We're Big, We've Got This

We're Big, We've Got This

     So, we've been here before.  We're the Kitah Vav-Zayin-Ches group.  We're certainly older than the campers in Kitah Alef, Bet, and Gimmel. We're even older than Dalet/Hey, traditionally the oldest group at Intown Jewish Preschool.  This is why the IJP Administration calls us "The Older Division."  It's a badge of pride.  It comes with extra responsibilities, as well as a certain amount of figuring out where exactly do we fit in and what would we like to do.  

     Some things never change; we know we like to play in the mud every now and then. (above, Pearl and Dovid join in with some of the younger children.)

     We also know that we like games with rules and strategies. We bring out games every Monday during Arrival Time and we try to squeeze in board games whenever we have a free moment during the rest of the week.  We're familiar with chess, Mastermind,  Hedbanz, Mancala and quite a few other games.  The Morah taught us Chinese Checkers.  (She thought she knew this game as a child, and then very recently, she actually learned the real rules.)       

     Our artwork shows our skills.  We know how to read and write.  We design our own bags, independent of a Morah.  (Above, Chana and Levi work on their bags.  Below, some of the results.)

     Now this was fascinating, from the point of view of a Morah.  We headed out to the Beltline on our scooters, ready for a good time of racing about, people-watching, and then cooling off at Chabad Center.  Pearl wanted to know, "Why is there a truck on the Beltline?"  Before a Morah could respond, the group read the words, Trees Atlanta!  The truck was there for, "Growing, Protecting, Educating."  Yep, we know that.

     Books have more meaning for us.  We can read a lot words.  (Above, Henia and Chana share a book about the White House, one of our Fourth of July themes.)

     We write, too.  When we shared Fourth of July concepts, we wrote some of our thoughts on our group mobile.  Chana wrote about being free to be a Jew in the United States.

     There are so many Junior Counselors on the playground!  Some of us went around and interviewed the new staff, asking them about their favorite foods, books, etc.  We wanted to learn a few facts about them.  What do they like to do in their spare time?  We wrote down their responses.

     Then, we started preparing for our Puppet Show.  It will be an original story, and we're still working on it.  Something about Mr. Banana Pants, and something about this and something about that.  After much discussion, we're ready to work on the script.  

     We decided that we must, must have tickets for the puppet show and that they must be numbered.  We're using our writing and math skills to get this job done.  Junior Counselor Yulie took us around to all the other groups so we could figure out how many tickets we would need.  Our conclusion:  we need an additional five.  We have to get to work on this.

     We build on our art skills, too.  Last summer, we learned how to paper mache using newspaper, glue and water. We make bigger bowls this time around, with a plan to use them to collect our tickets during the show.

     So it's all coming together for us.  We're using all our abilities as the oldest "bunk" to organize ourselves in our work and play.  (And, just in case we give the impression that we're only about literacy and math, here are a few pics where we're all about moving and fun!  Enjoy!)

Have a Happy Fourth!

Morah Susan, and the campers and junior counselors of Kitah Vav-Zayin-Ches