Exploring Shabbos Concepts

Documentation for the week of January 9-13, 2017

Shabbos Concepts and Discussions

We focused this week on answering the children's many questions about Shabbos. Each day we focused on one question. We discussed it during morning meeting, created a project relating to it during open exploration time, and drew a picture about it during our new afternoon literacy time.

On Monday we talked about why we light candles on Shabbos. The children learned that we light Shabbos candles so that we have light to see on Shabbos. We also spoke about how we light the candles before we say the bracha. We do this because once we say the bracha, Shabbos begins, and it would be against Shabbos to light candles.

The children made candle holders using clay, cookie cutters, and stone pieces for their Shabbat Box. 

On Tuesday we asked the question, Why do we say Kiddush on Shabbos? During morning meeting we spoke about that Kiddush is how the men bring in Shabbos. It is also how we bring out Shabbos- when we say Havdallah we use a candle and make a bracha on grape juice/wine. 

The children used paintbrushes, glue, buttons, and glitter to create Kiddush cups for their Shabbat Box.

 

On Wednesday, we discussed why we eat challah on Shabbos. We talked about how when the Jews lived in the desert there was no food to eat. So what did Hashem do? Hashem sent down the mahn and the Jews were able to eat. On Friday, the Jews would collect two portions of Mahn- one for Friday and one for Shabbos. That's why we eat the Challah now- as a reminder. We also eat Challah because its one of the special miracles of Sarah. That her Challah lasted and stayed fresh for one whole week!!  

The children created challah covers using felt, glue, stickers, and markers for their Shabbat Box.

On Thursday, we discussed why we go to shul on Shabbos. We spoke about how it's important to go to shul on Shabbos because we can hear the Torah while we are there. The Torah shares the parsha with us. This helps us to learn and become better Jews.

Other Shabbos Exploration 

The children colored with permanent markers on their Shabbat Boxes.

We also had math, dramatic play, and literacy work relating to Shabbos concepts this week. 

The children were able to put pictures of Shabbos activities in order. This type of sequencing game is a math challenge.

In the dramatic play area, we polished silver shabbos candles, a kiddush cup, and other items using baking soda and water. It mostly just made a mess, more than polished the silver, but it was still fun and safe!

There was also a literacy challenge using small loose parts, mirrors, and trays at the discovery table this week. In the middle of the table, there were Hebrew words that relate to Shabbos. The children copied the letters onto their trays using gems and glass beads.

Music with Mr. Sam!

We began a new enrichment class this week, and the children had a great time! Mr. Sam came with a drum, and several props to keep the children engaged. They participated in music and movement concepts while having lots of fun!

Explosive Classroom Activities!

 The children have been very engaged in large construction projects lately. They are interested in building complex ships, spaceships, and airplanes. These structures do have some challenges, though...they've been exploding! On Wednesday, all the children were engaged in building and riding on a spaceship. Morah Tara went to get something from the storage closet, and when she came back, everyone had a very important story to tell her! Ariel F. said that they built their spaceship just fine. Lucy said that they even drew pictures to help make it better. Leah said that the counted down and said, "Blast off!" Bayla said that they were all flying in space and decided to take a nap. Eliya said, "Then the spaceship exploded!" Hillel said that it was because the gas tanks got too hot and blew up! Ariel S. said that the batteries were there helping the gas tanks. Here's what a spaceship explosion such as this one looks like:

Before After

We've had some big cleanups to do this week, but the children were able to stay focused until every last gem was back in the right spot!

Next week we will discuss and prepare for the Inaugural Chandler Jewish Preschool Shabbos Store.

Welcome Back to CJP!

Documentation for the week of 1/2-1/6/17

We hope that you all had a great winter break and enjoyed your family time! We are so glad to be back with our friends in the Rainbow Class!

Small Loose Parts Work

We had two provocations in our classroom this week that focused on small loose parts. There were four squares taped to the floor that focused on creating symmetrical pictures with shapes and counters.

We also had mirrors with glass gems, shapes, and rocks available. This allowed the children to create transient artwork on their own or with their friends. You can see that everyone who chose to participate created meaningful artwork with the materials that were available to them.

In both of these provocations the children chose to work on their own or with one or two friends. It was great to see them teaching each other about how symmetry works and discussing why they chose to create their artwork in the ways that they did.

Literacy and Writing Opportunities

At the writing table, there were papers that said, “My favorite part of Shabbos is…” The children were asked to draw or write about their favorite parts of Shabbos. Imie chose to write her favorite part of Shabbos, and Ariel S. was very interested in her process. They worked together to decide which letters represented the sounds that they wanted to create. Bayla also chose to write sentences on her paper. She worked with Morah Mirele near the ABC chart to write a full sentence about what she likes most during Shabbos! Ariel S. chose to watch Bayla and help her out in a similar way as she had previously worked with Imie.

Leah and Hillel worked together to share crayons and draw pictures about their favorite parts of Shabbos. When they were done drawing, they asked Morah Tara to write down what they drew.

These beautiful works are currently taped to the back of the block shelf and will soon be on display in the preschool hallway.

 The children were also very interested in reading books together this week (as they often are). Imie sat and read a book to her friends!

We had four new challenges this week!

Counting into Cups Challenge:

Reflecting on our hardest challenge: The Cup Tower Challenge, we wanted to give the children something that would address the major issues they faced at that time. The children struggled with wanting to collect cups for themselves instead of work as a team to build one tower. They also struggled to work together to create one plan for their building project. For this challenge, each child was given a cup full of different colored objects. There were also 5 cups on the floor with instructions about what to put inside them. One cup needed 16 green objects. Another needed 17 red objects, etc. The first thing the children realized was that they could sort by color. They asked Imie to read what color was on each cup, and then they placed all of that color in the cup. The next part was to recognize the number on each cup. This was very hard for them. They are still learning what a 1 and a 7 next to each other means. They were able to ask the morahs for help after they tried to figure it out together and could not.

They then split into small groups to make sure that each cup had the right number of objects in it. Hillel, Lucy and Ariel F. took one cup. They poured out all the objects and counted them as they placed them into the cup. There were more objects than they needed in the cup, so then they needed to figure out how many objects to take out. It took a few tries, and then they did it!

Bayla, Ariel S. and Imie worked together with another cup. They tried several times to count together, and then Bayla decided that she should count by herself as her friends watched. When they were finished they went to help Eliya and Leah who had laid out their objects in a line to count them. Bayla started to put their objects into a cup, and Eliya and Leah both got upset. Bayla said, “I’m trying to count them!” Morah Tara responded, “Bayla, it looks like they are trying to count them by putting them into a line. How can you help them in their way?” Bayla, Ariel S., Leah, and Eliya then counted the objects that were in a line together. Once they had the right number of objects in their line, they put them into a cup.

Throughout this challenge, some of the same issues appeared such as wanting to hold onto objects or struggles with communication, but the children were able to work through them together with so much more ease and speed.

The Marble Run Challenge

The children were given a plastic ball and two plastic gutters. They were told that they needed to work as a team to get the ball from the start line to the finish line without touching the ball and without it dropping to the ground.

Lucy took the ball, placed it in a gutter, and started walking. It soon fell to the ground. A few friends joined her and tried again. The ball fell to the ground again. The friends who were holding onto the other gutter came closer to the first group and created a space to catch the ball where it had been falling out of the first gutter. The whole team started walking together without the ball falling to the ground! It was working very well, except they weren’t walking towards the finish line. The ball fell to the ground as they moved towards the hill so they went back to the start line to try again. This time they remembered to walk towards the finish line as one team. They crossed the finish line!

Human Knot Challenge:

The morahs helped the children create a circle and then hold hands with random friends across from them to create a human knot. The children were then challenged to untangle themselves without letting go of each other to create a circle again.

The children began trying to move on without saying much to each other. This resulted in some friends getting their arms twisted or their bodies hurt. They stopped trying to move on their own and started to speak to each other as they worked. A few friends detangle themselves on one side of the circle while another group worked on the other side. Sometimes they needed to just wait for another group to finish their detangling work. After only a few minutes the whole team was in a circle!

This is a very challenging activity that a lot of older groups struggle with! It was great to see how much these challenges have been helping Team Rainbow Class work together to solve problems. It shows during their work in completing challenges as well as when they are working together throughout the day.

The Hot Lava Challenge:

The children went outside to find several objects on the ground between the start and finish line from the previous day’s challenge. They were told that they needed to hold hands and get from one side to the other without letting go of each other and without touching the ground, which was HOT LAVA.

The children all held hands at the start line, and began to move across the objects. Right away a few friends’ feet touched the ground and they had to go back to the start. Hillel suggested that they all go through the course without holding hands so that everyone gets a chance to practice. Everyone agreed and took turns hopping or taking large steps to get from the starting line to the finish line without stepping in any hot lava.

Next they started again by holding hands. They realized that the best way to move across the course without touching the ground was to ask each other if they were ready. Once they started this process, they were able to get to the finish line without letting go of each other or touching the hot lava.

Discussions and Agreements

We began discussing Shabbat this week as we will spend all of January focused on Shabbat. During morning meeting we created several lists together. Our first list was about what we already know about Shabbat. Our second list was about what we want to learn more about relating to Shabbat. We will work on our third list discussing the Shabbat dinner that our school will be hosting and our fourth list later in the month that will discuss what our class needs to do to prepare for the Shabbat Store that our school will be creating. All of our lists are posted in the classroom. They share the ideas that each child brought to the discussion with their names listed. Please come and read the posters so that you can continue the discussions at home!

On Tuesday, the children chose to make a huge mess with our loose parts. It took a very long time for them to get it all cleaned up. After they cleaned everything up, we sat at the table to discuss what had happened. Morah Tara asked the children if they felt like it was worth the effort to clean up such a large mess. The children agreed that it was not. Morah Tara asked if they could all agree to make a smaller mess from now on. The children agreed again. Then we discussed how we could make a smaller mess. Lucy suggested that we could take out only one toy at a time. Some children said that they did not like that plan. Ariel F. said that they could take out three toys at a time. This was a bit more confusing for everyone to grasp. Leah suggested that we take out one set of toys at a time. Everyone agreed that this was a great idea. Ariel S. added that we should put back that set of toys before we play with something new. This also sounded like a great idea to everyone.

Morah Tara asked if we should create a reminder so that we stick to our plan. Hillel said that we should write it down. Morah Tara got a piece of paper and wrote: Let’s remember to only make a small mess. Since we were all agreeing to this, we decided to each sign our names to it. Eliya suggested that we put it up on the chalkboard so that we can all see it. Imie thought this was a great idea, because that’s where the biggest mess started.

Next week we will continue learning about Shabbat!