How do you make a tree?

 During morning meeting, we discussed what we needed to make a tree. We needed "wood, branches, scotch tape, and glue." We went outside to look more closely at tree bark . The  bark felt, "bumpy" and the rubbings made lines on the paper. Some children created tree drawings. We looked in the  sky to see the different types of trees . Our research laid the foundation for our Tree Project!

Wonderings????

The Kohavim children have been wondering about G-d. Where does G-d live? What does G-d look like? It was determined that G-d was "invisible". We will be continuing their exploration of G-d through their representations and explorations. Liz Webb Green is assisting us in this endeavor.

Then came the following inquiry and exchange... "I think G-d made the whole world." Then the question " Who made G-d?" "G-d was everywhere before anything was here." "G-d existed before dinosaurs existed." The thinking and inquiry continued... Dylan asked the following question, "Why did G-d make things that are bad?" What are your thoughts?

Oh MY...I wonder????

 Signs of spring have arrived... I wonder why the potato grew faster  in the soil then just the water????

Perplexing Potatoes find a home....

KT OPN/ Cut open , PNT= Paint , GRO/Grow, CIT THM OPEN/ Cut them open,  SML/ sml


You may recall the childen had some ideas about what to do with those perplexing potatoes. The Kohavim children have really embraced gardening and exploring nature. We have learned what seeds and plants need to grow. You may want to ask your children. They said plants need, "water, sun, rain, dirt, soil". We wondered if our potatoes could grow in just water, or soil, and which would grow faster. We made our predictions. And thus started our experiement to test out our hypothesis.

Woodworking Expose

During the past few weeks, the students have been talking about a woodworking project. Last Friday we began the project by using  paper strips to replicate  wood pieces and make our plans. The children cut and ripped the strips to construct  their ideas.The students wanted to take home their work but were reminded that they need their building plans. Look for further updates on our progress!

Molly said,"I 'm making a triangle, a square, and a rectangle."

Drew built a "birdhouse."

Max used a "triangle,long chimney, and a square." to construct a house.

Brett Stone made a "birdhouse in a rectangle."

Sam G. constructed a "high building."

Jarred made a "birdhouse" with rectangles.

The Story of Esther ~ It happened in Sushan ~

We have been listening to the story of Esther. We heard about King Ahasueros, Queen Vashti,  Mordecai, Esther, and , and two guards.  We asked the children to think about what they liked best in the story, what they would eliminate in the story, and wonder about what would happen in today's world? What would they do? Brett wondered if Haman was Christian as he could not  be Jewish, or  he would have known that Jews only  bow to G-d! Very interesting question!   Children have been acting out the story and developing their own twist.  A couple of the children are changing the story to be 'good guards'. Many want to be brave Esther who, thou she was scared, went ahead and approached, telling him she was Jewish too. Stay tuned.

We Need a Substitute. Any Volunteers?

We have recently introduced certain responsibilities in the classroom. The children gather at morning meeting and look at the schedule to determine what their job is for the week. On Friday there was a problem. The person who keeps track of the visual time schedule was absent. We asked for volunteers. Many children wanted to do this job. Who could be the substitute for this job. What would be the fair way to handle this situation?

We presented this dilemma to your children. We heard we could vote on a person, different people could turn over different order. We considered their suggestions, wrote down the name of each eager volunteer, and then placed the names on top of the visuals. OH, NO there were more volunteers than visuals to turn over. Another problem.. What could we do? Some children suggested that some children could do it today and some tomorrow, or we could do it together. We decided to honor their suggestion and put names in pairs so they could work together to complete their job.

As we placed the the names on top of the visual time schedule, we noticed yet another problem. In our schedule there are two good bye times, one before lunch bunch and one after. Yet another problem solving opportunity. We then needed to look at the lunch bunch schedule to determine who was staying so they would be there to complete their job.

It was a very long morning meeting filled with much learning opportunities for problem solving. This was not a planned activity but one that was responsive to an unexpected situation that came up. This is  life long learning skills in the making.

What Do We Build in Our Community?

As the Tel Aviv class begins to investigate the idea of building we are forced to think of the question, “What do we build?” Yesterday during circle we had a big poster with a question on it saying, “What do we build on our community?”  We brainstormed a little bit during morning circle and then a bit at the end of the day.

The Tel Aviv class realized that there are SO MANY things that are built in our communities from the bagel store to the grocery store to the ladders and the beds we have in our homes. Everything was built from something! (well, unless it’s a tree, and we had that conversation too).

Today during circle we showed the group some blue prints that Laura from Etzim shared with us. We talked about how before something is built there needs to be a plan and sometimes this plan comes as a drawing. We then had the opportunity to make our own blueprint/map of a community that we want to build.

Over the next few weeks we are going to build our own model community from recycled materials and wood. Everyone is welcome to bring in recyclable materials for our Tel Aviv city called…Tel Aviv!

As soon as we put the giant piece of paper on the floor the class got to work!

Molly: “I’m going to build a house”

Adam: “I’m going to build a doctor. Charlotte's going to help me make a doctor”

Josie: “I’m going to make a bagel shop”

Joshua: “I’m going to make a sidewalk to the doctor”

Lily and Elias also made houses and Micah Rosin spent sometime creating rain so that the plants would grow so the kids of Tel Aviv would have food! Such a neat idea! 

Joshua started to work on a Starbucks but then he realized he needed another piece of paper so he could draw the interior plans of the Starbucks including all the tables and the place you wait in line.

Our big mural is hanging up and we invite you to come in our class and check it out!

We love to see so much creativity and critical thinking. We can’t wait to see what the group comes up with tomorrow!

Beautiful World ~ Happy Birthday World ~

As we get ready to celebrate the beauty of the world with an appreciation of G-d's gifts we stopped and asked the children to think of things in nature what they liked or thought was beautiful. We heard the following comments: "horses, rainbows, butterflies, flowers, trees falling down because I get the sun, I don't like the trees falling because I get hot."

Yes, we were out looking and we decided to dig for worms and slugs. Yes, we found some. We brought them into the classroom to care for them. The question became, "How could we care for them?" We thought first we needed a house or habitat for them. Ezra, Max Goldberg, Max Greenstein, and Noah got busy creating their habitat.

We wondered, "What do slugs eat?" Some boys and girls thought "maybe leaves, maybe make a bed with leaves and dirt, if they don't have food or water that's how they die, I think they eat plants and trees, we need to make holes so they get air." Then as they observed them, many wondered about their anatomy. "I don't think they have ears, I heard they have one leg, I don't think they have legs." There were lots of questions. How could we find an answer to our many questions? "Maybe we can bring in a computer in tomorrow and show us what they do or maybe we could go to the museum," children suggested.

I wonder....

Often in the Kohavim class we will put pictures out to provoke or stimulate an idea or provoke a question. Earlier in the week we put out a couple pictures that were very curious looking. In morning meeting we have been greeting one another passing the shofar. The children noticed that the shofar looked very similar to the ram's horn and the trees looked like a shofar tree.

"I wonder how the horns come off the ram to make a shofar," I said. Some children thought, "maybe the ram just got too old and they came off, maybe they just came off, maybe someone put a shofar on the ram." These comments prompted a different question, "How would they stitch it on?" The children thought that maybe they could use glue or maybe someone just cut them off, maybe they are just born that way, or perhaps the horns just grow too long fell off and grew into a shofar. One child said, "I think they just grew like that. They fell off and then they grew new ones."

"I wonder how we could find the answer," we said. "Maybe Ellen knows!" some children responded. The most important gift we can provide our children  is the opportunity to explore, inquire, and develop their own theories.Today we did just that.

The Rubber Band Challenge

After the Tel Aviv class finished taking all their rubber bands off their tie-dye we got a geo-board out to further explore playing with rubber bands. Hannah, Lily and Eliza quickly got to work filing the geo-board with rubber bands and after a minute or two they whole thing was filled and the game was done.

I then gave them a challenge..to create a Jewish star on the geo-board. The girls LOVED the challenge and felt as though it was pretty hard to do. They experimented with the geo-board for awhile but it wasn’t turning out right. Then Eliza went to the art table and started drawing Jewish stars. Step by step we looked at the points and how they compared to each other and the geo-board. We slowly pieced together one triangle and then we flipped the board upside down and they quickly figured out how to do the second! It was so neat to see the many steps in their problem solving skills. It was a fun challenge that used real critical thinking skills.

 Nice determination ladies! Job well done!

I wonder???

Hadley brought in some salt from the Dead Sea to contribute to our museum of items from Israel. This inspired us to conduct an experiment. We first started with a container of clear water and each child selected an item to immerse in it. What was going to float and what was going to sink? Why did some things float and others did not? It was determined that some things floated because they did not weigh much, the water was heavier, others sank because they were heavy.

Then we asked what they thought would happen when we added salt to the water? Could we make some things float as we added salt that previously did not? How many cups of salt did we need to add to make this happen? What did they notice about how the water changed? You may want to ask your children what happened to the water as the salt was added. How did things change as we added the salt?

Building A Song Jar

What's more fun than choosing an egg from our song jar?  Bringing an item from home to put inside an egg!   We choose our songs based on what is in our eggs..  Olive brought an egg with a baby and we sang "Rock-a-bye-baby."  Jacob brought a birthday duck and we decided to sing "Happy Birthday."  Nathan brought a soccer ball and a fish and taught us a song he made up!  Madison brought in a picture of an owl, which we are going to make a home for tomorrow.  Our next job is to find a song about an owl.  Great "homework" everyone!  The more items we bring in, the more songs we have to choose from so keep them coming!

I wonder what YOU would do??

How can we as teachers and parents make the history of our ancestors come alive for our children? As we strive to make a meaningful connection for our children, we can provide them with the 'history', the bravery exemplified by Jochebed, Moses' mother in putting him in the River Nile, Miriam, his sister, watching over him until he was rescued by the Princess, Moses bravery in standing up for his people, and leaving the life of luxury in the palace because he could not stand by and watch his people being beaten, then trusting in G-d at the burning bush and accepting the 'leadership' role, despite his stuttering tendencies and his belief that he could not be the best leader. We asked your children to reflect on what they would or could do if they lived in the time of Pharaoh? Their responses were enlightening and just reflective of true love and trust in the miracles possible when we trust in G-d. " I don't have to do what you say, I don't care if you chase me because G-d will help me." "Get Moses to do something about it." " If you chase me I will do nothing so he would stop chasing me." " I would punch him in the face." " Call G-d to make him frozen." For me it was such a reminder to trust in the power of G-d. G-d will help us always through all hardships and injustices. Thank you to all the children for this wonderful reminder.

What Shall I Grow Today ???

 

What shall I grow today? Lots of choices, but the Kohavim lunch bunch boys and girls decided to explore carrots and find out 'if' WE could grow the 'tips' similar to the book. What ingredient did they think we needed? We emersed them in water and waited and waited for some type of growth to occur? How long did they think it would take? There was no waste here as the children enjoyed eating these tasty treats.

Tu' B Shevat~ Celebration of Nature and our World

In the Kohavim class we have been focusing on many learning goals as related to this wondrous holiday. It is truly a blessing to take time and celebrate the gifts of our natural world. Our learning goals were to present this holiday as not only the birthday of trees but really bring an element of exploration and thankfulness and transmit our responsibility to take care of it. We explored planting, fruits, seeds, listened to stories about trees, explored 'how' we could take care of the world, discussed what trees give us and what we could do for trees. Stay tuned for visuals of our explorations.

Reflecting on our learning

Learning how to show their work at second morning meeting is a very rich experience for our children. They are learning how to organize their thoughts, give a brief presentation, speak in front of a group, listen to each other, ask questions, and give answers. Their pride in their work is evident from their expressions when presenting. The rest of the group applauds for each child at the end of the sharing. The children are also learning to think critically about the process of learning itself. What were the steps involved in their creation? How did they think of the idea? What were they happy with? Did something unexpected happen? What could they do differently the next time? Today Mia was showing her creation made from Magna-tiles. It had doors that opened, and I believe it was a laser that she gleefully said: "is shooting at Melissa!" I tried to redirect that one! Sam was showing his inkblot picture which was "an invisible butterfly. These are the two wings, and they are big, and come down here." Now the butterfly is invisible." Ilana and Hadley made a lovely series of colorful pictures of fun places to go and beautiful things to see. Josh said that his picture was of a "place where they kill people in jail. Whenever there is danger they call the police on the phone." Oliver shared his Magna-tile structure, saying: "I made this. The bathroom is in there. It's a space craft with a bathroom."It is important to understand that children of this age are wrestling with strong emotions, and are also trying to make sense of the world around them. It is perfectly natural that their artwork will express this and contain themes of violence, shooting, killing, etc. Fear not; this is healthy and to be expected.

The 'Wonder" Continues

Well the jello type rocks grew BIGGER and BIGGER. What made the grow? What happened to the water? IF IF the water made them 'explode' what would happen if we take them OUT of the water? Sam called this experiment number 2. Stay tuned for the results.

Out of Sight

We've been enjoying a challenging new library book, Out of Sight. Each page features a different lift the flap game. Here's one for you to try. What do you think is under the flap?

Another page features different animal skins. What animal has stripes? Which has bumpy fur? On another page all that we could see was the animals' eyes and tails. Which animal has a pink curly tail? I could almost see the wheels turning as the children tried to guess which animal they would find under the flap.

Look ~ Can I build this?

The Kohavim boys and girls arrived back from Thanksgiving break to a new challenge. On the tree trunk of our playground there was a picture of a wooden structure. We asked the children, if they thought they could build something similar, and also to think of what materials they could use. From the picture the first item they said they needed were 'lots of sticks' 'tree seeds' 'tree branches'. Then in the planning process what else did they think we might need? Some boys and girls thought we would need 'glue and a 'rope' for the structure to stand. Off we went to explore and gather sticks and branches. Everyone worked cooperatively and gathered all the sticks in a big pile, some were long, wide, and some were small. Now came the real challenge. We didn't have rope or glue, but somehow by positioning the sticks just so they stood up. When asked why they thought this happened, some thought "the bigger longer sticks made it steady and together, the bottom sticks helped hold up the top ones!!! Great thinking boys and girls!!! They decided that it was a campfire and wooden fort, so we had snack and enjoyed the beautiful weather.