Tel Aviv LOVES Snow!

The Tel Aviv kids have been spending LOTS of time in the snow this week! The snow has been fun and it's not too cold when you are wearing the proper snow gear and this combination has meant that we have been spending over an hour outside each day! We have made snow angles, snowmen and practiced our climbing skills! While making a snowman yesterday Lily, Charlotte, Josie, Molly and Micah Rosin negotiated how to roll the ball and where to put in the sticks for arms. often times they had different ideas for how they envisioned the snowman but they were able to use their problem solving strategy to create a solution that everyone was happy with! Later in the morning we went up to the parking lot and practiced climbing on the snow banks. I was impressed with how each child navigated the plains of snow and carefully paid attention to their footing as they slowly climbed up the snow banks. It was quite a site to see and once they got to the top, they roared with laughter as they slid down. Such fun mornings playing in the snow! We hope that it will stay warm and snowy like this for the rest of the week!

Snow Adventures!

The Tel Aviv class had so much fun playing in the snow today! The whole class went up the stairs to investigate the big piles of snow next to the parking lot. We climbed them and scooted down them they were so neat. Adam said he could see as far as the fire department! After a bit some kids were ready to go inside and went with Lauri to have circle time while the others choose to play more outside. Micah Rosin, Micah Gladstone, Elias, Charlotte, Noah and Zachary stayed outside for an extra half an hour and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside.

I love spending time outside beyond the walls of the playground because we leave all the toys behind. For a full half an hour the six of them entertained themselves by using snow, sticks, each other and their imaginations. They built camp fires, dug for treasure, played house  and more. We walked around the playground fence and spent some time by the trees and wooded area next to the playground. They were all engaged in powerful imaginative play and it was a such joy to watch these six kids just being kids. After the extra half an hour tummies began to rumble and we said goodbye to the woods and hurried inside to make more snowmen, this time out of paper and bananas back in the Tel Aviv class. 

2, 4, 6, 8...who do we appreciate??

SNOW!! SNOW!! It was so fun to go outside and play in the snow today! We had a blast shoveling, jumping and stomping in the fluffy white snow!

The TBSCC Garden

The Scientists enjoyed the great outdoors today and made the best of the cold and ice. The pavement that is usually home to cars and bikes has been covered in snow and ice throughout the winter, and with yesterday's rain, it was icy. The Scientists made the best of it though by turning it into an ice rink! The girls were skating around, and the boys turned the ice into their own hockey rink! Who knows, we may have some future Bruins in our midst!
-Alison Simpson

Snow Snow Everywhere!

We opened up the sensory table to find something pretty chilly-fresh snow! We added some penguins and bowls in to add to the fun and novelty of snow in the classroom.



After our glitter party ended with making our own clay volcanoes, we added glitter to the mix.

Needless to say, we had a very glittery morning!

-Alison Simpson

Snow Removal Anyone ?

Eli noticed that our play house out side had lots of snow on the roof. Clearly this snow needed to be removed immediately.

He asked for a shovel, but all were in use. No problem, he settled for rake, and off he went to remove the snow from the roof. It was hard work and took a lot of upper body strength to remove that snow little by little.
He didn't quite finish as it was a BIG task to accomplish all the necessary removal of snow.

Thank you Eli for all your efforts !!!

Snow and ice

Winter themes have led us into a wide variety of curriculum, whether through dramatic play as The Chubby little snowman, or through The Snowman Song where the Unicorns subtracted by a variety of "meltdowns".
We've been having a blast! We made our family people, Snow Mountain using a wide range of materials such as cotton balls, tinsel, glitter and white finger paint. We cooked wonderful snowman pancakes and we were surprised how great cooks we turn out to be.
Here is a favorite fingerplay of ours:
A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot nose
Along came a rabbit
And what do you suppose?
That hungry little bunny,
Looking for his lunch,
ATE the snowman's carrot nose...
Nibble, nibble, CRUNCH!

Scientists vs. The Big Snow!

What do we do when an impending blizzard is upon us?? We go out and play in it while we can of course!! The Scientist class decided to go outside and play in the snow today while it was snowing, and I think that the snowfall definitely added to the joy that was had!

The boys had a lot of fun with the super slippery slides. The best part? When you fell off at the bottom, you just landed in the snow! The boys enjoyed the new-found speed on the slides.

A huge ice block was also found on the playground. Some of our friends worked together to flip the block to see what was on the other side. And to their surprise, there was more ice!

One of the sillier things on the playground with the large amount of snow we have are the swings! The snow actually comes up to the bottom of the swings, making them only usable as a seat! It's fun to try and swing on them though, as Lucas is showing here.

I'm not sure who started work on this tunnel, but the Scientists were all over working on it today! There is an icy snowy tunnel or cave that has been constructed and our Scientists helped make it deeper and wider by digging it out today.

Whether it was attempting to swing on the swings or digging in the snow, our Scientists did a great job working cooperatively together and had a blast out in our new snow.

-Alison Simpson

The Snowy Day

What is there to do on a Snowy Day? You can find out in Ezra Jack Keats' classic story The Snowy Day which won a Caldecott medal back in 1963. It was good fun to share at circle this morning. The little boy in the story explores the winter wonderland he awakens to by experimenting with the snow in a number of different ways.

We asked the children whether they would like to build a snowman or make a snow angel in the fresh snow that's falling today. Some of them told us about the icicles that are dripping at their houses.

The Rainbows are always interested in the process of measuring ingredients and stirring to combine them. Today the children took time to make some bran muffins with raisins which they ate along with some fresh pears for snack.

Nor East 'er of 2011 (: !!!

The nor east' er of January 2011 did not stop the lunch bunch friends from enjoying the snow. They were eager to come out to play, but there was much work to be done. They used their strong muscles to shovel the snow to clear paths, and to get the snow from the play structure.
What fun it was to play in the snow!!!