Observing and Working in Extended Day

Observing and Working in Extended Day

     Sometimes, we spend our time sitting quietly and noticing our environment; at other times we are as busy as ever!  

     On Monday, a tree-cutter came to our neighborhood.  This was very exciting and very noisy! We sat on our wooden fence and watched as the crane went up, the tree-cutter turned on his buzz-saw, and an orange claw came down to grab a tree limb.  This went on for a few hours.  We took turns watching the action, then taking a playing break, followed by some more watching. 

The line-up:  Yonah, Liav, Orli , Alex, Hendrix, Leo, Sam

     Section by section, the tree came down.  After a while, we were getting hungry.  It was a beautiful day and we would have our snack outside.  But what about the worker, so high up in the tree, what would happen if he were hungry.  What would he do?

Sylvia and Avraham Chaim--practically glued-in place as they watch the scene unfold. 

     Would he come down to grab a snack, or did he have a granola bar in his pocket, or could be get a snack "delivered" to him high up in the tree?  What if he couldn't come down to grab a bite?
     Here are some of our responses:
Avraham Chaim:  Shoot a snack to him!  On a bow and arrow!
Sylvia:  Make a thick long string, tied around the tree (and send the food up.)
Orli:  Or use a big chunky rock, to pull him up.

Leo and Hudson, with the crane in the background.

     Then we began to have some fun with our ideas:
Hudson:  He could go down, and up for some chocolate--it will drop on his face!
Lily:  He might find a goose up there to eat!
Leo:  Or a duck!
Sylvia: Or a reindeer!  (laughs)  Deer have three stomachs, I heard it on Wow in the World.  He'll have to use a big flashlight.  Special cranes have lights all around.
Avraham Chaim:  He'll have to come back tomorrow.

      The weather was not so mild later in the week, in fact it was cold and drizzly.  It was a good opportunity to spend some time indoors, no tree-watching for us.  What would we do?  Some of us worked on an art activity and some of us got involved with a major construction project.

      The children worked quickly and within a few minutes there was an elaborate track spread across the floor.
       We asked the children to tell us about their construction:
Sam:  It's something for cars to ride on.
Hudson:  It's broken!
Amiel:  It's a train track, no a car track!
Sam:  It's a track, cars can go on it.
Hendrix:  I made a bridge!  (Morah reminds him to be careful with it.)  I am careful!
Dovid, holding a truck:  It's not a car, it's an ice cream truck!

Amiel, Hendrix and Alex go to work.

Liav, Hudson, Dovid and Sam add cars to the tracks.

The Extended Day children make a plan, negotiate some changes, adapt their plans and then continue with their construction.

     So, we are always busy learning and growing.  At times, we sit and watch our environment.  We were so lucky to observe the tree cutter this week!  At other times, we are the ones who swing into action.  We make our plan, change and adapt to our friends' suggestions and then continue with our project.  We had a lot of fun with our track--we may continue with this next week!

Shabbat Shalom!

The Extended Day Morahs with the busy Extended Day construction workers/yeledim

Pre-KA Prepares Potatoes for Shabbat Dinner

Shabbat is coming! In honor of our school Shabbat Dinner, we chose a dish to prepare where our little toddler hands would be able to complete every step of the process. In one of our slots with Morah Jessica, we went out to our herb garden to pick some fresh herbs. Plucking the herbs from the stem was a great fine motor skill and sensory experience! We felt the different textures of the herbs in our hands and smelled their individual scents.

Together with Morah Jessica we wrapped bunches in wire and hung them upside down to dry out.

When they were dry, we used a real mortar and pestle to grind the herbs into fine pieces. The marble pestle was heavy!

 

 Then we were ready to prep our potatoes. We chose fingerling potatoes so they would be ready to go without any peeling or chopping necessary. We scrubbed our potatoes clean with sponges and water. 

When they dried we took turns adding different ingredients to flavor our potatoes. We poured oil using a small measuring cup and sprinkled on different spices, including our picked herbs.

Delicious and homemade! Natural life-cycle activities are filled with opportunities for skill development. They also encourage independence and confidence as children feel successful in their endeavors and gain mastery over new abilities.

Kitah Bet's Textured Leaf Art

BS”D

In watching the process of fall, children notice the leaves changing day by day.  This multi-tiered project mimicked the process of fall and combined with our study of the senses. 

We started with sand paper and children felt the rough texture, comparing it to our new peg boards made with nails.  “It’s like this!” observed one child of the paper’s roughness compared to the pointiness of the nail tops. 

The art of this project contained three components—first the children looked at the fall leaves in a vase on the table and drew their renditions of the leaves with crayons.  “Look! A leaf!” exclaimed one child.  “I made a leaf!” pointed another. “I made lots of leaves!” added a third child. 

Next, children added fall-colored dot paint and water colors.  “It looks like orange paint!” noticed one child.  Some children decided to add the actual leaves to their art, by decorating the leaves on the table with water color.  Remembering the honeycomb art and leaf stamping we did earlier this year, children took their painted leaves and turned them face down on the paper.

Several children requested to repeat this project: “Morah, I want to do another one!” Watching their classmates, children copied each other on drawing their leaves and painting more shapes and lines with the watercolor.  This project brought nature into our classroom in new art mediums, giving children a tangible way to express themselves in the seasons. 

Kitah Alef Finds a Worm

One of the tenets of Reggio Emilia is that nature is a teacher and should be considered as such. In Kitah Alef, we spend as much time outside as possible. The fresh air is calming, the open space is necessary, and our students always find little ways of learning something new and surprising. Their attention is turned downwards, many times, and items that may go unnoticed by an adult or an older child become the pentacle of the day. 

 Recently, it had rained overnight, and there were a handful of earthworms on the playground. Sydney and Abe noticed one, and pointed it out to a Morah. Of course, we quickly moved our earthworm friend to one of the raised planting beds so it would be safe! Sydney and Abe referred to the worm as a "snake", which is genius in its own way (that they've related it's size and shape to that of a snake, something generally much larger). We talked about the similarities between worms and snakes, and the differences. We took turns making the "sssssssssss" sound, and even learned that earthworms are our friends because they make more dirt. 

 

                     

Soon enough, other friends were attracted, and come over to see what all the fuss was about. Everyone took turns pointing out the worm to newcomers, making sure they could see it, and watching their faces light up as they did. We also used our bodies to show others how a worm moves (like doing the wave with one arm). At the end of our adventure, we wished the worm well and went back to other play, but there was something condensed in that 20-or-so minutes. The sheer joy students find in noticing something small, and all the learning that can emerge from even a single earthworm. The Morahs learned something too, about providing the students as many opportunities as possible to "discover" small special things, and give those discoveries weight. 

Baby Doll Circle Time in Pre-KA

We are starting something exciting in our class. It’s called Baby Doll Circle Time! Baby Doll Circle Time is a curriculum created by Conscious Discipline designed to promote healthy bonding and social-emotional skills in infants and toddlers.

Once a week when we gather on the rug for our regular circle time, the children are met with a big basket of cute, lifelike baby dolls. The children are prompted to choose a doll for themselves. We sing:

 “Get your baby, get your baby,

 get your baby, time to play,” 

to the tune of “Oh My Darlin,” 

signaling the beginning of the playtime. Then the fun begins!

 There are five steps to Baby Doll Circle Time:

1. Transition to getting your baby

2. Beginning awareness

3. Connection

4. Cuddling and soothing

5. End and transition to next activity

The children will interact with their baby dolls in the same ways we interact with the children individually. If we play peek-a-boo, stop and go, or tickling games with your child, your child will play the same game with the baby doll. In doing so, the children re-experience that connection over and over again, helping to optimize their social-emotional development. Baby Doll Circle Time is based on scientific understanding of brain function. It taps into "mirror neurons," cells in the brain that allow for the transfer of emotions merely by observing them.

Soothing our babies

 When children act out gentle, loving behaviors with their babies, they, in turn, receive that attention as if an adult was doing it with them! This is a huge boost in empathy development and will help children form more caring relationships.