Summer Fun!

Water play and watermelon in the summer...It does not get better than that! Bailey, Grace and Hannah enjoyed playing in the water today! Alex passed on the water play but joined the girls for some delicious, finger licking good watermelon!

Monday, Monday...

What a great start to the week! The weather outside was fantastic! Everyone was a little tired this morning and got off to a slow start. As the day went on,we all picked up the pace and got into the swing of things. The day seemed to fly by!

Bailey and Kayley blew bubbles, Isabel and Ellen took turns pushing Alex on the swing and Cody spent time with Isabel baking in the playground kitchen!

Sensory Exploration!

Once again experimenting with corn starch, water and water colors was a big hit! As the children
poured and mixed the ingredients together they talked about how the cornstarch looks like flour. When you mix water and corn starch together, the corn starch and water sticks together!

Gak

Just before it started to rain we worked together to mix and measure all the ingredients, to make Gak! Adom and Kahol could not decide what color to make the Gak ; so everyone took turns and squirted about three drops of water colors into the bowl of water and glue. We asked the children, "What color do you think the Gak will be?" All the Adom children said, "Rainbow"!

Just as we finished making the Gak it started to rain! We took our Gak inside to play! The children added beads to the Gak , rolled it, made ice cream and just simply had fun touching, manipulating, and playing with the cool Gak!

Red, white, and blue!

Hannah and Grace painted with frozen red, white and blue paint on popsicle sticks which was clearly lots of fun!!!! They enjoyed moving the frozen blocks of paint all over their paper as they held onto the stick with a firm grip.

Another option was to print with our feet onto a large piece mural paper! At first painting and printing with her feet was something that Hannah wanted to do...So Hannah painted the top of her foot, with the white paint. Then she had a change of heart and decided that painting with her feet was not for her, at that point in time! After Hannah washed her foot in the bucket of water, she joined Grace and who was painting with a big paint brush onto the foot mural!

The are many, many ways to explore with paint!!!

Outdoor Classroom!

One thing is for sure the Kahol children are having a "grand ole time" on the TBSCC playground! The swings, water play, sandbox, and the slides are a few of their favorite activities! Today Alex spent time in the sandbox, on the swing and in the pool filling a buckets with sand and water! Cody enjoyed playing with Rachel in the house, and rode a car on the black top. Grace climbed up and down the swirly, twirly climber many times and walked along the balance beam. When she fell off she got right back on and continued to walk...toe, heel, toe, heel!

Mud Day!

It was Mud Day at TBSCC! Alex played with the muddy water, stamped his feet in the muddy puddles, rode in the muddy car, and poured mud on his head! What a day for Alex! Hooray for Mud Day!

Cody joined the Kahol group today! He seemed to have a great first day! Welcome Cody!

The Outdoor Classroom!

It was beautiful summer day today! We took our classroom and learning outdoors! Alex decorated the playground wall with chalk, Lindsey's supported and guided him all the way! He also enjoyed hanging out on the bikes,and rode our horses in the back!

Hannah and Grace spent time climbing up and down the slide, played "mommy and baby" and invited Alex over to the kitchen area to bake cookies. What a day!

The Outdoor Classroom!

It was beautiful summer day today! We took our classroom and learning outdoors! Alex decorated the playground wall with chalk, Lindsey's supported and guided him all the way! He also enjoyed hanging out on the bikes,and rode our horses in the back!

Hannah and Grace spent time climbing up and down the slide, played "mommy and baby" and invited Alex over to the kitchen area to bake cookies. What a day!

Raising Butterflies sparks several Jewish Values!

As you know the Tel Aviv children had the opportunity to raise caterpillars to butterflies! Today we let them go free in the woods. It was amazing ,we placed the butterflies on the children's hands and they each spent a little time with the butterflies and then watched them fly around in the fresh spring weather as they played in the woods. The weather was perfect for our walk to the woods!

What is Jewish about Butterflies?

"There are more than 160,000 species of butterflies, found all over the world. Each species varies in color, size and survival techniques. According to the Creation story in the Torah, butterflies were created by God on the sixth day, the same day that humans were created. Observing butterflies in nature is a lesson in the awe of nature. As one watches butterflies soar,
Flutter, dip,land, and take off once more, one cannot help but be amazed by the beauty and delicateness of butterflies, as well as be awed by the skill of the butterflies creator. "

"As the children engaged in the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies, the partnership between the children and God becomes concrete. Becoming a butterfly( in a classroom) requires help from God and help from the children in the class- a partnership that children can engage in on a daily basis. Studying and caring for butterflies, be it in nature or in the classroom, leads us to think about Creation and the brit, the partnership between God and people."


Throughout the whole process the children were gentle, respectful and caring toward caterpillar/butterflies. Sometimes, the activities we are involved in with children are Jewish moments, even if it's not readily apparent. Jewish values lead to Jewish behaviors. Observing
butterflies, and caring for caterpillars as they grow into butterflies, sparks several Jewish values, including:

Bal Tashchit - Do not Destroy.

G'milut. Chasadim -Acts of loving kindness

Brit - Partnership with God

Ma'aseh B'reishit -Miracle of Creation

Tza'ar Ba'alei Chayim - Kindness to Animals

God Project

Young children are actively working to make sense of the world, including their own personal beliefs. We as teachers have been wrestling with how to support the children in Kohavim to explore their interest, ideas, and questions about God. How do you investigate something that you cannot hold, touch, or even see?

As we moved our classroom outdoors this past week, being in nature provoked discussion and many ideas about God. On Monday, Rachel independently started singing "Happy Birthday to God" as we sat down in a circle for morning meeting. When a child was pulling on a branch of a tree, Dylan and Zack discussed how God made that tree and pulling on the branch would be hurting God and God's feelings.

The teachers noticed how organically the children's comments emerged out in nature. On Tuesday, we set up one of the tables with pieces of watercolor paper and black permanent markers. We asked the children to draw their ideas and presented them with the following prompt: What do you think God looks like and where do you think God lives? Their drawings and comments (see just a few of their comments below) were amazing! Stay tuned to find out how we will continuing exploring their ideas together!


"I think God lives in the sky. I just drew the sky."

"He lives on a big mountain. God lives on a big mountain where it's always dark, mostly dark. It's a castle with God in it."

"Trees. He made the trees. I think God looks like a boy. It's God. God lives everywhere. It would be the world with a tree. I'm gonna make it extra big."

"I think he lives in an apartment. It's an apartment and that's God's creatures going into the house"

"God is invisible. Cause no one saw him"

What can you find in nature?

Jacob and Molly spent some of the morning collecting things found in nature. By providing a wooden box with dividers, the children were inspired to collect found objects and sort them into the different spaces. Jacob and Molly collect smooth stones, large stones, sticks, baby acorns, and purple flowers. Observing, sorting, and classifying are important mathematical skills that the children were engaging with while enjoying the wonder of nature around them!

Welcome to Our Outdoor Classroom!

Welcome to the Kohavim outdoor classroom! With the beautiful, warm weather, Kohavim has created an outdoor classroom! After arriving on the playground each morning, the class moves to the outdoor space right behind our classroom. We start with a morning meeting and then the children make choices, just like we would if we were in our indoor classroom! Some of the activities the children have engaged in this week include turning over rocks, investigating the trees and leaves, collecting worms and ants, building habitats for found creatures, making bird feeders, reading books, drawing, and planning a garden.