How to make a box fort (featuring Extended Day.)

Do you have a box at home? Then start creating!

Make a box fort!

Grab a box.

Decorate it with your markers, stickers, and tape.

Cut doors and windows. Attach fabric for a curtain.

Make a cozy space with pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals.

Do you have more than one box?

Connect your boxes together to make a box compound.

Other Box Art options:

Make a box car.

Make a box rocket.

Have fun and share what you make!

Jessica.mcbee@icloud.com

We would love to post pictures of other IJP forts 

in our IJP Virtual Art and Extended Day photo album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1GiB8g272apjQ9BAA 

Cakes and Crowns--We Finish Up Experiencing Purim . . .

Cakes and Crowns

      We have busy afternoons. This  week, our Extended Day group had a fun time experiencing some crafts and cooking--all Purim related.

     We love drama.  Purim is the perfect time for story telling.  Today, a few of us  prepared our own silly Monster Puppets.  We can use our puppets for all kinds of stories.  We will continue with paper bag puppets next week.

      Purim is also the perfect time to hone our kitchen skills.  We baked brownies and created a Purim note.  We then placed the brownies in the front office with some tangerines--a quick and tasty Misholach Manot for the staff.

      We designed our own crowns, too.  We know about palaces, kings and queens.  Making our crowns assists us in developing and extending our awareness of Purim.

          Enjoy our photos--the Morahs love sharing the Extended Day adventures with you!

Shabbat Shalom,

The Extended Day Morahs 

       

                   

Inside, Outside--Creating Art Everywhere!

Inside Outside

We work on our art projects in all kinds of places . . .

Above:  We  get together to work on our art, sharing our ideas.

     When the weather is rough--too cold, too hot, too wet, we head indoors to work on our art projects.  But when the weather is just too beautiful for words, we paint and create in our outdoor spaces.

     And so it was in the past few weeks.  Sometimes we worked indoors and sometimes outside.  One of our recent project is our Shabbat tile hot plates.  The Morahs "found" some stunning Italian porcelain tiles, stored away with other art supplies.

     The main question the children had was, "Who went to Italy to get these for us?"  Chances are the tiles were purchased at Home Depot for a previous art project, and then the surplus was stored away.  We love gifts.  We also know how to recycle, reuse and repurpose--so we went to work!

     First, we made a template of our design on paper with regular watercolor markers.  Some us chose a Shabbat theme, candles and a Kiddush cup.    Most of us decided to illustrate flowers, rainbows, a variety of colors.  When we were satisfied with our design. we then worked on our actual tiles.  We used permanent Sharpees.

Above, making our design on paper.

Side by side, we work on our tiles. 

     As always, when we work, we engage our friends and Morahs in some discussion.  We shared some of our thoughts:

Sam:  This is the prettiest blue.
Adom:  I can put a Kiddush cup.
Liana:  I want to put a Kiddush cup, too!  It took a long time (to make.)
Yaya:  I made a rainbow purple and blue!
Sloan:  I want to make a rainbow panda for my mommy and daddy and my baby and my grandma and my grandpa.
Leo:  It's a dog going into a waterfall!
Jake:  I made a line first.  My mom likes a tile!
Gaia:  I used purple and pink.
Hudson:  I'm going to draw so my mommy will love it.
Yonah:  It's almost like studying, because you're copying the same thing, like computers or a copier machine.  (Later, asking about his tile)  If I have a Milchig drink can I put it on a fleishig table?
Amiel:  (It's) for Kiddush!  It's a rainbow and it's already done.
Levi:  I'm making this for Shabbos, if my Kiddush cup spills!
Avraham Chaim:  First I'll help Hadassah turning over her car (on the playground.)  (After helping his sister, he worked on his tile.)

     We worked in small groups.  All of a sudden, a group of children came running by the tile makers!  Morah Jessica was leading them to get more art supplies from the kitchen for a group project the children were working on in the Third Building.   She called out, "We have a glitter emergency!"  They solved their art problem, then went back to work.  

     "I have your back!" 

     Later in the week, the children continued to work indoors on their group art project.  They helped each other with smocks.  We know that when we work with acrylic paint like real artists, we have to protect our clothing.  And like artists everywhere, we can't wait to share our art with our families and friends!

Arts and Crafts outside--making bracelets with buttons and beads.

Stay tuned for more info about Art in Extended Day . . .

 By the Morahs and the Artists in  Extended Day

We Are Writers and Illustrators!

How to Write a Best-Seller in Three Easy Lessons

     The Extended Day yeledim love stories of all kinds.  Almost every afternoon, the Morahs share a book, or two, or three.  Right now, fiction is our favorite.  We decided to try writing a story (or two, or three) of our own.

     Enjoy our photo gallery.  The children are hard at work illustrating their original Extended Day books.  So far, we have written and illustrated two books by working together.

How do we write a book?

     1.  First, we dictated an original story to the Morah.  We worked in pairs and small groups to do this.
     2.  Then the Morah typed up the story.  We took turns illustrating each "scene."
     3.  Now the Morahs share our completed stories during snack.  Soon we will leave our collection out on a table so we can experience each story independently.

  (Noticing the process, left:  our booklet, before the illustration.  Above, after the children illustrate the pages.)

And here's the text of our two books:

The Night the Pipes Broke

     There was a boy named Shimmy.  He is 5 years old.  He lived in the city on a block with a lot of houses and a lot of trees.
     One night the whole family got in their pajamas and went to bed.
     Shimmy has a lot of brothers and sisters.  The baby went to sleep in his brig brother's bed.  Then the big brother carried the baby back to the Mommy and Daddy's bed.
     Then the children were reading their favorite books in their beds.
     All of a sudden they heard a big crash!  Boooshhhh!
     The mother and the father and the baby and Shimmy and the big brother jumped out of bed.  Everyone jumps out of bed!
     Five pipes were broken and there was water everywhere.  (That means 2 pipes and 3 more!)  There's water  in the house!
     The father and the mother and the baby and Shimmy and the big brother made a bridge to jump over the water!
     Then they all went back to sleep on the floor because their beds were broken.

The End

(The Morah's notes about the above story:  we helped the children pick the name "Shimmy."  We didn't want the children to think the story was about a particular child at IJP, so "Shimmy" worked for us--we don't have a Shimmy!) 

     What we love-love-love about this story is the warmth and closeness of this fictional family.  The children in this family know that mommy and daddy will provide safety, either the emotional safety of climbing into their bed or the physical safety of the bridge construction.  

     What we also love is the use of a sound word, Boooshhhh, (otherwise known as onomatopoeia in fancy-shmancy educator language).  There's a clear beginning-middle-end to this story, and there is a resolution of a problem.  The inclusion of a math concept (Five pipes, that means 2 pipes and 3 more!) shows the children's growing understanding of addition.  The fictional children's appreciation of books (and the fact that they bring books to bed), tells us that our IJPers value reading. Who wrote this story?  A few of the children from Kitah Bet, and it beautifully reflects their interests and skills.)

Next up, our second book, written mostly by the Kitah Gimmel children along with the KDH children.  Here's their text:

The Kids in the Forest

   

     Once upon a time there were a bunch of kids in the forest.  When they were hungry they ate pasta and cheese and snack.  It was a sunny day.  When they were thirsty they drank water and lemonade and ate oranges.
     They went back to their house and ate broccoli.
     Then they went to a different city and ate at a different person's house.  It was a gingerbread house.  (Gingerbread is like a brown cookie.)
     Then a stinky cheese man and a cookie man came to the house.  Then the house got stinky.
     Then people came to wash the house.  Now the house is good.
     Yeah, yeah, yeah--and there are blocks in the house!
     The children build a castle and a house with the blocks.

     The End

    What have we noticed about this second story?  As the IJPers told us the story, they began to include bits and pieces of other stories, particularly the Stinky Cheese Man and Hansel and Gretel.  Could it be that the more stories you know, the more you can synthesize what you know into something new?  Perhaps so!     

     We began a new story today.  Who are the characters?  An apple, an avocado and a talking crocodile!  The plot?  There's danger and a boo-boo.  The resolution?  A bandaid!  Oh, the drama!  It's a perfect story, designed by some of the Kitah Gimmel children, with additions by the KDH children.

     A few of the children told us that they several stories in their heads.  We believe them.  We'll continue to write down some of their thoughts and ask the children to create their illustrations.  Hooray for books!

By the Readers and Writers of Extended Day, and their Morahs

Observing and Working in Extended Day

Observing and Working in Extended Day

     Sometimes, we spend our time sitting quietly and noticing our environment; at other times we are as busy as ever!  

     On Monday, a tree-cutter came to our neighborhood.  This was very exciting and very noisy! We sat on our wooden fence and watched as the crane went up, the tree-cutter turned on his buzz-saw, and an orange claw came down to grab a tree limb.  This went on for a few hours.  We took turns watching the action, then taking a playing break, followed by some more watching. 

The line-up:  Yonah, Liav, Orli , Alex, Hendrix, Leo, Sam

     Section by section, the tree came down.  After a while, we were getting hungry.  It was a beautiful day and we would have our snack outside.  But what about the worker, so high up in the tree, what would happen if he were hungry.  What would he do?

Sylvia and Avraham Chaim--practically glued-in place as they watch the scene unfold. 

     Would he come down to grab a snack, or did he have a granola bar in his pocket, or could be get a snack "delivered" to him high up in the tree?  What if he couldn't come down to grab a bite?
     Here are some of our responses:
Avraham Chaim:  Shoot a snack to him!  On a bow and arrow!
Sylvia:  Make a thick long string, tied around the tree (and send the food up.)
Orli:  Or use a big chunky rock, to pull him up.

Leo and Hudson, with the crane in the background.

     Then we began to have some fun with our ideas:
Hudson:  He could go down, and up for some chocolate--it will drop on his face!
Lily:  He might find a goose up there to eat!
Leo:  Or a duck!
Sylvia: Or a reindeer!  (laughs)  Deer have three stomachs, I heard it on Wow in the World.  He'll have to use a big flashlight.  Special cranes have lights all around.
Avraham Chaim:  He'll have to come back tomorrow.

      The weather was not so mild later in the week, in fact it was cold and drizzly.  It was a good opportunity to spend some time indoors, no tree-watching for us.  What would we do?  Some of us worked on an art activity and some of us got involved with a major construction project.

      The children worked quickly and within a few minutes there was an elaborate track spread across the floor.
       We asked the children to tell us about their construction:
Sam:  It's something for cars to ride on.
Hudson:  It's broken!
Amiel:  It's a train track, no a car track!
Sam:  It's a track, cars can go on it.
Hendrix:  I made a bridge!  (Morah reminds him to be careful with it.)  I am careful!
Dovid, holding a truck:  It's not a car, it's an ice cream truck!

Amiel, Hendrix and Alex go to work.

Liav, Hudson, Dovid and Sam add cars to the tracks.

The Extended Day children make a plan, negotiate some changes, adapt their plans and then continue with their construction.

     So, we are always busy learning and growing.  At times, we sit and watch our environment.  We were so lucky to observe the tree cutter this week!  At other times, we are the ones who swing into action.  We make our plan, change and adapt to our friends' suggestions and then continue with our project.  We had a lot of fun with our track--we may continue with this next week!

Shabbat Shalom!

The Extended Day Morahs with the busy Extended Day construction workers/yeledim