Lions and lizards were added to our world as we began talking about day 6 of creation.

We are also beginning to populate our world with people. It is a joyful, beautiful creation of which the children should be very proud.

Morah Katie: What type of animals did Hashem create on day 6?

Children: Big ones and small ones.

Morah Katie: Can you tell me more?

Dena: Cows and horses.

Levi: Pigs.

Tori: Hippos.

Levi: Rhinoceroses.

Dena: Elephants.

Tori: Lions.

Morah Katie: You said He made small animals too, what small animals did He make?

(silence)

Levi: Mice.

Dena: Cats.

Morah Katie: In addition to all the animals He made, who else did Hashem create on day 6?

Everyone: PEOPLE!!!

Having created all the animal life, we began to talk about the different types of animals.

We separated the animals into two major groups, those that have skeletons with backbones, and those who do not have backbones.

We sat and curved our backs, and reached to feel our spine.

Morah Katie: What do you feel?

Levi: Bones

Morah Katie: Yes, our spine, or backbone. People and animals with backbones are called vertebrates. Do bugs have backbones? Does a bee or a ladybug?

Dena: NO!

Morah Katie: Does a jellyfish?

Levi: NO!

Morah Katie: An animal without a backbone is called an invertebrate.

Tori and Dena are making animals and playdough and deciding if they have backbones.

We then looked at our world and talked about all the vertebrates and invertebrates we created. We will continue to compare the similarities and differences of animals in our world over the next few weeks.

At our Peace Makers circle, we talked about the gentle giraffe. The giraffe has the largest heart for a land animal.

We talked about heart shapes and what they symbolize.

Morah Katie: If someone draws or paints you a heart, what are they trying to say to you?

Dena: Love

Morah Katie: What would it sound like to speak with love, to speak from your heart?

Levi: Nice manners and kind words.

Morah Katie: Jackals are important animals in our world, but they sound harsh and rough on the ears when they make their sounds. How do you feel when someone is harsh with you, or yells at you?

Levi: Not good, I don't like it.

Morah Katie: Would you perfer someone to speak kindly, speaking like a giraffe with a big heart?

Dena: Yes!

We talked about using "giraffe speak" (if they could talk) when solving our problems. Giraffes would use gentle, kind words. Giraffes would begin sentences with "I feel_____, when _______ happens. Please _______."

We took the opportunity to play pretend and practice using our giraffe speak when Morah Katie suddenly got very cranky and behaved like a mannerless jackal!

Levi was reading a book and Morah Katie just grabbed it!! Levi spoke using kind words and asked for it back.

Levi: Morah Katie, I feel mad you took my book, can I have it back?

However, that didn't stop Morah Katie from grabbing the rooster puppet from Kian! And then tickling him with it! Even though Kian didn't want to be tickled.

Fortunately, Kian remembered to speak from his heart and asked Morah Katie to stop.

Kian: (Modeled by Morah Katie, and Kian repeated it) Morah Katie, please stop.

Daniel used giraffe speak to let Morah Katie know knocking down blocks is not nice.

Daniel: (modeled by Morah Katie and repeated by Daniel) I feel angry you knocked my tower over, please don't knock my blocks down.

Morah Katie was spoken too with such loving words she found her manners again and thanked her friends for being so kind to her.

Providing children with feeling words and a sentence to mimic is the beginning of creating a foundation for positive, helpful communication.

We added giraffes to our world, each giraffe will have a heart on it to remind us to speak from and with our hearts.

Thursday we were fortunate to celebrate Daniel's 5th birthday! Happy Birthday Daniel! We are so grateful and lucky to know you!