One of our favorite spots on the playground... the very new ship!

On the New Ship the children…

…Pretend they are captains

!

…Slide!  And Climb!  Using their gross motor skills and of course their imaginations. We will keep you posted about new adventures and games.

Look Morah... I can write my name!

One of the morning activities was writing letters, this was in continuation of the interest in letter writing after we wrote shana tova cards to Grandparents.  Provided for the children were stamped letters, colored pencils, colored tape & envelopes 

   

Jona took a marker wrote his name on the tape and put it next to his name on the rug! What a great connection with literacy, was made by Jonah.

Pre-literacy in KG...

New Documentation went up on the wall in the Dress Up center, it did not go unnoticed.  Eden is here studying the picture of her friends, and perhaps the writing that goes along with it.  Will she ask the Morah “what does it say?”?

Balance and gravity in the block center...

At the block center, Sholom was proud of his balanced structure…and then it fell…

Felix was excited to use his expertise to demonstrate how they could rebuild it.  We  ask questions like, “why do you think it fell?”, “How can we build it sturdier?”

The Apples of ours Eyes

         Go back in time two weeks.... Walk into our classroom and all around you can feel the Holiday spirit. We discussed the custom of eating apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashana; this is done symbolically,  so that we should all  be blessed with a sweet new year! Children learn best from doing, so we got right into the action: Each child got an apple wedge and little cup of honey. It was a sight to be seen... some children licked the honey all the way to the bottom of their cup, while others asked us for another piece of apple. It was evident to each of us Morahs just how much the children appreciate this custom, and how sweet it is to have concrete acts to bring out lofty Judaic concepts . 

          A natural outgrowth of the joy in eating sweet apples and honey, is making apples a part of our method of inquiry  in Kitah Gimmel.  At our group gathering I brought a basket of apples. Together we named the three colors of apples we  brought in, we also named the apple names, Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. Oh, and of course pointed out that A is for apple (a very holistic way in which we will cover all of the alpha bet slowly but surely throughout the year). We continued to explore the apples and which features the various apples have in common. One of our friends pointed out that all 3 apples were round. "Just like pizza and snow balls", "the world is also round", "wheels on my mom's car" were just some of the ideas of round things the children thought of. The children waited patiently while I went around and gave each child a piece of Red, Yellow and green apples to taste. Then, everyone had a chance to tell the class which color apple was their favorite. I graphed this, and together we counted how many of us like each color. Green won by one point, with red and yellow coming in at a tie, 5 each! 

          

 We have been thinking of a way to take the apple conversation one step further. On Thursday, at our group gathering I brought a scale, some more apples, and small teddy bears. You can see the children's suspense as we counted how many big teddy bears, and how many small teddy bears weighed as much the apples. We also weighed two apples at a time to see which apple was the heavier one. The children all wanted to to have a turn to weigh items on the scale, so during play time the weighing continued. The scale sat in the middle of the room and our friends had turns playing with the wooden scale, and seeing which items in our classroom weigh more and which weigh less. 

Next stop on our apple exploration journey. Drawing apple still life art... 

Can't wait to see where our apple exploration will take Kittah Gimmel next! 

A "Sense" of the Holidays!

In Kitah Alef Bet, we have been using all of our senses to experience the different symbols and traditions of the Fall holidays.We held a pomegranate and opened it up to reveal the seeds. We tasted the seeds and exclaimed the words that came to mind when we ate them, like, "tasty," and "crunchy."

Yummm! Pomegranate!

Then we waved our soft lulav and etrog set!

waving the plush lulav and etrog

And we used sponges in shapes like apples, shofars, and honey jars to make sponge paintings!

sponge painting in holiday shapes

Listening to a story about building the sukkah

Rosh Hashana Reflections

Kitah Daled Hey came back after Rosh Hashana with so much to share with each other.

Ari: I dipped the apple in the honey and I used my honey dish.
Nessia: We dipped round challah into honey, too.
Theo: I heard the shofar blown at shul.
Isaac: We went to shul and were listening to Hashem. We read from the Torah and heard the shofar.
Mendel S.: I went to Tashlich at Piedmont Park and threw bread into the water. Nessia:  A lot of people went.  Menny: There were ducks in the water.  Mendel T.: We saw a dog at Tashlich.
Menny: We had guests at our house.
Benjamin: We went to a family service. I asked the Rabbi a question. He told me I had to ask my parents that question because it was so hard.
Einav: My Mommy bought me a pink dress with orange squares and a pink bow on the front. We dipped apple into honey.
Mendel T.: I learned how to blow my Tatty’s shofar.
Esther: My Nana visited. My mommy gave me a honey stick.
Nessia: We went to the hospital to blow the shofar but could not get in. People were standing on the sidewalk. We gave them honey sticks and blew the shofar for them.
Menny: We got Rosh Hashana cards with a treat in them, from our counselors.
Mendel S.: We ate fish. It was yummy!
Ari: I went to shul and heard the shofar.
Benjamin: We went to my cousins and we voted on which apple we liked best, like what we did at school.
Mendel T.: It was raining yesterday and the tent at shul was leaking! There was huge puddle and everyone ran inside.    I got a new Yarmulka and tzitzit.
Einav, Nessia and Menny: We ate the seeds of a pomegranate. 
Einav: Dessert was honey cake that my Mom made and the honey cake we baked in school.

By Morah Ruth - KDH

The Intersection of Teacher and Artist

Something that stuck with me in grad school is that children's art is an expression of their experiences. It is how they make meaning, and organize their experiences. This applies to representational work that we typically see in children five+ years old (I.e. "This is a picture of me and my family"), but also to the non-representational work of younger ones, as what they are showing you in their art is not necessarily a recollection of how something looks, but an experience of how something feels. I.e. the back-and-forth lines on paper are a representation of one's experience with crayon. In Reggio Emilia terminology, this is part of the concept of "the hundred languages of children."

One of the languages of teachers is their bulletin boards. It is how we communicate to the school community, visually, the goings-on in our classrooms. Though they are often high up on the walls, out of arms reach, the children do notice these boards, and delight in identifying themselves and their peers in the pictures. 

It became apparent to me that the board in Kitah Alef Bet was sorely in need of a makeover, as our group had gone through so many new experiences and grown together in only 2 short weeks. I needed to cull through the hundreds of pictures we had taken, organize our experiences, and make meaning. What I realized once I started arranging the pictures on the table in front of me, is that I was not just organizing their experience of school, I was organizing my experience as a teacher in this classroom. Designing the board became an art experience.

I wonder: Even if we don't always view our bulletin boards as artwork, is there some component of teacher self-expression inherent in all the bulletin boards we see?

Apples and Attitudes in Kitah Gimmel

We often talk about how at IJP we are teaching skills and also the disposition toward  learning.  We try to remember that skills are easier to come by, but the dispositions, the attitudes, emotional in nature,  are much more difficult to mold.  

I thought a lot about this after such a sweet moment in our class.  

 Yudi took out one of our activity trays, a game with dice.  He began to play and was having trouble reading the numbers 1-4 on the die. 

He called Eden over to read the number to him.

 This went back and forth, Yudi persevering in getting his whole tree filled with apples to finish the game, and Eden responding to each call of "can you help me read this number?" 

  We will all know our numbers eventually. But how many of us have the will to persevere through a challenge, and how many of us come repeatedly to the call of a friend in need? 

And the icing on the cake; when the other children saw how fun this game seemed, with Eden willing to keep coming back and Yudi engaging for so long, they too wanted a part.

By Morah Estee - KG

What Happens When You're Not Looking

It is easy to slide into routines of the day and never really notice what, exactly, the children are doing when so engrossed with the various trays and play centers of our classroom. Yes, they are playing safely and being kind to those around them, but the specific actions they are taking on a given material can be overlooked if we do not take care to notice them.

For instance, we play with play-do every day. If a child is playing with play-do and somebody were to ask me what they are doing, I might answer, "they're playing with play-do." However, this doesn't actually answer the question.

Let's take a look at the above photo from Kitah Alef Bet, taken early this morning. Really look. When this child was presented with the golf tees, I stuck them in the mound of play-do, point-first, and left her to explore them on her own.

When I turned back to her three minutes later, the play-do and golf tees had been transformed into this design. I inferred that she had pinched off small pieces of the play-do, and arranged them in a line. Next, she took the golf tees and placed them top-first into the play-do, creating this repeating pattern. Doing, not what was shown to her, but trying something different because she was curious.

This is not "mindless play." These are deliberate choices made by a child when presented with engaging materials.

Each day is filled with countless moments like these. Seemingly small, but filled with the proof of learning and growth, and all we have to do is look.

Maiden Voyage

On our IJP ship!

A Peek at Our Rosh Hashana Cards

As you saw in an earlier Kitah Alef Bet post, we used bubble wrap to make yellow prints on construction paper. The Morahs used those prints to put together greeting cards wishing grandparents and special people a "Shana Tova"- a happy new year!

In the ones we sent out, there is a picture of your child on the left hand side.

They are fluttering away today! On their way to wish the special people in their lives a sweet new year. What a wonderful mitzva!

Is My Plate Full Yet?

There was a saying I used to hear a lot when I first moved to Atlanta in the late 90’s: "my plate is full". My husband and I had one child, expecting another and were running our Chabad Programs. I would think, “ Hmm, my plate doesn't feel full”

My husband and I decided that perhaps we just have larger plates. Others might be referring to their saucers whilst I have a dinner plate in front of me.

Needless to say, the years have gone by and somehow my plate never got full, it just got bigger. Through the years we have laughed about how the plate grew to be the whole table, then a small tub, and at this point my swimming pool is not yet full!

Thankfully, I don't much hear that expression anymore. Perhaps people have wisely traded in their dessert plates for larger ones, so there is always room to help and do more. Why am I thinking about this now? My discussions with my husband, Rabbi Schusterman, were about having time, capacity, patience, wherewithal, and, of course, money to do all the things we need to do. Rabbi Schuster man’s worldview, actually based on some Kabalistic teachings, is that however large your "keilim” or vessels are that is how much you will be able to fill them with. In other words, we are only limited by the size of our plates.

Starting a new school year at IJP, it is evident that this world view spills over into all aspects of our lives. We now have 8 children (Where is the vessel to transport them?) and a growing pre-school. We let go of our plan to tear down building three, which would require years of fighting city hall to rebuild, and instead embraced a plan to renovate it so we don't have to say "our school is full".

IJP now has a big plate,  big Keilim/Vessels, perhaps bigger than it needs in the moment, but with this attitude, it will be ready for the growth that is sure to come. To me this is a big deal. And I am taking a moment to really appreciate this reality of have largeness, expanse and broad vision lying before me. Oh yes, for me it does mean more work--- sigh. But, being able to fulfill your life's work of educating Jewish children and their families is worth an extra large plate. The environment created by the vision of Rabbi Schusterman and our fabulous staff here at IJP, is the benefit of Living Large. Thinking about consistently upgrading our capacity to give, help and cope is what we are all about.

So, no I did not get any new super powers to come back to work; manage my family which includes twin babies, be a wife and mother, and any other jobs that fall on my shoulders (or fall off my shoulders). Like you I find myself in many places at once, and hope I am doing the best, in that moment, where I am. I do it because I feel passionate about it all, I feel like I can make a difference and because my husband showed me and taught me to do it bigger, do it better...

Learning Routines in Kitah Aleft Bet

In Kitah Alef Bet there are so many experiences that we are all having for the first time. Some of the children are in school for the first time, with new Morahs, meeting new friends, learning how to use new materials and we are all getting used to a new routine.
Much of this is new for us, the Morahs, too and as our new little friends are getting to know us, we are getting to know them.
We had prepared a basic schedule before meeting the children but as we are getting to know them and their particular needs we are tweaking it. We are adjusting it to suit the children as we figure out when is their best time for snack, outside play, calm circle time, lunch time, open play etc. .

We felt that it might be better to have a calm focused activity after lunch rather than open play so we added a large group activity of play dough. The children sat and played with the play dough and tools rolling, poking, slicing for a about 25 minutes! This is a huge accomplishment for this age, and a good sign of focus and concentration budding inside of each of the children.

"We can all get turns!"

On the first day of school, the children were so excited with all the new toys that we have in our classroom. We noticed that there were many children crowding some of the more popular baskets of toys.  This was not going to work...hmmm.

We gathered a few children and discussed how if that many children are playing at each basket it can make it hard for everyone to fully be involved with the toy. We began to brainstorm ways to have meaningful play with this many children and this many toys available. The children came up with some ideas, "how about if at each basket, only two children play at a time", " how about if we have switching time? this way we can all get turns!"  Wow! We are off to a great start with problem solving already.

Now, all our friends get turns to play, two at a time with these specific materials. The children seem happy and peace reigns in Kitah Gimmel.

New Beginnings

It's that time of year. All around us we are hearing about "back to school". But for many of us in Kitah Gimmel, the first few days felt like school as usual. We feel so lucky that the transition into our new space, routine and friends was smooth as ever. 

We were looking for a way to help the children get to know our new classroom, and to get to know what each center is all about. At our group meeting, I brought magnifying glasses and various items from around the classroom to the circle.

We spoke about finding clues, and taught the children a new word "detective", somebody who looks for clues to help figure things out.  This will be a great skill for the children  moving forward, figuring things out for themselves by using the clues we give the children or they see around them.  For example; if there are paint brushes, water and a smock, the children can figure out that this is the art area and follow the rules of working with these materials.  

Next, the children each had a turn to become a detective . Each child chose a magnifying glass, great prop for looking for details; and helped our classroom materials find its way back to the center in which it belongs. When we gathered back in our circle, I asked the children which item they had, and where they had brought it back to.  We then discussed "what was the clue that told you where it belongs".  As you can tell, higher level thinking is in full order as we are all getting bigger and more responsible. 

Blocks Center in Kitah Daled Hey

One morning Esther and AmariaLia sat down together at the block center and built a long structure on the floor. They created a very interesting pattern with the blocks. When they were finished building they each took out a clipboard and drew the doors. Clipboards with paper and pencils are always in the block area making it easy for the children to choose to make diagrams of their block structures. Why are children encouraged to draw their play/work? This drawing not only improves their fine motor skills it enhances their cognitive ability to represent and later write about their work.

By Morah Ruth - KDH

What Makes Kitah Daled Hey Happy?

As part of KDH’s discussion of All About Me and My Friends, we asked the children, “What makes you feel happy?  Each child was “interviewed” by him/herself so that their responses would reflect their own ideas, not what they heard others say in class. After they all responded we talked about their thoughts at circle time. 

What makes KDH children feel happy?

Mendel Sollish told us, “When people are nice to me, I feel happy.”

Theo wanted to talk about what he does to make others feel happy. He said,” I make Jules happy by making funny jokes at him.”

Menny answered, “ I am happy when I am playing boat.”
Benjamin responded, “Being with my Daddy makes me happy. He is gone so much.”

Nessia contributed that she feels happy, “when I am doing something I like, for example coloring.”

Einav replied,” I feel happy when I share stuff with my big sister.”

AmaraLia joyously told us, “I feel happy on sunny days!”

Esther surprised Morah Ruth when she said, “I feel happy looking at you, Morah Ruth!” Wow, that response made Morah Ruth feel happy.

Ari smiled and said, “I am happy when I play with my baby sister.”

Kira agreed with that thought, “I am happy when I am with my baby, Mickey.”

Mendel Treitel chimed in, “Playing with my Levi makes me happy.

Isaac contributed, “I am happy when I play with my toys and I love my Daddy and Mommy!”

These thoughts will be the basis for continuing discussion of what makes us happy and how we try to make others happy. This is social emotional development. We think about this even more than usual at Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur time. We pray for a Good New Year for ourselves and everyone else too! We wish all those around us a Shana Tova and give more tzedakah than usual. Kitah Daled Hey is writing cards to grandparents sending them good wishes. We KNOW that receiving these cards will surely bring them joy!

By Morah Ruth - KDH

Paint + Bubble Wrap

The invitation:

This sheet of bubble wrap has a bumpy surface and glossy look that beg to be touched. Upon arrival, some children ran their hands over it. Now, add some paint into the mix, and curiosity really kicks in:

What do we learn from such a deep sensory experience with paint?

 

Shabbat is all around us

Our First Friday in Kitah Alef Bet

We heard the Shabbat songs our morahs sang and sang along. We saw the light of the bright Shabbat candles. We made a bracha and tasted sweet grape juice. Our hands felt the challah dough as we rolled squeezed and shaped it. And we smelled the freshly baked Challah. "Wow".

What a special way to celebrate tradition with all our little senses.