Kitah Gimmel Falls into Autumn

The leaves are changing colors, the air is getting crisp, and the sun is out for less; Fall is here! As the season changes from summer to autumn, the fruits and vegetables growing from the ground change as well. With pumpkins, squash, and gourds all being popular fall treats, how will we know the difference? Kitah Gimmel observed and concluded that a pumpkin and squash are delicious fruits we could eat, but the gourd wouldn't taste as good. So the pumpkins we can use to make pie, the squash we could roast, and the gourd is a decorative addition to the table setting! We also noticed the texture of each fruit was different, and thought this is a perfect opportunity to explore them as artists! With our paint brushes ready, we began to glaze the various fruits in fall-themed colors. After, we rolled the colorful fruits across the canvas, sprinkled some leaves, and viola - our masterpiece was complete. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we thought this would dual as an excellent Thanksgiving card! Kitah Gimmel is preparing for the holiday by inviting family, especially grandparents, for a warm meal. Some of the dishes we are cooking are roasted yellow corn and honey glazed cinnamon carrots. With our Helpful Hands to the ready, Kitah Gimmel worked together to fashion our most welcoming table yet! But wait, we aren't the only ones getting ready! Have you noticed the acorns on the ground when you walk into school? Have you noticed that some of those acorns are chewed and others are left whole? The chipmunks and squirrels are scurrying around our play area to collect plenty of acorns for their Thanksgiving meal as well! For our provocation tables, we would reenact what those meals would look like with the “Squirrel Imaginary Play” tray, and “Match the Squirrel to the Acorn” tray. What a busy and exciting time of the year. The leaves are changing colors, the air is getting crisp, and the sun is out for less; Fall is here!

After differentiating between the pumpkin, squash, and gourd, Kitah Gimmel glazes them with color to makeshift them into painting tools for our Thanksgiving cards!

  

One of our favorite preparations for Thanksgiving was the cooking! From making sweet cinnamon carrots to savory roasted corn, we were so excited for all of our family and friends to try our dish at the IJP Shabbat Dinner!

Where do squirrels live? How do they eat their meal? We explored the lifestyle of squirrels through our morning tray engagements.

Yup, it’s for certain! Kitah Gimmel has fallen into Autumn!

It's already Fall in KB-5

The start of the school year also signals the start of the season of fall, which was very apparent in our outdoor classroom this week. The children noticed that leaves were falling off the trees, and repeatedly pointed up to the trees saying "Look, the leaves are falling off the trees!" 

We discussed how in the spring and summer the trees get very green and full of leaves and flowers, and then in the fall the leaves start to change colors and fall off the trees, which then makes the trees bare in the winter. We also sang the season's song, telling us about all the seasons:

"In winter we see snow

in spring the flowers grow

in summer days are hot and we go swimming

in fall the leaves turn red, gold, and orange, and brown

Hashem makes all the seasons come around.

Winter, spring, summer, and fall

Winter, spring, summer, and fall."

The children also noticed that there were lots of leaves already on the ground all around us, and their imaginations got to work. Some of the children started jumping and stepping on the leaves and listening to the lovely crunching sound it was making. 

Others decided to take a pile of leaves and throw the leaves up around them.

The children then decided to collect leaves, and create one big leaf pile! They worked together, each child collecting leaves and adding them to the pile. They then took turns jumping into the leaf pile!

The next day, winter was brought into Kitah Bet as well! While playing in the sandbox, Rafi and Eli L took their strainers and shovels, started to pour out the sand, and said, "Look Morah, it's snowing!"



Fall is just getting started and we're already having so much fun! We can't wait to see what more fun we can have with fall, and how else we can explore, imagine and discover with it.

Morah Estee and Morah Leah