Sukkot Learning

The Purple Room had so much fun learning about Sukkot. We ate snack and lunches in the sukkah, making the special bracha for enjoying the sukkah. We davened in the sukkah, and took our play lulav and etrog to the sukkah too!

 

We built a tiny sukkah in our dramatic play center in the classroom. The children made pretend meals, sang songs, and played in the tiny sukkah. 

 

There was a lot of interest in sukkah building. The children also built their own sukkot out of blocks and loose parts.

And, of course, we did plenty of other learning! Many students are working on letter recognition, which we focus on through songs, games, and manipulatives like this giant floor puzzle.

Another important aspect of early literacy is letter formation. Children this age are still building the fine motor skills needed to write with a pen or pencil. There are many other ways to learn how to form letters, such as using playdough, wikistixs, or sets of lines and curves such as these below.

Students work together to put number cards in order. Fingers are a very useful early math tool! We sing a lot of songs that require counting or adding and subtracting with fingers. This helps students connect the number names to the quantities.

We made outlines of classmates with tape! This invited cooperation, and led to marvelous loose parts play and math learning. We decorated the tape people, measured them, and counted how many rocks or buttons we needed to create different features.

 

We have spent so much time outdoors now that the weather is cooling off! It is finally cool enough to play with the outdoor building blocks. These amazing materials let children build structures that are taller than themselves!

 Shana Tova Purple Room Families!

We hope you had a wonderful Rosh Hashana and a meaningful Yom Kippur. The Purple Room has been very busy with holiday learning! 

Yom Kippur Learning

On Yom Kippur we read the Book of Jonah. For the past week, we have been reading and retelling the story of Jonah, with which the children have been fascinated. We have read picture book versions, done felt story retellings, and done active retellings to act out the story. As the children listen to and retell the stories from the Torah, they learn to have a joyful relationship with the Torah, and also develop their early literacy skills.

Big Fish!

The children were very interested in what the big fish might look like. After reading and retelling the story of Jonah several times, we read Ocean Animals from Head to Tail, and discussed what features the big fish might have had-- arms like an octopus? A big fin like a sailfish? Flippers like a dolphin? We looked at photos of ocean animals and drew our own. Then the children used loose parts to create their own big fish.

Rylan: “I used buttons to make it have big eyes.”

Jonny: “This is its belly that is so big! This is where Jonah got swallowed!”

Shepherd: “My fish’s tail is so big it goes off the table. I used this big rock to make it balance so it does not fall down.”

Natan: “My fish has a little tail and big spikes.”

Ella: “My fish has the biggest tail. It can swim very very very fast.”

Yehonathan: “My fish is so big with two big eyes! It has lots of spikes like the blow fish in the book.”

Carmel: “I used so many things because the fish is so big! It swallowed Jonah!”

Daniel: “When this spike turns then the stick turns and then Jonah goes in the belly.”

Harvey: “My fish has a head, fins, and a tail. This red tangram is the fish’s tail. I used these metal parts to make an outline of my fish’s shape.”

Science Learning

The Purple Room talked about what Jonah’s boat might have looked like, and what it means to sink or float. They helped fill the sensory table with water, and then built their own boats with classroom materials. Learning how to attach items with rubber bands was a useful new fine motor skill! The children tested their boats, then went back to add to or alter their design. Some boats didn’t float, or tipped over. We talked about how scientists have an idea, test it, and then try again. This type of activity that allows children to fail and then try again is so important. Children need to know that mistakes are a part of learning, not a reason to quit!

Math and Literacy Learning

We changed up the math tree game this week. There are two new ways to play. One way is to use cards to match quantities to their numerals, and another way is to match addition equations to their sum.

We practice letter formation and letter sounds each day, and enjoy many stories together! We have class read alouds twice a day, and the morahs also read aloud to whoever might ask throughout the day.

Outdoor Learning

Children from several classrooms spent most of the outdoor time one day creating a birthday party. They set up the furniture, made a kitchen, baked cake and other treats, and then discussed how to share and celebrate together. This type of imaginative play teaches creativity, cooperation, and flexibility of thinking.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Shoshi & Morah Shayna

Rosh Hashana, Math, and Literacy Exploration

 

Shana Tova Purple Room families! The children are so excited for Rosh Hashana! Read on to see how we are preparing for the holiday!

We discussed the greeting “shana tova” and what it means. The children created shana tova cards for their grandparents, which we mailed this week. This literacy activity also let the Morahs note each child's’ letter recognition, letter formation, and interest in writing.

We made Honey Play Dough for our classroom, to have a sweet new year of learning. The children measured and mixed the ingredients, and observed how it smelled and felt:

Carmel: It feels like honey. It smells like honey too.

Jonny: It feels puffy! 

Natan: It feels like a sticky, spinny thing. It smells like play dough to me.

Daniel: It feels like peanut butter, but it smells like honey.

Yehonathan: I think it feels like honey and smells like honey.

Ella: It feels like chocolate. I think it smells like a chocolate cake.

Shepherd: It feels like a sticky marshmallow.

Harvey: It feels like hot, warm, sticky stuff. It smells like challah.

Rylan: It feels soft. It smells like play dough.

We read the book, Mitzva Hands and talked about how we can use our hands to do mitzvot. We discussed what miztvot we can use our hands to do in the new year. Here are some of the students’ ideas:

“Dip apples in honey”

“Give hugs and high fives”

“Eat with our spoons”

“Give tzedakah”

“Wash our hands”

“Give stuff to people that they need. And share”

“Help spread out the morning meeting rug”

“Make decorations for our classroom”

For our Rosh Hashana project, the children made collage place mats for the apples and honey on the Rosh Hashana table. Because the students had shown an interest in combining painting with collage, we examined the collages of the artist, Romare Bearden, who used this technique.

First, the children painted their placemats. There was a lot of interest in color mixing, which led to a read aloud of the classic book Mouse Paint.

 

Next, the Morahs provided many cut out images of Rosh Hashanah items. The children collaged these items onto their placemats. These images also sparked conversation about what each item might be for-- a kiddush cup, a round challah, a pomegranate, a bee…

We added the brachot for the apples and honey, and the finished artworks are being sent home today.

 

 

Math Exploration

 

The Morahs set out several activities to promote matching numerals to quantities. In one activity, the children used fine motor skills to clip a clothespin to the number of items on a card. In another more active game, the children rolled a die and then toss a bean bag at the corresponding number on the wall. Observing the children’s play gives the Morahs useful information about each child’s math understanding. Who subitizes the number of dots on the dice, and who is still learning to count with one to one correspondence? Who rolls two fives and says, “I have two fives! I have to hit the 5 two times!” and who rolls two fives and tries to hit the 10? This type of game gives students of many different abilities the chance to play together and learn.

Literacy Learning

We read aloud three times a day. During Read Aloud the children build reading readiness skills by following a plot, discussing characters and their feelings, and connect ideas from the text to their own lives.

 

The Purple Room has been fascinated by, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, which we read aloud frequently this week. The children took the book out for a lunchtime read aloud on Thursday, and before the Morahs could start reading they were retelling and discussing the story amongst themselves. The Morahs also put materials in the Dramatic Play area for acting out the story. The children discussed who would be the troll and who would be a goat crossing the wooden bridge over the fabric river. Did you know being able to retell a story is an important part of learning to read?

 

 

Gross Motor Exploration

We go outside for at least an hour each day, and also play movement games in the classroom. Morah Shaina leads a game of tag. These types of games help students learn to cooperate with rule play, negotiate with each other, and also get plenty of energy out!

 

We wish you a wonderful Shabbos and a very sweet New Year!

Morah Shoshi & Morah Shaina