Way Up High in the Apple Tree...

 

A couple of weeks ago, the Keshet class started what turned into a multi-day project to make a class tree.  The children worked on the leaves of the tree using green markers and crayons and even glue and tissue paper squares.  We made the leaves more colorful by adding "fall colored" tissue paper as well--yellow, red orange.  Today we worked on the trunk of the tree using markers, crayons and Bingo markers.  We attached the leaves to the trunk, hung it up on the wall and introduced the tree during our circle time.  We all got up and sang the song "Way up High in the Apple Tree"at circle in honor of our class tree.

                                    

Planting A Pine Tree for Earth Day

 

 

Continuing on our theme of Earth Day, we planted a baby pine tree. Gardening is an activity that children often enjoy. Avi put the tree in the pot of soil, watered it, covered it with more soil and watered once again. With the greatest sense of accomplishment, he sits back to admire his handiwork. We looked closely at the pine tree to see the very tiniest pine cones. Avi asked if it will grow up and up until the ceiling. Yes, it will! We'll take it outside and plant it in the woods together.

Who's singing in our springtime tree?

As we continue to enjoy the beautiful weather outside, we have been springing up our classroom tree.  Today we made birds using styrofoam balls, feathers, eyeball stickers, and pipe cleaners.  We discovered that it is pretty tricky to poke holes and get the feathers to stay in the bird's bodies, but with a little determination and hard work, we created beautiful birds.   It was very exciting to see the children demonstrate real pride in their projects.

The children picked feathers of their favorite colors and either added the finished birds to our "nest" (a basket that we will hang from the tree) or they put those birds directly onto the tree itself.

Since the pictures really don't do it justice, we invite you to come in and admire the tree in person!

 
 

Welcoming Tu B'Shevat!

We are doing LOTS of activities to welcome in the holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the celebration of the trees! During circle we have discussed how trees help was and what they can provide for us as well as how each and everyone of us can help take care of trees. Yesterday we read the story, The Lorax, which is one of my favorite books to read to kids. It is LONG and they sat through the circle beautifully and were very engaged with the story. They asked questions about why they put the dirty water into the lake if they knew the fish were there? Why did they want the factory to keep getting bigger? Why did they chop down the last tree? It's great to see how much they are learning about the world around them and throughout the next weeks we are going to continue to discuss how we can help protect our world.

We have also been doing some Tu B'Shevat related art projects. We created our very own tree drawings by tracing our hands and arms and adding leaves around our fingers. It was neat to watch them help each other trace their hands, and they are really proud of themselves that they can draw trees too! 

Music with Josh

Today, the Etzim class jammed with their favorite local celebrity, Josh! We danced and sang to new and old favorite songs! We learned some new wonderful songs about trees to help us get our celebration of Tu B'shevat underway. As the Etzim classroom, we feel a special connection to trees and look forward to celebrating their own holiday. Stay tune for all of the exciting Etzim celebrations!

"Say Trees!"

 

The Levana children were excited as they prepared for the Shalom Party, and they proudly wore their tree crowns and tie-dyed shirts. Trees are Blowing in the Wind is a favorite song that we learned for Tu B'Shevat, and our classroom tree was a labor of love that spanned several months. The teachers and children were happy to spend some quiet time together in the classroom, and then to join the other classes to perform for their families and guests.

Happy Birthday Trees!!

In honor of Tu B'shevat we went on a walk to the woods! It had been awhile since we had visited our tree friends in the woods behead TBS and the class was so excited to hear we would be visiting them today! In the woods there is lots of experimental play with balancing, running, jumping and exploring nature. It's great to see how each child experiments with risks. I always notice very careful behavior when we are in the woods. Also games like "star wars" and "baby sister" were played just with an outdoor twist. It was great to spend sometime in nature after we had spent so much time talking about trees and their importance in our world. It really was a beautiful sight watching the Tel Aviv class interact with nature in an authentic way and I know we will take another visit to the woods soon.

We Cooked a Tree!

Today in Lunch Bunch Max, Jared, Molly and Alana cooked a sugar cookie tree! We made sugar cookie dough and used food coloring to make it green and brown. It was great to add in the food coloring and kneed the dough and watch it tune different colors. We then made the tree on the cookie sheet remembering to make roots, a trunk, branches and leaves! When it was all done we sang happy birthday n english and hebrew to celebrate Tu B'shevat! It was quite a yummy afternoon!

Our Mitzvah "Giving" Tree!

Today in the Tel Aviv class read the book, "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. We discussed all the wonderful things trees give us and the wonderful things we can give each other. Not only can we give friends art or share with them but we can also smile or give a friend a hug when he or she is sad. Helping each other are everyday mitzvahs. This week we are going to be working on creating a mitzvah tree so that we can record and announce the mitzvahs that happen in our classroom all the time. Today we focused on paining the tree but soon we will make handprint-leaves where we can record our mitzvahs. Hopefully by spring/summer our mitzvah tree will be in full-bloom!

Planting in celebration of Tu B'Shevat

The holiday of Tu B'Shevat is very important in reinforcing Jewish ties to Israel. One concrete way we do this is by planting. In Israel, planting trees is a major part of this holiday. Here in the Levana class, Gabriel prepares the soil by pouring water into the hardened dirt. Eliana is using a fork to loosen the clumps of soil getting it ready for the herb seeds. We will be planting oregano, parsley, cilantro and chives. Later this week, we will be collecting coins to send to the Jewish National Fund in New York. With this money a tree will be planted in Israel for us.