Mailbox Explorations

This week, we took our most anticipated field trip to the mailbox with the help of Morah Jacqueline.  We explained to the children the importance of holding hands and staying together as a group. Shimmy immediately said, “Hold Ben’s hand fire drill.” We reiterated that yes, just as we do during a fire drill; we hold a friends hand or a Morah’s hand while we move safely away from school.

 The children saw many things on their walk however they were most excited about passing the bus stop and watching a motorcycle drive by. Ben and shimmy both shouted, “Motorcyle! Motorcycle!” and could not stop smiling afterwards. Soon, we made it to the mailbox and the children each took turns placing their Rosh Hashanah cards in the mailbox with the help of a Morah.

Afterwards, Nosson made an interesting observation about the mailbox and began explaining to his friends… “Hey, theres a hole! That’s where the mail man puts his key in and gets the mail.” All of his peers immediately became curious and began studying the key hole, alongside Nosson. As we observed the children, it seemed that they were showing a great deal of interest in how the actual physical mailbox works. What happens when the key goes in? What does it look like inside?

 For the next few weeks, we plan on having more “tinkering” activities out for the children to study and examine how locks work. If you have any extra keys, locks, or boxes with locks at home for us to examine, we would love for you to share them with our class for a few days. Thank you!

We hope you enjoy your Rosh Hashanah honey cake that we made as a class! Shana tova!

Apples and Honey!

Rosh Hashanah, has been a joyful and festive season already, as we explore apples and honey. First, we changed all of our davening songs to better incorporate apples, honey, and the spirit of a sweet new year. We taught the children some new songs and were delighted to hear ones that they’ve been singing at home already. Vella even had her own solo moment while she recited the entire words to L’Shana Tova Umetuka. The other children raised their apples high and pretended to take bites out of the apples that they were holding.

Next, we began working on our Rosh Hashanah cards which will be mailed out to families next week, including our immediate family and also to grandparents. The children will be taking a field trip next Wednesday, down the street to the post office box where they will be dropping off their personalized apple stamped cards themselves. Next week, we look forward to baking honey cake with the children, as well as dipping apples in honey.

Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Megan and Morah Shoshana

 

 

Building Blocks

This week, the children were very engaged in the block area. Vella and Nosson were busy building their castle, while Ben and Shimmy worked on their airport construction. In addition, Shira, Hailey, and Tamar happily built up their Elsa and Anna palace, while Nechama created an elaborate farm for her animals. It was amazing to see the different groups of children work together as they executed their plan and vision for their block creations. While most of the children chose to build with just the blocks by themselves, Nechama had a unique and interesting idea as to how to feed her animals. She gathered all of the acorns and walnuts from the “loose parts/nature table” and carefully placed one in front of each animal. As Nechama fed her animals, Vella became very interested in her work and asked if she could join in. Nechama replied, “Yes! I’m the farmer and you can be the helper.” After all of the animals were fed, Nechama and Vella walked over to the instrument basket and then began playing their instruments softly. 

The morahs asked, “Can you tell us about your work on the farm?” 

Nechama replied, “shhh…..we are singing them a lullaby.” 

Vella added, “It’s time for them to sleep.” 

Soon, their lullaby quickly turned into a davening song, which inspired Vella to retrieve our name basket. (During our Davening time, we draw names out of a basket to see who will sit next to each morah. This method was intended to help make the process fair, since all of the children wanted a turn to sit next to a morah. So far it has been working great!)

It was interesting to see how the children responded to this new method during their imaginative play with the blocks. Vella and Nechama began drawing names from the basket, to see who would be sitting next to each animal. 

Vella – “ok Shimmy, you sit next to the giraffe….and Shira, you sit next to the lion.”

Nechama – “ok Tamar….you sit next to the elephant…..and Ben, you sit next to the hippo.”

They proceeded by placing each friends name next to that particular animal and then continued playing the role of morah for their animals on the farm.

Throughout the week, we noticed the children using the name basket more and more throughout their play. Shira and Nosson enjoyed playing morah as they created their own davening circle with their friends. The two children took turns picking names from the basket and decided who would sit next to each morah. Afterwards, they led us in a beautiful impromptu davening circle, singing their favorite songs and playing their instruments proudly. As morahs, it fills our hearts with joy to see how much they enjoy davening and how well they daven together, without the assistance of a morah.

Please look at our Facebook Group to see pictures from the week. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Megan and Morah Shoshana

Baking

This week, we did our first baking project! We decided to bake cookies in honor of Sholom's Bar mitzvah, since he is Nosson's older brother and a valued member of our community. As eager as they were to get started, the children patiently waited for their turn as the bowl was passed around the table. Each child was able to add in more than one ingredient and carefully measured out each step. Through cooking experiences such as this; the children are learning basic math skills, as well as learning how to apply their knowledge of measuring, one-to-one correspondence, numbers, and counting. 

Cooking also creates opportunity to discuss the senses; How do these unique smells differ from one another? Does the salt taste sweet or bitter? How does the dough feel as we mix it with our hands? As the children are mixing, rolling, and manipulating the dough, they are also developing pride and confidence in their skills and abilities. It is our hope to provide a new and exciting cooking experience each week, to further develop their curiosity and independence. 

 

 

Clay

During the first two weeks of school, we have been exploring the many wonderful properties of clay. Instead of cookie cutters, we set out adult clay tools, alongside our clay for the children to cut, scrape, tear, and manipulate the clay to their own liking. We were curious to see how the children would respond to the clay and where their own curiosity would lead them. Therefore, we gave no initial instruction and decided to just observe as they touched the clay.

The Morahs asked the children,“How does the clay feel?”

Nechama – “Hard.”

Ben – “Ben Dirty”

Shimmy – “Sticky”

Tamar – “Messy”

Nosson – “Wet”

Vella – “Slimy”

Shira – “Cold”

Hailey – “Squishy”

 As the children explored the clay, they experimented with new tools;

-         Cutting the clay with fishing wire

-         Slicing the clay with different shaped knifes and scrapers

-         Wetting the clay with a sponge

-         Making imprints and designs in the clay with natural materials, such as leaves, sticks, stones, and gems.

Together as a school, we are discussing with the children the concept of community. Who makes up our community here at school?

During our clay exploration time, we overheard many conversations about cooking cakes and lollipops for Ben and Shimmy’s Upsherinish. Many of them had attended over the weekend and it was still a very exciting and meaningful experience to the members of our classroom community. Many of the children rolled out cakes and fed each other delicious treats, which they had remembered eating at the Upshernish. Leaves and gems acted as decorations and sticks represented candles.

While working on our cakes, we asked the children, “Who makes up our classroom community?”

Nosson – “My mommy, my tatty, my Merele, and my Bayla.”

Nechama – “Minna”

Hailey – “My friends and morahs.”

Vella – “Imie”

Shira – “My Talia and my Eliya”

Tamar – “My baby and my sister”

Ben – “Shimmy”

Shimmy – “Ben”

As the weeks go on, we intend to further the conversation and dig deeper into this concept, as we express our thoughts and ideas through clay.