Thursday, May 18, 2017

KDH and Eric Carle

As a Reggio inspired school we strive for exploration and learning that is child directed. Some years it is obvious immediately what the children have a special interest in and other times it takes a few months to evolve.

Cassie loves penguins (at least she did until her grandfather told her that they bite). She ignited the class's interest in them. We explored them for a while but were ready to move on. Then, class mom, Lynne Glenn planned our trip to the High Museum to see the Eric Carle exhibit and do Eric Carle style art.We began our preparation for the outing by reading the Eric Carle books that were featured in the exhibit. The children took an immediate liking to his books and his art. Morah Sara created a matching game for the children to use when touring the museum.

Meanwhile in the classroom, the children listened to The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the listening center (thank you Jaci Effron!). They noticed the pictures of the food. At the same time we were saying the brachot/blessings on all our food. We copied the layered painting and collage style art of Eric Carle and made a brachot place mat.  For Purim the children put together a Purim Purim What Do You See book similar to the Eric Carle illustrated and popular, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See." Fathers Day included Eric Carle art on a penguin.

We continued to bring Eric Carle books into the classroom. We teachers love them! The writing and illustrations support all learning domains. Carle addresses social emotional issues with books about friendship and feelings of people and animals! Cognitively, the descriptive language, learning about numbers and animals, patterns, repetition and sequencing and singing are a few of the benefits of immersing in  these books. Gross and fine motor are strengthened in books with movement and copying Eric Carle's art. The children loved the humor in the book, The Nonsense Show. The Red Fox exposed us to science.

As the year drew to a close, we planned with the children their year end performance. An Eric Carle based show seemed to be the obvious choice. We needed a script with songs, costumes, and props. We could get all that from just three books. We planned and practiced.

We do an exit interview with each child. When asked, "What book/books are your favorite?", many of the children answered, "Eric Carle books." Asked what they especially enjoyed during the year, quite a few mentioned the trip to the High Museum to see the Eric Carle exhibit. At lunch one day this past week, after reading together, we asked the children why they liked the books and what they learned from them. Almost every hand shot up.  The children were very eager to share their thoughts on Eric Carle's books.

Ruth: I like to read them. I like the pictures.
Pearl: I like when the hungry caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly.
Freeda: I like the collages.
Noa: I like the different colors.
Levi: I like the words and the pictures.
Cassie: I like The Nonsense Show.
Yoni: I have a game of the Hungry Caterpillar.
Max: I also like The Nonsense Show.
Izzy: I learned about numbers.
Freeda: We counted sheep in The Nonsense Show.
Sam: I like painting like Eric Carle.
Ruth: I like the repetition.
Hannah: My favorite book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I loved reading it at the Listening Center. 
Reed: The animals are interesting.
Ari Shacham: I liked the pictures.
Ari Effron: I like the collages.
Dovid: I like the colors, words and collages.
Shaya: I liked the animals.
Freeda: Eric Carle does not make it very real. He uses his imagination.
Henia: I liked everything that Eric Carle made!

The children touched on everything beneficial, fun and funny in the Eric Carle experience.

Children: you made 2016-2017 the Year of Eric Carle.



Morah Ruth
Morah Sara
Morah Gail










Monday, May 15, 2017

The Moms of KDH

We love our moms! Let us count the ways......

KDH children are busy preparing for Mothers Day in IJP. As part of the celebration we interview each child about his/her mom. Here's what your children told us about you.
Moms range in age from 17 to 90 years old!!
Your favorite colors are purple, pink, green, blue, teal, red, orange and yellow.
What do you like to eat? Carrots, mushrooms, veggie burgers,chicken, meat, eggplant parmesan, macaroni and cheese, avocado, spinach, sushi, watermelon. strawberries and blueberries, potato kugel, and quite a few of you like salad. The one that made us smile was, "My mom's favorite food is the tacos that my Daddy makes!"
What songs/music do you enjoy? Hashem Melech, Eighth Day, Let It Go, Bruno, Reggae, The World is a Rainbow, Adele, a French song, and Tom Petty. One mom likes to dance at meetings with her friends. Her son does not know what music they dance to - he's home with the babysitter!
Your favorite places to go to are: Spicy Peach, New York City, Israel, to exercise, your child's baseball game, Yogli Mogli, The Grove in L.A., shopping,  out for dinner, to get ice cream, a museum, to a meeting, Columbus, OH, the bakery, France, to work in her office, and finally Target! 
What do you especially enjoy doing together with your children? Baking challah, playing aleph bet games,playing Trouble, putting together hard puzzles, playing Uno, playing Hungry Hippo, learning the abc's, going to Catch air, to the park, taking walks with them, going places, playing together, making dinner, cleaning laundry, using Perler beads.
You moms are the best ever!!! Why? You snuggle with your children, cook very yummy food, do lots of stuff for your children, help them a lot, take them to the store, are nice, give presents, give hugs and kisses, take care of them, always love them, take them to the zoo, help clean their rooms. You love them so much and they love you !!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Morah Ruth
Morah Sara

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Rainy Days in KB-5


We've been having a lot of Spring rain lately, but the rain sure hasn't stopped us in Kitah Bet. Although it sometimes prevents us from playing outside, there are so many fun things that we can do, find, and see, when it's raining. 

We opened up the window in the classroom during the rain, and children got such joy from sticking their hands out and feeling the rain. "It feels like cinnamon" Yaakov Meir said, and Sylvia said, "It feels wet." 






One day we had quite the rainy day adventure when while playing outside, it starting pouring rain all of a sudden- and we all got soaked! Getting caught in the rain brought such laughs and excitements all around.




Another day, we walked outside after the rain had stopped, and we noticed there were lots of puddles all around. There was one puddle in particular that caught our attention- it had rainbows in it! The children were entranced by the beautiful colors that were reflected in the puddle and stopped for quite some time to just admire it.








On Thursday while playing inside, the children asked to go outside into the rain and jump in some puddles- so that is just what we did! This one was definitely one of our favorite rainy day activities. 






When we go back outside after a rain, the children love to bring out some paper towels and go around the playground wiping up all the rain so that it will be dry for everyone. What great helpers!

















We sure do know how to turn rain into rainbows- find the fun in everything and utilize everything is an opportunity to experiences new things and to connect to our environment and surroundings. 



Monday, May 8, 2017

KDH Loves Doing Mitzvot

At lunch each day we read the mitzvah notes that the children bring in. Today there were none in the envelope when Morah Gail stuck in her hand to take them out. We talked about bringing more in. Freeda said, "I don't have a note but I did a mitzvah. I made baby Levi stop crying." The other children chimed in, "We did mitzvot too." Morah Gail told the children, "How about today instead of your parents writing the mitzvot down, you tell me what you did." Here's what was shared:
Reed: I let Anslee choose what to do when playing together.
Noa: I brought down my brother's backpack and shoe.
Levi: I watched the baby when he woke up and made him stop crying.
Ari Effron: I slept through the night and did not wake up my parents.
Dovid: I kissed the mezuzah at my house.
Sam: I said the brochot before eating lunch today.
Henia: I went to bed when Tatty told me to go.
Cassie: I davened in class this morning.
Izzy: I cleaned up the room for Noa's coming over.
Max: I cleaned up the kids' table for Havdallah.
Ari Shacham: I let Mommy go out and stayed home with a babysitter.
Pearl: I brushed my teeth and went to bed when Mira told me to to.
Ruth: I gave Hannah my pearler bead heart.
Hannah: I listened and cleaned up the magnatiles.
Yoni: I cleaned up my room - I helped my mom do it.

What a beautiful list of mitzvot!!! KDH we are very proud of you.

Morah Ruth
Morah Sara
Morah Gail


Sunday, May 7, 2017

Delightful Surprises . . .Literature Leads to Art, to Science and More . . .


     Walking around the Intown Jewish Preschool neighborhood  leads to delightful surprises.   It's interesting to notice the Craftsman-style homes, the old-tree growth and some cobblestone-paved streets. One additional treat is the book-boxes in front of so many homes.  It's fun to stop and investigate.  Often, there are some great children's books inside!  
     One day, a copy of It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw was in the box across the street our school.  Bonus!  It's a contemporary classic--perfect to introduce to Kitah Gimmel.
     So, we shared the book.  Then we used little pillow shapes to reinforce and retell the story during Morning Arrival ((above, with Maddy and Anslee.)
     We used our scissors and paper to create some ambiguous shapes. (Natalie cuts her shape. Annika does some serious multi-tasking, taking a call while keeping an eye on her friend.)
Anslee tells us about her shape.
Caleb cuts his paper.
Annabelle and Evan prepare their shapes.
Lily smiles as she cuts. (Below, Sammy, Yannai, Becker and Yinon create their designs.)




Finally, we were done!
What did we make?  A penguin, bowls, a knife, one kiddush cup . . .and so much more.
We could identify all our classmates' work!

Then we used paint and construction paper to get similar, yet different, results as our cut-up paper artwork.  (Ezra and Annika use the pipettes and paint to create symmetrical designs.) This time, we noticed the designs were "symmetrical."  The Kitah Gimmelniks called this, "Matchy-Matchy."  Yes indeed, both sides did match!  "Symmetrical" is now a new vocabulary word for the Kitah Gimmelniks. 

             
Want to try this at home?  Here's a pic of our book, the first copyright, 1947.  Yep, a real classic!  (And, p.s. stay tuned . . .noticing and identifying different cloud shapes is up next, another natural extension of the book . . .)

Morah Susan, Morah India and the Yeledim of Kitah Gimmel

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Kitah Alef's Ladybugs!

We are so excited to welcome our new ladybug friends to our class. They arrived in a tube along with instructions for proper care.

 We opened the tube...

 ...shook out the ladybug larva (baby ladybugs) into their house...

 ...and took turns observing our new specimens.







Every other day Morah Rena squeezes a few drops of water onto their sponge so they'll have plenty to drink.
 

We'll check on our ladybugs every day to see their progress from larva to pupa (sleeping in their shells) to fully-formed adults! Once they have all transformed we will set them free outside. What a tangible science experience!