Peer Mentors!

Young children are very egocentric. They see the whole world in relation to how it affects them. Most young children appreciate the value of adults. After all, adults are the ones who feed them, bath them, take them out for dinner and read them books. Dyad play requires that children begin to see their own peers as valuable resources as well. Throughout the school year we will encourage the children to share their talents and strengths with each other.

Today on the playground the children had the opportunity to play with the hula- hoops. Charlotte repeatedly picked up the hoop and moved her hips around and around very slowly and the hoop kept dropping to the ground and would not stay on her hips. I suggested that Charlotte move her hips a little faster and to keep practicing. After a few more tries Charlotte said in an overwhelming voice, "I can't do this! Hannah was watching near by and said in a friendly voice, "I can show you." Hannah picked up the hoop and showed Charlotte how to keep the hoop moving around her hips. I asked Hannah to give Charlotte some " hula tips". Hannah's response, "You do this, this and this!" After a quick lesson, Charlotte tried it again and had some success!

Charlotte was the mentor this time...Charlotte was sitting on the edge of the slide balancing with no hands which is great exercise and really challenges your core muscles. Noah was watching her and asked her, "How do you do that?" Charlotte was more than please to teach Noah how to balance with no hands on the side of the slide!

We should all continue to seek out child mentors both at home and at school. When a child is struggling at a particular time of the day, such as snack, buckling their own car seat, cleanup, catching a ball, pumping on a swing, help them find a child mentor to partner with.

The Shabbat Helper Is...

Today was Josh's turn to be the Shabbat Helper. He exclaimed, "My dad is working from home today so he dropped me off." What a special treat on your Shabbat Helper day! He easily recited all the blessings over the candles, juice, and Challah. Rose really wanted to help Josh with these tasks and sat next to him hoping to provide some assistance. Josh very nicely told her, "I can do it myself, I don't need any help." Although Rose was very sad at that moment, later on in the morning Josh offered to help her when she wanted some assistance building a house with the magnetiles. "I'll help you Rose," he exclaimed excitedly. Rose smiled and together the two of them proceeded to work together to build the house. Thank you Josh! That was friendly!

Discovery - together!

The Rainbow class arrived this morning to find that some of their animal toys were frozen in chunks of ice. The chunks of ice could skate along on the pond that had appeared on the table. Audrey and Sami were quite taken by the sensation of the ice melting in their hands, and the cold water dripping off of their fingers. They had a friendly talk about the feeling and about the animals they could see peeking out of the ice. Here is another example of the dyad play that occurs more and more frequently in our room. After our fire drill and Music with Josh (Thanks for inviting us to visit, Levana class!), we came back to find much of the ice had melted. Once we put the chunks into the water table, the animals were free!

All Smiles!

Everyone was happy to be together today after a long February break! The conversations at lunch were interesting and fun. We talked about some of the things we did with our families during our vacation. Peace-out time was spent working together on puzzles, writing , drawing in the Art Center and building with the wooden blocks was a popular place to be as well! Before we went outside we talked a bit about Purim and read A Medieval Castle (A Magic School Bus favorite).

That's Friendly

Learning to negotiate, share space, and be welcoming to one another are skills and values that are learned. Negotiating a shared building vision, welcoming a classmate into a play scenario, and extending kindness, providing a helping hand, taking care of our world, each other, and ourselves are values we are developing as children play. We hear and see a "mitzvah' kindness extended, we identify the action, making them aware that their actions, or words, are behaviors that are "friendly, kind, or helpful." Oliver, Sam, and Joshua were negotiating the 'design' of their buildings. We heard "Can I build next to you. Can I be your neighbor?" Matty came over and asked if he could build with them. Then the play became a shared home, the addresses were put on top. They were welcoming and worked together towards a shared vision. We are filling each other's buckets with kindness.

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.

Meeting New Friends!

Last week was Aviva's first full week at TBSCC. Aviva enjoyed spending time with her classmates in the Tel Aviv classroom. She also had the opportunity to meet the Haifa children that stay for Lunch Bunch. After dining with Jacob Freedman for a few days she made quite an impression on him! Jacob has not stopped talking about Aviva at home. Jacob's parents and Aviva's parents are in the process of planning their first playdate and they can't wait! They eat lunch together everyday!

We had a special visiter today in Lunch Bunch...Jacob's dad Matthew. Matthew told the teachers that he had a meeting in the area, and decided to stop by to meet Aviva the young lady Jacob can't stop talking about! Aviva was genuinely happy to meet Jacob's dad and can't wait for their first playdate!

Having lunch all together ...Delightful!

The Tel Aviv and Haifa Lunch Bunch children had guests for lunch today! Guess who?

Make New Friends

We learned a new song in the Haifa class this morning as part of our exploration of friendship.  Yom Kippur is a time to think about our mistakes in the past year and how we can treat others and do friendly acts in the year to come.  In Judaism there are two featured relationships, person to person and person to God. Jewish tradition teaches that to correct our mistakes we must apologize directly to the other person.  An important skill in the early childhood years as well, we are focusing on what it means to make a friend, be a friend, and keep a friend.


Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, the other is gold.
A circle is round, it has no end.
That's how long, I will be your friend.

Make New Friends

We learned a new song in the Haifa class this morning as part of our exploration of friendship.  Yom Kippur is a time to think about our mistakes in the past year and how we can treat others and do friendly acts in the year to come.  In Judaism there are two featured relationships, person to person and person to God. Jewish tradition teaches that to correct our mistakes we must apologize directly to the other person.  An important skill in the early childhood years as well, we are focusing on what it means to make a friend, be a friend, and keep a friend.


Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, the other is gold.
A circle is round, it has no end.
That's how long, I will be your friend.