Zippity Do Dah!

We have a special song we sing when the Adamah class lines up.  It goes..."Zippity Do Dah, Zippity-yay, ADAMAH, line up today!"  We found a great new way to line up before going outside -- sitting patiently in our cubbies is a perfect way to see that everyone is present and ready to go!

Team work

Eva needed a push on the swing today.  Maya, Abby and Samantha were happy to help. It's not easy for three children to share a one person job...great cooperation, girls!!

Shaving cream day

We have lots going on in shemesh this week. Today everyone enjoyed shaving cream play. We have been playing with rubber band boards, putting clothes on our paper people and doing some beading using pipe cleaners, pasta and buttons. 

Unexpected Coloring!

Today on the playground we had paper set up on (and under!!) the climbing structure! We had paper under the landings, on the bottom part of the tunnel and on some of the poles. These unexpected coloring areas were a huge hit as children from all different classes came together to reach up high and color!  Some colored with one hand, others both! Many of the younger children were fascinated that the older one's could color under the tunnel.

Both Ben G. and Zach S.  tried to jump in order to make a dot. Having a dot on the paper helped them feel accomplished as they added to the tunnel's decorations. It was neat to see how coloring was not only a creative activity but a physical one too. Kids needed height or strength to reach up high. Also many of the kids were squatting under the climber. This activity forced them to be aware of how their body fit in space, which can be a very tricky skill.

Keshet and Levana kids loved painting the poles. Noa and Alex L. Spent a lot of time making sure that all the white was filled in. it was so nice to see how proud Noa was to show off her communal drawing at pick-up. It was a beautiful day filled with wonderful community created art.

 Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Easel Drawing Fun!

Today Alex L. Wondered to the easel and found some crayons near by. He started to draw. First a lot of circles and then some lines. Soon Kayla came and together they drew. I was impressed how the two of them negotiated space together. Both could draw on the same easel and they even shared crayons. After Alex left Kayla traced her hand then my hand.

Soon Michelle came over. Michelle loved experimenting with the crayons. Sometimes she would press lightly to get one color and other times she would press with a lot of power to get a much darker color. Then Michelle noticed that neither Kayla nor Alex had drawn on the top of the paper. She preceded to draw on her tippy toes to draw in the open space at the top.

Easel coloring is a great way to strengthen arm muscles while working on fine motor development. Also the simple act of standing while moving you arm can help strengthen muscles in toddler's core. It was a great social, physical and creative activity and I'm sure they will do it again soon!

A Morning of SO MUCH Paint!!

Today Grace and Hannah had a painting adventure. They were excited to come into the classroom and find a table of animals and trays of paint to use and explore. The made foot prints of the different animals in all sorts of colors. It was a neat project that captivated their attention for quite a bit of time until....
they realized they could finger paint!

The girls LOVED finger painting and the whole time they were painting they kept exclaiming, "finger painting! finger painting" it was like their own special fingerprinting chant! They liked feeling he cold paint and swirling it around on their papers. Grace liked how it felt all the way up her arm.

We saw Adamah Teacher Lauri, and decided to show her our messy hands. Once in the hallway we decided it might be a good time to wash them clean. Our hand washing experiences was an adventure in itself. We loved watching the color of the water get darker and more pink as hour hands became cleaner. The girls liked trying to see who's water was more pink at any given moment.

It's great how a simple activity can continue to morph and change shape as children interact with the activity and it's materials. The material of, "paint" is neat as a way of stamping, is a slimy sensory object and is a neat scientific mixture with water! Each of these steps provide their own set of learning experiences and this morning Hannah and Grace got to experience all three!

Special Visitors

The Keshet class was honored today to have a visit from Rabbi Jay and the Torah. Simchat Torah is a wonderful time for children to begin learning about the Torah; for our youngest children, the visit was a close-up examination of the physical aspects of the Torah. We learned about the beautiful "clothes" of the Torah, that we can use the yad to guide our reading, that we do not touch the writing with our hands, and that we can look forward to a lifetime of Jewish learning through the stories that the Torah brings us. Thank you, Rabbi Jay, for spending time with us and inviting us to begin this learning that never ends.