The stick person is....Noah!

Every Monday morning before we go down to the Community Room we gather together briefly to pick the new leader for the week. The children seem to look forward to the whole process...we shake up the wooden sticks with the chidren's name on them,the teacher says, "Children the drum roll please", then the teachers and children proceed to tap their lap with their hands fast at first, faster and faster etc. The teacher then picks a stick and shows the entire class the name clerly written on the stick. Today the stick person was...NOAH! When he read his name Noah was simply delighted! Noah's face lit up like a light bulb! He smiled from ear to ear! Noah proudly led the group down to the Community Room to celebrate Havdallah. He acted as our Havdallah helper(passed out the cinnamon sticks), and held the Torah ever so tight as we sang our welcome song! Noah can't wait to take home our little buddy, Chester!

Summer Bike Rodeo #2!

The children had a ball riding their bike or scooter all around the TBSCC parking lot! Because the weather was so hot we took plenty of water breaks and had snack available to the children over in the shaded area. We ended the Rodeo by sitting down all together on the playground, to enjoy a nice ice cold pop!

Entering Play!

Entering Play

I don't know how many times this has happened in my teaching career...A child sees other children building a tall structure in the block area. If she doesn't yet have the skills and language to join in the play, she will knock down the tower, push it in, or maybe grab blocks. It's not enough to tell her, "Go over there and use your words." Many children haven't yet learned the words to use. If she knew she probably would have used them.

As we teachers play with children, we must model scripts and skills they need to join in ongoing play with others. Here is an example of how scripting and modeling can work in the classroom.

Today I saw a child walk over to the rug and take some blocks from two children playing on the rug together. The two children said, "Hey we were using those blocks!" I reminded the child that took the blocks, the other children were playing and building a structure together. If she wants to join/enter the play at the rug...This is what you can say , " How can I play?" I then asked her to watch me as I enter the play on the rug first. I used the scripts, "How can we play? What are you playing?" I then sat down on the rug and coached the children so everyone had an acceptable and appropriate role as we continued to build and play together.

Successful players join into ongoing play themes. Whenever we model joining ongoing play, we help the child figure out how to join rather than changing the play theme. This all takes lots of time and practice!

Friendship can be more powerful than difference!

Eliza came over to me and said, "Lauri can you help me, Lily is mad at me and I am sorry." So we went to find Lily...She was sitting on the rug with her hands over her face. I told Lily, "Eliza came over to me and told me she was sad because you are mad at her. Eliza went on to say that she did not treat you fairly and she would like the opportunity to make things right with you." Lily and Eliza looked at each other and Eliza said, "What do you want to be Lily?" Lily did not answer her right away. Previously Eliza told Lily she had to be the sister and Lily actually wanted to be the brother in their "play sequence".

Then I asked the girls ,"How can we work things out?" Eliza said, "Lily you don't have to be the sister you can be who you want to be. I'm sorry." Lily said, "Okay I will be the brother." Eliza's friendship with Lily was far more important than telling Lily who she should be in their "play sequence".

Like in The Sandwich Swap in that moment Eliza's friendship with Lily was far more powerful than their differences.

Sharing Space...

Sharing space is not an easy thing to do, but these children make it look easy. Eliza and Lily thought it would be nice to eat snack in a cozy little space ...Underneath the easel? Hannah asked if she could sit with them, so they scooted over and made room for her. Then Rachel asked if she could sit with them, and they made room for her too. I don't know how but they did...It was tight quarters under that easel.

Games that Foster Cooperation

Today in Lunch Bunch we invited the Unicorn children to join us for some organized gross motor activities that foster cooperation.

Blastoff

We placed colorful rubber shapes all over Simon Hall. We told the children which color to look for ,then we put on some Hanukkah music and let the rockets blast off to a planet/shape. When the music stopped they were asked to land on a yellow, blue, orange or green planet(each time it was different). If there was not enough green shapes/planets for each child, they had to work together and figure out how they could share the space on the the rubber shape.

We also played Squirrels Change Trees which was a big hit again and Mr. Fox a popular game as well.

Precious words

Once again the Kohavim children were actively engaged in a game of Uno. Oliver played a card that made Sam very happy, and he thanked him for it. Oliver responded by saying: "I'll do that for you anytime Sam." My heart melted...