Mini Yard Day in Pre- KA

Spring is around the corner! It can be felt in the weather (most of the days;) and seen in the beautiful flowers that were planted on Sunday! Sunday was Yard Day at IJP, and it was so nice to have so many families come and help to improve and beautify our preschool. There were new flowers planted, and a new bridge/ ramp built near the sandbox, which Pre- KA especially loved running back and forth on. 

So, we decided to have our own mini Yard Day in Pre- KA!  

We filled a sensory bin with soil, different beans and seeds, and some flowers.

We put in shovels, scoopers, and watering cans to give a complete feel of digging and planting.

When we placed the bin down, the children immediately ran over and started digging and scooping!

Kitah Aleph and Kitah Bet saw how much fun we were having, and ran over to come dig and plant with us!

Then, each child got a little planter bowl, and got to 'plant' some soil into it to make our very own plants!

When we went back inside, each child got a turn to carefully water their plants.

Then, we placed them on the windowsill of our classroom!

We cant wait to water them each day, and watch them grow!

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah's Leah, Leah, and Shahla

KDH and Ponce City Market

Each day is an adventure in KDH but some days are more .....

On Tuesday morning during center time the children took the straw manipulatives and connectors and erected a large building. We asked them, "What is this?" Jules replied, "It's the Ponce City Market." 

Watch how the building progressed!

It was a beautiful day outside. We asked the children, "Would you like to walk on the Beltline to the Ponce City Market?" We got a resounding response, "Yes!"

We lined up with partners and were on our way. We sang as we walked and enjoyed the gorgeous day.The children expressed a special interest in finding all the bridges on the walk. The first one that we walked under was renamed by KDH, "The Echo Bridge."

We noticed the bridge over Ponce de Leon. The one bridge that was a disappointment was the bridge to the Ponce City Market. It was closed for repairs. So after the long walk, we sat on what Amitai called, "the squiggly bench," to rest up before our walk back.

We only have these two pictures from the outing and wanted to create something about our outing. On Wednesday morning, the children drew the the bridges, flowers, trees, friends, the Ponce City Market with its many windows and flag on top and more....Next, we sat down and the children dictated to us what to write in the book.

Ms. Donna scanned the pictures and turned it into a book for us!

What excitement! 

The only way we could make it even better is by going inside the Ponce City Market.

Next time!!

Morah Ruth

We Love Our Playground!

No addition was unnoticed on our newly renovated playground this week.  The students took the afternoon Morahs around showing all of the exciting new features added to their already amazing outdoor learning area.  Some were fans of the flowers while others loved the bigger outdoor kitchen.  We had a great time exploring what felt like a brand new space and took full advantage of new learning experiences. 

"Look! We are a family making dinner together!"

"We can wash our hands and water the flowers at the same time!"

"Let's take turns picking up the rocks.  If you move one, you have to put it back then it's the next person's turn." After all of the rocks were taken from the pile, the students counted them then made their favorite shape! 

"We collected all of the rocks, now we're going to hide them in our wood building." 

Beautiful Daffoldils . . . Beautiful Weather . . . and What a Beautiful School!

Beautiful!

      On a perfect day, we took a perfect mini-trip.  We went outside bright and early, before our scheduled recess time.  We had noticed the beautiful daffodils the day before.  Now it was the time to go outside in small groups of only four at a time, to enjoy the weather and our newly-blossomed flowers.  Some of us went to the area opposite the bridge, some of us went curbside.  Daffodils are everywhere!

We are ready with our clip boards.  Sam says, "I made a bunch!"

Ari and Noa relax outside before getting to work.  Ari tells us that the flowers smell good.

We like this pic of Sam hard at work because it's such a perfect snapshot:  the background is oh-so-urban, the foreground is all about the beauty of nature.  We love our school's location! 

Leiba stops for a minute to think and plan.

Pearl, Ari and Noa (below) change their positions to try different views.  Ari is curious about the tissue-like base of each flower. Pearl exclaims, "I can't do it!  I need more paper!"  She's disappointed in her first attempt. We turn the paper over, and there's a new space to try once again.

Henia, Ari, Levi and Leiba get settled and begin their illustrations.  Levi points to the daffodil stem:  Look, he tells us, they're sticks!

We scooted in and out of the flower bed carefully.  We wanted to experience the flowers up close.

     

 Shlomit concentrates on her artwork (above), while Yoni, Shaya and Rami (below) work diligently.  Rami tells us about his own daffodils:  "I have so many outside my house!"  Yoni says the flowers look like giants.  Shlomit is impressed with our sketching pens--they are so black!

      Shaya inspects the daffodils.  He wanted to get a closer look-see, so he handled the petals carefully.   We're three and four years-old, so touching is a very important way for us to learn and experience life.

      (below) Reed, Hannah and Ruthie work on their illustrations.

      Look carefully--the moon is out, even though it's morning!  Izzy brought it to our attention.  Reed lets us know that he needs a few more minutes to work.

     Izzy tells us to look at the moon.  Hannah wants to know where is it.  Everyone looks up. Ruthie looks at the moon and tells us a mini-joke:  It's almost time for nappy time!

     Later in the day, we selected colored pencils in shades of green and yellow.  It was time to add color to our illustrations.  When finished with our pencils, we used our color palettes and our brushes to include an additional pop of color.

    

     While we were working, we noticed Kitah Dalet-Hey peeking out their windows and tapping on the glass.  They were looking at us!  We had such a good time enjoying the sunshine, the flowers, and waving a hello at our older friends. Such a grand way to spend the morning!

Enjoying the warm weather,

Morah Susan, Morah Yael and the Kitah Gimmel Yeledim