Follow their lead

When I first started learning about the Reggio philosophy, I wondered how the children will learn the alphabet and numbers if we let them be in charge of what they're learning.  I can't even begin to explain how amazed I am with the effectiveness of the Reggio way. By allowing the children to grow through play and exploration they are coming to learn so much because children are naturally curious and interested in knowing it all!

 The Green Room friends are so excited to be learning the letters of the alphabet.  They are all working on writing their own name.  In just a couple short months, friends who went from not being able to identify their name, can now almost write it.  If we read to our kids, and if we give them opportunities for meaningful play, they will learn!

                                                               

This week we did a little exploration on our light table.  We covered it in plastic, and then set out red, blue, and yellow paint.  Sarah and Ava took enjoyed drawing pictures.  Gavi, Mason, and Levi experimented with mixing all of the colors together.  I will never tire of watching different types of learners explore the world.

In the beginning of the Torah we read that Hashem created a separation between darkness and light.  Thinking about that, along with our "regular" light table toys we placed squares of black paper in order to add a contrast of light and dark to our light table.  I was amazed to watch our friends expand on this.  They moved around the black paper, placing it under and over the transparent toys, commenting the whole time about what they were experiencing!

We've rotated our toys and brought out new manipulatives for our classroom.  The snap blocks have been a huge hit! We may have some future engineers in the Green Room!

Another fun activity we did this week was adding water play to our sensory materials.  We put out a tub of clear marbles, along with spray bottles of water.  The water was not only fun to spray, but our friends took interest in how it made the marbles look and feel different.

We wish you a peaceful and restful Shabbat.  I hope you are all able to take some deep breaths and play.  Shabbat Shalom!

Morah Deena and Morah Gitty

Loose Parts, and Other FUN Things!

We’ve heard people joke, and you’ve probably seen it at home:  You buy your child an incredible toy, and your kid is more interested in the packaging than the toy itself.  This is actually a GOOD thing.  Why?  Kids love loose parts, and the exploration of loose parts is at the core of the Reggio Emilia method.

If you’re wondering what loose parts are, and how to make play more meaningful for your child, I encourage looking at this book:

Loose Parts, Inspiring Play in Young Children by Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky is an incredible book, and I’m loving how it has provided me with awesome ideas that have become invaluable inspiration!  It's giving me new ideas about how to introduce materials in our classroom.

With fresh inspiration, I brought in 4 different containers with holes, including a plastic colander, a metal colander, a shower caddy, and a plastic basket.  I placed them on our rug with a collection of yarn, ribbon, pipe cleaners, and strings.  In my mind, I imagined that the kids would “weave” the materials through the holes of the baskets.  I was wrong!  They made cakes!  They creatively and collaboratively collected their ingredients.  The red yarn turned into strawberries.  The brown yarn turned into chocolate.  They chatted and cooked together for almost half an hour.  

Why was this activity so fun for them?  In short, they had the “control” over what was going on, and they were able to build on the activity themselves.  There was no “end goal” for them to strive for, so it didn’t become “over” at any given point.  Playing with loose parts, and the way children learn with them is a fascinating, and I promise to talk more about this in the weeks and months ahead.

We just finished the Jewish high holiday season, and we had a wonderful time in the Green Room learning about all of them.  Did you see we built a Sukkah in our loft?  While we were outside, we worked together collecting schach off the ground.  We were very careful to take only what had fallen off of the trees already.  We’re learning that it “hurts” the tree to pull leaves and flowers off of it.

The friends helped me tie fabric around the perimeter of the loft.  This served as our "walls."

Putting our schach (roofing, made from natural materials) up was a group effort! Everyone that wanted a turn was able to participate.

A Sukkah doesn’t feel complete without some decorations! Re-purposing materials, such as these old CDs, added to the special feeling of the holiday.

We loved sitting in our very own Sukkah! It was such a happy and safe place to be.

During Sukkot, the Green Room friends had the opportunity to see a REAL lulav and etrog!  We even got to touch and shake the lulav and etrog with the Rabbi!

To prepare for Simchas Torah, we did A LOT of hugging and dancing with the Torah!

We've been so busy with all of the holidays!  Now, we're looking forward to continuing to play and learn together.  Morah Gitty (who's back- we missed her!) and I wish you a wonderful, peaceful, and restful Shabbat.  Shabbat Shalom!