Getting Ready for Shavuot

Getting Ready for Shavuot

     How do we prepare for Shavuot?  The truth is, there are not any laws specific to only Shavuot.  Sure, we eat dairy foods, but that is not a commandment like eating matzah on Pesach.  And yes, we decorate our homes and shuls with flowers.  But here again, this is not required, like a lulav and etrog for Sukkot. So how do we prepare when we are four or five years old?

     In class, we made flowers out of coffee filters and food coloring.   We learned that Har Sinai became covered with flowers when B'nai Israel received the 10 Commandments.  We also created our own "vases" with recycled water bottles and tissue paper.  (Above:  We noticed that we can made green by mixing the blue and yellow.)

     The results are very pretty and we will use these flowers to adorn our Yom Tov table.  We decided to use some of the flowers for a literacy and math activity.

     Morah Susan shared the story A Dozen Daisies for Raizy.  The plot involves a young girl who purchases a dozen flowers.  First, we discussed that word "dozen."  Some of us thought it meant a few, others thought it meant a million.  Everyone was surprised to learn it means twelve, exactly twelve.  In the book, Raizy gives away two flowers to each of her three neighbors.  As the story moves along, Raizy learns about Shavuot and mitzvot in general.

     It was time to act out some of the story.  We placed one dozen of our paper flowers on the carpet.  Then, as we reviewed the plot, we took flowers away.  We counted to see how many we had left.

     We continued to count our flowers.  At the end of the story, we had only six left on the carpet.  Raizy also had only six flowers left to place in her vase.  Only six?  We, and Raizy, had started with a full dozen!  Raizy learned that by giving, she had received.  She had given away half of her flowers, but she had brought happiness to a lonely girl, an elderly woman, and a mother with young children.

     This led to our "big" discussion:  have we ever given something away? How did it make us feel?

     We expressed our thoughts about sharing and helping others.  Finally, we posed for our photo.  Here we are, just like B'nai Israel, at the foot of Har Sinai.  On Shavuot we celebrate the giving of the Torah.  We know that B'nai Israel, after leaving Egypt, received the Torah in the desert of Sinai.  And here we are, the newest generation, ready to accept the Torah and learn about it.  Kol HaKavod, Ganon Bet!

A party in a stick?

Today the children decided to make telescopes and binoculars. They were so proud of what they made that I decided to pick up the thread and see where it will take us. So - we went on an "I spy" walk outside. The children wanted to bring a container to collect "treasures", so we brought alone a basket. We got to see many cool things like geese, mushrooms, a bird's nest, and many more. But true magic happened after we got back to class: The children dumped the basket of "treasures" they collected on the table. Suddenly they saw something move. It was a tiny little ant. They ran to get their binoculars and some magnifying glasses. Then they saw another ant. And a tiny little red bug. Then one of the children took a small rotted stick and broke it in half. Ants galore fell out onto the table, which is when the following conversation took place:

           J: Wow! There are one thousand ants in there!

          O: yeah, it's like a party!

I am amazed every single day at the amount of learning that occurs in the class, but it is magical moments like this one that are going to be remembered by the children because they owned the discovery. It wasn't anything introduced by the teacher, with a planned goal in mind (not that there is no room for that as well), but a moment where both the children and myself did not know the outcome of, and that made it even more special.

Math Pops up Everywhere . . . More Math and L'ag B'Omer

Math and L'ag B'Omer

        (Recently we shared some info about the counting activities that we have coordinated with the counting of the Omer.  The posting below is a description of a different math extension--a graphing activity that reflects our L'ag B'Omer outing.  Who knew that math pops up everywhere?)

   
      Most mornings when we arrive, the children check out the Morning Message board.  The day after L'ag B'Omer, I asked a question of the Ganon Bet boys and girls:  did you like the outdoor activities, or didn't you?

     One by one, the children signed in.  Not surprisingly, everyone had liked the activities!  The next step was to figure out which of the activities were really popular and which were not so popular.

     So, we got ready to graph the various station choices.  We included trikes, popsicle/watermelon, bubbles, meatballs (a ball-type game), painting and the turtle toss.  In the interest of time and space, we didn't include all the activities, but we did include most.

 
     Here's Rory, making her choice.  She places a linking-cube into the box she wants.

   
      Finally, our chart was complete.  We totaled up the count for each event.  Then, we spoke about the most popular activity and the least popular.  Some of us weren't sure about that word "least" but we figured it out by the context in which the word was used. 

     Then, we asked, "Why is this important to know?  Why are we interested in figuring out which activity was liked a lot, and which activity wasn't liked too much?"

 
     Several of us had an idea or two.  Liav brought up that if we knew exactly what the ECD children wanted, then the next year the day's activities would reflect that--so we're anticipating that trikes and snacks are definitely making a come-back!

 
     Enjoy some of the photos below of our wonderful L'ag B'Omer experience, with a big "Todah Rabbah" to Jennifer Zindler and the Running Start teachers for organizing!

Whaddya Talkin'? I'm Old School

Whaddya Talkin'?

     One of my favorite books of all time is Five Little Gefiltes by Dave Horowitz. 

     Why is this so?  I love the pictures, the story-line, the characters--but most of all, I love the language.  Much of the narration is in New Yorkese--a combination of Yiddish and urban slang.  My "old" education professor at Georgia State told us to avoid, "slang, colloquialisms and jargon."  My immediate, yet unspoken, response at that time was to think, "Whaddya talkin'?"  Who doesn't love just a little bit of fun with language?

 

     The language in Five Little Gefiltes reminds me of home.  I lived in New York City from birth until I was 25.  (Above is a picture of my old elementary school in Manhattan, included in this blog posting just to add a drop of authenticity.)

     So we shared the book, then we acted it out.  The children recited the recurring chant, "Oy Vey!"  We lined up and pretended to be the five little Gefiltes.  One by one we disappeared.

     Finally, only one came back.  Mama Gefilte, so lonely, calls for them, and like good little Gefiltes the world over, they all return.

     Because we enjoyed the story so much, I made little paper gefilte fish to use in retelling the story.

     Asher escorted me to the library where I laminated the paper fish.  We wanted them to last and last for a long time!

 

     Then we were able to use the shapes in math activities--adding and taking-away, as well as in patterning.

 

     We used the Gefiltes in our Morning Message.

     And we continued to pattern on the floor.  We learned that patterning, like counting, never ends.  This could have gone on forever!

     So, we reinforced a few math concepts, extended literacy by acting out the story--and simply had fun.  For me, Morah Susan, it was the best--learning and fun mixed together.  We picked up on some of the slang as well.  Heather still smiles at me when I'm speaking and says, "Morah Susan, whaddya talkin'?"  It's all good.

"Hot, Cool, Hot, Cool"

One day, when we were playing outside on the playground, we noticed Leah touching different areas in and out of the sun.  We soon realized that she is feeling the difference between hot and cool in her surroundings.

 First, she felt the part of the ground that was in the sun's heat.

 Then, inquisitively, went to the shady part and put her hand down to feel the cool.

 Walking passed the slide, she placed her hand on the sunny part.

Finally, she walked over to the shady part of the slide to feel the cool.

It was amazing to watch how Leah used her sense of touch to feel the temperature and its effects on the environment around her.

Family Season Panel Finished!

We have finished our final panel that includes pictures from Pesach Break.  The kids are so excited about the panels that they are often found pointing out their individual pictures as well as their family members.  These panels also show how much each child has grown from the beginning of the year until the present.

What Makes a Teacher Happy?

The short answer to the question in the title is pretty much what makes a parent happy: when you see your students (children) independently of the teacher (or parent) and working with each other  extend their learning because what you have been doing with them engages them and is meaningful  to them.

This afternoon after rest and snack time, I was busy organizing assessment materials while the children played. It suddenly seemed a little quieter than usual and I looked around the room. This is what I saw.

At the morning message board Matthew, Mira, Sadie and Brooke were writing letters and names and helping each other spell.

Yuval and Avi were at the writing table making a "pattern" book.

Jonah and Landon sat at the art table playing Tic, Tac, Toe.

 Nathaniel and Daniel were building a block tower together at the block area.

 A moment of serendipity.

Successful Searching for S: our Scavenger Hunt

     What is a provocation?  Something new, something exciting.  Sometimes, we like to bring in a "provocation" when introducing a new letter.  Lucky us--we have a molted skin of a snake, a perfect provocation.



     Then, we shared several "S" books.  We learned about snakes, sea turtles, mute swans and sea horses.  What did I learn, that was completely new for me?  I now know that sea horses use their tails to moor themselves to the grasses along the ocean floor and that they can change color to camouflage themselves; swans mate for life and return to the same lake; sea turtle eggs are leathery, and that I shouldn't touch snakes.  (Okay, I knew that already.)  The children were amazed that it is the male sea horse that incubates the little ones until they are ready to leave the pouch.

  

     We used our Handwriting Without Tears materials to practice constructing Letter S.  Then, we were ready for an S Scavenger Hunt.  Here's our first group, lined up and ready to go.  This group had their journals and pencils at the ready.  Asher said, "We're like teenagers!" We did look like Middle Schoolers, with our books under our arms.  Noam found a shofar right away, and traced it in his journal.

     Here's our second group, searching for items that begin with S.  They found a see-saw and a tree stump among so many other items.

  

     We stopped off at the K'tontonim because we noticed a stroller.



     Finally, we investigated some print sources.  We found several examples of the letter S.  Tomorrow, we'll write the letter S in sand or shaving cream.  On Tuesday, we will practrice writing the letter S with paper and pencil. 

      It's not an easy letter!  I told the Ganon Bet children that I couldn't write the letter S successfully until first grade--and I have two in my first name!