Geo-Boards in Kitah Gimmel

Rubber bands…. A terrific (and fun) fine motor activity.  For the first time this year, we brought out the Geoboards – pegboards.  Add rubber bands and it not only stretches their imaginations but also strengthens their fine motor skills all at the same time.  The yeladim were using their small motor pinzser grasps to stretch, pull and loop over the pegs.  It allowed the yeladim to create linear designs, spatial design, problem solve and to just create!  They could create with 1, 5 or “27!” rubber bands! One child even “stretched” his imagination by connecting 2 boards together with simply a single rubber band. 

Some rubber bands went flying across the table but mostly the yeladim were very focused and busy on designing and in some case redesigning the shapes and stories they created.  This simple board also allowed the yeladim to create stories about machines, gardens and spaceships just to name a few. Actually, these are there own words…

“A spaceship – it travels above the moon to Mars!”,  “It’s a drum, and it can make a cool trick too!”,   “It’s something for counting number!, ” “It’s a trianguly thing.”, “A machine, that makes all kinds of drinks!”, “It’s a monster truck – they tip over things!  They trip over trash cans because their tires are so heavy, they can’t believe it!”, “It’s a musical instrument and listen to it sing!”, “It’s a circle inside of a rectangle.”, “I made lots of lines going up and down and now I’m going to make a lot of lines going side to side!”, “This reminds me of a garden, look at the flower!”

Our Dads by KDH

Morah Sara and I had so much fun today interviewing the children about their dads in preparation for Dads and Donuts. This is what we found out:

KDH dads like to exercise. 

Some of them go to work and just hang out with friends. More of them work on computers. One mom's work is much harder than Dad's. 

They range in age from 9 to 60 years old. 

Lots of them tell jokes and tickle the children.

How would the children like to be like their dads when they get older? The children are looking forward to going to work, having families, fixing things, grilling, being funny, smiling a lot, being a doctor, being a businessman, being a Totty, and one more: having no hair!!!

Our Dads sound wonderful. We are all looking forward to Donuts with Dads on Monday.

Scraps and Blades :)

Working on our "ma nishtana " book is fun and creative. While cutting the paper and having scrapes all around Eli wanted to know how about the blade from the paper cutter that Morah was using with caution.   he even got a chance to cut some paper and learn how it works, again with caution and a Teacher using it with him. Perly wanted to collect the scraps and make pictures with them. Adaya and Mina cut small stripes  to design their own jewelry collection.  Nothing is wasted in Kitah Gimmel, not a new piece of equipment to learn from  or paper scraps to create with! 

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!

Collaboration and Imagination in KG

Adaya brought her Barbie doll to school and shared it with her friends during play time. Adaya, Bryna and Libi suggested that they build a house for Ms. Barbie together they agreed and started to build.
Adaya- "We building this house its in Paris."
BryLa -"(Brought over a book) Look, here's the directions of how to build a house."
Libi-"Let's do this together."
Sharing, collaboration and imagination happening in Kitah Gimmel right now.

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."

 

Kitah Gimmel makes Parsha into self expression

During circle time we learned the story about this weeks Torah portion of Parshas Vayeshev. We watched a puppet show of the story with fascination. In the story we heard how Yosef's father Yaakov gave him a special, pretty and colorful striped coat.
Later on during open art time many of the children decided to make the colorful coat that Yosef got. They stuck colorful tape into stripes on their shirts to be just like Yosef.  We are constantly taken aback by the depth of their initiative and creativity as these young children explore and take advantage of the materials around the classroom.  Ripping tape is not only fun, it is a great fine motor skill builder.
Josie reminded us that her Hebrew name is "Yosepha" which is just like Yosefs name!

Bryna- "I am just like Yosef"

Kemp-"I'm Yosef."

                                                 Mina- "Mina is going to look like Yosef."

                                         
                                                   Adaya- "Now I am just like Yosef."

Playing in Nature

As we know, when children play in natural environments as our glorious yard at IJP, their play is more diverse with imaginative and creative play that fosters language and collaborative skills 

When Josie found a leaf she was  comparing its size to her face "Morah, the leaf is bigger than my head"  

When Cassidy found this branch she said :" Morah, look its my letter, I have it in my name" 

Amitai wanted to be a leaf man so we poked two holes in his leaf.