

Sharing and Taking Turns

This week we have been talking a lot about friendship and what it means to be a good friend. Early in the week we read the story, "The Rainbow Fish" and saw that sharing can fill our friend's buckets and ours too! The "Rainbow Fish" is a beautiful story about sharing, and we discussed about how sharing can be a really nice thing for friends to do for each other. We also talked about how sharing is when you give something to someone  and you don't always get it back; however, taking turns is when you give a toy to someone and then they play with it but then in a few minutes the other person gets a turn as well. We practiced building using the vocabulary, "My turn, now your turn" as we built a tower brick by brick. We also gave them painting partners who they partner painted with throughout the week. We continually empathize that it is important to show all our classmates friendly behavior and now we are learning so many tools to know what friendly behavior can be!

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

Tuesday was Joshua's 4th Birthday!! His mom and grandma came in to sing, celebrate and read to the class. Joshua was so excited to share his books from home with us and we were excited to give our birthday book to Joshua! I have been impressed with how thoughtful the Tel Aviv birthday books have become as the year has gone on. Each child created something that they spent time on and dictated a special message for Joshua. We hope that you enjoy the book and thanks again for sharing your mom and grandma with us! It was such a special day!!

Information Gathering

With our mini-study on crocodiles, the Haifa class quickly realized that we don't know very much about them! We kept confusing alligators and crocodiles, because they look so similar. The last few days, the children have come into the classroom to find the science and games table covered in both fiction and non-fiction books about Lyle the Crocodile and alligators and crocodiles. The children have had a blast looking through these books both by themselves, with one another, and with a teacher.

Today at circle, we took a book that described the similarities and differences between alligators and crocodiles, and we were amazed that animals that look so similar are really really different! From something as simple as the shade of the scales or the shape of its snout, to where in the world these animals can be found, we learned so much about them. After reading this book of facts today, we realized that the Lyle the Crocodile books must be fiction because crocodiles don't usually live with people...or in a city apartment!

-Alison and Sauci

Haifa's First Five Year Old!!

The way the classes are split up, the Haifa class hasn't had any birthdays to celebrate this year. Yesterday, our first Haifa-ite turned five: Aleeza!! Aleeza's parents were able to come in on Aleeza's actual birthday and read us two very silly books about losing teeth. We then presented Aleeza with the first birthday book of the school year, in which each child (the birthday girl too) made a picture and wished Aleeza a happy birthday. We then sang Happy Birthday both in English and in Hebrew as per the request of the class.

We loved getting to celebrate with Aleeza, and we can't wait for more of us to turn five!

-Alison and Sauci

It's Twins!!

The Haifa class already has a set of twin, Sam and Abby. But earlier this week, we had another set, Aleeza and Harper!! The girls discovered that they had the same dress earlier in the year, and had been working on a day to coordinate outfits. Lucky for us, it was this week!

-Alison and Sauci

Working Together to Make a Masterpiece!

This week in the Haifa class, we are doing a mini-study on Bernard Waber and his books about Lyle the Crocodile. Lyle is a friendly crocodile who lives on East 88th Street with the Primm family. The Primms and Lyle get into all sorts of mischief that have us rolling around on the floor in laughter. But when we stopped to think about it, crocodiles aren't always friendly...or live in cities! We realized that crocodiles usually live in swamps, and so the Haifa class got together to make a swamp for our crocodile friends!

-Alison and Sauci

Surprise guest in the Etzim classroom

Today in the etzim classroom, we had not 1, not 2, but 5 guests! What a fun way to spend a Thursday! During our drop off, Eliana's mom Amy read two books to our class as everyone entered our room.

Then, Olivia's sister Isabelle join our classroom during our choice time to play in the kitchen with the etzim kids!

Our last three guest were Liz, Emma, and Jay Green. Josh's family came in and joined us for choice time and read us two books! What an exciting and fun morning!

Tu B'Shevat Surprise!

Today the Etzim class had a surprise waiting when we entered our classroom. Someone had left us a tree made of recycled materials, along with some helpful ways to take care of the Earth! As we are just finishing up our exploration of recycling, this was an especially nice surprise! Josh and Ben especially enjoyed adding some soil to our new little tree. Thank you so much for our surprise!

Bathtime for Babies!

Today we filled our sensory table with soapy water, and put in our classroom babies who were due for a good scrub!  The children always enjoy sponging down the babies and talking about their bath time rituals at home.  Some children even suggested we put their younger siblings in our classroom "bathtub"!

Build a Word

Young children discover words in many ways. Conversation, word play, and songs help children practice and expand the repertoire of words at their disposal. An awareness of print is a precursor to reading. In the pictures above, Sam and Aleeza match cards with both pictures and letters to make words. Games like these increase exposure to print and promote fun learning.

Noshing Together

Today in Levana, our small group of friends were able to enjoy snack all together at one table!! For those who are unfamiliar, to "nosh" is Yiddish for to nibble or to eat a snack. The children shared light conversation over vanilla yogurt with a side of strawberries, blueberries and wheat ritz crackers. Delicious and nutritious! It was a wonderful time.

Watch It Grow!

During Tu B'Shevat we tried new and interesting fruits and veggies every day. One day we had a cantaloupe so filled with seeds we decided to plant them. Yesterday we entered our classroom to find that the cantaloupe seeds we had planted had sprouted! Today we checked on their progress, formed some hypotheses on what might happen next, and talked about what other plants we would like to grow!

Let the Purim preparations begin

Since we are looking forward to sharing several aspects of the celebration of Purim with the Keshet class, we have already started sharing the story of Purim with the children.  We also started work on creating our groggers today.  Step one: decorate the outside.  Allison and Isabella took particular interest in this activity, spending a very long stretch of time working on attaching a beautiful variety of colorful stickers to their groggers.  Both girls were very focused, and as you can see in the photos, very happy with their creations.

Pretend Snow

Adding water to a mystery white powder created 
a fun sensory experience with pretend snow. The powder puffed up right in front of our eyes. It was amazing.We used our hands and spoons to touch the "snow".

Pride of Accomplishment

 

Winter clothing presents a challenge for all of us, but the Keshet children are growing rapidly in the self-help skills that enable them to take control of some of their dressing and undressing. Their motor abilities are growing by leaps and bounds, and they are gaining a sense of themselves as "big girls" or "big boys," who try to do  the things that the important people in their lives do. Abby readily takes responsibility for removing her boots and  putting on her shoes, often changing positions several times and moving between chair and floor. Her smile of satisfaction tells the story; only 8:35 and she has already enjoyed a major success!

The Sandwich Swap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Sandwich Swap is a delightful story that teaches children invaluable lessons on the importance of tolerance, understanding, and friendship."


"Lily and Salma are best friends.  They like doing all the same things-jumping rope, drawing, and playing on swings.  And they always eat lunch together.  Sure, they don't eat  the same lunch, Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus-but what's that between friends?  It turns out, a lot. And before they know it, it's a food fight.  Can Lily and Salma put aside their differences and save their friendship?  Or will a sandwich come between them?"

Her Majesty Queen Rania and bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio tell a story inspired by Her Majesty's own childhood.

The children enjoyed making their own yummy hummus ,soy butter and/or  jelly sandwiches.  Every ones taste buds are different.  Zach and Charlotte made a hummus, soy butter and jelly sandwich...what a combination!  Adam decided a jelly sandwich was the best choice for him.  Micah R likes hummus but not he kind we were serving today.  Samantha and Josh went for the hummus.

Our new leader of the week is...

Samantha was delighted to hear that she is the leader of the week! This morning Samantha had plenty of help leading Havdalah. One week we had Monday off, and the previous week we were late and missed the beginning of Havdalah so Zach, Lily, and Micah asked if they could help lead with Samantha this morning.