Discovering the world of insects/bugs!

Discovering the world of insects/bugs! Some of the children have developed a sense of responsibility for the little insects they find outside on the playground. They seem to feel a true sense of pride and accomplishment when the relocate one of Gods creatures to a safe location or simply to observe and not disturb an insect/bug. Everytime Noah finds an inchworm he gently picks it up and carries it to the garden. He places the worm gently on one of the plants. He found 5-6 inchworms on the fence, and on his way over to the quiet safe garden, he stopped to show Jesse what he found. They counted them together. Adam and Josh were very excited to show everyone the 50-60 baby spiders in the house on the playground! It was really cool to see so many tiny little spiders all together in one web.

Let's Explore Living Creatures!

Over the course of the next several weeks the children will take on the role of "young naturalists, they will engage in exploratory play as they look for living things, find out what they are like and what they do, examine where they live, and learn about what they need.
Many of the children will see the study of bugs/insects as an opportunity to become caregivers, the insects becoming pets.  One of our learning goals is for the children to see that it is our responsibility to help care for all living creatures and protect them and their environments.
Yesterday we went on an insect/bug walk in the woods!  The children brought their insect journals, markers, magnifying glasses, bug catchers, and binoculars.  They lifted rocks, tree stumps(with a teacher of course) and searched for bugs/insects.
Charlotte and Samantha found "rollie pollies"!  Charlotte put the little critter in her bug finder and Samantha took the time to draw it in her journal.  Samantha said, "Look I made the rollie pollie in my journal, it's shaped like a circle."
Adam found a bug and was so excited ...He yelled, "Lauri look what I found!"  He ran as fast as he could over to show me, then tripped and fell to the ground.  When he stood up Adam put his hand out to show me what he found, apparently the bug got a little smooshed.  He did not recognize the little critter anymore, he said, "yuck, I lost it."  Then he shook his hand and brushed it off.  I said, "These things happen."
Everyone enjoyed exploring living creatures in the woods.  Both the Tel Aviv teachers and children look forward to many more opportunities to investigate real living creatures, developing new ideas and theories, and sharing them with others!

Math Moments

In every classroom at any time during the day, the potential for a "math moment" exists. The room is one big learning center where strands of mathematical discovery are continually being woven. Children learn to make sense of their world through everyday experiences. To stimulate a math moment, teachers use a variety of materials and ideas to create an environment in which children explore math concepts.

In the math/science centers there are board games, puzzles, matching and guessing games, pattern blocks, and collections of objects that give children opportunities to recognize numbers and build math skills. But math moments do not occur only in the math/science centers. In play, children construct cities (by sorting and organizing) and use words like long, short,small, and tall. At snacktime a child passes out one napkin per child and the same number of crackers for each person. When the class takes a vote on what stories to read or for some decision, children compare quantities.

Over the last several months the Tel Aviv children have been collecting, and counting the brown seeds they find beneath their feet in the soil on the playground. The children collect the seeds and place them in a bucket and/or bag. As the children find the seeds they count them 1,2,3... Often they will say "What comes after 12, or what comes after 20?" Today Noah asked me to help him count his seeds. He poured them out on to the plastic table and proceeded to count all the way up to 33 seeds, one at a time. At 19 he asked me, "What is next?" I said "20" and he took it from there. He was so pleased with himself as he counted the seeds! At the end of the day Noah put all his seeds back in his plastic bag. Now that's what I call a "math moment!" Every day the children take home bags of seeds. Sasha and I often wonder what happens to the seeds when they get home? Parents might want to find a "math moment" at home and count the seeds all over again! Your children will love it! Have fun!

Field Day!

First we all enjoyed a long Shabbat snack together! Then we had the opportunity to explore Avery Field! We found dandelions, insects and ran along the rocky path on the outskirts of the field! Some of the children initiated an imaginary game of baseball. Last but not least we all enjoyed playing parachute games!

Shabbat Shalom!

Exploring Nature!

The Gimmel Team went on a walk to explore in the woods! We found a variety of insects/bugs (beetles, worms, snails, ants). We brought magnifying glasses so we could take a closer look! Some children were comfortable looking at the tiny creatures from a distance and others were eager and ready to hold them in their hands.

The children climbed the long thick tree trunks, played house, climbed up and down the steep hills and lifted rocks to find bugs and insects.

How can we take care of our world?

Last week the children wrote or dictated on a frame how they can take care of the world.

Then they had the opportunity to create a colorful piece of art from flowers and green plants some of which we picked from our TBSCC garden. The children arranged the flowers and leaves on the contact paper, then we took another piece of contact paper and placed it on top.

The children really enjoyed the entire process!

Take Care of the Earth Artware

We brought in different types of flowers, leaves and created some art work to represent the outdoors. We remember ways in which we can keep the outdoors green and beautiful with flowers blooming. We "recycle plastic containers, we put things in the trash, we pick up things on the ground and recycle them."

Guess what we found on our Nature Walk?

Nature Walk

Yesterday the Tel Aviv children spent the most of the morning outside. After we enjoyed Music with Mat we took our "Nature Focusers" on a walk over to the wooded area behind the TBS parking lot. We climbed up a big hill, listened to a story, ate a delicious Passover snack, turned over rocks and tree trunks in search of insects, looked for signs of Spring and climbed up and down the long tree trunks.

Tel Aviv Field Day Photos!

Nature Art!

This Thursday in lunch bunch we explored art through nature! Since we all meet outside we spent sometime searching for rocks, sticks, leaves and seed pods to play with later. We realized quickly that rocks were heavy but a whole group of children were excited to go on this hunt. After 1pm we were left with Max, Nathan, Elias and Mia who were very excited ti explore these materials. Before any art supplies were brought out I let the group build with the rocks. They explored the size and weight and came up with ways that the rocks themselves could create shapes and sculptures. After a while we each picked a rock and brought it to the art table for more exploring. We closed our eyes and felt the rock to see if it was bumpy or smooth. Most of the chldren realized that their rock was bumpy and smooth just in different places. They looked at the different colors and realized that all four of their rocks were different. Then it was time for the paint! Using sticks, leaves and seed pods they started to paint the rocks with a variety of colors. Using these materials were different than brushes and most often the sticks were harder to control. They were extremely focused and many wanted to make sure that they had their entire rock painted. Painting a three diminutional shape is quite different than a single piece of paper. They had to keep rolling their rock which made for a very colorful table. Our rocks are beautiful and hopefully next week we can find a home for them outside in the playground or the woods!

The Outdoor Classroom!

Teacher Learning!

Ellen invited Kris Scopinich from Drumlin Farm to our learning meeting last Monday. One of the many goals for the meeting was to improve the quality of outdoor education for the TBSCC. Kris explained that early learning standards are equally applicable to indoor and outdoor learning environments. However, most of the guidance provided for teachers about how to use them has focused on the indoors.

Kris gave us many ideas and took our learning session outside. Kris shared her plans/blueprint with us, to encourage outdoor learning both on the playground and in the wooded area beyond the TBS parking lot.

Ellen gave the entire staff a gift...A great book Lens on Outdoor Learning. Kris absolutely loves the book and uses it herself.

Today some of the Tel Aviv took the opportunity to make their "focusors". We cut out a whole in the middle of a paper plate and decorated it. The "focusors" are a tool to support outdoor learning experiences. When the children find something from nature they are curious about, they can place their "focusor" on it and take a closer look (an insect,rock, leaf). So simple, "Why didn't I think of that myself?" Thanks Kris! .

What do a flower and a straw have in common?

Since the Kohavim children are so interested in Science, we are often doing different kinds of experiments with them. Today we had three white carnations, each in a container of water. We talked about what flowers need to live, and asked the children what they thought would happen if we added different food coloring to each container. Mia thought that: " the water would go all the way up to the flowers. If it's in purple water, the flower will turn purple." With equal conviction, Teddy Fox said: "The water will get colored but not the flower." The rest of the class was divided in their opinions. When asked how long they thought it would take to see something, answers ranged from "five minutes" to "100 years." We will check in with the experiment tomorrow and share our findings and some photos. Sorry, no photos today.