Our own Jacuzzi!

Yesterday  just before it was time to go inside Zach and Micah placed a clear plastic container in the wooden planter.  Zach shouted out, "This can be a jacuzzi!   I went into a real jacuzzi on my vacation!"   The children loved the idea!  On Tuesday they climbed in, sat down in the "hot tub" and enjoyed the nice weather.

Today however as you know it snowed.  Elias and Zach filled up the jacuzzi with snow  and invited all their friends over to take a dip in their very own jacuzzi!

Pajama Parties Are Exhausting!

Olive enjoying some Chanukah gelt!

 Were we so cozy and sleepy because of our pajamas or, perhaps, eating five boxes of Annie's mac and cheese slowed us down!  Anyway around it, our mac and cheese/pajama lunch bunch Chanukah party was a hit!  Thanks to Sauci and Allison for helping get everyone into their pajamas in time for lunch!!

Passover Books!

The Lunch Bunch children made their own story Passover books today. They included the plagues, the Pharaoh, baby Moses, the burning bush and Miriam.

The Shushan Castle!

Our palace/castle has come a long way! Check it out!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Our extra plush and puffy pipe cleaners were a big hit today. The children made necklaces, animals, swords, crowns, and masks. The quote of the moment went to Hadley who said while making a butterfly, "This is so easy to make, it's just kind of hard." The children enjoyed twisting the materials, experimenting with combining colors, and transforming their creations as their imagination beckoned.

I can draw!

After many drawing and scribbling experiences, preprimary children become interested in representation. They begin to turn circular shapes into faces and into their first images of people.

Last summer I had noticed how Jacob took great pleasure in drawing people and robots out on the playground with the sidewalk chalk. During the course of the school year I have taken great pleasure in seeing Jacob realize and become aware of his potential and ability to draw. This experience and process of discovering the skill of drawing has been very powerful for Jacob. Not only does Jacob take pride and delight in drawing pictures for himself and others, but he is so happy to teach his friends how to draw. Eli asked Jacob to teach him how to make a train and he did! On Friday Jacob overheard another child say, "I can't write my name." He took it upon himself to write out the letters of her name on another piece of paper and then handed it to her. He is so eager and happy to help his friends and classmates!

Jacob keep those spontaneous drawings coming!

Menorah Making: Day 1

Today the Tel Aviv class got started on making their very own menorahs! We started off reading the book Melly's Menorah during circle. It showed that anyone can make a menorah and how special it is to contribute the menorah to a family's hanukah celebration.

Our menorahs are made from blocks of wood. Each student got their own block and together we spent some time sanding out blocks. After it was smooth and soft we added color by decorating our blocks with tissue paper and mod-podge! I was impressed at how had each child worked as they decorated their blocks. There were a lot of steps to the process: put mode-podge on the wood, tear a piece of tissue paper, place it, and then put more mod-poge on top! Step by step, every student covered the whole top of their block. Ezra worked hard until every bit of wood was covered! All the blocks look beautiful. Eliza worked hare to make her block very smooth. Lily liked bunching up the tissue paper because she thought it looks like flowers. Eli loved using purples and yellows, his two favorite colors! Tomorrow we are going to add paint and oil pastels! I am excited to watch these menorahs evolve over the next fe days.

Tel Aviv's Messy Day!

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Discovery and Beauty

Once again we explored and experimented with colored water and cornstarch, the children took action and observed the results about what was happening. Eli, "Red and yellow make orange." Rylan, "Mine looks like a volcano!" Jacob F, "Today I made red blood!" Molly, "It's sticky." Dylan, "The cornstarch is messy and dry." They shared their thinking and observations with each other. This is work of artists and work of scientists, creating a "museum" of discovery and beauty from the simple elements of colored water and cornstarch.

I don't know who enjoyed experimenting with the colored water and cornstarch more Sasha or the children!

One….Two…Three…GO!

Dylan, Eli and Jacob created a fantastic game while playing with colored scarves this morning. The three of them would split the scarves and yell, “One, two, three GO!” and then all throw the scarves in the air at the same time and then try to catch the scarves as they fell down. This game engaged all three boys and they shared the scarves and cooperated beautifully. After a while, Molly joined in, and the boys welcomed her into their colorful game. I am so pleased to see everyone playing well together and I am excited to watch friendships develop throughout our year together!

A Busy First Day for the Tel Aviv Children!

The Tel Aviv All Stars first day was BUSY! Jacob created a foot with the lime green play dough. Dylan and Max built an "old elevator from New York". Molly spent some time drawing a colorful picture at the easel. Hannah and Eliza created a "tunnel slide" with magnets and kindly informed us that "it is only for kids".

Clay Sculptures!

The children created clay sculptures with red clay, buttons and shells. Some children just had fun playing with the "cold wet clay", others had something very specific in mind they wanted to create. Ryan sat down at the table, looked at the materials and said, "I can't wait to make something complicated! I am going to make a complicated ship with oval buttons." I then asked Ryan, "What does complicated mean?" His response was, "It's something that is very, very tricky! My Dad told me that." Lizzie created a button and shell sculpture, Leo created a sculpture with buttons on the inside and outside and Jacob spent a lot of time creating a bunch of worms. Tomorrow the sculptures should be dry and ready to take home.

Jacob's Robots!

Jacob likes to draw many things but today he decided to draw robots all over the black top...A baby robot, a crying robot, a tired robot, and a robot named Jacob!

Check out Jacob's robots!!!!!!

Decorating Visors!

The children really had fun decorating visors today. They carefully squeezed the fabric paint on the visor. When Mia was done with the paint she asked for a spoon because she wanted to mix all the colors together. What a great idea! Rachel watched Mia as she mixed the paints with the spoon. Surprise, surprise, soon after Rachel asked for a spoon and did the same thing! Tomorrow they should be dry and ready to home. We sure could have used those visors today at our sing-a-long with Julia...That sun was strong!

Kids Taking Photos

A Spring Mural!

The All Star Lunch Bunch children took their time as they created a Spring Mural! They used animal/insect stamps, felt pieces, stencils and markers. All of the children loved showing off their art work! As I took pictures and admired their creations, I heard, "Lauri look what I made, Alison look at my frog, Hadley look at my bird..."