This week Bruce stopped into the classroom to teach us the 5th problem solving strategy. Last but not least is NEGOTIATION!
We asked the children what does negotiate mean? Their responses, "Thinking, talking and sharing". Bruce and Sasha took it a step further and modeled how to negotiate the sharing space in the back jack chair. Bruce and Sasha both wanted to sit in the back jack chair. First they pushed each other a little and then clearly stated "I want that chair!" Then Bruce suggested that they share the space and sit in the chair together. Sasha liked that idea a lot! They negotiated and worked it out!
Bruce stayed for a while and demonstrated how to negotiate with foam blocks and encouraged the children to continue to use all the problem solving strategies at home and at school. We thanked Bruce for coming, and said our goodbyes! He had a play date with Nemo and Dory of course!
The Tel Aviv class had a wonderful first circle time today! We learned our Tel Aviv welcome song and passed the torah from child to child as we welcomed each to our class. Together we read a story about the first day of school and had the opportunity to learn about all the places where we play in the classroom. We learned lots of important things about being a member of the Tel Aviv class and we even got the opportunity to meet Chester and Bruce!
Chester is a raccoon from the story The Kissing Hand. Every weekend (starting in a week or two) a child from the Tel Aviv class will have the opportunity to take Chester home with them.
Bruce is a shark puppet and Lauri used exciting and entertaining voices to introduce him to the class every single child was in giggles. Our first circle went so well and I am excited to share and learn more together!
At circle time we talked about how the story of Passover teaches us about slavery and freedom and the right of all people to be free! After I read, Moses God's BraveServant we asked the children "What is one thing you like about being free?"
Rachel- "If you are captured you can change your mind if you want to be free."
Eli- "This morning I had a fight with my brother and I could just walk away."
Ezra- " I can play with my brother whenever I want to, except when he has to do his homework."
Freedom is not an easy a concept for preschoolers to grasp. I was amazed at some of the children's responses. We will continue to talk about the story of Passover and remember how brave Moses lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.
Today at circle time we explained to the children that illustrators are people who draw and create the pictures seen in books and that sometimes write the books as well. We discussed that all illustrators have their own style or technique. Over the next few weeks we will explore different artistic media with the children as they create books.
We read one of our favorites today, Where the Wild Things Are written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
Over the course of the last few weeks often we hear the Tel Aviv children say, "I'm cold I want to go inside!" The weather is definitely changing and as we all know the cold real cold weather, is yet to come.
Today Ezra was cold and he was wearing a warm jacket , a hat and mittens too. So I suggested we run around the playground to warm up. All I had to say was, "tag you're it," and the entire Tel Aviv group was running and running! Somehow I was the chaser and they were the runners, for most of the game in fact. Thank goodness they called the picnic table a (safe) base, so I could take a rest.
At circle time I suggested that the children wear layers underneath their coats because we will have outside time even in the very, very cold weather!
Ellen dropped in with her friend Ziz today, to read us a Yom Kippur Story. The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules
You might be asking yourself who is Ziz? Ziz is the main character in the story, The Hardest Word. He is a big, big, bird. Ellen made Ziz out of cardboard and other interesting materials. I read the same story to the children on Monday without Ellen's amazing prop, the Ziz himself. It was clearly a very different experience today for both the teachers and children!
In short, the story is about a very hard word for all of us to say at times..."I'MSORRY." In our second circle, we talked to the children about how everyone makes mistakes (teachers, friends, moms, dads, grandparents, sisters, brothers, and you, too). But in these moments it is important to take responsibility for one's actions and make things right. It doesn't matter if you say "I'm sorry" or do or say something else that you are comfortable with, as long as you make it right with the person you wronged.
We asked the children if they could remember a time when they made a poor choice and then took responsibly for their actions. Max said, "Sometimes I wake up grumpy, and I am not so nice in the morning to my sister Alex. Today before school I licked her spoon and spit. I said I was sorry to Alex to make it better." Eli had some thoughts on the subject, "Sometimes Noah (his brother) plays with my toys without asking, and I don't like it! He should say he is sorry to me."
The Hardest Word is another great book for your home library! Ellen we can't thank you enough for stopping by with Ziz!
The first Tel Aviv "stick person" was Dylan! Last Friday Dylan's name was picked out of a cup and his responsibilities included/jobs included, line leader and Havdallah helper for the entire week! In addition the stick person gets to bring Chester the raccoon (the Chester in TheKissing Hand) home for the weekend. On Monday the "stick person" has the opportunity to share Chester's journal with us at our morning meeting. We call this time, "Time to give the Chester Report". We can't wait to hear about Chester's adventures with Dylan and his family! Stay tuned!!!!!!!!
On Rosh Hashanah, we go to the synagogue and hear the shofar being sounded. The call of the shofar serves to wake us up, directs us to pay attention to the kind of person we are, so as to become a better person in the year ahead.
In honor of Rosh HaShanah we read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? By Carol Mc Cloud. If you are not familiar with book let me share the gist of the book with you. Every baby is born with an invisible bucket. The bucket represents a child's mental and emotional health. You can't see the bucket, but it's there. All day long everyone in the world walks around with an invisible bucket. Your bucket has one purpose only. It's purpose is to hold your good thoughts and good feelings about yourself. You feel happy and good when your bucket is full, and sad/lonely when you bucket is empty. You fill a bucket when you show love to someone or when you say or do something kind. But, you can dip into a bucket and take out some good feelings too. You dip into a bucket when you make fun of someone, say or do mean things, or even when you ignore someone.
After we read this wonderful book to the children today, we talked with them about in the year ahead how we can best be bucket fillers and not bucket dippers! We will be using the terms "bucket fillers and bucket dippers" here at school throughout the year. If you are interested in learning more about this book and it's powerful message perhaps you might want to pick up a copy for your home library or you are more than welcome to borrow our classroom copy.
Everyday the children who stay until 2:00 look forward to a 100% fruit juice popsicle. Sometimes we read a story or tell a story to the children as they enjoy their pop. On Friday Ally told the children the story of the "Three Little Pigs"; but Ally's version of the story had a very different but beautiful ending. Even though the wolf was a big bully and was not very nice to the three little pigs, at the end of Ally's story when the wolf can't blow down the third little pigs house he begins to cry. The pigs feel bad for him, come out of their house and ask him, "What's wrong, why are you crying?" "I am not good at anything but blowing down houses and I can't even do that!" The pigs came up with a great idea! "Wolf you can work at our cousins carnival blowing up balloons!" The wolf said, "Really you would do that for me, even though I was not nice to you?" "Yes of course we would like to help you and maybe we could become friends". So the wolf lived out his days working at the carnival blowing up balloons and became very good friends with the three little pigs.
THE END!
Rabbi Jay happen to be walking by as Ally was telling the story and sat down with us and listened for a little while. When Ally finished the story we talk to the children about how nice and kind the pigs were to the wolf even though he was not so nice to them. The lesson of the story is be yourself and even if someone is not treating right you can still do the right thing...And in this case the pigs helped the wolf find his "dream job" at the carnival, and as time went on they became friends.
I can't believe today was the last full day of school! Julia, the children and I took the opportunity to reflect and shared some of the highlights of Lunch Bunch with teachers and friends.
Mia- "The campfire was really fun for me!" Aaron- "Singing that silly song with Alison was fun and funny." Teddy F- "The science experiments were the best!" Jay- "Playing with Mr. Clay!" Ilana- "Making jewelry with beads." Isaiah- "Everything and getting to play with my stuffed animal at peace out time!" Eric- "I liked the cooking part." Nathaniel- "Everything!" Sam P.- "Everything!" Sam R- " Building cool things and getting to bring a stuffed animal!" Lauri- "Each and everyday having the opportunity to sit, talk and connect with the children at lunch and the Drama Stories were some of the many highlights for me!" Julia- "The campfire was fantastic!"
Most of us are aware that Kate (Isaiah's Mom) broke her her elbow and is wearing a brace. Well, every time Kate comes to school to pick up Isaiah, the children ask Kate a lot of questions about her arm/brace. Last week Kate asked us if she could come in to the classroom and tell the children what happened to her elbow and how the big black brace she wears, has been her "friend".
Kate thanks for coming in and sharing your story with the children. Isaiah we want to thank you too, for helping mom share her story with your friends!
During the course of the week the children have had the opportunity to learn the story of Passover by singing songs,listening to music and reading books. As we listen to our Passover music we have had a lot of fun acting out the story together.
JB Royal was kind enough to donate real bricks and a wagon to the Tel Aviv classroom. I took a small group over to the rug and showed the children how to use the bricks safely ("A Brick Demo"). They couldn't believe we were letting them build with real bricks. Teddy P could not believe it, he kept saying/singing, "These are real bricks!" Then Oliver said, "Lauri we only have a little bit of bricks." I asked, "What else could we use to build with the bricks?" Teddy F said,"The blocks!" Then I pretended to be the Pharaoh and said, "Build me a city with a lot of buildings!"
As they built I coached/guided them to make sure everyone was building and using the bricks safely. Building with "real" bricks was exciting, fun and it is a great activity for those children who have challenges processing tactile information. Having the children carry the bricks(something heavy),provides input into muscles.
Today we read, "The Little Red Hen and The Passover Matzah". Most of the children remembered when we read "The Little Read Hen", a few weeks ago. I asked the children, "Do you remember what the story was about?" Aaron raised his hand and said,"It was about the Hen doing all the work to make bread and her friends did not help her." Then I asked the children, "What do you think this story was about?" After a brief discussion, I opened up the book and started reading.
"This Yiddish-inflected retelling of "The Little Red Hen" features a balabusta(good homemaker) who Kvetches about her lazy no-goodnik friends who will not help her make the matzah from wheat... A must for Judaica collections." -School Library Journal (starred review)
"Such a clever idea...Watch a familiar tale become exponentially funnier and yes, more meaningful." -Publishers Weekly(starred review)
The children really enjoyed the story and the timing of the story could not have been better!
Earlier that morning The Matzah Factory came to school for a visit. We just experienced making our own matzah from scratch(breaking up the wheat,grinding it into flour,adding water to make dough,rolling it out and last but not least we handed the dough to the Rabbi to bake it in the oven)! The children could see first hand how much work goes into preparing matzah.
Like in the original story of the "Little Red Hen" the Hen does all the work and her friends do nothing! But this time when the Hen is about to sit down to eat at the Seder dinner and her friends knock on her door and ask the Hen "What's for dinner?", she gives then a piece of her mind! "You've got to be kidding!" scolded the Little Red Hen. "What chutzpah! You didn't help me plant the grains when I asked you. You didn't help me harvest the wheat, or carry it to the mill, or take it back home again. You didn't even help me bake the matzah. So tell me, why should I share my Seder with the likes of you?" The Horse, Sheep and Dog hung their heads in shame.
The Little Red Hen was quiet too. "Now I should invite them to my Seder?" she thought. Then she remembered the words written in the Passover Haggadah: "Let all who are hungry come and eat." She looked at her friends and the Little Red Hen being the mensch that she is forgave them and invited them to come on in! So together the friends celebrated the holiday! Together they noshed on tasty matzah. And when the Seder was over who do you think had to wash all the dishes? If you don't know the answer to that question, ask your children they will tell you! This book is a must have! I love it!
Venn diagrams can be a wonderful teaching tool. Taking into consideration,the diversity of learners we have in any given classroom; the more ways you can use to show information, the better. Many learners are visual, and the Venn diagram allows children to see how to compare and contrast information in a way other than narrative. Children enjoy not only the visual aspects of the Venn diagram but the drawing and movement involved.
Creating Venn diagrams with rope, play dough, chalk on the pavement or paint on paper frees up both the teacher and the learners to find new and exciting ways to show how versatile this diagram can be. The more ways the diagram is produced the more students will be able to tap into the individual learning styles.
Venn diagrams also incorporate higher level thinking skills. When children are asked to compaire, contrast and form a judgment based on information, they are reaching beyond the lower levels of thinking. The more that critical thinking takes place, the more it will be used in other areas and that is a win-win scenario!
Today at circle time the children were asked to compare and contrast two out of the three books we read to them during the course of the week. Here is what they had to say!
Things that are the same in both books:
Some of the words
They walk over the bridge three times
There are three goats
One troll
They go to eat grass
Things that are special in the first book:
The troll has a helmet
Troll has a tail
Goats have bells around their neck
Some of the words
Things that are special in the second book:
Troll has crazy hair
On the cover the goats are in a line
Each goat is a different color(white, gray and brown)
Today we acted out the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children took turns acting out the four main characters, the three goats and the troll. Who ever was not acting out a main part on the stage, was in charge of the sound effects. Those children sat around the perimeter of the rug, and held two wooden blocks in their hands. Every time a goat walked across the bridge, they clapped their blocks together like cymbals; which were used to create the sound effect of the goats hooves.
We asked the children, "What should we use to make a bridge?" Ruby responded, "Blocks would be a great idea for a bridge." Everyone else liked that idea. We acted the story out on our mini stage three times. The trolls were Mia, Isaiah and Teddy F. Everyone else took turns playing one of the goats. We are looking forward to acting out the story again tomorrow!
The Unicorns decided to play musical chairs. We started our play with every friend having a chair. We explained that as we circled around the chairs listening to music, once the music stopped we all needed to find a chair in which sit. As we continued our play, listening, circling, and stopping the music one chair would be eliminated each time. The question became, what could we do as not everyone would have a chair as we continued?
Your children, who are so kind and thoughtful had the following solutions:
1) make room for others, and share the chairs 2) one friend actually offered his chair to another friend 3) one friend said, we can all sit together on the floor
Wow is all one can say. Your children took a competitive game and had fun learning how to share their space and make sure all were happy at the end.
Passing the beanbag is a fun activity in our room. The songs are fun and give easy directions for movement. The children love it and ask for more, “do it again!” Great for teaching them their coordination skills as well as in learning their directions (left/right), colors , math and listening skills.
Passing the beanbag is a fun activity in our room. The songs are fun and give easy directions for movement. The children love it and ask for more, “do it again!” Great for teaching them their coordination skills as well as in learning their directions (left/right), colors , math and listening skills.
