Oh yes we can!! We love using the Hebrew school chalkboard in our classroom. We stand on our tippy toes and can reach just high enough to draw a few pictures.
Today, Victoria, Rose and Lily were using wet sponges on the chalkboard to draw pictures and write their names. They didn't have that much room because the chalkboard goes very high and they are not that tall yet. The girls got some large building blocks from our library to use as stools. They thought it was such a good idea that Lily and Bella asked the Kohavim class if we could borrow two more so that many children could join in the fun.
The Keshet children, with some help from Ellen, worked together outside today to begin the transformation of a plain wooden chair into a one-of-a-kind future heirloom. They enjoyed the thick yellow paint, and learned how to remove the extra paint from the brush, and how to spread the paint with long smooth strokes. They paid close attention to the work, and became very engaged in the hands-on exploration of color, tools and materials. With engagement comes persistence, and we can see that the children are learning to focus and to develop a sustained interest in their projects.
We have spent many days hammering golf tees into a variety of styrofoam blocks. It's certainly not easy (especially to avoid hammering a little finger) but how does it compare to taking them out? Today we tried it! Many Sunshines worked carefully and diligently to remove the tees with pliers. It wasn't easy at all and many thought that it was much harder than when we hammer them in. One child remarked that it was like cleaning up after you make a mess. Making a mess is much easier! What a great connection!!
Lunch Bunch was lots of fun today! We created trees with tissue paper, glue and crayons, used our our journals and built a tall tower with the Unicorns! Nathan confidently led the construction sight! The Haifa and Tel Aviva children took direction from Nathan as they all worked together to build an"Amazing TALL Tower"r.
Two weeks ago we had gross motor time in the Community Room and every time Lily stood up to balance herself, she asked a teacher for help...Today she did it her- self. She was so pleased... Go Lily!
After many drawing and scribbling experiences, preprimary children become interested in representation. They begin to turn circular shapes into faces and into their first images of people.
Last summer I had noticed how Jacob took great pleasure in drawing people and robots out on the playground with the sidewalk chalk. During the course of the school year I have taken great pleasure in seeing Jacob realize and become aware of his potential and ability to draw. This experience and process of discovering the skill of drawing has been very powerful for Jacob. Not only does Jacob take pride and delight in drawing pictures for himself and others, but he is so happy to teach his friends how to draw. Eli asked Jacob to teach him how to make a train and he did! On Friday Jacob overheard another child say, "I can't write my name." He took it upon himself to write out the letters of her name on another piece of paper and then handed it to her. He is so eager and happy to help his friends and classmates!
Everyone had a great time making this recipe! All we had to do was count! The children were invited to help themselves to a plastic bag and count away!
There were ten numbered cups on the table, filled with pretzels, fruit loops, cheerios, and goldfish. Each child was could not wait to walk around the table to count out the right number of ingredients. When the children were all done counting they had a yummy bag of trail mix to take home.
Jake, Rylan, had Zack spent the entire peace-out time building this intricate detailed tower! As I followed this story I was taken back by all the excitement, passion and focus the boys had as they were building one tower at a time.
After the third tower went up Jake was determined to keep the tower standing as he planned to add on and see how many towers he and his friends could build! As Jake built he took on the challenging task of protecting and guarding the structure so it would not get bumped and fall down (the rug was a busy place and this could easily happen).
When it was time to clean up and go outside the boys completed "six towers"! They all were so proud of the towers! Before we went outside we asked the boys to share with us how they constructed their amazing towers. They walked us through the process and then they said, if they had all the magnetiles in the school they would be able to build a "two million towers in all"! I would love to see that!
The Lunch Bunch children had so much fun during peace out time today! They made necklaces with fruit loops and cheerios. Some children created patters and others decided to count each and every fruit loop/cheerio. The children asked if they could eat a few; my response, "Yes four because you are four years old. Eli said, "Lauri do you know which ones I am going to eat? The ones that are stuck together and the ones I don't use for the necklace...The ones I eat of course."
Everyone loves a good vegetable soup, and this recipe teaches children to make a delicious one, starting with the dry noodles and fresh vegetables. The most interesting parts of this recipe for the children are preparing the vegetables, and observing how the noodles soften and the water turns to broth.
The biggest challenge was(believe it or not), for the children to figure out how to break the noodles into small pieces. First Ezra and Eli tried to cut the noodles with a plastic knife. Ezra said, "This is not working Eli!" Eli announced Ezra we are mighty cutters we can do this...Right?" They tried banging the noodles with their "muscles/hand" and jabbing at the noodles with the plastic knife. Finally Ezra had success, "Lauri I did it with my two hands!" Molly came over to the table and asked if she could help break up the noodles, both Eli and Ezra were more than happy to share some of their noodles with Molly!
We will eat the Vegetable Soup on Friday with challah, for a special Shabbat snack!
Ilana, who participates in our woodworking 101 class asked if she could continue her board during class. Her design required so many nails. At one point, the nail was not going in straight. She figured out how to use the other end of the nail to pull it out. It took a long time but she did it!! Soon other friends wanted to make one. Yes, woodworking has been a big success, and it is great preparation for building our Sukkah.
Eli came up to me and showed me a broken manipulative. I asked him what we should do with it? ( I must admit I was thinking ok let's throw it away) Eli responded with "we could tape it." So he got the tape, and I helped with the tape, but it didn't work. Well, that didn't work, what else could we do? Eli said " use the purple glue". so off he went to get the purple glue. That didn't work either!!! So frustrating right?? So NOW what do we do. "Get the white glue" said Eli, and off he went to get it. IT WORKED!!! it stuck together. How proud he was to have fixed this toy... He didn't give up and kept thinking of another way to fix it. It is so very important to provide children with the time to reflect and think about things. They have GREAT IDEAS.
Activities that involve the movement of objects present interesting problems for children to solve. As they ponder the solutions to problems in the gross-motor areas, they must consider their own actions in relationship to the reactions of the material. This often leads to disequilibrium-a lack of balance between what children think and what children observe. Disequilibrium generally motivates children to search for a higher -level understanding.
Friday morning the children had the opportunity to explore the gross motor equipment (balance beam, matted roll-out tub, slide, and a circular teeter -totter) and their bodies in the TBS Community Room. Most of the children had prior experience with the equipment that was available, except the circular teeter-totter. Most of the children approached the teeter-totter slowly with caution. It was not easy to just get on and stand up. The children that tried to stand up quickly on it, fell off. The children had to figure out how to get on, and stand up without falling. They had to concentrate and focus, as well as activate the muscles in their legs and torso in order to balance themselves. Easier said, than done! It was interesting everyone had a different approach. Eric asked for a helping hand as he stood up, then I let go, and as you can see in the first image, he took it from there. Mia decided to sit down and use her core muscles to shift her body from side to side. Teddy Post and Teddy Fox took their time, but eventually stood up on the teeter-totter and had success! Persistence and determination goes a long way!
