Are we "good" or "bad" characters?

Happy (almost) Purim everyone!!!

In the story of Purim there are many different types of characters.  We have Mordechai who we describe as "good."  In contrast, we have Haman who we describe as "bad."  There are others that we don't know how to describe.  King Achashverosh, for example, makes some terrible choices, such as he way he treated Queen Vashti.  In the end however we give King Achashverosh a lot of credit for how everything turns out.  So is he "good" or bad?"  And what about Queen Vashti?  We learn so little about her character before we see her being treated badly.

In the world of a preschooler, we tend to see things in extremely black and white terms.  People are either "good" or "bad."  At this age, we may not have the words to describe a character that is in between.

I've been teaching the Green Room friends that there is actually no such thing as a person who is only bad.  There are only good people, but sometimes good people make bad choices, and if a good person makes a lot of bad choices, then those choices in turn reflect their actual character.  Haman, for example, had all of the tools and opportunities to be "good."  It was his choices that made him "bad."

This has become an important lesson for us.  I want the Green Room friends to understand that they have the free will to build their own character.  Sometimes good people make bad choices.  Is that ok?  OF COURSE!  A good person who makes a bad choice is not automatically bad.  It makes them human.  When I have to redirect behavior I remind the students that they are good, but they made a sad or unsafe choice.

I hope you have been enjoying the "outtakes of the Green Room friends acting out the Purim story!  Morah Gitty is finishing putting it together.  Everyone will have their own Megillah to take home next Wednesday.

Our piece for the Purim Art Auction looks AWESOME!  The Green Room friends had a ball spray painting the squares.  The Aleph-Bais on top brings the piece together so nicely.

We played a fun new game in our Palace Loft.  Students had the opportunity to toss bean bags into a basket below.  This worked some serious hand-eye coordination!  We also worked on our math skills and one-to-one correspondence when counting how many we got into the basket.  Ava was pretending to take pictures!

Please take a moment to look over the info for Purim Spirit week.  It's going to be so much fun!

Morah Gitty and I wish you a Shabbat Shalom and a wonderful weekend!
-Morah Deena and Morah Gitty

Purim Season!

Purim season is in full swing!  The incredible Morah Gitty is putting together a picture Megillah for everyone to take home, featuring our Green Room friends acting out the story.  Morah Gitty has the "official" photos, but please take a look at these awesome "outtakes" so far.

Here we see King Achashverosh at his feast.  Morgan and Mason played the guards!

The king must select a new queen!

Mordechai overhears the guards talking!

A conversation between King Achashverosh and Queen Esther!

One of the best parts about Purim is having a gragger to shake when "Haman" is mentioned.  The Green Room fiends LOVED making them!  Here is a visual of the tray each friend got to use. 

A couple of the kids noticed that there were glass cups provided.  When they asked if it was real glass I said "Yes, because I trust you and I know you'll be careful."  I learned about allowing kids to use "real" things, such as glass cups, this at a recent workshop.  Kids live up to the expectations we have of them.  When I told them that I knew that they'd be careful and that I trusted them, in turn they were careful and trusted themselves.

We look forward to continuing the build up to one of our favorite holidays over the next 2 weeks!

Morah Gitty and I hope you enjoy your long weekend.  We'll see you back at CJP on Tuesday.  Shabbat Shalom!

-Morah Deena and Morah Gitty 

We've been BUSY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON!  Last Friday we celebrated Mason's 4th birthday.  We loved making the cake together as a class.

We wish you many more happy birthdays, Mason!

Part of the joy in working in a Reggio school is having not only the permission, but the encouragement to change the plan according to the interests of the students.  On Monday morning, Alice was at the light table attempting to make patterns with small objects.  The problem was, she didn't have enough variety (in the materials I had set out) to make any pattern repeat.  I suggested she go and grab the cubes off the shelf.  With the cubes she was able to make A-B-A-B patterns and A-A-B-A-A-B patterns.  Levi was interested in what she was doing, so he joined in!  Once Alice had a good hold on how to make the patterns, she would sneak in an extra cube to see if I could figure out where the pattern "broke."  Making patterns wasn't on the lesson plan, but that is what became important to teach in that moment.

Math adventures continued in our outdoor classroom! Alice, Mason, and Levi have been playing a game where they pretend that they're a bunny family.  They stacked the tires to make a home for the rabbits.  They were feeling frustrated that they all couldn't fit in the tires at the same time.  They worked through it and discovered that if they all stood, there would be room for all 3 of them!

 Speaking of our outdoor classroom, our new sandbox and mud kitchen are up and running!

As I posted in the Facebook group earlier this week, we've had our Dramatic Play area set up as a fruit stand for a while.  This week we took it a step further and added price tags.  The Green Room friends did a FANTASTIC job working out what they could buy based on the bills they were holding.  It would be a good idea to point out price tags while at the store with your child.  If paying in cash, let them see the money, and encourage them to identify how much each bill is worth.  It's fun for children to experience real life applications of their Dramatic Play!

Purim is in the air at CJP!  Starting now, and leading up to Purim we will be having Purim experiences and provocations for the Green Room friends to explore.  Here we see Mason and Sarah exploring magna tile Purim Castle creations. 

Below we see Ava working with the Purim Wheel.  On the wheel we see "slices" with Purim images on them, such as hamentashen, graggers, and a megillah.  The student's job is to count the number of objects on each slice, and then clip the corresponding number onto the wheel.  This game exercises the math skills of one-to-one correspondence and number recognition.  It also works their fine motor skills as they work to place the clip onto the desired spot.

As of press time, we haven't seen our friend Morgan this week because he's been sick.  We've missed him immensely!  We hope he's enjoyed the Refua Shelaima calls, and that he comes back to us with a full and speedy recovery.

We wish you a restful Shabbat and a great weekend with your families.  We have a lot coming up, especially with Purim, so make sure to keep an eye on the papers sent home and the posts from Masha on the Facebook group.

-Morah Deena and Morah Gitty