We are back in full swing after our month of holidays!! This week, we have been reviewing all our experiences of the last month with a fun matching game using all of the items related to the holidays. 

We discussed that on  Simchas Torah we rejoiced because we completed the torah. But that doesn't mean that we are finished. We start AGAIN.

Therefore we excitedly began our Parsha lessons. Each week, we will be learning about the parsha of that week and documenting it in our Parsha Books .This week we began with the very first Parsha, Parshas Berishis. 

We listened to a song about the 6 days of creation, we discussed who created the world, and we heard the story of Adam and Chava. After we learned all about the six days of creation, we used our watercolors and painted. Each child was to paint any day of creation that he or she  chose. The Morahs noticed that the children were all painting multiple days of creation. When asked about their work they said "this is the whole world!!!!" Instead of choosing one day, they decided to do them all!

Looking foward to our next full week ahead!! 

Morah Marina and Morah Mirele

Sukkot and Simchas Torah!

Building Sukkahs

This year, the Morahs decided to put out sukkah building materials at the table. There were foam blocks, Popsicle sticks, coffee filters, and natural materials for the children to work with. (Morah Tara forgot to put out glue for this activity!) At first, the children weren't sure how to make anything "stick" to the foam bases. Ariel F., Imie, and Bayla layed their Popsicle sticks flat for a while, and expanded in a more two-dimensional way. After a few minutes, Ariel F. chose to stick a Popsicle stick into the foam. This expanded their experience greatly! It was fascinating to watch the children explore this activity without any instruction, and so much fun to watch them make their own discoveries about how to use the materials. Eliya and Oree decided to turn their foam bases into roofs for their Sukkahs. We talked about how this could work because the foam was porous, which means that light could still get through them.

Performance Time

The children were very interested in performing over the past couple of weeks. Morah Tara put on some classical music during open exploration time, because research shows that classical music helps children regulate their bodies and concentrate better. The beat of the music keeps a steady rhythm which is calming for everyone and allows for a less chaotic feel in the classroom. When Ariel F. And Lucy heard the music, they decided that they should do some ballet. After they danced for a while, they chose to build a stage with the blocks and milk crates. Ariel S. Chose to join them. They were capable of dancing while maneuvering the different surfaces of the stage that they built and pay attention to where their friends were at too. This showed that they were able to negotiate space, coordination, and executive functioning skills all at once. Though it might seem like they were "just dancing" they were actually accomplishing a very complicated combination of tasks all at once.

Imie decided to show Morah Tara her "new dance show" outside one morning. She and Lucy took turns performing their dances, and then chose to dance together. At one point in their dance Lucy told Imie that she wasn't doing ballet. Imie responded by saying that it wasn't a ballet show. Lucy agreed that they were doing hip hop and continued dancing. This is a great example of how the children are solving their own problems together all day long while they are at school.

A few weeks ago the children found our large collection of puppets and started playing with them so Morah Tara created a puppet show provocation in the dramatic play area this week. Ariel S. Shared a memorized script with two puppets then her friends each took a turn. They learned that they weren't sure what to say once it was their turn to perform with the puppets. We had a brief conversation about what a script is and how actors use one when they perform. Morah Merele also took a turn performing. Once she showed the children a story about a child's first day of school meeting new friends, the children copied her story with their own twists. They gained confidence as they took more turns. Eventually, all the children did a show together. We will leave this provocation out for the children to explore more next week!

We were able to get great videos of the children's performances. Please check out the Facebook group to see them!

High Holiday Memory Game

There was a high holiday memory game for the children to play too. We thought that this would be a great way to allow the children to reflect on all their experiences over the past month as well as provide an opportunity for memory and math experiences. Eliya began searching for matching pictures on his own and then Imie chose to join him. When Eliya was finished, Lucy and Morah Tara played a round with Imie. Four-year-olds tend to have great memories, and they easily beat Morah Tara at this game! Memory games are great for building working memory and spacial awareness.

Happy Birthday, Bayla and Ariel S!

Bayla and Ariel S. Both celebrated birthdays recently! The children had a great time with our new birthday party experience! As Bayla and Ariel S. Jumped over stumps with numbers on them, they shared mitzvot that they did at each age that they were. We also enjoyed a book and some cake! Ariel F. Will be celebrating her birthday with us in the next few weeks as well!

We Explore Yom Kippur

Documentation for the week of  October 5-10, 2016

Shoe Store Dramatic Play

The children started out the week most interested in the "cash register," which was a typewriter. They worked hard to figure out a fair way to take turns. This was a big challenge for them because they all wanted to work with the typewriter so badly. It created a lot of conversation about how long each turn should be and the order in which everyone got a turn.

It was clear from their conversations about shoes and money, that some of what we spoke about during our Tzedakah Project created a lasting impact on them. They spoke about how much shoes cost in relation to dollars and cents. They pretended to hand each other money to put in the cash register. This is a great way for children to take ownership of their actions, because they feel powerful when they can mimic the actions that they see adults taking around them.

At one point our "cash register" was not being played with in a safe way. Since we committed to being safe in the morning, we tried again to use it safely. Unfortunately, the children were too enticed to pull out the ink ribbon from the typewriter, and we had to put it away. This was not the end of the cash register, though! Lucy went to find loose parts to make a new cash register. Bayla and Leah saw her make one, and decided to make their own.

As dramatic play continued, the children got more into the play world of a shoe store. Lucy spoke about how you need to get your foot measured. Bayla, Imie, and Ariel F. stood in line waiting to buy their shoes after sitting in the row of chairs trying them on. Eliya chose the red sneakers, and worked to tie and untie them. 

On Thursday afternoon, we explored which shoes were leather: the true tie-in to our Yom Kippur studies. We asked the children if they new which shoes were leather. Once they took a few guesses, we showed them a pair of black clogs that were made of leather. They took turns touching them, turning them over, and noticing the details about what it meant for them to be leather shoes. They learned that it wasn't about the color or the style of the shoe, but the material it was made out of. Imie picked up the sequenced slippers to see if it felt the same as the leather. She noticed that they were bumpy and the leather was smooth. This was a very key observation. The children then understood that they could tell if the shoes were leather because they would feel smooth. Morah Merele also pointed out that sometimes shoes have tags on them that say what the shoes are made out of. Ariel S. found a pair of blue shoes that had a word that started with the letter L. She touched them, and they felt smooth like the other pair of leather shoes. She was so excited when she discovered that those shoes were leather too!

What is Truth?

Throughout the week we discussed the story of Yonah and the Big Fish during morning meeting. We talked about how Yonah knew in his heart what he should do, but he became scared that he couldn't take on such a big task, and ran away. We asked the children to draw pictures about what they knew was true. We talked about how there were truths about the world: the sky is blue not green. We talked about how there were truths about their friends and family: Oree and Eliya were cousins; Bayla and Oree were not cousins. We talked about how there were truths about themselves: Ariel F. was a girl. We then invited the children to draw about the truths that were important to them. They sat down and worked on drawing and writing about their truths, then they used scissors and tape to glue their truths to blocks. After that we built a tower of truths.

Child Led Learning

There are so many flowers in bloom outside! This inspired the children to gather flowers and other natural treasures that they found outside into buckets. Eliya began, and Ariel S. and Leah decided to do the same thing. I asked the children if they wanted to bring their buckets inside and glue their natural materials to paper. Ariel S. and Leah decided that they did want to, and Eliya decided that he did not. Once Leah and Ariel S. brought their materials into the classroom, they became interested in other work, but Bayla and Lucy decided to sit down and use popsicle sticks to glue the natural materials onto paper.

Ever since we introduced Safe Keeper Cards at orientation, the children have been coloring their cards individually during open exploration time. This week, they realized that the Safe Keeper Box, where we place our Safe Keeper Cards when we commit to being safe each morning, was still very plain. The children chose to color the box together. Ariel F. and Lucy started by coloring the inside of the box. Eventually, Imie and Bayla joined them to color the outside of the box and the lid. This collabortive task took understanding and negotiation: a great skill to continuously work on throughout the year (and a lifetime!).

Both of these activities were completely inspired by thei children's interests. They were rich with opportunity to learn, grow, and experience new things. The morahs were able to see the children naturally exploring their own curiosities and allowed them the chance to take their chosen work to the next level by providing ideas and materials for the children to go a step further. This is the spirit of a Reggio inspired classroom, and it is wonderful to provide these opportunities no matter what we are officially focused on learning about.

White Like the Angels

The morahs have noticed that the children love finding treasure. Eliya and Bayla have been burying treasure outside and then digging it up. Lucy, Oree, and Imie regularly come inside with treasures that they have found throughout the playground. Ariel S. has enjoyed the treasure box we placed in our classroom to collect all the found treasures outside. As the morahs reflected together on the children's interest in finding treasure, we applied it to our Yom Kippur studies.

Morah Tara set up a scavenger hunt for white objects in the Big Shul. The children each got a bag to collect their found items. There were white cotton balls, small bits of white fabric, and ribbon scattered throughout the big shul. At first the children ran around like it was a race to find treasure. They found all the pieces that were more obvious. Next, they realized that they needed to look more carefully for treasures, and they slowed their bodies down. They began looking more carefully at the ground, in corners, under chairs. Later, they began looking up above their heads to find hidden treasure. Ariel F. and Lucy found the tissue box on the Bema and took several tissues! Eventually everyone was helping each other to find treasures. Imie grew upset because she felt like she did not have as many as her friends. Bayla found a cotton ball hidden between two chairs and handed it to her to put in her bag.

Once we felt like we found ever last treasure in the Shul, we took our white materials and used them to create a collage. The children used glue to stick their pieces to the green paper. We spoke about why we were using white materials. Leah told us that white was like the angels. Ariel S. said that we get to be like angels on Yom Kippur. Collage work helps children in different ways than other types of artwork such as painting or drawing. The children are asked to arrange their pieces on paper. This offers an opportunity to plan their work and make decisions about where to place each piece. They also had the opportunity to explore how glue works. Bayla had feathers stuck to both her hands at one point, and she kept trying to get the feathers off, but they would stick to the other hand. She was asked to solve a problem she had not tried to solve before. She asked a morah to help her. Shew knew that a morah would be more successful than she was, because our hands were not sticky.

The Battle of the Buckets

Bayla and Oree were using two buckets that were stuck together by the stumps outside. They were using the buckets as an extra step between two stumps.  Eliya wanted to use their bucket to gather flowers like he had a few days before, so he picked it up and started to take it away. Oree and Bayla got upset with him and told him that he couldn't take it, because they had it first and were still using it. Oree and Bayla started to grab it back from him. Eliya did not let go of the bucket, and Oree started to cry. They were getting attention from the younger children, and one child put dirt on Oree's head, thinking that they were playing a funny game. Oree let go of the bucket to wipe the dirt off her head. Eliya was stronger than Bayla once Oree let go of the bucket, and he successfully grabbed the bucket away from her and ran away.

Instead of using it to collect flowers right away and move on from the fight, Eliya ran up the hill and sat in the bucket. He was upset and afraid that Bayla and Oree would try to take it back from him. Imie saw that Eliya was upset and rubbed his back to comfort him. Morah Tara asked Oree and Bayla what they wanted to do to solve the problem. Bayla and Oree wanted to go up the hill and talk to Eliya about it. They continued to tell him that they had it first for a while. Oree was still crying.

Morah Tara said, "I see that you are all still upset about fighting over the bucket. I see that Oree is still crying. Did fighting over the bucket solve the problem? Did running away with the bucket solve the problem?" The children all shook their heads and said that it did not. Morah Tara asked them, "What can we do now?" Oree suggested that take turns: Bayla and Oree get the bucket for five minutes and then Eliya gets the bucket for five minutes. Eliya did not agree to this solution. Eliya asked if we could separate the two buckets from each other so that they could each have one. Morah tried to separate them, but she couldn't. Bayla remembered that there was still another bucket in the classroom. She asked if Eliya would use that bucket. He said that he did not want that bucket. Bayla and Oree decided that they would use the one in the classroom.

Oree and Bayla went with Morah Tara to get the bucket inside the classroom, and Eliya used his bucket to collect flowers. This is the truest work of our children right now. The best thing we can do for them is allow them to try to solve their own problems. The more times that they try to solve a problem by hitting, grabbing, or pushing, and then are walked through reflection time on how those types of actions did not solve their problems, the more likely that they will find other ways to solve problems in the future. Right now, we cannot skip this important step, even though it makes us as adults uncomfortable, because if we don't let them try it at four, they may try using violent acts to solve problems when they become teenagers or adults. It is also important for us to provide meaningful reflection time after intense interactions so that they understand what is going on inside their bodies and minds once they are able to self regulate more. Providing meaningful reflection now will allow reflection to become a tool that they can use at any time they need it, whether there is an adult around to help them or not.