Friday, February 20, 2015

Reflections from the annual Women's Kinus/Convention 5775- 2015

(That is me looking down at my phone, white collar:), my sister to my left)




Dear Friends,

As many of you know Leah and I have just come back from an extended weekend convention called Kinus Hashluchos with over 1700  women from all corners of the globe who essentially do the same work as us.  We are Emissaries or Shluchos in Hebrew, of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe. We all  find ourselves in cities and countries far from home, all with the singular goal of connecting with/teaching every Jew that we meet with love and kindness.  Obviously this is a most simplified version of what we actually do on a day to day basis, but that is the gist.  As you can well imagine, being in NY surrounded by so many women, plus our host relatives and our away from home children, the energy is intense, even frenetic at times.  As many of our seasoned parents know, I am involved in an Early Childhood cohort with Chabad preschool directors from around the world. Israel, to China, to Australia and South Africa.  As such, I attended two events specific to this line of work. One was a Reggio Emilia exhibit which took place in Brooklyn at a non-Jewish secular school.  The other was a day of higher education, aimed at inspiring long time teachers and Directors.  I learned and shared at both of these workshops, walking away with an intense amount of gratitude for our teachers and our families at IJP.  It was affirming to notice how much of what we do is on the forefront of what is considered "Best practices" in education.  Not only early-childhood education, but in so many of the areas in which we are involved with teaching/camp; from the toddlers, elementary children, teens and adults.  The big ideas and philosophies all stem from the same basic premise; which is that we value our students.  We recognize that they come to us full of potential, it is only our job to help them bring it out in themselves.  As you can imagine, my involvement in all of this educational pedagogy has helped me immensely as a parent with my own children. Some of the things discussed that are worth sharing:

 *We believe in the children so we are not here to solve problems, but to be facilitators in helping the child/teen/adult work it out for themselves. 

*The teacher is a constant, totally involved with the child, the child knows this and doesn't forget this, in turn the child can feel comfortable enough to follow the rules. 

*Every behavior begets a deep question, the mindset is to be about the child, not the behavior. Don't get hung up on the behavior but what the child is going through.

*We see each child as competent. Reggio inspired means everything that happens in the school is consistent with our values, the values established by the school and the values that parents in the community bring.  

The theme of the Banquet that culminates the convention, was a 5 letter sentence the Rebbe had told to a nervous young shlucha (emissary) some 45 years ago: "Ich Fort Duh Mit Eich- I am really going with you". There are stories to regale you with about this insight from the Rebbe, but suffice to say, this is like you telling your child, as she leaves for college, "As your Mom and Dad, we are there with you, we are worrying, thinking about and still taking care of you, even while you are away" and in turn you hope this assurance leads your child down the proper path or give them strength when they indeed feel alone.  

Our presenter took these 5 words and broke them down to apply to our jobs as Educators;

Ich- I- This is the core sense of self of the child, they are competent, don't destroy that.  Build them don't break them.
Fort- Going- How is the Identity of your school actualized, how does it move you as an educator and your children, and families forward in the path of life?
Duch- Really-  Making the vision practical in all levels at our school. (How we talk to children, how we talk to parents, what materials do we use?, how do we celebrate the holidays? etc)
Mit-With- Teaching can be a lonely profession, we need to make this front and center, and bring the message that you are not alone. Reach out to parents, reach into yourself to be the most of you that you can be. The reason you went into this profession from the beginning.
Eich-You- Develop a school that has a culture of participation and all parties gain infinitely more in their experience with you as a learning environment.  

To be clear, that sentence the Rebbe told Mrs Lipskar was in yiddish, so if you did not recognize the verbiage- you are OK.  There is a lot more to share of course, and I don't know how much of it is already integrated into my soul, and how much more I can put from pen to paper, so I hope for now, this sharing will represent that I had you all in mind while engaging with my colleagues, all  for the goal of creating excellence right here in Atlanta, Georgia! Best Wishes for a Shabbat Shalom! Dena   


Now I know my ABC

In Kitah Bet we expose the children to many ideas and skills and depending on where each child is on the continuum of their ability, that is how much meaning they will make with materials provided.  Apparently some of our yeladim are ready to recognize and have fun with letters.  

Ari & Yoni identifying letters

all the B's

"it's an S"

Morah Leah

Coffee, Chocolate & Cupcake Shop in Kitah Bet

Small rocks, muffin trays, tweezers, plastic tubes, and spoons were out for exploration in the morning. A chocolate matching game was nearby.
This prompted some very involved dramatic play. The children were making coffee, cupcakes and chocolate for each other. I sat down nearby to observe.

Shaya made Noah coffee
Ruth Made cupcakes
Henia had a turn to make coffee too.
Levi made coffee for Leiba
They sat together sipping coffee, eating cupcakes and singing.
Noah: "Are you going to save some for Henia and Pearl"
Ruth made a cup of coffee and offered it to Morah She'alah
Leiba: " I want more coffee"

It is moments like these in Early Childhood that allows for us as educators to gain an insight into the collaborative play of our young children.  We are observing the social skills that they are navigating and nearby to facilitate further interactions.  This play that stemmed from morning work activity, is where imagination and profound development is taking place.  The teacher is there to provide new vocabulary, "sipping", "brewing" and help deconstruct the play to know where interests lie, and where skills can be encouraged. Our classroom is truly a glorious place to be.








Shabbat Shalom
Morah Leah

Thursday, February 19, 2015

"It's a Jungle In Here!"

When Mrs. Oliker agreed to come back to our class and give us more drawing lessons, we had no idea what a catalyst for exploration her visit would be. The last time Mrs. Oliker taught the children how to draw all kinds of aquatic life since our class' interest was the ocean. Last week the children requested to draw elephants and lions. It was so exciting that the children begged Mrs. Oliker to come again and teach us how to draw more jungle animals.



That same day the KDH ocean in our block area had to be taken down to be scanned into a poster for the Auction. Now we had wall space to put up new artwork. The children's elephant and lion drawings were so amazing, we just had to have them up in a rain forest.  We put up green and yellow streamers. and started to put up the drawings.
Over the next few days we did two different kinds of ice painting. The children experimented with mixing colors. Blue + Yellow makes Green. Blue + Yellow + Red makes brown. We used the children's paintings to give depth to the rainforest.

Collage giraffes and tigers, animals made from recycled toilet paper rolls moved into the forest too. Jungle animals were added to the block center. Animal masks for Purim are of a jungle theme too.

 Because of the cold weather, we could only go outside for short amounts of time. Elephants, snakes and frogs could be seen moving about the classroom.


Jungle Show and Tell gave us more to discuss, books to read, lots of animals to talk about, especially the many monkeys!




An I Spy type of game was added to the rainforest.


Purim animal masks are of a rain forest theme too!


So for now KDH has left the ocean and come onto exciting dry land, the rainforest!

Morah Ruth

Shapes and Colors -Kitah Alef

 The weather has been quite cold. Kitah Alef has been spending more time inside. The children are always asking to draw. We covered the table and put out as many crayons and colored pencils as we could find.
 Morah Myriam drew circles on the paper. "Look it's a circle." - Morah Myriam. Ezra: "Circle." Our friends in Kitah Alef are recognizing many of the shapes and almost all of the colors. "What color is this?" asks Morah Mushkie holding up a blue crayon. Sammy: "Blue!" Other children repeat after Sammy. Morah Myriam: "Who is wearing blue today?" Caleb - "Me!"
 Holding the colored pencils and crayons is great for developing their grip and practicing writing. Sometimes we have dry erase markers and we draw on our white board. Kitah Alef is great at taking turns, even if sometimes its hard to wait.
 Purim is just around the corner. Today we danced in a circle and sang "Mishe Nichnas Adar" - Happy Rosh Chodesh!





KG Spontaneous Singing

While waiting for the rest of our friends to join us for circle time, we broke out into this spontaneous friendship song. It was such a lovely expression of the yeladim and our classroom, that we let the children decide the length and the outcome. Unfortunately, we could only post 8 seconds of the video, but it did continue for over 3 minutes! The smiles, however, continued the rest of the day! This is what we're all about in Kitah Gimmel!




Sunday, February 8, 2015

Tu Bshvat, the Birthday of the Trees in KB


Birthdays and trees are two things the children in Kitah Bet can really relate to. All year we have been celebrating children turning 3. 
Trees have birthdays too, and trees, just like us, grow!
Torah compares man to a tree in the field and it was clear from watching the children explore Tu Bshvat that there is a deep connection between the children and trees and nature.

Tu Bshvat Art

Tu Bshvat Art

Tu Bshvat Art

Tasting figs, dates and pomegranates, some of the 7 Fruits of Israel in
honor of Tu Bshvat

Planting flowers

Planting flowers

Soil and seeds in the sensory table

Working together to sweep up the soil from the floor

Morah Leah

Friday, February 6, 2015

TuBeshvat Higia!


 Kitah Alef celebrated the birthday of the trees this week by planting Lima beans. We also played with dirt in our sensory table all week long digging up all kinds of treasures. Morah Myriam held up a camel that we found in the dirt and asked "What animal is this?" Caleb: "Giraffe" Morah Myriam replied, "I think it might be a camel..." Everyone: "Yes, a camel!" Morah Myriam: "Where do camels live?" Caleb: "New York!" :-)


 We asked the children "Who likes the trees?" Ezra: "Me, me, me!" Holding up a bag of beans, Morah Mushkie asked: "What is this?" Sammy: "Beans!"Should we plant the beans inside the dirt? Class: "Yes!"

 So, in celebration of TuBeshvat we planted beans in a little pot for each child. We dropped the bean in the dirt and added more dirt on top.

 Once everyone had placed their bean into their pot we added water.
 We placed all of our pots by the window so they would benefit from the sunlight. Every day we add a little water and we wait....

We have been talking about the trees on the playground. We are hugging the trees and giving them lots of love. We can't wait to watch our little beans grow!

A tree grows in Kitah Bet

In honor of Tu Bshvat we "planted" our Mitvah Tree on the wall.

  The trunk


The leaves

The birds

Our tree

Now we are going to fill it up with Mitzvahs. Please help us by sending in Mitzvah Notes.

Morah Leah