BINGO!!

Today the Tel Aviv class was SO EXCITED that we had Bingo set up! They loved each having their bingo board and watching and listening for each shape to be called. We had two different groups of five or six kids which each played three games a piece! It was a full morning of hearing Bingo! in our class. Bingo is a great game because it is social, yet individual. Kids kept helping each other by saying, "Look! you have a house!" or "I have one too!"  As they game continued it became important how many spaces each child had left on their board. I had never thought of Bingo as a math game but today i was able to see how kids used counting skills, as well as addition and subtraction to understand how many spaces they had covered and how many spaces they had left to win. It was a great morning and I'm sure we will have bingo in our classroom again soon!

Aleph, Bet, Vet!

Yesterday the Tel Aviv class walked into the community room for gross motor play and found this giant foam puzzle of all the Hebrew letters! They immediately took the puzzle apart and took each Hebrew letter our of the square that it rested in. After they took it apart they let it sit, and then continued to play. However,  we decided that we had to put the puzzle back together before we could leave the community room. I showed them a piece and we talked about each shape is a different Hebrew letter and that the color of the letter is different from the color of the square that it rested in. They were fascinated by the Hebrew! It was incredible! "Which letter is this?" "What's this shape?" Charlotte went on a hunt for a Shin because it is the letter that her name starts with! Micah Rosin got excited when he found the Gimel from the dreidal! So neat! After they put the puzzle together we realized it was the perfect size and shape to make a hop-scotch board!  Such a fun way to clean up and transition from the community room! 
We hope to explore more Hebrew soon!

chag purim

What a fabulous Purim celebration!  Despite the rainy dreary day, it was all sunshine and smiles in the Shamayim classroom.  Our kings and queens (and snow princess, puppy, dragon, train and superman, too!) enjoyed an exciting day of Megillah reading and parading throughout the school.

We began our day with a very special visit from Rabbi Jay.  He read the Megillah with us and was excited to see our hand-made groggers.  We made lots of noise when we heard Haman's name.

After, we paraded into each classroom and office to say Happy Purim.  We were greated with lots of smiles and "hoorays" and shouts of "I love that costume"!

We finished our day with lots of gross motor fun in the Community Room.  A good time was definitely had by all!!

Josh and Chester 's Visit...Fantastic!

Chester and Josh had a great February vacation together!  They spent so much quality time together with Josh and his family.  Chester and Josh spent time visiting with Bubbe and Grampa, went on a group play date with his Tel Aviv friends, played with Zach W and his new remote Morphibian, enjoyed sledding, went bowling ,and went kitchen appliance shopping!

At our morning meeting, Josh really enjoyed reading Chester's journal and sharing Chester stories with all his friends! 

Josie can't wait to take Chester home for the weekend tomorrow!

What Is That?

The Etzim children had a wonderful time at the Purim play today!  It was a memorable performance, and we were all laughing and talking about it as we entered our classroom.  We stopped short when we saw this oozing down our cubbies!  Any ideas on what it is?

It's gak (glue, borax, and water) that we made before we left for the show!  We knew it was slimy (one of our favorite words), but we didn't know it would try to escape down the cubbies!

Sit. We'll Read To You!

We love to read books in the Etzim classroom, and lately the children are asking the teachers to sit so they can read to us!  Sophie brought a book from home called Yes, No which she read to her friends and teachers.  The children loved it so much, Sophie read it three times.  We laughed all day, incorporating themes from the book into our circle time and outside play!

 After watching Sophie read her book, other friends found favorite books to read to their friends as well.  It is always so impressive to watch how children can not only attend to their peers, but learn from them as well!

Model Magic

The Etzim children were so excited to explore a new way to make sculptures yesterday!   Using glue and crepe paper, children discovered different ways to mix the two together into a moldable substance.   As Betty put the materials out, it was interesting to watch as each child approached the same materials in different ways.

Not a Box

is the title of a book by Antoinette Portis.  Here's a summary: "A box is just a box . . . unless it's not a box. From mountain to rocket ship, a small rabbit shows that a box will go as far as the imagination allows.  Inspired by a memory of sitting in a box on her driveway with her sister, Antoinette Portis captures the thrill when pretend feels so real that it actually becomes real-when the imagination takes over and inside a cardboard box, a child is transported to a world where anything is possible."

Exploring the possibilities began this morning.  It was a hiding place, a fire station,  and it was also the canvas for artistic expression.   Ben and Ethan chose to draw on the top and the sides, and then Ally and Ethan continued drawing on the inside, on the ceiling and on the walls.  I wonder what they will do  with it next?

 

Return of the ducks

The children had another opportunity to experiment with the ducks and ice - with some water thrown in.  Ethan and Harrison moved the sheet of blue ice into some clear water.  Not only did the clear water turn blue like the ice, but it broke into pieces.  Ben observed as the ducks happily floated about and the ice floe slowly disappeared.  The ice on the playground was doing the same in the warm air this morning!

Water coloring with Cotton Balls

This week, our friends have been enjoying creating beautiful pictures made by water
colors. Instead of using the average paint brush, the children used household cotton balls. This allowed the paint to make patterns based on how much color/water the cotton balls soaked in. It is always fun to see how the kids in Levana are exciting and willing to try new things, even though the idea may seem a bit silly!

Purim Masqueraders

On Tuesday, the children paraded throughout the school in their Purim costumes. They sang Purim songs and said hello to Rabbi Jay and their fellow TBSCC friends. It was fun to see how everyone dressed up for the celebration! the children had a blast, Happy Purim, Everyone!

Inspired cooking

The other day Steve read a classic and favorite book to the children - Strega Nona. This inspired us to cook pasta for snack today. We made farfalle (bow tie shape) pasta with a little salt and butter.
As in the book, we had to say the magic words and blow 3 kisses to the pot to stop the cooking. The children really enjoyed something special for snack.

New play doh

We have made play doh several times this year. The children love to cook the play doh and decide what color they want the play doh to be. Fresh play doh is warm, squishy and like magic that helps develop hand muscles. As you can see in this picture many of the children were involved at the play doh table.

Happy Birthday, LILY!

The Levana class loves to celebrate birthdays!  We had a great time this week celebrating with our newest three-year-old, Lily.  Lily and her mom brought two great books to share with our class, including a very special book that her uncle wrote and illustrated called, "The Magic Leaf", when he was just in elementary school!  She also shared the story, "Curious George Visits the Aquarium", since Lily herself had just visited the Boston aquarium as part of her birthday celebration.  Lily's mom and her stuffed Curious George read and sang with the whole class as we celebrated together!

Happy Birthday, Lily!

It's Pictionary Time

We have been introducing the children to various means of communicating ideas. We can express ourselves in many different ways: our voices,  sign language, and also art. Max and Sabrina decided to play a game of pictionary. They first had to decide who was going to be first. After some discussion it was decided Sabrina would be the first to draw and Max had to guess. You may want to take a guess yourself. Then it was Max's turn and on it went. It was interesting that the pictures became more difficult to guess. Clearly the goal of each participant was to stump the other play. We could hear.. this is going to be REALLY hard. A lot of planning, thinking, turn taking, and friendship.

Happy Purim

Guess Who?

Happy Purim from the Tel Aviv class to all of you!!!!

Purim Party

 

The Keshet children came ready to party today, and had a great time parading throughout TBS in costume and joining together with the other classes for the reading of the Megillah in the sanctuary. It was a fun and exhausting day!

Etzim Purim Fun

We had a wonderful Purim celebration today. Here we are with some TBS celebrities!

There's a Duck ...

 in the ICE!  The children enjoy hearing the story Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic.  It tells the tale of a duck that doesn't fly south with the rest of the flock for the winter.  This morning, the children found some rubber ducks that were stuck in a large piece of ice.  Could this happen if a duck decides not to fly south?

Brrrr!  The ice is very cold.  It melts when we touch it!  Over the course of the morning, the children freed the ducks from the ice and enjoyed placing them in and out of the empty spots that they left behind in the ice chunk.  They also "skated" the ducks across the "pond".

After our visit to the sanctuary to celebrate Purim together, we found that the ice was almost all gone!  The children continued to enjoy the cold water and the last chunk of ice until it was time to go outside to play.

Happy Purim from the Haifa Class!!

We all just want to wish you all a Happy Purim!!
-Alison and Sauci

Time to Celebrate!

Our Purim celebration is finally here! Check out our Purim costumes!

Gak Art!

The children mixed glue, water, food coloring and borax together to make orange gak.   They rolled it, cut the gak and made jewelry with it.

  In Lunch Bunch Adam and Elias asked if they could draw or color the orange gak with markers?  The children took out a few old markers and started to draw and color the gak.  Check it out...That's what we call  "Gak Art!"