Sweetness....

 Sophie finds her sister, Sadie, in the playground. Such a sweet big sister!

Bubble Day and Yarok Family

In addition to bubble day, today's theme seemed to be welcoming family. Yarok welcomed Hayley's brother Jake today who joined us as an honorary counselor. In addition, Steve welcomed his niece Kira who joined us from Israel. 

 Haley and Jake engage in some play dough play.

 Haley and Jake cool off with some refreshing water.

The Yarok class (with Kira) enjoy the bubble pool. 

Lily and Kira blow some bubbles in honor of bubble day.

Support Attachment in the classroom culture!

"Children do not enter the classroom as an empty slate. They bring with them their home language, preferences, and culture. Just as adults might keep mementos of home at their workplace, we encourage the children to bring similar items into the classroom."

"Family pictures, a favorite book, familiar music, special foods from home help reinforce to the children that they belong to their family. It also sends a message that school is their place and that their whole being is honored and respected."

Jenna Bilmes in Beyond Behavior Management

In the classroom we have displayed photos of the children and their families in the Dramatic Play Center. Alex discovered the picture of his family first. He was so delighted to find his family photo in the classroom. He came over to find me, he took my hand to show me what he found.
Alex pulled up a chair, sat down and then pointed to each member of his family. Mom, Dad, Ellen and Alex! As he pointed and to each family member his voice was high- pitched and loud for Alex...as he is soft spoken! Bailey walked over to see what we were doing. I pulled up a chair and asked Bailey to sit down because Alex wanted to show her his family photo. After Alex shared his family photo with Bailey I asked Bailey if she could find her family photo? When she discovered it she smiled from ear to ear, and proceeded to tell Alex and I about her family. She pointed to each family member and told us their name. Both Alex and Bailey sat their for some time pointing and saying the name of each family member in the photo. We also found Grace, Cody, Kayla, and Hannah's family photos. We enjoyed talking about their families too! The entire time we spent talking about and sharing the family photos, felt so comfortable, warm and connecting for the teacher and the children!

When children see us connecting with their families, they become increasingly comfortable with the transitions back and fourth from home and school. School becomes for them almost an extended family.

Thank You Mia!

If Mia was not a student herself I would ask Ellen to hire her! Mia is so positive with Adam and his friends!

  Mia volenteered today in the Tel Aviv classroom!  She was so helpful...Mia planned an art activity, read us a few books, helped support the teachers and children as we practiced our Passover Play! 

Mia thank you for coming in and spending time with us!  Come back soon!

Family Shabbat

The Shabbat Shindig was so much fun today! Thank you to everyone! Our time in the sanctuary was so beautiful, as children shared the love and joy of Shabbat songs and celebration together with friends, teachers, parents, and grandparents!

The Chester Report!

We had a very busy morning on Monday!  With the delayed opening we did not have time to read the Chester Report in the morning program.   Noah was so excited to read Chester's Journal with his friends we decided to read Chester's Journal in Lunch Bunch.
Noah took Chester out and held his hand with Zach and Elias.  They were all ready to listen to Noah and Chester's story. 

 It's always so special for all the children when Chester comes out to play.  Often in Lunch Bunch the children have the opportunity to visit and play with Chester.  Elias noticed Chester had a "boo, boo" on his tail.  Elias asked me if we could put a bandage on Chester's tail.   Noah and Elias carefully put the bandage on Chester's tail.
Josh is the leader of the week and will get to bring Chester home with him for the entire February vacation!  Maybe at some point over vacation Josh and a member of his family can fix Chester's "boo, boo" with a needle and thread.   I don't know who is more excited for Chester's visit, Josh or Jen (Josh's mom)!

Just as we were finishing up with Noah's detailed report of his adventures with Chester  his Aunt and Uncle arrived,  as it was dismissal time!   What a nice surprise...  Noah was so happy to see them!  He showed them around the classroom , they met Noah's friends and checked out Noah's Journal.

 Chester's social life is very, very  BUSY!   That guy really gets around!

Surprise guest in the Etzim classroom

Today in the etzim classroom, we had not 1, not 2, but 5 guests! What a fun way to spend a Thursday! During our drop off, Eliana's mom Amy read two books to our class as everyone entered our room.

Then, Olivia's sister Isabelle join our classroom during our choice time to play in the kitchen with the etzim kids!

Our last three guest were Liz, Emma, and Jay Green. Josh's family came in and joined us for choice time and read us two books! What an exciting and fun morning!

Together at the Shabbat Shindig

Looking around the Shabbat Shindig I saw laughter, creativity, celebration, and family. Thanks to all who made the day a special one!

View more photos here.

TBSCC Family Chanukah Party

View more photos here. Thank you to Aimee Stone for being our photographer.

Very Special Guests

Last week we had some very special guests come in to read to us!  Chloe and Max Glazer.  They each read us a book, we sang a few Hanukkah songs,   lit the candles and said the blessings together!

Chloe and Max we really enjoyed your visit please come back to visit us real soon!   

A Chanukah Guest

Today we were delighted to welcome Jack's Nana, Barbara, to our classroom.  Barbara read us the book The Golum's Latkes by Eric Kimmel. We were on the edge of our seat!  She then shared a Chanukah Cd with us, leading us in a dance party!  It was so special to have a grandparent visit our class during Chanukah.  What a wonderful way to reinforce our connection between home and school by having a special family member share in our holiday celebrations!   We all had a great time.  Thank you, Jack, for sharing your Nana with us!  Come back soon, Barbara!

Nicolas Celebrates his Third Birthday

Celebrating Nicolas’s third birthday was a special event enjoyed by all the Levana children. Both of Nicolas’ older brothers and their mom joined us today. Lucas played several renditions of one of our favorite songs, Happy Birthday,on his guitar. He played a solo and then we all sang in English and in Hebrew with his accompaniment. Joshua read several of the boys' favorite books. Both of the boys did a splendid job in making this birthday celebration for Nicolas a most enjoyable occasion.

Happy Birthday SYD!!!

 It is our tradition in the Kohavim classroom to make birthday banners for children celebrating the day of their birth. It is a thoughtful process where we ask the children to really think about the things their classmate enjoys. Well yesterday Zack came in and asked if he could make a banner for his sister because her birthday was coming up. He made a plan and said he wanted the banner to be 4 paper lenghts long. We stapled it together and then came more thinking and reflecting on things she might like. Zack shared that Syd's favorite color was purple, she liked fairies, and Mickey. Soon Max Greenstein and Dylan asked if they could contribute to Syd's birthday banner. Zack said sure and off they went to work together on Syd's banner. Thank you Zack for allowing your classmates to contribute their illustrations. Sydney we hope you had a WONDEFUL fun filled birthday and that you enjoyed the beautiful banner Zack made for you. Such a nice and kind brother!!! As a parent my heart just melted with the love of family.

Thanksgiving guests

Today we were lucky enough to have two guest readers. Brett's mom Mahla came and read a book about a llama in pajamas. Just as she (and Brett) were finishing their story Aleeza's sister Shayna (formerly a Tel Aviv student) came with dad Jon (also formerly a TBSCC student) and Shayna read us a story about a squash pumpkin. The Haifa children were, as they always are, very good listeners. A very special thank you to Mahla and Shayna for enriching the lives of the Haifa children.

Thanksgiving... A Time to share with family...

We had some very special visitors in the Kohavim class, Auntie Julie and baby Molly. Hannah had some important information to give to the Kohavim class before their arrival: she was 3 months old, you could not touch her hands ( just her feet). We learned that Molly talks and laughs and plays with Hannah. Hannah is a great older cousin. We also learned that Ezra's little brother is 5 months old and share some of the same interests as Molly... he laughs, smiles, and eats too!

After our visit with Molly, Auntie Julie read us a book entitled How Do You Get a Gorilla Out of Your Bathtub? by John Hall. It is a beautifully illustrated and very funny book where children are presented with this problem of how to get this gorilla out of the tub. There are many different ideas and obstacles along the way. In the end however, one discovers a valuable life lesson: even when a situation seems overwhelming  or perhaps you feel intimidated because someone looks a bit different then you do, a little act of kindness and basic manners can make all the difference in the world.

Hannah, thank you for sharing your Auntie Julie and baby Molly with us.

Many Thanks

The Etzim children love tracing their hands (along with other body parts) and all this practice has paid off!  Today we traced our hands and made our Thanksgiving turkeys.  We are thankful for many things, including extended family members, baby siblings, and lots of various foods!  Wishing you all a joyful Thanksgiving!  

 

 

Sharing Shabbat

It is always exciting to see moms, dads, grandparents and babysitters arrive at the sanctuary doors to join us for Shabbat.  We sang and welcomed Shabbat with Rabbi Todd, Matt and many special guests.

 

Hey, I Live There!

One thing that means a lot to Sauci and myself is helping the children feel like they have made the classroom their own. We started this when the parents made beautiful papers about how their child got their name, and when the students made their own cubby tags. Our next venture is to have the children bring their home and families to the classroom! Instead of picking up houses and getting everyone in the classroom at once, we are using the family photos you sent us before school, and photos that Sauci and I took at our home visits. While I was preparing the photos this morning for the project, the children got so excited to see their house and family photos in the classroom! They were calling everyone over to show where they lived or pointing to their parents and siblings. Stay tuned to see the final product...

-Alison and Sauci

Making Connections

We have been using photographs of the children with their families to make the connection between home and school. It's great when we see the children making connections with one another through their photos. This morning Allison and Ally enjoyed pointing out their families to each other and talking about their older brothers as well as Allison's baby brother.

By Nancy Donahue