Documentation for the week of October 31-November 4, 2016
Mitzvah Jars
This year we have been reading and collecting our Mitzvah notes : we have been using paper slips and keeping them in cups so that each child can take them all home at the end of the year. Our children do so many Mitzvahs, though, that their cups became full very quickly. Since the children have been so interested in coloring with permanent markers, we offered each child a glass jar to color. We also gave the children contact paper in case coloring on the jars would be too difficult for them. The contact paper added an element to the project, because the children were given the opportunity to cut it out to make stickers or place large pieces of it onto their jars. Oree decided to start her jar by coloring on the bottom. Leah watched her do this, and chose to do the same thing. Bayla wrote her name in hebrew on the glass part of her jar. Hillel and Eliya both wrote their names in english on the top parts of their jar. Everyone worked diligently to make a beautiful collection of mitzvah jars that they will eventually take home. Next week we will put out all the accumulated mitzvah notes and they will have a chance to collaborate on a sorting activity to put each child's mitzvah notes into their jar.
Preschool Doctor's Office
There was so much that happened throughout the children's exploration of the Preschool Doctor's Office. We will continue this work next week, and we will share more about their learning in next weeks documentation and on the documentation board in the hallway.
Loose Parts Work: Colorful Cups
You might have noticed that the loose parts and construction area of our classroom had lots of different colored cups to work with this week. Even though there were a lot of cups to share, it was difficult for the children to disperse them equally. It was so exciting for them to have something new to work with, that they weren't sure how to share them with each other. Bayla suggested that everyone gets one color. Ariel S. pointed out that there were more children than colors, though. Imie suggested counting the cups so that everyone got the same amount of cups. The children considered this idea, but it seemed like it would be too hard for them. Eventually they decided to build one large tower together. Later in the week they compared the height of their towers to see if they had an equal number of cups to work with. When Ariel S. decided to join Eliya and Bayla after they had started using the cups, they chose to each give Ariel S. five cups. The children's ability to solve problems with minimal guidance from the Morahs shined through this week as they processed together about sharing the cups. They often didn't actually work with the cups, because they were so preoccupied with receiving their fair share. Oree realized this after a while, when she was saving her cups by sitting in front of them on the shelf. Morah Tara called "Five More Minutes," and she realized that she was not going to get a chance to play with them if she was saving them from everyone else. She and Bayla then chose to build a tower together before they were asked to clean up.
The children started out the week by using the cups to build towers. After that they focused on sharing them fairly and sorting them by color. Later in the week, they picked them all up and carried them around the room like a Torah, sang songs, and danced around the room. The influence of the High Holidays, especially Simchas Torah, was clear as the children chose to play in this way. By the end of the week, the children began building with the blocks again. The children also decided that in order for the cups to be cleaned up properly, they needed to be in four stacks by matching color. On Wednesday, Lucy chose to sort and stack the cups by herself. At clean up time on Thursday, Leah and Oree worked very hard together to sort the cups by color into four stacks. It was impressive to watch them all work with patience and focus as they finished their chosen task.
Loose Parts Work: Planks
There were also three large stacks of planks to work with in the construction area this week. Morah Tara thought the children might choose to build a stage since they have been so interested in performing over the last few weeks. One of the best parts about offering loose parts, though, is that the play often goes in a completely different direction than the morahs might think it will! Our new friend, Hillel, chose to use the planks to make a network of roads. He worked on constructing the roads by himself for a while. When he finished, he invited Imie to play with him, and they each took a truck out to drive on the road. Hillel shared with Imie the different obstacles and paths that the roads he built followed. When they got to the end of one path, Hillel shared that this was a parking lot. They parked their trucks there and then chose cars off the shelf to begin their journey together again. Later in the day, Lucy chose to drive a truck along the roads on her own.
Parshas Noach and Amazing Animals
We were so lucky to experience the amazing animals petting zoo again this year! It was such a great tie in to the Parsha that we learned about this week. The children had a blast riding Spirit, the horse, and petting the baby chicks, baby goats, ducks, and Alpaca. We even got to watch all the animals run back into the trailer!
We began learning Parsha in the afternoons this week. Each afternoon at 2:45, we sit together on the rug and discuss this week's parsha. Morah Mirele leads the conversation, and Morah Tara takes notes about what is discussed. Your child will come home each Friday with their own Parsha Book from now on. It will detail the discussion we had in class and outline some questions for you to ask your children over Shabbos. If you wish to continue learning about what your child is discussing in our classroom, please send their Parsha Book back to school with them on Monday.
Literacy Sorting
In the literacy corner this week, there was a large basket of objects and several smaller bowls with English and Hebrew letters inside them. The children were asked to sort the objects into the bowls based on the first letter sound in the name of each object. For example, the pen could be placed in the bowl with a,"P" or a Pay. Imie, Bayla, and Ariel S. immediately took this game to a whole new level. They loved it so much that they asked the morahs for more letters and expanded the game onto the discovery table. They began finding objects from nearby and sorting them based on the first sound of each object. The children enjoyed this activity so much that we will try to do this as more of a treasure hunt activity next week so that our game is not limited to objects that can be moved and fit into bowls.
Aleph Bais Time
We also began working on Aleph Bais in the afternoons. We will offer interactive activities for the children each afternoon from 1:45-2:15. This week Morah Mirele used the Aleph Bais cards. At first we discussed the letters one at a time, then we used the Aleph Bais chart on the wall to help us create our own Aleph Bais chart on the table with the cards. The children learned that some letters look very similar to each other, and we began discussing the little tricks you can use to decipher one letter from another.
Painting Provocation
The children have been building and creating artwork in symmetrical patterns a lot, so Morah Tara decided to offer a painting provocation with symmetry in mind. Each child got a piece of paper with a circle on it with two lines through the circle. The children were given four cups of paint. Each child used the paint in different ways. Some only painted inside the circles, some used the circles as guidelines, and some children swirled their paper mimicking the circle that they saw on the page. Very few children used the circle to create symmetrical work, again, choosing to explore in the classroom in different ways than the morahs planned. Though the children did not use this provocation to explore symmetry, they did find, create, and expand upon meaning within the project. It was fascinating to watch them work. You can see their projects on the clips in the preschool hallway.
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