We're building a Bigger tower !!

We are seeing an evolution in the style of play in our classroom.  You can see in the photos that a small group worked at building a very tall tower.  What started as one child's project changed as others joined in and made their own contributions to the construction.  There is also some discussion as the children work together.  The blocks vary in size by color.  Notice how the kids sort them and arrange them in their project.

Picnics!

Last Sunday marked the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the omer (the counting of the days and weeks between Passover and Shavuot).  Traditionally, Jewish people celebrate this holiday by lighting bonfires (something we didn't attempt at school!) and having picnics outdoors.  We spent the past two mornings preparing our picnics, then enjoying a delicious snack outside.

We decorated tablecloths with markers and stickers to bring outside.

We made a pretend picnic inside!

 And we ate a delicious snack right next to the playground!

Why read nonfiction?

Children in Haifa are learning about ants, and teachers are supporting this learning with various books.

One type of book that stands out is the informational text, which is a nonfiction scientific book.

Literacy professor Douglas K. Hartman explains that these books "prepare students for later academic and adult life, motivate students to read, expand student vocabulary, challenge readers to think critically, promote exploration, satisfy and broaden curiosity, provide breadth and depth of information, and connect readers and reading to the real world to the real world."

How might this translate to family life? Think about how much your children are learning when you share with them a travel brochure, magazine, weather app, ESPN app, newspaper, nutritional information on the cereal box, etc.

It's A Dollhouse!

Today Ellen brought us some fabric samples. The Etzim children, being the creative and resourceful children that they are, decided to reinvent an overlooked space. We reinvented some old cubbies, using the scraps, and created a dollhouse! Audrey, Jack, and Jacob made pillows, rugs, and mattresses using fabric scraps and tissues. We will continue to explore other items to add to our new creation. If anyone has any dollhouse furniture, we'd love to add to our homemade collection!

It Feels Crispy!

Today the Etzim children continued their exploration of their senses with texture painting. We had decided yesterday that we would explore what paint feels like when we add cornmeal, lentils, cocoa, salt or baking powder to paint. We spent a long time exploring how the paint transforms as the ingredients meld into the paint. Audrey thought her paint was "too crispy" and switched to a spoon! We have been exploring not only our senses, but our vocabulary, as we introduce new, juicy descriptive words to talk about our experiences.

What does Spring bring?

When the weather began to warm up at the beginning of April, the Shamayim children were excited to talk about some of their favorite spring activities and sights.  One of the common expectations was that the trees get leaves and flowers grow from the ground.

Because of this interest, we have been focusing some of our activities around flowers  - through science, art, reading and even math.

We read Planting a Rainbow by Louis Ehlert and planted our own rainbow of flowers.

 We have been watching our buds pop out of the soil and we have been diligent about watering our plants to keep them damp and in a sunny spot.  Soon we will begin measuring which plants are tallest and which are shortest.

We also made green playdough - since we see so many green things in nature this time of year.  We had to follow a recipe carefully and it came out perfectly!

Just recently, the children used water colors and coffee filters to make beautiful flowers for a classroom vase.

We attached the filters to pipe cleaners and it has become a lovely centerpiece on our tables.  Today, in small groups, we used the vase and bouquet of flowers as a model for a pasting project.  We used strips of construction paper and odd shapes to replicate our vase of flowers on paper.

beginning the week together

Every Monday, the Levana and Shamayim classes join together for Havdalah as we say goodbye to Shabbat and hello to a new week.  We take turns in each other's classrooms and talk about our hopes and wishes for the week ahead.

Today was no different and we were quite excited to see the brand new blue braided candle that Gabi had.  We wished for mommies, daddies, alligators, construction trucks, flowers and butterflies - just to name a few.

Thank you, Levana, for helping to start our week off on the right foot.  We love sharing Havdalah with you!

Power Tools

Today Haifa lunch bunch had a chance to use an electric screw driver as they assisted Ellen in putting together a very cool bench made from a tree. It was loud and fun and it got us thinking about what we could make from trees we find in the woods...more to come...

Bubble Prints

Today we learned how to BLOW into a straw that was in a bowl of soapy paint and water. We blew huge, frothy bubbles then pressed our paper gently into the bubble to create delicate bubble prints. The prints are lovely. The experience of blowing blue bubbles that splattered everywhere was hysterical. Luckily, we had Josh's mom, Liz, with us this morning to lend her artist's eye to the process and make sure we did, indeed, blow out and not draw in!

I found a .???

 Oh my the woods have come inside!!! Noah and Max Goldberg made some discoveries in the log that was brought in. There were some critters living inside.  Max Goldberg indicated that these critters were "rolly pollies". Initially they came out of the log. Then in their enthusiasm the boys started to hammer away w/ sticks to hurry the process along. This led to a discussion of how we could take care of them?? Why did they think the rolly pollies came out by themselves but then were resistent to come out when they ware banging on their house?

I wonder what is sooo funny??

 Telling stories and developing friendships...

Outdoor Discoveries

 We are truly blessed to have an outdoor environment full of opportunities for exploration. We asked the children if they would like to build a fort using just things they found in nature. We talked about safety reminders to stay together then we started our problem solving. We needed to first decide and plan where we would build this structure as that would determine what materials we needed to look for. We made our plan, and decided we would build our structure near the corner of the fence. What did we notice about the corner? What kind of materials did we need? How would we get them stablized and secure? Math, spacial awareness, problem solving learning, teamwork and cooperation  opportunities in motion. Nathan was so inspired that the next day he brought in sticks from home to add to our structure. We dined and used our imagination to tell stories in our fort. 

Jewish Identity

 It was a beautiful day and Rachel was inspired to draw. When asked to tell us about her picture Rachel responded it is a "Chavurah". "We get together at my house with other families, I think 5 families."  I was struck by the facial expressions of joy depicted in the illustration of this event. When I looked up the root meaning of Chavurah I read that it was the Hebrew word for a gathering of friends, and that a Chavurah is one way to celebrate the gift of friendship with one another. What a positive sense of Jewish identity and love of being Jewish that Rachel communicated.

Not a Box!

The Etzim class read "Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis this past week. The book tells a story of a rabbit that dreams of all the ways a large cardboard box could be used in imaginative play. Inspired by the story, we painted the box and brainstormed ideas on what we could make our box into. Some ideas were: a rocket ship, a pirate ship, a regular boat, letters, and numbers. What wonderful and fantastical ideas!

Home Sweet Home!

Friday was a busy day!  We reconstructed our plane, and prepared to fly back to Needham!  The Tel Aviv class spent two fantastic fun weeks in Israel together!

Charlotte was the ticket collector, Micah R stamped our passports, Micah G and Elias were the pilots, Zach and Josh helped serve refreshments!  Our helper of the week Micah G, led us as we said the blessings over the candles, wine, and challah.

Can you imagine...we made it back just in time to celebrate Shabbat with the entire TBSCC!  That's what we call great timing!  Shabbat Shalom!

Hammering Away on a Friday afternoon

     

       
 

On Friday, several children continued to work on their  projects. The  Kohavim and Hafia  lunch bunch welcomed some friends from the  Tel Aviv class to join in the fun. The children concentrated on the task and at the end of the session Molly asked, " Can we keep doing this?" The children have enjoyed the process and it provides an opportunity to develop  eye-hand coordination skills.  Next week, we'll be back  to the woodworking shop on Friday afternoon.