"Honey, It's the first day of school."

                                        
Last week at the drop in visit, many of the children suggested that we make the dramatic play area into a restaurant. During choice time, many of the children practiced their fine motor skills to  snip strips of food pictures.  Some of the  children chose to have picture menus and other children wanted  to have their food labeled. Throughout the morning the menus were integrated into the play At one point, Sophie Ganot said, "Honey, it's the first day of school" and her "children" quickly came  to the table to order their breakfast.  The morning  flew, as the children  constructed with manipulatives,  made menus, used play dough and had snack. See you tomorrow!

Cutting...the grass!

Scissors are a popular tool in the Levana classroom.  We use them to build our fine motor skills as well as our focus.  We filled a table with focused students working with scissors on brightly colored paper.

Then we decided that the grass we've been growing was getting a little high, so why not put those scissors to a new use, and cut it!

All the children at the table got really excited to cut the grass -- we had the whole planter mowed in no time!

Creating Snowflakes!!

This week we have been excited by SO MUCH SNOW. So we decided to bring snow indoors by creating snowflakes! Creating snowflakes is very much a magical process for pre-school aged kids. It involves a lot of folding and cutting and after a few shapes cut out, you unfold the paper and magically a snowflake appears! What I love about the project, is that there is no, "right-way" to make a snow flake and everyone is unique, just like the snow! Snowflakes also give the opportunity to practice cutting skills and gain fine motor muscles as they practice this skill. It is nice that there is no "pre-determined" line or path in which to cut on, it's just an opportunity to practice cutting and see what each fold and cut creates!
 Many beautiful snow flakes were created.
 Come on in and take a peak tomorrow and see them hung up on the wall of the Tel Aviv room!

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?

Fun With Scissors And Tape

The Rainbows worked on their fine-motor skills using scissors and colored tape. The children were given these materials and were free to explore with them as they wished. Some of the children only wanted to cut, while others wanted to explore with the tape, and some wanted to rip the paper. The amount of help that was needed from a teacher to hold the scissors, get the tape started, and then rip or cut off a piece varied greatly. Molly and Sami both felt confident while using the scissors and tape on their own. Molly became the 'expert' on ripping the tape and explained to her classmates, "You pop and pull.", demonstrating her technique with her fingers. Sophie was intrigued by the scissors and at first wanted to try holding them on her own. When she felt ready, she asked me to help her cut. We held the scissors together and she was successful. After a few minutes she was cutting on her own. Rose and Grayden enjoyed using the scissors and both ripped and cut their paper. No matter what type of material they were using, all the children were very involved in their creations.

Vegetable Cookies!

The children that stay for the extended day Summer Fun Program made sugar cookies for open snack tomorrow morning. The children enjoyed measuring, mixing and rolling out the dough! We used vegetable cookie cutters and made carrot, pepper and lettuce sugar cookies. They look yummy, we can't wait to eat them!

Everyday Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bake at 375 oven for 10-15 minutes

Matzah Ball Soup Prep

We made pretend Matzah ball soup in the sensory table and it was now time for the real stuff. We cut carrots, then we made matzah meal by cutting the Matzah and putting it in a coffee grinder. We couldn't help but take a few bites of the Matzah as we put it into the grinder. The process was sort of 2 in the grinder one for ME!!! After we grinded it the texture changed quite a bit. Rachel, Lily K. and Avery seemed to enjoy this new soft texture. Such great cooks. More to follow documenting our culinary talents.