Extended Day Delights

Every Friday our school gets delivered boxes and boxes of pizza. Every Friday those pizza boxes get sent to recycling and our wonderful garbage removal team kindly take them to the recycling facility.  Last Friday Morah Stephanie was able to save a few in hopes that the children would find something creative to do with them.  When we looked at them this Monday we suggested many different options for the boxes.  Shaya insisted that we make a ramp.  So, with a little bit of tape and a lot of imagination we had the perfect ingredients for a marble-racing ramp.  We built a straight shoot at first then added little obstacles for the balls to go around.  Once we figured out that the obstacles were only slowing down the balls, we went back to our high speed racing and carried the activity on to Tuesday.  We love it when we find activities that have the children asking for more. 

While some were racing, others were building onto our cardboard house, twisting pipe cleaners together to make bracelets, and creating magic flower gardens out of random, flower-like toys. Last week Henia made a computer for our cardboard house, and then it went missing.  This week something great happened; we found it!  Here you can see Sammy Typing away busily

Our little builders once again created another unique structure equipped with an array of features.  Did you know that there's a spaceship out there that has an obstacle course, a house with beds, ramps, bridges, and a secret room? Yep, our students imagined all of that up themselves. 

While some like to build giant structures, others may feel more inclined to color, cut, tear, and glue. So, we turned our reading nook into an art station because sometimes it's fun to do art somewhere other than the table, as long as everyone is safe and mindful of the supplies we are using.  

Togetherness and fun go hand in hand during our extended hours. The concept of teamwork is a great social skill and will be carried with our young minds throughout their lives.  We practiced working together and cheering on our teammates using balloons, hoops, bean bags and some very simple instructions.  We were pleasantly surprised how well the children remembered the sequence of the races so well.  For example, during one race, we picked up bean bags, set each one in its own hoop, then did five jumping jacks, retrieved our bean bags then finished on our starting dot.  They all did a great job remembering all of those steps; very few needed the Morahs to remind them of the steps or walk them through.

Color and Light Exploration with Kitah Alef

We brought the light table into Kitah Alef. We covered the window with a dark blue paper to create more darkness, so that the light would stand out.  It took a little while for the children to notice it was there, all the way in the back of the room. Once Eliza discovered it, everyone crowded around. Eliza picked up a green shiny wooden block. Morah Myriam: "What color is that Eliza?" Eliza: "Green."

 The children moved the magna tiles around on the light table. Shane: "Look!" (picking up a block from the light table) Shane: "Look at this light, all these colors!"

Rafi stacked the blocks one on top of the other and made a tower.  There were circles, triangles and squares to explore.

 Shane and Benji held the blocks up to their eyes to peer through the colored glass. Morah Myriam "What color is that Shane?" Shane: "Blue.... Eli is hiding" (Eli (Yisroel) was hiding behind the light table.) Morah Myriam: "There he is!"

 Zoey came along and picked up a wooden see through block with all kinds of shapes inside it. She held it above her head and peered through it. Having the light table in our room is such a treat. We are continuing to learn our colors and we are exploring shapes at the same time.

Simple Machines

KDH are always busy in the block area. We've had garages, houses, and animal habitats. Around Purim time there were many castles and palaces. Today, Motty and Dovi called me over to show me a bulldozer that they created. We talked about why they used the cylindrical blocks as wheels. I told them, "You have made a great discovery! You are using a wheel, a simple machine." We examined how well it moved across the floor, so much better than a simple block.
Dovi and Motti brought their bulldozer to our circle time. It sparked a discussion of simple machines. It was pointed out that dragging things along the floor creates friction and makes it difficult to move objects. We rubbed our hands together and felt the warmth created by friction. We determined that putting something on wheels would make our work much easier. Sholom asked a question, " But how will you lift it up on top of the wheels?!" We thought further. How about an inclined plane? We could make one, a ramp with blocks too.
We read the book, Simple Machines by E. Fowler and thought about wheels and axles, inclined planes, levers and wedges and pulleys. Simple Machines are everywhere. Jonah pointed out that spoons, forks and knives are all simple machines. Mia loves the wheels on bikes. Max said his father has tools that are simple machines.
As we begin our Pesach preparation, we will try and connect this to the slave labor the Jews did in Egypt. Do you think they had any simple machines?

Morah Ruth

KG Hibernation

Now that it is winter  we have been learning about hibernation. We talked about which animals go in caves and sleep for the entire winter. During free centers time many of the yeladim took the opportunity to create their own caves for the animals to stay and sleep in for the winter months. 

Ziva-"The polar bears are going to sleep."

                                              Cassidy-"These are all the animals for the cave."

                                                          Mina-"I am building it."

                                                     Cassidy-"They are inside resting now."

Extended Day: Block Creations

During Extended Day the children love to create with the large blocks. They have made spaceships, dog houses, cars, and boats! It is so amazing to watch their creativity at work and to listen to the complicated games that go with. Building with these blocks allows the children to work together cooperatively as a team. They help each other by lifting the blocks together and deciding exactly where they should go. They enjoy talking about what they plan to create with each other. Working with these blocks allows the children to let their imaginations roam. These large blocks provide open ended play that last for days!

KG Collaborative Block Play

Block play is such an essential part of early childhood education.  The open ended possibilities allow for true collaboration, negotiation and creative expression.
Amitai loves the blocks and will often choose them during free center time.  This time he created a structure that intrigued most of the class to come join in.  They quickly fell into place as different character in the elaborate game. 

 As they played here are some tidbits of the conversation;

Amitai- "We can put this here so it can go across".

Bryna- "Let's put this block here".

Amitai-"Everybody let's do some more and you can help me".

Ziva-"We can help him".

Laylah-" His puppy is lost and wants the other puppy".

Amitai to Josie-"Look how huge the bridge is" 

"Maybe I could be the daddy and you could be the doggy".

(part of the structure got knocked down)

Josie-"Amitai do you want to build it again?"

Amitai-"Yes, i am".

Ziva-"I want to help"

Josie-"Maybe we need a rainbow".

Amitai-"Yes, now let me put it in'.

Cassidy-" Saw and saw it, anyone need some wood?"

Kemp-" We already have wood."

Ziva-"I want to order, wood."

 

KG Chanuka Menorah creating ideas

During our circle time after outside play time we created a menorah out of little plastic tea lights and colored wooden geometric blocks. The children were very engaged and excited to see that it looks like fire. After we reviewed how many days and candles we need to light the yeladim got to add more blocks and play with their menorah creation. 

We inquired,  "If you could build a menorah From any material what would you create it from?"

Cassidy- "With puffins."

Mina-"Out of clay".

Laylah-"Out of kitty cats".

Josie- "I could make it out of yellow squares".

Amitai-"I would make it out of blocks".

Bryna-"Out of paper".

Perly- "From colored tape, like we have here (in the classroom)".  

Kitah Gimmel Builds a special building

For the past week we have been hearing all bout the  Beit Hamikdash- the Holy Temple,  that was built in Jerusalem. We learned about the Kohen Gadol who lit the original menorah in it, each and every day, a very long time ago.  After learning about this we created and built our own building of the Beit Hamikdash. Brick by brick with all of the building blocks from our Kitah gimmel shelf.

This play lasted for a few days, overheard while building;

Amitai- (He was making the walls of the Beit Hamikdash and discovered that two triangles together makes a square. He put them together to make one of the walls for the Beit Hamikdash he was building.)

"I making the Beit Hamikdash, I'm making it so the Jewish people can give presents to Hashem."

Ziva- "I making the Biet Hamikdash for the people, and they could hide (we also learned how the Jews hid in caves during the Chanuka war)." 

Perly-"Making the city which is too tricky."  What a gorgeous job by our talented builders. 

KG Magna tiles (magnet blocks) we love to play with!

The children in our class really enjoy the Magna Tiles- a type of block or tile with built in magnets.

 

The Magna Tiles are a fantastic manipulative and educational toy.  A perfect example of our child's play being constructive, productive work.  These tiles  allow the children to  make countless  two and three dimensional shapes, objects, figures and  build amazing structures. Our children develop many skills with the Magna Tiles,  such as patterning, building skills, recognizing shapes and colors, dimensional thinking, while getting magnetic principals.
The Magna Tiles are so innovative that they give the children much space for creativity.
While the children are at play with these toys they often converse among  themselves. This isn't only a great development for social skills but  enjoyable and informative to watch and listen  for us teachers.  It helps us pick up on the interests and ideas of the children.

 When asked what they are building or to describe what they have built, here are some of the responses.

Josie- "These are my caves and I built a castle here. Now Libi and I are making sushi." She continued to build and Laylah asked her sister "what are you making now?" Josie responded "a shark which could break things.
 

Bryna- "I'm building a big tower."



Cassidy- "Do you like my crocodile?"- while opening and closing the triangular shaped mouth.




Ziva- "I was making a house, a long one!"

 

Perly- The house I built was supposed to make Bryna fly!"





Kemp - I built a steep (ramp) so people can go down and drive down"

 
Morah Estee and Morah Boonya