Puppet Theatre Play

Hannah, Mason and Grace had a good time playing with the new puppets and puppet theatre. Not only do children love puppets and other soft toys but the act of using them encourages language, social interaction and story telling, all of which lay the foundation for developing reading skills. Children who may be hesitant to join a small group of children often can be brought into the play using puppets.

Mr Sun where are you?

We carried on with our summer fun even without Mr Sun!

We made a delicious tuna noodle casserole for Rosie's Place, made fresh play dough, created framed nature art (this was a big hit last week), play a few games of UNO, at the end of the day we all enjoyed popcorn/pops and stories! What a day!

Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

Last weekend, Lizzie turned 4!! She had an amazing trip to California to see the Kids' Choice Awards where lots of people got "slimed"! She had so much fun!!

Today, Lizzie's mom and dad came in to read some stories with her Sunshine friends. We loved hearing the stories about ladybugs and sunflowers - with this gorgeous weather, they really helped us get into the spring spirit!!

Thank you for joining us, Nina and Marc...and happy 4th birthday, Lizzie!!!

Thinking with Found Materials

 

Yesterday, Sasha and I attended a workshop at the Eric Carle Museum. This workshop was developed to support learning for Pre-K through early elementary classroom and at home. In this workshop we collected and explored materials. These type of 'found~recycled~ materials support critical thinking skills when we offer children the opportunity to observe, interpret, evaluate, make associations, compare. In working in groups, as we often do, skills such as problem solving, cooperation are also learned.

Last week the Kohavim children created some beautiful works of art with 'recycled' materials and thought of some great 'stories' or narratives about are creations. Each came 'alive' in story form. We would like to continue this creative journey by requesting your help. If you could look in your drawers and around the house find some 'treasures' of recycled stuff. We would encourage you to think of color, texture, length, shape. Let your imagine run wild.

Some suggested materials to collect from the book I perused through are as follows:

Wire, feathers, beads and buttons, broken jewelry, tape, string, old keys, small machines that don't work, plastic socks, leather remnants, sponges, small seed pods, wood scraps, containers preferably white or transparent, baskets, cardboard pieces: all kinds of shapes and if possible with no writing or print, paper of different weights, textures and colors, screws and bolts, and small mirrors.

We would encourage you to involve the children in the selection process as well. When we put all the 'found' materials in a group pile, in the block room, we will create a storage space together, and begin our exploration journey and develop those critical thinking skills and expressive skills. Thank you for any help you could provide.

What you see in this picture is the city we created in small individual groups then developed a story line around our creations, similar to what your children did naturally last week. It was a wonderful workshop which was inspiring.

When a story draws one in...

Savita shared a classic story during circle time today. The kids requested "The Little Engine that Could". The story is quite long, but as you can tell by the rapt expressions on the faces of the kids, they were very interested in the plot! We were all so happy that the Little Blue Engine was kind enough to help others - in giving the broken down train a pull - and to be so very determined to make it up the very tall hill. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!" That kind and determined little engine can be a wonderful role model for the Rainbow crew...

A Special Visitor for Ezra!

Yesterday, Jeffery Cohen, Ezra’s Dad came in and read Harry The Dirty Dog to our class! It was so fun to have a visitor and the book was super silly. Thanks so much Ezra for sharing your dad with our class!

Ellen Brings A Friend to Visit

Ellen came to our class room today and she brought her special friend Ziz with her. The children were so excited to meet Ziz and listen to her story. Ziz was asking the children if they knew any difficult words. Some of the words that Ziz thought were difficult were goodnight and sorry, two words that children don't always like to hear. Ziz was so much fun to have in our class room. When it was time for Ellen and Ziz to leave the children all gave Ziz a kiss and/or a squeeze goodbye.

Tel Aviv Picnic Party!!

The Tel Aviv class had such a great time playing outside today that they all asked if we could stay outside for longer, and Lauri and I decided that more outside play was a great idea! The class had an opportunity to play a bit more on their own, which was a nice opportunity for the children to bond. I noticed many kids less inhibited to play, laugh and run around, which I suspected was because there were fewer children on the playground. We had an outside picnic sack followed by songs and a story. We even sang our morning circle song, as a morning square song! Fun times were had all around and it was amazing how focused and engaged every child was in our outside circle. I am sure looking forward to our field trip to the field this Friday for even more outside play!!

Once Upon a Shabbos

Mary Ann read Once Upon A Shabbos with the Rainbow class today. The stick puppets that represent the characters in this story made a wonderful addition to the telling. The kids could repeat the lines of the characters they held and contribute to the storytelling themselves. It was delightful!

Happy Birthday Max!!!

Tuesday was Max's 3rd Birthday celebration at school. Mom(Kathryn) and Dad(Adam) came in to read us Max's favorite book: Trains by Patricia Hubbel , it's a great book about trains giant engines snorting, puffing, steaming, pulling, rushing and huffing! All kinds of trains, from cabooses to hoppers and commuter trains to zoo trains....We sang Happy Birthday in English , Hebrew, Spanish and in the silly way: "Happy Birdle day toodle yooodle doodle.." Thank you Max for sharing your mom and dad with us.

Mittens

On a cold winter day, the Rainbows talked about mittens. Maddy's mom, Karen, read us the story The Mitten, by Jan Brett. It is a tale of a white mitten that provides shelter for a number of animals who share its warmth. The children talked about their own mittens, and how important it is to wear them on days like today. The Rainbows are also learning that when we give tzedakah, our donations can help others. The children are happy that they can help to provide mittens to keep other children warm on days like today.

Flat Stanley Goes to Israel

Once upon a time there was a boy named Stanley Lambchop. One day a bulletin board fell on Stanley and flattened him. Never fear, this flatness gave Stanley an advantage. He was so flat that he could easily travel anywhere in the world, by mail or packed into a suitcase. Flat Stanley is a 1964 chapter book by Jeff Brown. Nearly 50 years later, Flat Stanley is now a popular series of books and paper Flat Stanley cutouts made by children are traveling on all kinds of adventures all around the world.

Children in the Scientist and Unicorn classes have created Flat Stanleys who will be traveling to Israel next week with both the Leibman family and with Ellen. Watch the blog for the story of Flat Stanley's adventures in Israel over the next few weeks.

Are you going an an adventure somewhere? Let us know and we'll give you a Flat Stanley to take along.  Or simply print and make your own.