Sisterly Love

Today Mia's sister, Sadie and Olivia's sister, Isabelle, came to visit the Etzim classroom. 
Isabelle, who is in second grade, read us two books.  Sadie, who is in Kindergarten,
shared some stretches with us and then recited a poem.  Everyone enjoyed
some time with our special guests.  Thank you girls.  We hope to see you
again soon.  We loved having teaching assistants!  We will work on our
flexibility, Sadie!

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!

I did it!

Everyday Eli asks, "Can you help me go across the monkey bars?" He usually Eli steps off the ledge, as he is holding the first rung, then he asks for support all the way to the other side. Today I suggested that Eli try to get to the second rung all by himself. On his first attempt he made it to the third rung and then jumped down. He was so pleased with himself as he grinned from ear to ear! Eli climbed right back up to do it again! This time he made it to the fourth rung and the next time he made it all the way across!

Persistence... that's what it takes! Way to go Eli!

Great Puzzle Skils

Team Bet is talking about taking care of the world and taking care of animals yesterday Hannah, Jaedyn, Sydni,  Lizzie and Zach worked hard to piece together a beautiful puzzle of so many different wild animals. Putting a puzzle together takes a lot of team work and negotiation. Each child would work on a piece by him or herself but then others would often point out where the piece would go if they had an idea. Sometimes its hard to use your words rather than grab the piece and put it where you might think it goes, but with a little bit of coaching from Hannah this group did a great job!

Wacky Wednesday

Today we had our second Wacky Wednesday in the Unicorn classroom.  What makes Wednesday so Wacky?  First, the room is rearranged for the day.  That's the only choice the teachers make for the day.  Everything else is up to the Unicorn children.  They choose the snack (wacky watermelon today!) and the choices we'll be making for the day.  It's a silly, fun day for all.   Only two more to go before the school year ends!

A Passion for Puzzles!

The Tel Aviv and Haifa children displayed patients, determination and perseverance while working together to complete a variety of puzzles. It was the teamwork that was so nice to see amongst the group!

Shabbat Shindig Mezuzah Making!!

The Tel Aviv class was so excited to welcome parents, grandparents, and siblings into our class for our Shabbat Shindig! We started off by sharing a bit of what we had learned about muzuzot this past week and the Tel Aviv class lead everyone in a beautiful singing of the Shama! The children showed their family members the muzuzot they had created and got to work on creating a personal klaf, a personal scroll to put inside of the mezuzah. There were English and Hebrew blessings to choose from and parents had the opportunity to write their own blessings. Children glued the blessings in and drew pictures around the words. Then the scrolls were taped up and muzuzot were ready to take home!

I am so pleased of how proud each student was of the mezuzah they had created. Lily and Hannah’s families have already sent in pictures of their mezuzah on their doorposts! If anyone else has hung them up please share! We would love to see! It has definitely been a neat and creative week and we were so glad to have families come in to share it with us. Thanks so much for visiting and learning with us. It was a wonderful morning!

Sand, Mulch and Water = Fun

Sand and water play ...It does not get better than that! Everywhere you looked today the children were engaged in sand and water play! Near the sand box there was a group of children making a "mud trap" in a large blue bucket. Over in the swing area just beyond the pools, the children created a stream in the mulch with shovels and water. At the end of the day when parents came to pick up their children, they looked a little like a group of adorable dalmatians.

I am sure everyone was asked to take a nice long bath tonight!

Climbing, climbing, and more climbing!

The children are really feeling successful climbing the jungle gym on the playground. The photos say it all!

Keep Moving!!!!!

A little bit of practice goes a long way! The children can really move their hips!

Rainbow bear

"Look, I made Rainbow bear!" said Becca with an excited tone. "First I sewed him. Then I colored him. Then I used the snow to make the colors spread out, so he'd be like a rainbow." What an accomplishment the children have felt by creating their very own stuffed animals.