Kohavim Glass Experts

Playing with our rock alphabet

With the Rock Alphabet ready to roll, the children were ready to play! Some children began making strings of letters and asking the teachers to read them. As the teacher sounded out the long string of letters, the children giggled. Some children decided to use the rock alphabet to spell their names and the names of the children in the classroom. Some children even decided to spell their parents names! Our Rock Alphabet has inspired so much letter identification, matching of alphabet letters, spelling, and sounding out. And what a wonderful way to connect nature and literacy! 

Rock Alphabet

A few weeks ago, the children in lunch bunch began collecting small stones. We washed and painted the small rocks. This week, we began writing the alphabet letters on our freshly painted stones. As we were writing the letter, the children noticed we did not have enough stones.  They also noticed that some children would need the same alphabet letters for their names. They concluded we would need more stones! Elias, Emme, Jolie, and Ben decided to go outside and collect some more stones.

We set up a station to wash the rocks, dry the stones, and then paint them. Many children in Kohavim helped to paint the stones. We let the stones dry and decided to check back after lunch. When we realized the stones were dry, we continued writing alphabet letters on them.  Adam and Noah put the alphabet stones in order so we would know which letters we still needed. We decided to do a whole set of uppercase letters and a whole set of lower case letters. Our Rock Alphabet was finally ready to be played with! Check out the post called, “ Playing with our Rock Alphabet  “ to see how the kohavim children have been using the rock alphabet! 

What Should We Do?

Adam and Ben had a problem!  A salt dough challah from our Dunkin Donuts broke into pieces.  They experimented with a glue stick, but the pieces just would not stick together.  Joshua joined in to help solve the problem.   They tried Elmer's glue, but again it would not stick.  Ellen happened to walk by and offered to teach us how to use her hot glue gun.  This seemed to do the trick.  We left it to dry and we'll check it tomorrow to see how our challah is doing.  Great problem solving skills.  Thanks to Ellen for saving the day!

Pumpkin Muffins

Since we are selling so many pumpkin flavored items in our Dunkin Donuts, we thought it would be fun to bake some ourselves.  Today we made delicious pumpkin muffins.  As we started mixing the ingredients we noticed the pumpkin smell fill the classroom.  Lily, Emme, Elias, and Micah G. helped add and mix our ingredients.  We only had a half cup measuring cup but we needed one cup of water, so we figured out we needed to fill it twice.  It took lots of patience waiting for a turn to pour in the ingredients.  We can't wait to have our muffins for snack tomorrow!

 

Where is God?

When we came into the Kohavim classroom this morning we found a letter from some of the 12th graders here at Temple Beth Shalom who share our classroom. In their message, the 12th graders explained that they have been think about where God is and asked if we had any ideas. The kohavim children were so excited to share their ideas with the 12th graders through writing and drawing.

Some of the children's thoughts and ideas are listed below:

Ben said, "I think in heaven. This is the clouds.
And that's an airplane passing. That's God (red)." 

Micah R: God is everywhere. I drew (arrows) because God is everywhere.
Joise: God is everywhere. You can't see God. He can see us, but we can't see him. He's invisible.
Noah: God is everywhere. God makes rainstorms.
Ben: He could be in the sky or in the clouds.
Molly: On the beach.
Emme: In the clouds. I'm doing a rainbow. He's in the water and flowers too.
Charlotte: I'm drawing the earth around him. And (God is) in the swimming pool.
Zach: In the clouds.
Adam: In the sky. Everywhere. I need blue because the sky is blue.

We will pass along our ideas to Rabbi Todd to deliver to the 12th graders. We hope they will write back and share some of their ideas with us too!

Let's Go Red Sox!

Kohavim was filled with Red Sox spirit today! They arrived decked out in red sox gear wearing red sox t-shirts, jerseys, hats, sweatshirts, and even a red sox cheer leading outfit! The children were oozing with excitement for the red sox game this evening. They sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and practiced the cheer and clapping pattern for "Let's Go Red Sox!" The children explained how we are rooting or cheering for the Red Sox and that meant that the Red Sox is the team we want to win. We also talked about good sportsmanship. We shared how we have seen sports teams give each other high fives at the end of the game, whether they win or lose, and gave some high fives to each other. We can't wait for the game tonight! Let's Go Red Sox!  

Thank You God

Each Friday morning, we add a new poster to our Modim Anachnu Lach prayer. We started by thanking God for sunshine and our families. The Kohavim class wanted to thank God for nature and illustrated so many items from nature- grass, trees, seeds, beans and more. The Ruach class was next and chose to thank God for God. They illustrated their concept of how God made the world and designed a detailed world from a huge variety of materials. And last week the Shemesh class said they wanted to say thank you to God for school. Since their class name means "sun" they made a collage of a sun and each added a painted ray. I look forward to seeing how our whole school prayer develops over the course of the year as each class takes turns adding to it.

Thank you, Weldon!

We wrote a thank you note to Weldon this week. Weldon works at the corporate office for Dunkin Donuts and had sent us many Dunkin Donut products for our dramatic play area. Adam, Micah G, Samantha, and Jolie worked together to write a letter to him. They wrote:

Dear Weldon,

Thank you. How do you make donuts? 

Love, 

The whole Kohavim class signed the letter. Together we put our letter, some photos and blogs of our pretend Dunkin Donuts, and a list of questions in an envelope to send to Weldon. Some of our questions included: 

- How do you make coffee? 

- How do you choose which donuts to sell? 

- What are the people who make the donuts called? 

- Do you get to taste the donuts? 

- Do you bake the donuts in the store? 

- How do you make the flavor of the donuts? 

- How do you decide the prices? 

We asked the Markley Family to deliver our letter, because Michele teaches with Weldon's wife. We hope Weldon sends us a response back! 

How much for a box of munchkins?

As soon as the Kohavim Dunkin Donuts opened this morning, it was swamped! The teachers came to buy a whole box of munchkins. While Josie carefully placed the munchkins into the box, Micah G. wrote out a receipt. He wrote, "M1" to represent Munchkins for $1. Taking on the role of the cashier and donut maker at the pretend Dunkin Donuts, Josie and Micah acted out their understanding of how a store or donut shop works. It also provided the opportunity for the children to use literacy in a functional way, writing out a receipt for an order. 

Another Dunkin Taste Test

As we have continued our exploration of Dunkin Donuts, we decided to do another taste test of a product they sell at Dunkin Donuts stores: Hot Chocolate. Many children shared that they have had hot chocolate before and knew they would like it. Others were not sure if they would like how it tastes. The children were eager to sip the hot chocolate and record their preferences. On Monday, we will tally our preferences. You might want to ask your child if they liked the hot chocolate or have a taste test of your own with your family!

Special Visitors for Shabbat

Kohavim had some special visitors today. Jolie's grandparents came in to read us a special and joined us for our class shabbat celebration. Earlier in the week, Jolie shared that her grandparents were going to be visiting from New York. She added a message to our calendar to let everyone know that on Friday her grandparents would come in to school. Today, they read us the story, "Edwina" by Mo Willems. After Jolie, who was our shabbat helper, helped to light and say the blessings over the candles, juice, and challah. As we were celebrating, Rabbi Jay walked by, and joined right into our Shabbat celebration. We love having visitors for Shabbat! 

Molly Turns 5!

 Molly arrived at school beaming today, so excited to celebrate her 5th birthday!  We were so happy to have her mother, father, and sister Abby joined us for the celebration.

We presented Molly with her birthday banner from all of the Kohavim kids and teachers.

Everyone wrote Molly special birthday messages and compliments.  We practiced writing Happy Birthday on the banner.

Making and Playing with Playdough

During Tuesday Lunch Bunch, the children in Kohavim worked together to follow a recipe to make playdough. They took turns adding ingredients and stirring. The children decided that because they were 5 years old, they would each mix five times. After the playdough cook, we took out the dough, let it cool, and then kneaded the dough. Together we followed the recipe below: 

Playdough Recipe 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup of salt 

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons cream of tartar 

1 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

Food coloring (optional) 

1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized sauce pan

2. Stir over heat until dough is pliable.

3. Allow to cool. 

4. Play with or store in a sealed container or plastic bag. 

The next day, the children in Kohavim used rolling pins and cookie cutters with the freshly made playdough. It was challenging to using the rolling pins, because the children had to press down and roll the rolling pin at the same time to flatten their playdough. They then used the cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. The children noticed a pumpkin cookie cutter and discussed how Dunkin Donuts sells so many pumpkin flavored foods, such as pumpkin donuts and pumpkin munchkins. Yum! You might want to try making playdough at home with your child. 

Counting our Snack!

There was all kinds of math taking place at the snack table today!  As Zach picked his grapes he announced, "I have three grapes.  How many more can I take to make four?"  This led to a discussion between the kids of all the combinations they could make to get to four.  

Molly took four crackers, divided them each in half and said, "Now I don't have four anymore.  Now I have eight crackers."

Where Do These Animals Live?

"We could build an ark!"

"We could make a zoo!"

"What about a veterinarian's office?"

The children were excited to start building and exploring with some of our new animal friends.

Ben, Micah R., and Joshua decided
to build a zoo for the animals.

After some discussion, the children
decided that each animal needed its own cage.

Noah created a gate as the entrance to the zoo.

Charlotte and Jolie created Noah's Ark.

Some children decided to build
individual homes for each animal.

Apple Cider Taste Test

We have been so busy in our pretend Dunkin Donuts in Kohavim! This week, we decided to taste one of the products we are selling- Apple Cider! The children sipped the apple cider and determined if they liked it, did not like it, or liked a little bit. They then wrote their name on a post-it note and charted their preference. Taste tests encourage us to try new things, provide the opportunity for a sensory experience, and enabled us to compare and contrast the children's preferences. There are more taste tests inspired by our Dunkin Donuts menu to come!

Color Mixing and Literacy

At the art table, children have been experimenting with color mixing and different mediums. They have tried mixing different colored paints and water colors. Most recently, the children tested out watercolor pencils. Noticing the book, "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh sitting on the art table, children asked the teachers to read them the story as they tried out some mixing of colors. As the mice in the story climbed in and out of paint jars and danced in various puddles of paints the children experimented with the colors. When the mouse that was covered in red paint danced in a yellow puddle, the children quickly used their watercolor pencils and water to mix and blend the red and yellow together. Before the teacher could turn the page, the children shouted "It makes orange!" 

Color Mixing

Kohavim children have been experimenting with color mixing at the art table this week. The children used red, blue, and yellow colored water with droppers and palettes. Using fine motor strength and control, the children used the droppers to mix the colored water in their palettes. As they experimented the children shared comments such as, "I wonder what will happen if" and "How did you make that color?" After mixing the colors together, the children used the droppers to drop the various water colors onto coffee filters. This color mixing activity allowed the children to make predictions, experiment, and discuss their findings. Stay tuned to hear more about our color mixing adventures!

How Big Should We Build?

Samantha and Molly were pretending to take care of their pretend dog, Charlotte in the block area. When asked where their puppy slept, they decided to build a dog crate for her. But how big of a crate would they need for Charlotte to fit inside? Micah G. offered to assist them in the building process. Together, they used the wooden blocks to build an enclosure for the dog. They had Charlotte climb in and out a few times to check their measurements and make sure they got the size right. When the crate was complete, the puppy climbed in and took a rest.