Red, Red, Red in Pre-KA

The upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashana affords numerous opportunities for explorations within its related themes. Because apples dipped in honey are a central idea for this chag, we made our first themed sensory bin red, red, red! Focusing on one color emphasizes the other properties of the materials and also shows us the many different shades of this one hue that exist in our daily lives. Inside our bin we put balls, construction paper, bean bags, sensory bottles and other items gathered from the classroom.

 As individual as each child is, so too their explorations. Some children chose to put items in and out of the red tray. Others used balls, rolling them, tapping them, and throwing them.

We incorporated the sense of smell by including containers of cinnamon sticks. The children could smell the cinnamon through holes in the top or shake them in the bottle for a satisfying sound and feeling. 

Later in the week we added another component - a hide-and-seek box! Toddlers love to place things in and out of containers and are growing cognitive bridges while doing so. They are strengthening their memory, learning properties of materials and solidifying object permanence.

Art with Oil in Kitah Gimmel

The miracle of oil allows us to shine our candles bright throughout the days of Chanukah. The students at IJP were so lucky to dive deeper into the properties of oil by experiencing an Olive Oil Factory.

So captivated by the expert!

We can fry dough in oil to make doughnuts!

We love science! It allows us to explore, ask questions, learn cause and effect, and try some new things out. We also explored the properties of oil by mixing it with food coloring and water. But, did the oil actually mix with the water? What about the colors, do they mix up too? 

The oil floated to the top!

"So many colors!" - Elliot

"Oil will start a fire. It looks like a jelly fish!" -Parker
"It's turning into fire!" -Leora

"Yellow and blue make green, I love green!" - Asher

"I can squeeze just a little drop!" -Erez

"Will it stay in the oil?" - Orli

Total focus.

"It looks like a falling bush, beautiful" -Mason

"I like all the colors!" -Yonah

Now it's time for some science plus art!  Using a the simple components: a pan, cardstock paper, oil, and food coloring, we made colorful oil prints. First we added drops of color to oil using pipettes

The End Result: Colorful and beautiful

Rainy Days and Dancing in Extended Day

Rainy days can be seen in two ways- either as a day when the mood is dampened and we can't  play outside, or as an opportunity to learn and explore.  

Last week during extended day we explored and created with wind. This week we decided the explore the rain that we had been having the past few days. 

Why does it rain? And where does the rain come from?

We set up an experiment to find out. 

We filled up a clear jug with water and then filled up four additional cups. The children then helped to color each one with a different color. 

Then we added a "cloud" of shaving cream to the top of the water jug.

We pointed up to the real clouds in the sky and discussed that the reason why it rains is because the cloud slowly gets more and more full with water, until it gets too full that it can't hold anymore, so it starts to let some out- and it starts to rain. 

We used this experiment to experience this visually. The children all carefully started putting some of the colored water into the shaving cream cloud. We saw that it was getting more and more full until the colors then starting 'raining' out!

They had so much fun added more and more colors and watching it slowly raining out of the shaving cream. 

The more colors they put into the 'cloud' the more 'rain' came out, and after using up all the colors, the jar was full and dark and looked quite like a thunderstorm! What a cool way to visualize the rain process!

On a separate note, the extended day girls who participated in dance class had their end of year dance recital on Thursday! The adorable little ballerinas did such a great job showing us their pointed toes, passe's and plie's to name a few!  

And let's not forget the Extended Day boys who sat so nicely and quietly throughout the whole thing, and of course made sure to applause at the appropriate times! Enjoy some pictures below.