Kitah Bet's Rainbow Shadows

One of the Reggio paradigm's most essential components is the concept of Emergent Curriculum, the idea that we allow children's interests to guide the class's direction and what kind of projects we work on. One rainy afternoon, we traced Victoria's body onto a big sheet of paper to show her how tall she was! Jules became very interested, and so we traced her too! Morah Adi had the idea that we could paint their silhouettes with watercolor. The next day in class Benji noticed Victoria's rainbow shadow on the wall and said he wanted one too, and the rest is history! 

In Kitah Bet, if we do anything new, Morah Lindsey introduces it first at Circle Time. We talked about how Morah Lindsey would trace each friend, and that friends would get to pick which colors they were painted. 

Friends took turns laying on big pieces of paper and Morah Lindsey traced them with a marker! They had to lay very. very still. Lots of friends thought it tickled! Each friend got to choose how they posed while laying down. 

Next we used crayon to scribble on our silhouettes. Some friends asked us to write special things on their silhouettes (Benji asked for his sister, mommy, and daddy's letters of their first names). We noticed that when we painted over the crayon, the crayon showed through. 

Each day we painted a different friend. Morah Lindsey and Morah Adi made sure there were lots of watercolor choices to pick from, and each child chose which colors their friends used to paint them. Some friends in our class have Favorite Colors (Nathan loves red, Benji loves blue), who opted to use just one color. Other friends wanted to use lots of colors. 

 

Next, Morah Lindsey hung them all around our room. They were the perfect Purim decorations... such bright and beautiful colors, and we noticed they made us feel happy when we looked at them. 

Sophia, Rosie, and Victoria

Levana 

Evelyn

Jules

Nathan and Elijah

Benji, Norman, and Evie

We even made a Morah Lindsey!

Purim Puppets: A Multi-Sensory Experience

    The Jewish holidays provide the teachers an opportunity to create unique learning experiences for the children. Children tend to learn the best with opportunities that are multi-sensory. Indeed, the Jewish holidays themselves are multi-sensory! On Purim we hear the megillah (sound), eat a seudah (taste), and give gifts of food and tzedakah (touch). The Kitah Gimmel morahs worked to provide immersive  experiences that involved multiple senses for the children so they could internalize the joy and story of Purim at their level. 

    Puppetry is a multi-sensory way to tell the story of Purim. The KG students made their own puppets to help tell the story of Purim, feeling ownership and pride in their puppets. They used a found object (wooden spoon) for the body and head of the puppet. They used googly eyes, pieces of material, pom poms, ribbon, and fake hair to make whichever Purim character they wanted. The children were excited to make their puppets and were awed at their results. More than one child sat back from his or her work and said, with wonder, "Wow. It's so beautiful!" The act of making the puppet required fine motor skills to arrange the decorations and eyes. Executive functioning skills were also engaged for planning where the decorations would go on the spoon. The children engaged in dramatic play to tell the story of Purim once their puppets were complete.

The children are initially puzzled. They see the spoons like the ones they use to stir the batter for baking. Why are the spoons on the art table?

Each child concentrates, still a bit apprehensive of how the spoon can be turned into a puppet. 

Each child decides how to approach the puppet in different ways. They started with eyes, sparkles, hair, or a crown. The children build from the head down: after establishing the face and head, the children create clothes for the body of the puppet. 

The children are so engrossed in the creative process that they don't mind sharing materials.

As the children became comfortable with the task, each added multiple details to make the puppet come to life. 

The children are delighted with the outcome. Who knew something so exciting could be made with a simple wooden spoon?!