Willing and open to exploring new things...

I has been a joy to behold as the children's natural curiosity has unfolded as they have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the world of bugs.   Sasha and I have been so lucky to be a part the process the and spirt of investigation, as the children  have taken on the role of a scientist, wondering about the insects and bugs!

Everyone is so comfortable handing and approaching the insects we find  outside on the playground or on our nature walks in the woods!  The way the children have dug into the worm farm  remind us of  archaeologists! They place the worms on their wrists like bracelets, on top of their hands and on their shoulders!

Their comfort level with insect and bug has carried over to other other living creatures.  Yesterday Micah G brought his dog Rusty to school for a visit.  As the children who don't have animals at home or contact with animals in general, where so open and willing to engage with Rusty!   They pet his belly, feed him treats, and  played catch with Rusty! 

 Micah, Rusty is one special guy!  Tell Rusty he can come back and visit anytime.

Celebrating with Adam!

Rabbi Todd came in to celebrate Adam's birthday!  We sang "Happy Birthday" in Hebrew first and then English!  Then Rabbi Todd read Adam's Birthday Book and a few books Adam hand picked from home.  The first book was about Star Wars...surprise, surprise!  The second book was a wonderful story about an up -coming holiday, Shavuot.

Last week just before Adam's 4th birthday he successfully mastered sliding down the "fire pole" on the TBSCC playground!  He was so proud of himself!  Check out the photos in the collage.  Here is how it is done...hand, hand on the pole, then bring your belly button to the pole,and down you go!

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!

Guest Reader?

Guess who our guest reader was today?   That's right Mia, Adam's sister!  I don't know who was more excited that Mia came into the classroom to hang out with us this morning...the teachers or Adam?

Mia read a few books to the Tel Aviv children at our morning meeting and then joined us for some gross motor play in the community room. 

Mia it was so nice to see you !  Please come back to visit us real soon! 

Learning Life and School Skills through Games

Curriculum Night was all fun and games for the Tel Aviv parents!  Parents were invited to play and experience  gross motor games that their children play at school.  We played "Switch" and "Popcorn" with Mr. Parachute, enjoyed a game of "Balloon-o" , played Mr. Fox and last but not least, enjoyed "Squirrel in the Tree". 

During the games the parents were asked to notice the skills they are relying on to successfully play the game.
(e.g. motor, eye-hand coordination, spatial awareness, cooperation, self-regulation, following directions, focus, specific muscle groups)

After the game:- Parents turned to their neighbor and together, answer the following questions:

1.What is an essential skill children can develop when playing this game?

2. How do you think this skill will help your child in kindergarten and elementary school?
3.  How have you used this skill in your personal or professional life in just the last week? I think parents would agree that the skills the children are learning through games are central life skills that we use each and everyday at work, home in the car etc. In addition the games are bonding for both teachers and peers. Just look at the photos, their faces, the body language, says it all!

Josh and Chester 's Visit...Fantastic!

Chester and Josh had a great February vacation together!  They spent so much quality time together with Josh and his family.  Chester and Josh spent time visiting with Bubbe and Grampa, went on a group play date with his Tel Aviv friends, played with Zach W and his new remote Morphibian, enjoyed sledding, went bowling ,and went kitchen appliance shopping!

At our morning meeting, Josh really enjoyed reading Chester's journal and sharing Chester stories with all his friends! 

Josie can't wait to take Chester home for the weekend tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Max!

Max will be 4 years old on December 24th! Kathy and Adam joined Max and his Tel Aviv friends for a special birthday celebration! We sang "Happy Birthday" in Hebrew and English, read Max's birthday book from his classmates and then read a few books that Max picked out from home. As of December 24th, everyone in the Tel Aviv classroom will be 4 years old!

Board game fun with Chester!

This past weekend Molly took Chester home! While visiting their home Chester, Molly and Molly's dad made a special Chester Board game together! The game which Molly calls the, "Chester Game" is a game where you spin the spinner and then move your piece to the same color lips as the spinner. The goal of the game is to get to the end while collecting the kisses from the book, "The Kissing Hand." The board game itself is even in the shape of a hand! Thank you Molly and Jason for creating such a fun game! We are so glad that you had such a good weekend with Chester and are ecstatic to have this new game to play in our class!

Happy Birthday Eli!

Eli turned 4 years old today! Mara came in to celebrate with us! We read a few books and sang 'Happy Birthday" in both English and Hebrew! Eli thanks for celebrating your birthday with us, it sure was special!

We Would Like to Welcome the Bernstein Family to TBSCC!

We would like to take the opportunity to welcome Abby, Orr, Ilan, and Aviva Bernstein to TBSCC. As of November 1st, Avia will join the Tel Aviv classroom and Ilan will become part of the Rainbows.

Today we enjoyed spending time with Aviva and her family. We were delighted to have Aviva spend most of the morning with us. We played in the Community Room, spent time in the classroom (building with blocks and playing with gak), ate snack together and at the end of the day the entire Bernstein family helped us clean up the entire classroom! Let me tell you clean up today was no easy task! We really appreciated their help!

All the Tel Aviv children did such a wonderful job welcoming Aviva this morning! It was a sight to behold, when Aviva arrived, three children walked over to her and said, "Hi Aviva do you want to do something over at the rug?" Aviva gave them a big smile and said, "Sure". They all went over to the rug and started to play and talk. On the way down to the Community room a few of the children reached out to hold Aviva's hand. In the Community Room the Tel Aviv children asked Aviva to play catch and invited her to have a turn to roll on the "hamster wheel". Aviva seemed to have a fun morning in her new classroom. Tomorrow the Bernstein's will join us for the Shabbat Shindig...We can't wait!

A visit with Rachel's family!

Rachel's grandmother, aunt and cousins came in to visit with us today. They brought a few books from home to read to Rachel and her Tel Aviv friends. We happened to be enjoying a late morning snack in the sukkah when Rachel's family arrived. So as we enjoyed snack Rachel's grandmother and cousin read to us. What a treat! Thank you for coming!

Happy Father's Day!

The children enjoyed decorating cards for Father's Day! They used a variety of collage materials, markers and glue to create their own special card for their own special Daddy.

From all of us to all of you HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Enjoy this beautiful day!

Cooperative Games!

Here are a few games to try at home! Your children have played them in Lunch Bunch...Ask them to teach you how to play!

Balloon Keep Up- Children work together to keep one or more balloons up in the air so they do not fall to the floor. Try playing this game in large space or outside.

Cooperative musical chairs- The goal of this game is to find ways to share (not compete for) the chairs,when the music ends.

Islands- Create a group of "islands," made up of hoops, rings, or carpet squares. Children move around and between the islands while music plays. When the music stops, everyone must find an island. Encourage children to share the islands. For variety ask children to visit a different island each time, or have everyone wearing a certain color go to the same island.

HAVE FUN!

Guest Reader!

Today was a special day for Ruby...Her Mom (Sarah) came into the classroom to read a few books! Look at the names of the books, Ruby the Copycat and Tea for Ruby. How many of us can go to the book store or library and find a book with our name in the title? Ruby found two books..Isn't that something!

Flat Stanley Gets an Email

Today Flat Stanley was sitting at his computer, getting ready to write a post for the blog, when he got an email.  A pen pal had written him a letter and sent it to Israel all the way from Dedham!  Stanley was so excited that he did another of his little dances.  "Wohooo!  I got an email!"  (Stanley gets excited very easily!)  And this letter was especially exciting because it was about his twin brother, who is also named Flat Stanley.

Dear Stanley,

Here is a picture of my Flat Stanley getting in on the dress up action. I was dressed as a superhero with a helmet, my favorite dog Bosco, and I was impersonating a Dalmatian dog with a headband.  My brother Eli was dressed as the vet. Stanley wasn't sure what to dress up as so he settled on just riding on Bosco's back.

Love, Noah

Can you believe it?  A Flat Stanley at Noah's house, too?  Do you think Flat Stanley will have any more adventures around Massachusetts?  The Flat Stanley in Israel is waiting to find out if he gets any more emails!