Kitah Bet Prepares for Tu B'Shvat and Israel Trip

To prepare for the upcoming holiday of Tu B'Shvat and our "trip" to Israel on Monday, we began by sitting a few characters into our little wooden airplane and following them on their journey across the ocean to this special land.

 We looked at a map of Israel and discussed its physical characteristics. How many points are there? Oceans and seas?

 There are seven foods that are indigenous to the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. After identifying each in pictures we discussed which foods we were familiar with, liked or didn't like, and would like to try.

 The children couldn't wait to try a pomegranate. All around the circle was heard, "Can we cut it open?" First, we passed it around the circle, feeling, smelling and exploring it from the outside.

 Anslee said it felt "cold"!

 Careful, Morah Rena! Slicing in class provides a good opportunity to talk about knife safety.

 We expected to see seeds inside, but not this many! When we eat most other fruits, we eat the fruit and not the seeds. For a pomegranate, we only eat the seeds! We tried it at snack time and it was a hit.

We noticed the pomegranate seeds and juice stained our plates at snack time. We jumped on that discovery by doing some staining of our own. Using red-colored water and eye droppers, we squeezed red droplets onto paper towels and watched the color spread across them.

Journey to Israel

"Please have your boarding passes and passports ready!" The teachers called out as the children waited to go through "airport security."

ready!

Aboard the plane: Wave your hands in the air if you're ready to go to ISRAEL!!!

Our flight attendant, Morah Chana, reminds us to bring our seats to the upright and locked position, fasten our seat belts, and prepare for takeoff!

We've arrived in Israel! Let's daven at the Kotel

In the Golan, children decorated labels for wine bottles.

In Eilat, we played at the beach.

In Tel Aviv, we decorated visors to block our faces from the hot sun.

We squeezed our own orange juice on the moshav with Morah Ruth.

Finally, we made Lag B'Omer bonfire collages from wooden sticks and tissue paper.

Yum! An authentic Israeli lunch featuring falafel, hummus, pita, fries, and Israeli salad.

All good things must come to an end. Our trip to Israel was full of excitement and discovery, and we can't wait to come back next year!

Dead Sea Investigation: Part II

 Kitah Gimmel has shown so much curiosity and interest in the topic of the Dead Sea. It started with the sensory experience they were invited to partake in last week (more info on that here) and continued with Circle Time discussions.

Capitalizing on that interest, today we did a science experiment inspired by the salt crystal formations surrounding the Dead Sea.

Before we began the experiment, the children were shown two examples of salt crystals: One was the type that grow organically at the Dead Sea, and the other was a picture of crystals grown on a string similar to what we were going to do. Showing the pictures was intended to aid in making the connection between their classroom learning and the experiment, as well as highlight the differences between a natural salt crystal, and those we are attempting to grow.

Dead Sea!

home-grown crystals

 Here are some examples of the children's comments about the Dead Sea and salt in general:

"I like eating salt with challah!"
"Nothing can live in the Dead Sea!"
"Only people can go in the Dead Sea."

For the experiment, we followed some simple instructions of mixing salt and water in a jar, and suspending a string in it by a pencil. Our new vocabulary word was, "dissolve."

The children were eager to volunteer for both pouring and mixing duties, and eventually we had 3 jars on a sunny spot on the window sill, waiting for crystals to form. It should take 1-3 weeks to start seeing some results. Here are some pictures of the process:

  

A Conversation About the Dead Sea

As the children in Kitah Alef Bet grow and grow, and gain new language and conversational skills, the comments during our daily Circle Time have become richer and more expressive.

Many of the books we have read, such as Ella's Trip to Israel and It's Israel's Birthday!, describe the salty, muddy atmosphere of the Dead Sea, and what it feels like to float and swim in it.

This prompted the following exchange among the children:

Libi: "I can swim by myself."
Cassidy: "I don't like salty water."
Josie: "I can swim by myself. I like the salty water!"
Libi: "I love the beach."
Asher: "I got water in my nose!"
Libi: "I don't like water in my nose."

It is wonderful to watch the development of their vocabulary and social skills! They listen to each others' comments, think, and make connections to themselves and their own experiences.

Kitah Alef Bet Gets in Touch With the Holy Land

Artists at work: Making our own versions of the Israeli flag

The last two weeks have been FULL of learning about Israel! From crafts to cooking, Israeli culture has infused all that we do.

Bamba and Bissli are two of the most popular snacks made in Israel (that are currently available in the kosher section of many American grocery stores). We had a blast tasting these. Here are some of the children's responses to taste and texture of the Bamba snacks:

Reyn: I like it! Look, it's in my mouth!"
Amitai: "It tastes like cheerios."
Bryna: "It tastes good."
Josie: "It tastes like peanut butter."
Laylah: "It's crunchy!"

While many were hesitant to try the new snack at first, most of the children were asking for seconds and thirds by the end of snack time. 

Jules points to pictures of the Shuk (marketplace) and Israeli food hung in the play kitchen area.

 On Monday, we tasted another classic Israeli food- falafel! The children put the dry mix in the bowl, measured and poured water in, and took turns stirring the ingredients together.

Josie pours in water

Amitai mixes it up

The falafel balls before they went in the oven.

Morah Goldie highlights the difference between Israeli pita bread (round, with a secret pocket) and American sandwich bread (square)

Perly tries the new food

Freeda loves tearing up her pita!

Ziva takes a big bite

Josie smiles and declares the pita, "yummy!"

Salt and Mud: The Textures of the Dead Sea

As Kitah Gimmel delves further into their Israel exploration, they are learning about the variety of natural surroundings in Israel. Last week, Morah Estee set up a sensory experience composed of a ring of rock salt with Ahava Dead Sea mud in the center.

It was fascinating to watch the children's responses to the materials, and the different ways they used their hands to mix it together, poking, raking, and squeezing the salt and mud together.

How fascinating that this activity prompted a connection to Pesach content, learned weeks ago! (See dialogue below). Now that's what I call internalizing the content and making meaningful connections!

Luba: "I'm not touching the mud!! [touches salt] It feels like rice..."
Dovy: "It's not rice, it's salt!"
Iyar: "I got muddy!"
Dovy: "We're making a trail. No, we're making pancakes! No, pizza, right?"
Iyar: "I'm making pancakes!"
Luba: "This is the oven."
Iyar: "We put it in the oven. Now it will turn black! Now it's gonna turn into charoset!"
Dovy: "Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day!" [sprinkles salt with fingers]
Luba: "I love mixing!"