Investigating Leaves!

We gathered around the table this morning and asked the children to take on the role of a "scientist".   We talked a little bit about what scientists do.  Gabi and I brought leaves in this morning for our meeting.  We spilled them out onto the table: red,yellow, orange and green, they were beautiful!  "Let's look up close at the leaves and what we notice about them."  Everyone gathered a few leaves and dove into close observation. 

Samantha: "I see red, yellow, green!"

Hayley:  " Just one is a poison,because it has spikes."

Graham: " Mine are green and red."

Harold: " Mine has holes."

Ben:  "This one has 1,2,3 colors,red,yellow and green."

Tomorrow we will continue to observe the autumn leaves.  The children will have the opportunity to sketch the leaves with black drawing pens and watercolors.  When children sketch,they look closely, capturing what they see, bit,by bit, in a drawing line.  When they work with watercolor paints, they notice color and the ways in which one color blends and gives way to another.  By using these media, we want to focus on the way the children see the leaves.

Examining Faces and Art

During circle time on Thursday Etzim students had the opportunity to look and examine some self-portraits created by the 2nd and 3rd grade Mayim students. These students use the Etzim classroom in the afternoon and like the Etzim class, they are creating self-portraits using sharpies and watercolors. At first I showed them the pictures and they were amazed at how much they looked like real people. We notices that they each have things in common. Two eyes, two ears a month and a nose. these were things we had in our drawings too! We then looked to see what was different between different portraits. Some showed teeth, some drew a line for the simile while others drew lips. They had such thoughtful remarks and I could tell they were paying close attention to detail as they observed the drawings. Then we compared their drawings to the 2/3 graders and saw that they have lots of similarities too! All their  drawings are different from each other, and all the 2/3rd grade drawing are different from each other. We can observe and notice and do our best to create our vision of ourselves whatever that may be; all the while knowing that the big kids are still figuring it out too : )

Worm Farm!

Worms are fascinating critters! Today we created a worm farm in our sensory table!  By creating a habitat for the worms the children have the opportunity to keep observing without killing the worms with kindness. The natural world taps into children's innate sense of wonder and curiosity. 

At circle time we introduced the worms to the entire group.  We talked about how important worms are for the environment.  They are natures way of composting naturally,  worms bring air to soil by tunneling in the dirt and we modeled how to handle the delicate creatures, gently and respectfully. 

As soon as the classroom opened for free play the children gravitated to the worm farm for a ringside seat to all the wonderful worms!  If you get a chance stop into the Tel Aviv classroom and check out our little friends!

Science Talk...

Over the last several weeks the children have had multiple opportunities to openly explore how long it takes for beans to change and grow.  We have been closely observing the growth and development of the moist bean in a Ziploc bag.  Yesterday we planted some of the sprouted beans and apple seeds we saved from our group snack, in some fresh potting soil.   The children will continue to water and care for the plants and possibly observe the full life cycle.

During circle time we brought the children together passed around the celery and flowers that have been soaking in green and blue food coloring for over a week.  We talked about the changes they noticed in the in the leaves of the celery and the petals on the white flowers.  We asked the children...
"Do you remember how the celery and flowers looked before we soaked in them in the food coloring and water?"   "How did they change?"

  Most of the children noticed, before we placed the flowers and celery in the colored water, the celery was all green and the petals on the flowers were all white.  After the celery and flowers soaked in the colored water the leaves on the celery turned blue, and the white petals on the flowers where now white and green.

Stay tuned for more SCIENCE TALK...Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to explore a variety of fruits at our Tu B'Shevat Seder!

Micahs' Masterpeices!

 We have been talking about snow all week long and today we had a lot of "snowy" material out so we could make our own snow scene colleges.   Charlotte and Molly came over first and had fun cutting and gluing the paper in neat shapes to look like snowflakes, they made beautiful art and then left the table for snack. While they were working I made my own snow scene and then left it on the table.

When I came back I found both the Michas working really hard on creating their own similar snow scene. When I asked Micah Rosin about his creation he said, "it's like the one that you did but different, I liked that you had a snowman with three circles so I did that, but I wanted to have a sun so I made two!" I love that none of the art that was created today looked like what I made, I don't want kids to try to create the same things as  a grown-up, their work is often SO much more creative! However, I loved that Micah Rosin saw things that he liked and incorporated them into his work, and saw things he didn't like and choose to not use those aspects. I was also impressed at how well
both Micahs paid attention to detail!

Well done everyone! Beautiful colleges all around! It is neat to watch how the class responds to new choices in media!

Can You Cut?

Cutting play dough with a tool furthers children's knowledge of the properties of dough and the reactions of the dough to simple machines.  This activity allows children to manipulate tools and compare how they affect the dough.

Some of the Tel Aviv children ignored the tools and explored the dough with their hands.  Zach noticed the similarities and differences among the cutting tools.  The pastry and pizza wheels "make a smooth line in the dough."  The knives "leave bumpy lines in the dough."

As the children explored and played with the dough I asked questions to extend their thinking...What can do with these wheels?  How can you make smaller pieces of dough?   How did you do make this straight line?

Exploring with simple machines!

In this activity the children hammered screws or nails into real wood and then pry them out or screw them out with a screw driver or hammer. Last week the children hammered golf tees into styrofoam. Switching to real nails and screws was clealy more challenging for the children. They embraced the challenge and became very excited and focused while hammering away! Screwing the nails out of the wood was initially awkward for them as they tried to manipulate each screw out of the wood by twisting and swirling the screw driver with their two hands. Simple machines encourage scientific exploration and the construction of physical knowledge. With simple machines, children can perform a physical action, lifting a heavy object with a screw (a spiral inclined plane). It can lift a heavy object easily, as when a car jack that utilizes a crank lifts an automobile. Observing the children as they interact with the materials, and asking pertinent question to delve into their thinking, has been an enjoyable experience!

Our visit to Adam's Sukkah!

On  Friday we walked over to Adam's house to enjoy a Shabbat snack in his sukkah.   When we arrived we gathered around the small table in the sukkah and talked about the similarities and differences between Adam's sukkah and the TBSCC sukkah. Their responses, "Adam has a scarecrow and little pumpkins, Adam's is made out of wood too and you can see the sky."

Then we sang our welcome song, said the blessings and enjoyed a yummy Shabbat snack!   Last but not least we hung the colorful coffee filters that we made in Lunch Bunch up in Adam's sukkah.

Adam, thanks for inviting us over to your house for a visit in your sukkah!

Outdoor classroom...Curiosity and Initiative!

The outdoors is such an interesting and dynamic environment that encourages children to engage in a continuous cycle of exploration! As you watch them, you can see how one experience leads to another; their curiosity prompts them to ask questions and their initiative leads them to investigate.

Today Hannah became very excited when she found a slug on the playground. Her excitement was contagious as her friends and classmates gathered around her to see and feel the wet slimy slug! The children all observed the slug for a while and decided to name it "Slimy the Slug".

Nature Walk

Yesterday the Tel Aviv children spent the most of the morning outside. After we enjoyed Music with Mat we took our "Nature Focusers" on a walk over to the wooded area behind the TBS parking lot. We climbed up a big hill, listened to a story, ate a delicious Passover snack, turned over rocks and tree trunks in search of insects, looked for signs of Spring and climbed up and down the long tree trunks.

The Outdoor Classroom!

Wackiness THREE

Clues for Wacky Wednesday = THREE 1) One was the picture board 2) Something 'wacky' happened in the snack area.. 3) Something 'wacky' in the library What was 'wacky'??? Any ideas ??? Don't know what will happen tomorrow??? = FOUR things...