This week we held our group discussions and activities around Tu B’ Shvat. We explained to the children that Tu B'Shvat celebrates the birthday of the trees .

We began our discussion when I asked the children what kinds of things they think grow on trees. We also discussed  what kinds of animals live in trees. The first activity that we did was making birdseed feeders for birds who live in trees.

  

On Wednesday, our friend, Nina, came by to help the children learn how to garden. They had a very hands-on experience where they learned how to turn and treat the soil in preparation for planting. We pushed whole cloves of garlic in the soil to fend off any bugs that might want to eat plants. Next, we planted a variety of things like strawberries, lettuce, carrots and flowers. 

In our own classroom we planted flower bulbs, which will be going home next week. We also made paper and added flower seeds to the paper which will be cut and sent home so that children can plant them and watch their flowers grow. We completed our unit by discussing the different brachas we say dependent on where the food we are eating comes from. We followed up with a visual hands on game where the children were given pictures of different fruits and had to place in where they thought it grew. 

We played a game of pin the fruit on the tree, bush or vine from which it grows.

The children observed a Tu B’ Shvat provocation on the table. We spent time looking at it and painting what they saw. Every item on the tray came from a tree.

Birdseed feeders that we made to hang in a tree at home.




We created three sheets of paper that are currently still drying. Once that are completely dry we will cut them into pieces and send them home so that they can be planted and hopefully grow and thrive. 

A root that we found while turning the soil so we could begin planting.



Pressing our paper and seeds on screens so that they can dry.

Working with glue for our birdseed feeders.

Work hard on her hand eye coordination to hammer tacks into a cork board.

Tasting dates and figs which are traditional Israeli fruits that grow on trees.

 This week we continued to focus on activities that encourage early literacy. Letter recognition through  repetition and  an array of different sensory experience is a great way to teach the children thru play. 

Sensory table with soil and hidden letters

“D” is the first letter in David’s name

Shai is finding the letters in her name and matching them.

Playing on the light table with letters and magnatiles 

This is the sequential processes some of the kids went thru to spell their names in play-doh

Letter recognition with challah dough

Light table letters

After the rain I noticed a rainbow on my way to work. While at school that day I asked the children if they had ever seen an actual rainbow in the sky. A few said yes and a few said no. I then showed them an actual picture of a rainbow and taught them a song about the colors in the rainbow. 

“Red, Orange, yellow ,Green ,blue ,purple -red ,Orange ,yellow ,Green ,blue ,purple - red ,orange ,yellow ,green, blue ,purple, make the rainbow Bright”

Coloring the rainbow 

Red, orange , yellow, green, blue, purple

Dot paining with the colors of the rainbow

Last but not least we then read a book called “ All the colors of the earth” which was beautiful beautifully illustrated and showed pictures of animals and people of all shades and colors . 

Shabbat Shalom

Morah 

 A glance at our week:

We spent a lot of time this week working on early literacy by doing letter exploration through many fun projects. 

We tried dragon fruit for the first time together. Those who tried it enjoyed it, here is what they said it tasted like.

Ella- like chocolate

Shai- like candy

Yehonathan- yum, good taste like kiwi

Jonny- taste like a water-lemon

Social hour at the morning snack table

Friends working together to clean our classroom 

Gross motor skills: working on balancing

Working on  counting while playing hopscotch. Also working on balance while hopping on one foot.

Shadow exploration with friends

Stopped eating to burst out in a dance. Must have been a really yummy snack!

Back in Action, and It Feels So Green!

 It was great to see how kind and welcoming the children have been to one another since their return to school from the winter break. Here are a few pictures of things that were done together during the week. 

Art project using glue , loose parts and letter exploration.

Jonny is finding the letters that spell out his name.

Carmel managed to fill up the entire light table using a combination of different sized squares.  

Shai was excited to find the “S” for her name

The very beginning states of their creative expression.

Yehonathan using his gross motor and problem solving  skills to move a heavy tree stump across the yard.



Yehonathan and David making a dinosaur recipe in our outdoor  kitchen.


Carmel using his gross motor skills to fill a wagon with big rocks and other items he’s collected from around the yard.


Super heavy but he managed to pull this wagon around the yard.

Carmel created a complex pattern with some manipulative tool in the class. This is an example of early math skills, which will help when he’s doing grouping with numbers. 

Mila, Ella, Shai , Yehonathan playing together on the climbing structure. ( social emotional skills / gross motor)

Shaped matching and exploration ( foundation for geometry)

Monday was  a lovely day so we decided to have a picnic on the lawn. While eating Shai noticed a plane flying by and told us as about her dad's mom “ Tata “ that recently left to fly back to Israel. We all joined her in waving goodbye to Tata. Now every time we see a plane we find ourselves waving to her!

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Maya