So long worms...hello spring!

Dear Families,

This week, we concluded our study of worms by inviting the children to use multiple forms of expressions to convey their learning. First, at the art table, the children used a combination of drawing with explanations for their drawings to describe what they think and understand about worms. While drawing is fun for young children and builds fine motor skills, it is also an important means by which children can convey how they understand their world. In early childhood education, we value the expressive arts as unique languages by which children can communicate beyond and with their verbal abilities.

The children also engaged in some dictations with Morah Larissa on the computer. We use dictation in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons in the classroom. This week, our intent was to assess what the children had learned about worms, and also to introduce ways that children might organize story-writing. Before beginning the dictation process, each child was asked to decide if they wanted to tell a real story that would convey information about worms (non-fiction) or a “make-believe” story from their imaginations (fiction). They were then encouraged to think of a beginning, middle and end of their writing.

We have spent much of this week engaged in a long-term collaborative art project inspired by a wonderful children’s book, Up Above and Down Below by Sue Redding. This book has beautiful, detailed pictures showing profiles of what is above and what is below ground in a variety of places and situations, including a city sidewalk with a subway underneath and a picnic in a playground with ant tunnels underneath. The children have been working on their own mural to show what they know about what is above ground and what it below ground. First we used tape on a large piece of brown paper to create tunnels, and then painted over it with brown paint. The next day, we did some brainstorming about animals that live above ground. The children thought about raccoons, rabbits, worms and ants. They then used a variety of materials to creatively make their own underground animals. On Thursday, we started to work on the above ground portion of our mural, covering a large piece of paper with green paint. On Friday, we again engaged in the creative process to make animals that live above ground. We spent the latter half of the week talking about spring, in relation to the upcoming spring holiday of Shavuot. We began by playing an “I Spy” game indoors at Morning Meeting on Wednesday, searching for signs of spring indoors. We found many, including short sleeved shirts and shorts on children, sunglasses in cubbies, and the sun shining through the windows.
Later in the morning, we went for a short walk to look for signs of spring outside. When we take walks at school, we walk around the block immediately surrounding Temple Ohabei Shalom, so that we can remain on sidewalks and avoid crossing streets. We also preview the children about safe walking before venturing out, and are sure to take our backpack of emergency supplies and a cell phone with us. Our walk this week was very successful, and we discovered that we were able to notice signs of spring with many of our senses! We felt the warm sun on our skin, and smelled flowers and freshly-cut lawns. We saw flowers, sunshine, and people playing outside, and we heard birds chirping. Later, we came inside and recorded our observations through group discussion, drawing and dictation.

On Friday, the children made a paper chain to count down the days until Shavuot. Using a paper chain for a countdown not only supports children in building counting skills and number sense, but also makes time more concrete for them. Young children are not able to understand time concepts such as “five more minutes” or “next week.” Making concrete symbols of time passing supports them in being able to know when things will happen. This can be a helpful strategy when talking with children about upcoming changes as we transition to summer schedules and plans.

We have also begun to talk about how dairy products are traditionally eaten on Shavuot. On Thursday, we turned heavy cream into butter. No need for a mixer with a class of energetic four- and five-year-olds around! We shook the cream into whipped cream, and then shook it even more, until it turned into butter. We tasted some at lunch time on mini-bagels, and it was a big hit. Later, we read a book about how milk is turned into ice cream: From Cow to Ice Cream, by Bertram T. Knight. One literacy skill that has been a focal point this week is phonological awareness. Before they can become readers, children need both phonemic awareness (the awareness of the sounds in spoken language) and phonological awareness (the awareness that particular letters make particular sounds). We played a version of “I Spy” relying on phonological and phonemic awareness. Morah Larissa gave the children a clue, “I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the /T/ sound, with the letter T,” and then the children guessed the answer. We have some great guessers! This can be a fun game to play at home too, or while waiting in the car during a long drive or at a restaurant. We also enjoy using magnetic letters for a similar game, in which a song is sung asking children to find the magnetic letter that makes a particular sound.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Larissa and Morah Kate

Have you heard about our newest friends?

Dear Families,

Have you heard about Zara, Luis, Alice, Caillou, Tosie, Curious George, Morris, All Different Colors, and Shiny? They are our new class worms! Originally purchased as fish bait, they are currently living in a clear recycled plastic container in the Owls Classroom. We will keep them in the classroom for a couple of weeks before releasing them into our garden. Each day, we take out individual worms to place on moist paper towels on trays for the children. The children are invited to watch the worms move, to look at them under magnifying glasses, and to touch them with or without gloves on.

Bringing worms into the classroom is a joyful opportunity for young children to gain hands-on experience with nature, and to develop a comfort with and respect for even the smallest and least attractive of life forms. We have spent a lot of time talking about how to humanely handle and treat the worms, keeping in mind the Jewish value of Tza’ar Ba’alei Chayim, or kindness to animals. We’ve also discussed how worms help humans and other life forms by aerating and fertilizing soil. The children have truly learned to value earthworms.

We did unfortunately experience the death of a worm (Rosie) this week, as a child was playing with it. To support the children in their growing understandings and feelings regarding death, we emulated a popular children’s book about the death of a pet, The Ten Good Things About Barney, by Judith Viorst by each talking about the good qualities of Rosie before disposing of her body. We then discussed the Jewish tradition of naming a baby after someone who has died, and thus decided to name the replacement worm Tosie, after Rosie.

We have conducted a couple of simple science experiments involving the worms this week. First, we made some predictions about whether or not the worms would prefer light or darkness. The children thought the worms might prefer the light. Next we placed a few worms on a tray, half-covered by a sheet of dark paper. Then we shone a flashlight over the worms, and noticed that they slowly began to slither underneath the sheet of paper. Later, while reading a non-fiction book, Wiggling Worms at Work (by Wendy Pfeffer), we learned that worms prefer the darkness because they most able to breath in dark, moist conditions.

We have also experimented with feeding the worms scraps from our snacks and lunch, including apple peels, sweet potato peels, and bits of a pancake. The children are anxious to see if the worms will eat the food, but we have learned that they can only eat food once it has started to decompose.

We have also played some fun games involving worms this week. A fun rainy day game (and we’ve had quite a few rainy days!) has been Worm, Worm, Snail, our latest version of the ever popular Duck, Duck, Goose. The children have tried slithering after each other around the circle instead of running. This supports their growing core strength (the strength of their abdominal and back muscles, necessary to sit up and remain balanced). We’ve also played a game using different colored pieces of yarn, or “baby worms.” The children have used tweezers to move the baby worms to egg cartons labeled with corresponding colors in various patterns. This game supports the children in developing strength in their hand muscles through use of the tweezers (necessary for writing) as well as color matching and in understanding and being able to extend patterns.We enjoyed a guest reader from the Temple Ohabei Shalom Sisterhood, Amy Holzid Plancon, this Thursday. She read the children an old favorite, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to come to know the synagogue membership betterA literacy skill that we have focused on this week is phonemic awareness, or the awareness of the sounds in language. We reinforce phonemic awareness throughout the day, even during transitions, when children are asked to line up when the first sound of their name is called. Rhyming games and songs and nonsense poetry are also fun ways to reinforce phonemic awareness. We also enjoy supporting the children in noticing alliteration in the world around them. We have begun to model listening for beginning and ending sounds in a word as well. Phonemic awareness is a crucial skill to the children’s future reading abilities.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Larissa and Morah Kate

Happy Yom HaAtzma'ut!

Dear Families,

This week, the Owls have studied Israel in observance of Yom HaAtzma’ut, Israeli Independence Day. We began the unit by once again using a Word Web. As the children have grown in their understanding, we have begun to use a Word Web not just to record ideas, but to talk about connections between ideas. Visual Word Webs support young children in developing executive functioning skills, or the ability to think about and organize their thinking. Organized thinking is crucial to children’s future success as learners in all academic areas.

We have enjoyed experimenting with blue and white this week, the colors of the Israeli flag. We created collages with blue and white pieces of paper, sponge painted with blue paint (using sponges shaped like Hebrew letters), and even used blue and white finger paint. Exploring color supports children in learning to love art and to understand how color can convey mood and emotion in art.

We enjoyed looking at some real images of various terrain in Israel, and Morah Kate talked to the children about how almost every single kind of climate can be found in Israel! We also looked at a map of the world, and found the United States and Israel on it. The children noticed that there was an ocean in between the two countries. They inferred that you can only get there by taking in airplane or a boat, but decided that an airplane would be a faster way to get there. We also enjoyed looking at a map of Israel itself, and finding some of the cities we learned about this week, including Haifa.

Haifa is of special importance to us because it is a Sister City to Boston. Through Morah Rhona’s participation in the Boston Haifa Connection, we are lucky to have preschool-aged pen pals in Haifa. This week, we drew pictures for them and dictated some writing about our school. We also reviewed the book of pictures that they sent us for Purim. The children were fascinated to discover that their pen pals in Haifa like to draw some of the same things as them, including rainbows and houses.

We have been exploring music as well, revisiting a familiar favorite folksong about a train, Hinei Rakevet. In addition, we have been learning Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. The children learned about how we stand respectfully when we sing a national anthem.

We have also discussed some of the foods grown in Israel. On Tuesday, we made our own fresh-squeezed orange juice. The children worked hard to each squeeze their own oranges. This was a fun way to incorporate emphasis on building hand strength, which is crucial in preparing the children to be physically able to write. First we squeezed out the oranges, and then we used a juicer to get the remaining juice. The children remarked that the juice tasted even “gooder” than the juice at Trader Joe’s! On Thursday, we tasted three Israeli fruits: dates, olives, and oranges. The children used a graph to record their favorite fruit. They have become well adept at interpreting the data of a graph, and often root for their choice to “win,” or have the most votes. The dates were most popular, followed by the oranges.

Hebrew letters surrounded us this week, as we took out Israeli matching games and puzzles. We also used stencils and stickers at the Writing Center. At the play-dough table, we used cookie cutters shaped like Hebrew letters.

We have especially focused on the Western Wall this year. We read a book, The Western Wall: and Other Jewish Holy Places, by Mandy Ross. The children learned that the Western Wall (or Kotel) is in Jerusalem, and that it is a part of the Holy Temple. They learned that people go there to pray. We painted some of our cardboard blocks, and built our own Western Wall in the hall. We then used dictation and drawing to record our own blessings. The children worked hard to ask and thank God for “big ideas” and “special things,” not just toys.

We have been working hard this week to support the children in having fun playing safely on the playground. We have begun to help the children in trying to think of games that do not involve chasing. While chasing games are naturally fun for children, they can quickly become a little too rough and tumble for a crowded school setting. This week, we used a “Social Story,” (or a teacher-made book discussing, in a positive framework, social and emotional expectations) to talk about some of the different things that the children can do on the playground. The children have thought about running races, playing soccer, hunting for insects, and making sandcastles instead of chasing each other.

As our afternoon group has grown in size, we have begun to have Rest Time in the Owls’ classroom, with a few friends joining us from the Bears’ Room. This allows the older children to have a shorter rest time. After 20-30 minutes on their mats, they are invited to clean up and choose a quiet spot to play.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Larissa and Morah Kate

Let There Be Light!

Dear Families,

This week we have continued our study of Shabbat by building a strong understanding of the story of Creation, which explains why we celebrate Shabbat and that on the seventh day of Creation, God rested and made that day holy, commanding us to rest as well. We have used a sequential set of images on the felt board to tell the story. The images make the story more concrete and accessible for young children. We have also been singing a fun song about each day of Creation, and what God made on that day. This has allowed the children not only to understand the story of Creation, but also to continue to build their sequencing skills. Sequencing is important to the children’s ability to organize themselves to carry out a plan independently, as well as to increase math skills and reading comprehension. At school, we often use sequencing to break down a task for the children to complete by saying, “First…then…and last…”

We have had fun combining our study of Creation with science activities this week. We have spent some time conducting an in depth study of each day. First, we began studying light (on the first day, God created light), and experimented carefully with flashlights at the Science Center. Next, we moved onto the second day, on which God separated water from the sky. We experimented with water at the Science Table, and borrowed a tornado tube from the Bears classroom. It was fun to watch the water moving down as we turned over the tornado tube.

During our study of the third day of creation, in which God separated land and water and created plants, we tried moving all of the water from one water table to another. We also used magnifying glasses to study plants, and drew our observations.

Next we studied the fourth day of Creation, on which God created the sun, moon, and stars. We put together a huge puzzle depicting outer space, and used paper towel tubes to make telescopes. At the Science Center, we looked at books about outer spaces, and were fascinated to see photos of black holes, supernovas, and different planets.

When we studied the fifth day of Creation (on which God created fish in the seas and birds in the sky), we used feathers and a variety of other art materials to make our own birds. During our study of the sixth day of Creation (on which God created animals and humans, we used non-fiction literature to study a wide variety of mammals, insects, and other animals.

We have also spent much time this week preparing for our Family Day Celebration Breakfast. We enjoyed practicing familiar songs that family members might know, writing a book about families, baking banana bread, creating checklists of things to show our visiting family members and making our guests beautiful paper flowers to welcome them to our classroom. We are so grateful to all of you who could join us, and those who thought of us from afar. It is wonderful to have you all in our “Owl” family!

This week, we have continued to support the children in becoming more independent in negotiating and solving problems with each other. As the children become more able to resolve their own conflicts, we use the strategy of “mini-meetings” more and more. When a disagreement arises between two or more friends, they join a teacher in a “mini-meeting.” Each child is asked to stop playing and to take a turn speaking about how they are feeling and what the problem is. They are then each asked to suggest a solution to the problem, and to ask each other for consent to that solution. It is wonderful to see the children moving beyond taking turns and sharing on command to this next step, in which they are able to take ownership over their own solutions to problems. This is a deeper level of teaching than coercing children into sharing or taking turns because it is the rule, and teaches them to do so because of how it affects their friend’s feelings.

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Larissa and Morah Kate