Not just a game

It might look like a game to you, but these Shamayim children are doing so much more than "playing".

ZINGO is a game that combines Bingo, Concentration, and Tic Tac Toe.  Each child has a 3x3 board with pictures. The dispenser gives out 2 tiles at a time.  The first person to see a match can snag the tile and put it on their board.

Sometimes two or three people are all waiting for the same tile.  Paying close attention to be the first to grab the tile is important. However, being resilient when you aren't first is equally important.  It is easy to say "I quit" when the game isn't going your way.  This Zingo group persevered through the let downs and remained respectful and kind throughout the game.

Each child gets a turn to move the tile dispenser.  Then, you have to wait for the dispenser to make it back to you.  Patience is crucial as it can take a few minutes to make it back.  While you wait, you have to pay attention to the tiles coming out so that you can fill your board.  So many things going on!  Great multi-tasking, Shamayim!!!

red and orange

green and blue...shining yellow, purple, too!

We have been excited about colors ever since Grayden's mommy read us the story about the yellow and blue dots that make green!

Today, we used paint chips that had open square windows to match colors.  Ilan did a great job searching...

checking...

and showing off his match!

my turn, your turn

Learning to wait is a difficult, but important skill that we all need help with from time to time.  In the Shamayim classroom, we practice this when we want a toy that someone else is still using.  We use our words to ask "Can I have that when you are done?"  Then, we have to wait.  We also practice when we are playing a game with a friend.  We take turns and wait until the next person (or people) have his/her turn.

On Friday, we played "my turn, your turn" at circle.  We each started with two magnatiles.  We took turns placing one magnatile at a time onto a base.  Our goals was to work slowly and use patience to create a building without knocking any pieces off.  

The children did a wonderful job following the circle to tell us who "was next".  It was hard to wait for our turn but we did it!!

Team Work, Turn Taking, Respect, and Patience

Team work, turn taking, respect, and patience are the key words here!

During Friday lunch bunch in the Tel Aviv classroom, we sat together on the rug while playing the following game:

Each of us, myself included, got to choose only 5 pieces of Lego. During each person's turn, we had to add one piece at a time to a collaborative Lego structure. When we were done, I was very proud of the children for following directions, being respectful to one another, and understanding team playing and turn taking. I emphasized to the children the fact that we were able to work as a team and together we we're able to build a cool structure where each one of them could pretended it was something else.

I want red...I want blue

On Friday, the Sunshines made playdough.  We did such a great job measuring, pouring and sharing the tasks.  We used patience, which is not always easy when so many people want to help.  Half way through, Aleeza asked "What color are we making?"  Silence...  I had forgotten to bring down the food coloring.

I looked up from the bowl and said, "I'm sorry.  I don't have any food coloring today.  Is it ok if we leave the playdough white?"

My guess is that if this had happened at home, the missing ingredient may have resulted in whining, complaining and frustration.  However, I got a few sad faces and then almost instantly, the frowns turned to smiles and Noah Sussman said, "That's funny, we hardly ever have white!"  Jaedyn and Aleeza agreed that white would actually be cool.

One of our goals this year has been for the children to understand the differences and similarities between home and school.  In both places, there are adults who make sure we are safe and take care of us.  However, at school, sometimes things don't go exactly as planned or we can't have it just the way we might want at that particular moment.  As the children grow, we hope that they gain resilience and are flexible to change.  The Sunshines certainly showed their ability to do this today!!

Having fun with tissue paper and mod podge

The first thing the children noticed about the mod podge was its smell. Fortunately that didn't discourage our young artists from working hard to decorate the clay flower pots. It took some patience and fine motor coordination to apply the lightweight and flyaway pieces of tissue paper to the curved surfaces of the pots. Not to be discouraged the children persisted until they were happy with their creations. We will continue this colorful and sticky activity again tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Israel

 This week we have been talking about Israel's 64th birthday!!! I had informed the children last week that I had a chocolate fountain at home that I used when my children were young. I hadn't used it in a long time, and I wasn't sure it worked well, but I would be willing to test it out at school.

At first, we waited and waited and waited, but the chocolate was not quite melting fast enough. Matty and Nathaniel thought they would bring the classroom timer out to see how loooong it would take. After quite a bit of waiting, we decided to melt the chocolate in the microwave then put it into the machine. Chris Shusterman arrived a little early, and right about the time there was a technical malfunction with the machine (you might want to ask your children what happened to chocolate!)

Christine, thanks for your help. The children were able to enjoy dipping their strawberries into the chocolate and enjoy a great birthday celebration.

patiently waiting...

Yesterday, we built a castle for Shushan. But, this wasn't just any castle. We each had only one block and we had to wait our turn to be called to add our block to the castle structure. At first it was hard to wait. We wanted to add our block immediately and there were a lot of "me now, me now!" However, each time we built our castle, the requests became fewer and we slowly realized that we would all have a turn. We made short castles and tall castles and after our last castle, we took turns, removing one block at a time instead of knocking it down. I was so proud at how patient and careful the Sunshine children were. Patience is a virtue...for sure!!

taking it all in

When we arrived in the Community Room for Dancing with Nancy, Noah Sussman wasn't quite sure how it was going to go. We had been having dance in the Social Hall the past few times and, although we are familiar with the Community Room, it was a bit of a change from our routine.

We began to stretch and then move around. Noah decided that he was more comfortable sitting with Judi and watching. It was obvious he was taking it all in and figuring out how to help himself enjoy the activity. Sometimes, it is important to allow children time when beginning an activity. The comfort that we may have to "jump right in" may not be the same for a particular child. As the time passed, Noah smiled at his friends as they moved and danced. When Nancy took out the parachute, Noah approached it with confidence...he knew he wanted to do this!

Cooperative puzzle solving

There are many activities that groups of the Kohavim children enjoy doing together. This 84 piece colorful animal puzzle definitely captured their attention today. When you put five great minds together, wonderful things happen. Working on puzzles like this foster visual spatial skills, fine motor coordination, problem solving, logical reasoning, patience, impulse control, and cooperation. This puzzle will be a challenge but the children are off to a very good start.

Creating Patterns!

During "peace out" time the children put a lot of thought and time into creating colorful, detailed patterns with the magnetiles.

Beads, beads and more beads...

Beads have been a popular request this summer! Everyday the children enjoy making colorful jewelry for their mom, dad, counselors, siblings and themselves, of course!

Move, Play, and Laugh!

The children are always looking for different ways to move and challenge themselves on the playground. Last Friday I saw Sam Royal's head peaking out of the roof of the house on the playground. He saw me and said, "Lauri look at me!" I walked over and observed for a while. A group of children were all taking turns climbing and then lifting their bodies up high enough for them to stick their head through the roof of the house. Not an easy task at all! It take a lot of upper body strength to hold yourself up...Similar to a chin-up exercise. They all were so thrilled with themselves as you can see in the photos!

Oh yes by the way, I told the children that this climbing activity is a great idea but it needs to be supervised by a teacher so everyone stays safe. The children agreed!

End of the year celebration here we come!

Today the Tel Aviv All Stars had a great time tie dying t-shirts for the end of the year celebration! First we rapped rubber bands around our shirt, then we put on a smock and squeezed blue dye all over the shirt. Tomorrow we will rinse our own shirt, and hang it up to dry. At least now you know why your child's hands are blue! Don't worry the blue dye will come off in the bath.

Using Self-Help Skills!

On Friday afternoons we have about about eight children in the All Star Lunch Bunch program. Most days we have about fourteen children and as you can well imagine, getting dressed to go outside with our winter gear, takes a bit time and patience. At times the children get frustrated when they can't find their hat or a mitten and often snow pants are put on backwards. On Friday, with a few less children I noticed how independent the children have become with their self-help skills. Most of them need help zippering but otherwise they have become quite independent! I encourage parents to let your children show off their self-skills at home! It's amazing what they can do!

Persistence!

Aaron and his friends spent another day rebuilding TBS, on the construction site in the block center. Apparently the hammers got a lot of use. Aaron came over to me with a "real" problem. His hammer broke. He asked, "Lauri do you think this glue is going to work, to fix the hammer?" I said, "Why don't you try it and see what happens." We walked over to the art center and Aaron put some glue from the glue stick on the hammer. He said, "Lauri it did not work." I asked him to look around the art center for something else he could fix the hammer with. He picked up the Elmer's glue and said, "Let's try this." After he applied the glue he showed me how the top of the hammer still came off the handle; but he suggested, "Maybe we should let the glue dry for a while." We put the hammer on a shelf for the rest of the day so it will have a chance to dry. Tomorrow we will see if it worked!