If They Build It, We Will Come . . .

       Our Midtown neighborhood is always busy!  It's an urban environment, with plenty of joggers, bike riders and dog walkers.  Truck drivers are making deliveries, children are walking to school and so much more is going on.  There's always something to see, something new for us to notice.

     We noticed some construction going on across the street.  It was time for us to investigate.  Our Morahs explained the walking rules for going on a city street, even for such a short distance. We were ready to go! 

     We went out in small groups.    We observed the action, and sometimes the quiet, on three different occasions.  We each had our own journals, prepared by Morah Jessica. We drew what we observed, and our Morahs dated our entries.  We had clip-boards to lean on as we made our observations. (Above: Some of the Kitah Gimmelniks in action.  We're fully prepared to observe the construction site and make our notations.)

     But why did we want to go outside to see the construction?

    Since the beginning of our Kitah Gimmel year, we have built regularly in our room.  We are becoming familiar with the process.  Sometimes we use our blocks for our construction, and sometimes we build with our Magna-Tiles.  (Above, Emmett, Rafi and Gabi build at the blocks.)  We are ready to learn more about building.

(Above, and below:  Leah and Menny; Eli and Asher explore the Magna-Tiles.)

     What do we talk about while we're building?  Shane announced, "I can help!"  Asher explained, "It opens like that!"  

     Ezra said, "Asher's station might fall down."

     We asked them, "What are you talking about over here?"  Emmett repeated our question, "What are we talking about?  We're talking about living in houses!" 

      Rafi then called out, "Beep!  Beep!"  Is that a car going down that ramp?  .

     

     During the fall, we integrated our building skills with the holidays.  We built sukkot.  Yes, indeed, we did! Avraham Chaim was excited to tell us, "I'm going to build a sukkah with my dad!" (Below: our Sukkah City with Ben and Avraham Chaim. And such building!  There are boxes, wooden blocks and Legos.)

     Later in the fall, it was time to go out and see an actual construction site.  The first time we went out, our Morahs went over all the rules.  We had to follow a Morah carefully.  One Morah led the line, the other Morah was at the end.  

It was exciting to see the big equipment!  We are hard at work making our illustrations.

   

     Our Morah crossed the street to take a close-up picture for us.  She also came back with a handful of Georgia clay for us to handle.  It's wet and mushy! (And, in the following weeks, we were able to work with real clay when we made our Chanukah menorahs.)

     When we made our first visit to the site, there were no walls.  Now, we notice the walls are going up, and the floor foundation has been laid.

     One group heard the noise of a jack-hammer.  The second group noticed a very stinky smell.  The port-o-john was being cleaned!  (Lucky us to come at such a moment!)  At the construction site, Ben and Gabi both told us, "I made the bathroom!" as they drew their illustrations.  Gross, but exciting at the same time.  

     So we viewed the construction going on down our block, and we build again and again in our room.  We have another building venue, too! (Below, working with the big outdoor blocks.  We have learned to be careful with these--we don't want them falling on our toes!  We also know to put them away carefully at the end of the day, to protect them from the rain.)

      We work as teams as we build together.  Sometimes Kitah Dalet-Hey joins us, and sometimes Kitah Bet looks on.  That's the sweet advantage of building outside:  we participate as Kitah Gimmel, but with the camaraderie of the greater IJP community.

     So what's next for us?  We're looking forward to learning from construction specialists after our Winter Break.  Parents, grandparents and friends--let us know if you'd like to come and talk with us.  We are ready to learn more . . .