Environment as the Third Teacher

It’s good to be back together after the Pesach break! All of the children came back full of energy and excitement to be back in school. I have began to really expand our outdoor classroom. Luckily we had a parent donate four picnic tables, which has allowed us to do a lot of the work that we normally do inside, outdoors now. 

As you all know, here at CJP we run a program that is Reggio inspired. In the Reggio Emilia approach the environment is viewed as a place that is welcoming, authentic aesthetically pleasing, culturally representative of community, embraces nature and filled with purposeful materials. We also implement the belief that the environment in which we are surrounded by is the “third teacher". We are using our outside space as that third teacher and incorporating much more nature into our everyday learning experiences. 

“There are three teachers of children: adults, other children and their physical environment."

- Loris Malaguzzi 

Morah Maxine is no longer with us and we will now be joined 3 days a week by Morah Tori. She will be a nice addition to our class and curriculum. Tori is a student at ASU studying music therapy and will be doing music with the children. 

Morah Tori singing frozen songs that were requested by the children. 

As we move on from our Pesach unit. I decided to tell the story one last time of the Jewish people being freed from slavery. This time I read them The Big Passover Book from Slavery to Freedom

We looked at the map of Egypt and Israel. One of the children pointed out that David is now in Israel.

I spy 

Water color exploration

“Morah Maya I made a new green and a red over here.”

-Carmel

Beading on the yard

We had a group time where I shared pictures of sea creatures and animals from the Odysea Aquarium. The children heard some fun facts about each animal. In this picture Shai is looking at the jellyfish.

The Green Room students always enjoy this activity. They use tiny eyedroppers to collect colored water and drop it on top of whatever letter or number that they have on the tray in front of them. This exercise is helpful in developing their fine motor skills which will help them moving forward when holding a pen or pencil.

Water play on a hot day 

Drawing on the yard 

Jonny discovered an active ant hill on the yard.

Play-doh on the yard.

“ Is that a rocket ship, it looks like air.“

- Yehonathan 

“Look there’s seeds inside”

-Jonny

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Maya

Welcome back for another episode of “ What’s happening for Pasach?"

Matzah Monday was so fun and busy.  In the morning I told the Pesach story again with our small world. This time I went into more depth about why we eat matzah and how that relates to the story. The Jewish people were in such a rush to get out of Egypt that they didn’t even have time for their bread to rise, and they had to eat unleavened bread. In the afternoon Rabbi Deitsch did an interactive matzah factory with the children on the courtyard.

The children interacting with the small world and narrating their own  stories.

 

Decorating pyramids to add to our small world


 

Poking holes in Matzah

 

Rabbi showing the grains of wheat and explaining what matzah is made from.

 

Making matzah with Rabbi and the rest of our school Kehillah 

 

Feeling the love at the matzah factory

 

Ingredients we used for making charoset (nut free): apples, cinnamon, and grape juice

 

Yehonathan enjoyed the charoset but decided he prefers his apples without peels.

 

Shai was a big fan of the charoset peels and all.

 

The children cleaned our classroom in preparation for Pesach.  The next day I hid fake chametz around the classroom and the children searched high and low to find it. We then collected it all in a bag and pretended to light the bag on fire with a fake candle. 

In our outdoor classroom Carmel built his own matzah oven. 

This image is him waiting for his matzah to finish cooking.

Each child decorated and stuffed pillows for them to use at their family Seder .  I explained to the children that this is a symbol to show that the Jewish people are no longer slaves, do not have to work so hard, and can lean back and relax.

I hope you and all of your families have a wonderful Pesach celebration.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Maya

 Shabbat Shalom

This week we had to say goodbye to our dear friend David Atlas. If you do not already know he is leaving to go to Israel for the remainder of the school year. To celebrate our friendship and send him off with well wishes and safe travel, we threw a school party that included all of the classrooms and his siblings as well. We started our morning off with baking red cupcakes with sprinkles for the whole school. During our outside time we shared the cakes with everyone. Each child gave tzedakah to wish them safe travels.

David mixing up the cake batter

David looking at a book that we made for him. Each child made a picture for him and said something to David which I wrote for them.

The Atlas fam enjoying their treats

Children giving Tzedakah

“Maya I made two maps this one is for my construction and this one is for finding stuff”

Our outdoor classroom where the children took the initiative to start drawing  their own individual maps.

Friends working together as a train to walk with a purpose to the yard.

“ I’m in a hot tub bath”

Some of our friends enjoying the lettuce that has grown abundantly in our garden.

Some of the children discovered a bird  resting in a nest in one of the trees on our yard.

After the children were told the story of Passover they were given the opportunity to explore a small world that was built for them to tell their own stories.



Baby Moses floating down the Nile river.

Next week I will tell the story of Passover again to the children using this small world model, dive deeper into why we have a seder, and what that looks like for them.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Morah Maya

 

Shabbat Abba blessing the challah 

Shabbat Ema bringing in the light for the blessing of the candles.

Sisters building near our garden

Brothers hanging out on the yard together

Riding bikes stopping for a moment for a photo opportunity 

Exploring with light on a mini light table

Brother and sisterly love

Working on our fine motor skills and name and letter recognition 

Using gross motor skill and problem solving to climb as high as possible

Two friends working together in the building area. This particular area hasn’t been of interest to the children for the majority of the year. Recently I’m finding them gravitating towards more building which is a wonderful tool for problem-solving and early math skills.

Water play on a hot day 

Playing hot potato, this is a great game to play for hand-eye coordination.

Snack time on the yard  

Dramatic play among friends

Just for fun, a game of golf, also good for hand-eye coordination.

Shabbat Shalom

Morah Maya & Maxine