The forest in the Ruach class

I wonder who or what lives in the forest. Children were free to develop their own stories while they manipulated the characters in the scene. 

Shmirat HeTeva.... Taking care of our Environment

One of our year long goals is to develop our understanding of ways in which we can take care of  ourselves, each other, and our environment.
We have been exploring the classroom and learning new routines. Today our morning message was let's talk about about our environment and we introduced the Jewish Value of Shmirat HeTeva.
As we proceeded through our daily routines we were presented with many opportunities  in which we could preserve and take care of our wonderful natural world.
  When  preparing for snack we asked the children to consider using one paper towel, for drying their hands and modeled a way to make the towel bigger. Lilah carefully unfolded the paper towel and was able to use one paper towel to dry her hands. Of course, one can always use two towels but we are starting with one. Why do we try to use one towel? We are done using the bathroom and there was no one waiting. What could we do to take care of our world? We turned off  the lights to save electricity.

 We are ready for snack. Teachers have prepared a turns list and laminated it to conserve paper. Audrey finds her name on the list and proceeds to erase it so teachers know who has had snack.  

At the end of the day we asked the children to reflect on ways in which we took care of our classroom environment and world. 

Mia said: " I put toys away" 

Audrey said: " I cleaned up paper on the floor and recycled" 

Lilah said: "I shut ff the lights and saved electricity" "I unfolded pieces of paper so we can save trees."

Life decisions at 5

Last week Liz asked the Tzahov boys and girls what they would like to be when they grew up.

Just for fun, try to guess who gave each answer. Do you recognize your child's response?

• Teacher (three responses)
• Take care of dogs, sick dogs
• I don't want to get a job. I want to stay a kid my whole life
• Coach
• Artist (two future artists) 
• Ninja karate teacher
• Gymnast

Summer camp wishes

Our philosophy is to develop curriculum from the interests of our children. Yesterday we asked what they would like to do for their summer camp experience. The illustrations represent the following:
Swimming, planting flowers, go to the beach, play running games in the sun, play hockey and hope the Bruins win, go to the Haifa class to see Mr. Hippo, and play with friends.
Stay tuned for more summer fun and exploration.

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. 

What, ME married? Quotable quotes and Friday giggles

Today's morning conversation while building on the rug:

Child: I am scared of getting married.
Teacher: Why?
Child: Because you have to kiss in front of people.
Child #2: We are not going to get married for a long time. We don't have to think about it now. Let's keep building.

So true! Let us enjoy where we are NOW! Sometimes I think we spend too much time thinking about preparing for the future, that we forget to enjoy the present.

Woodworking 101

 Trees provide us with many gifts. Birds use trees to build nests, but in the winter, Jacob thought we might want to build a birdhouse to keep the birds warm. First he designed the house and then invited others to help build it. There was much planning and measuring. What tools did we need? "Glue, nails, and hammer. We tried nails but they were too long. It was soon determined that glue might be the best adhesive. Our first construction efforts were not successful but we persevered and continued with different adhesives made especially for wood. It took team work and careful planning.

Introducing Artist ~ Rachel Fleckner ~

 Rachel wanted to illustrate her idea for celebrating Tu B Shevat.  When asked to tell us about this picture she responded " It's a birthday picture for the trees, balloons, party poppers, cake, and a person planting a tree." A true celebration of the wonders of nature.  Enjoy....

Tu B Shevat Wonders

We introduced this Jewish holiday as the birthday of the trees. We have many educational and fun filled  activities that we will be exploring. As is our tradition in the Kohavim class we ask the children what they know and think about what we are exploring.
We know what it means when we celebrate our birthday, but what does/could it mean that we celebrate the birthday of trees? What does that mean?

"The trees turn another age. They grow bigger. They want to celebrate with each other. They grow so high, higher than anybody. When they first turn 1, they grow from a tree seed."

What do trees give to us? we asked.

"Air" said Molly.
"They actually make you breathe" said Brett.
"Paper" said Zack.
"Food" said Brett.
 "Oranges" said Rachel.
 "Bananas" said Jacob.
"Leaves" said Sabrina. When holidays come, you can make things pretty with them. "
"When it is a hot day, they give us a breeze" said Max Greenstein.
"Trees give us shade" said Sabrina.
"Flowers" said Molly.
"Give us flour for cooking", said Sabrina.

One of our year long goals and also a Jewish value, is our responsibility to take care of one another and as guardians of the earth, take care of all of the natural blessings we have been given. Sooo we asked:

What can WE do to take care of the earth.

"We can plant another tree" said Rachel.
" WE can decorate them" said Molly.
"Give them a brother, we could plant another tree" said Brett.
"We could give them water" said Ezra.
"We could dress them for their birthday." said Sabrina
"Give the trees balloons" said Jacob.

We will be exploring further and perhaps with planting, experiencing the fruit of trees, listening to stories of trees, how we can take care of the world, and as always, as is our tradition, thanking G-d for our blessings.

Sooo stay tuned...

It's Lunch Bunch Yoga

 It's a cooking and yoga lunch bunch day. On this day, some yoga pictures were put on the rug for observation. Jacob carefully studied the pictures and decided he wanted to be the instructor. Drew was an eager participant. Jacob modeled the pose and both enjoyed being yogi animals. Can you guess what animal they are pretending to be?

Who is the 'Boss'???

The children were sitting announcing to one another "I am the oldest" , "no I am the oldest!!!" We wondered why they were trying to determine who was the oldest and what the concept of being the oldest meant to them. As the discussion evolved their comments were interesting. It soon became clear the 'oldest' meant that they would be the 'BOSS'. We asked Why did they think that the oldest would be the boss to which they responded: "because they know the most stuff, the oldest knows the most stuff because they are bigger." Then as their thinking progressed one child responded " but my dad doesn't remember everything and I remember everything." So the question became so when you are younger your remember more?? As the conversation continued, another person responded " Well that's because when it gets further from that time ( meaning young) you kind of don't remember." So who is the boss?? We all have much to learn from one another....

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.

Book Scroll

Early Morning Giggles

Nathaniel came in yesterday with a new joke to share.

Why did the football player go to the bank???

Any guesses??? Don't look below YET...



Answer: back quarter his get to... ( backwards)

My name is "Rosie"

 Last week we had a new visitor for early morning fun. Rosie is in the Rainbow class. She came early because her sister had a play about the very same time as her Rainbow class. I think the first thing she noticed were the flowers set up at the water table. She was quick to share that mommy loves flowers. We had a birthday celebration in the Kohavim class so the cupcakes were set up with pipe cleaners for pretend candles. There were bears, frogs, and butterflies. Rosie shared that she wanted to fill the bear cupcakes and off she went filling each bear. When Rachel came in she helped as did Teddy Friedman when we needed more candles.

Daddy made Rosie two ducks with the floam, but when daddy left, Rosie said, those ducks needed a 'pond', so she smashed the floam and put the ducks right on top. It was just big enough for the 'small' duck. All the flowers inspired Rosie to say she wanted to make a card for mommy. She asked me to draw a picture of her mommy. We talked about how I could do that. What did I need to do? What shapes would I need? She said I needed a face and it was a circle. Then mommy needed eyes, nose, mouth, body, hands, feet and hair. Mommy's hair is 'curly' so she needed curly hair. Then mommy's card needed "Rosie" as well.

After the picture of mommy and Rosie was drawn, she asked me to please write "Moma" and "Rosie". Then the card needed a car and a train track.. It was so much fun to talk to Rosie and share in her excitement and story telling. Thank you for coming. I hope you come again to share in more morning fun.

What is your name???

The Kohavim boys and girls enjoy telling one another jokes. Sometimes the teachers are lucky enough to be invited to participate. Here are a couple of jokes told by Ilana... What's your name??? Spell it? Answers here please... ________________________________________ What's your name??? What color is the sky?? Where's the sky??? What is the punchline do you think after you answer?? ______________________________________. These jokes were made outside while swinging. Thanks Ilana for sharing. I must admit she tricked me on these two...

What is in the Bag???

Teddy Fox and Matt brought in some 'mystery' fruit for their classmates. Here are some of their clues...

Teddy Fox:
~ "It's red and green"
~ "It's yellow on the inside"

Questions asked by children to determine what was in the bag.

~ " What does it grow in?" Teddy's answer: "In hot places"

Can you guess what it is?

Matt:

~ "It grows on a tree"
~ " It's orange"
~ "It's round"
~ "It has a hard peel"
~ "It's a little sour and a little sweet"

Can you guess what it is?

These opportunities for leadership promote confidence in their abilities and also extends their thinking skills and expressive skills. The 'teacher'/student needs to think of clues that will help their classmates guess what is in the bag thinking of descriptions as related to size, shape, color, etc.

The 'science' pieces comes into play as well as we taste the fruit and describe it.

Meet Barber Teddy Friedman

Yesterday Matty brought in his dog with all his grooming tools for peace out time. Barber Teddy and Jesse were thrilled to find a different purpose for the brush and scissors. Teddy Post was carefully supervising the work, deciding if he wanted to participate. As Teddy Friedman went along perfecting his skills, Jesse decided he needed some reading material. It was just too precious... Thank you Matty for sharing so well. Enjoy....