Monkey motion

Eric decided to explore new areas of the playground. It took a lot of effort, but he did it, over and over again. It wasn't a challenge against a competitor, but fun and challenging. Kudos to Eric....

It's work work work

A new pharaoh had come to power and he was afraid of the Jews turning against him. So he made them into slaves. What is a slave we asked? They can't do what they want, they have no choices. Pharaoh took freedom away and made the Jewish people build bricks by squishing mud and straw together. Thousands and thousands of them. We didn't quite make a thousand, but the children realized the hard work involved in the process. It was messy dirty work. At first the bricks did not turn out. Did it need more water, more straw to stick together? They needed to figure that out. A bit different, we know because they had a choice, but could they imagine NOT having the choice? I wonder how they would feel if they had to make thousands and thousands of these bricks???

Partner Work!

Today the children partnered up and created some amazing structures with glue and popsicle sticks. Hannah and Eli worked together to create a spider! The dialogue was beautiful! Eli, "Pick one from my hand Hannah." Hannah, "Do you want to put one on the top or the bottom?" Ezra and Eliza were buddies! Ezra, "It's your turn and then my turn." Eliza, "That's right."

Working together with a partner takes time, practice and lots of experience!

Promoting Fine Motor Development

A few weeks ago OT Shana Krell from Gateways, stop by to take a look at our classroom and made some great suggestions as to how we can use our classroom space to encourage and promote fine motor development. Shana helped us see the space in our classroom differently. Preschoolers should be upright, either sitting or standing, with their arms and hands working against gravity while they work on the vertical. Shana gave us many ideas and activities to do with the children, but one of my favorites is using push pins to display art work or create games on the cork space in the classroom. She also suggested we use the ledge at the bottom of our window to draw, write and create. Vertical work surfaces such as easels, cork/peg boards or walls will strengthen the muscles in young children's hands and will promote wrist development.

Tel Aviv Field Day Photos!

Matzah Monday

Today in the Unicorn class, many of the students rolled up their sleeves to make matzah.  First the students measured the ingredients, took turns pouring and stirring, kneading the dough, and lastly poking the dough with a fork.  The children really enjoyed and got into the experience of making the matzah.  At circle, we also continued our exploration in reading stories about Passover.  During our conversation at circle, the children lead a great discussion about why and how matzah is different from bread that we eat during the rest of the year.  After our circle discussion, we finally were able to taste our creations!  During our matzah snack, we also got to sample other chametz snacks and compared it our matzah, non-chametz.  All the students were excited to say, they LOVED their matzah

A Friendly Passover Game.

Micah and Elias are having fun together playing the Passover Game. Both are taking turns using the spinner and choosing the card with the matching holiday symbol. They are most assuredly sharing the Jewish value of Sayver Panim Yafot of cheerfulness and warmhearted friendship in the company of others.