Morah Katie: How many months have we been in school?

Scout: 9

Morah Katie: Wow! That is a long time. If we look at the calendar, what does it tell us?

Dena: The days of the week.

Morah Katie: Yes, it does. What does it tell us about this week?

Josiah: May is almost done.

Morah Katie: What month is after May?

Noah: June and that is summer.

Morah Katie: Next month is June, which means it is the time of the year when I ask you to tell me what you have learned. What have you learned?

Josiah: About the Aleph Bet

Kian: We learned about counting.

Efraim: Soccer 

(note orange cones denoting goal posts, Arron is kicking green ball)

Dena: We learned about the Torah.

Sroli: Singing.

We learned that we can be teachers when we help others.

We learned that we can put sounds together to create words, and read those words.

We learned that we can experiment and discover the fun in science.

We learned that blocks can become castles and temples, or any structure we can imagine.

We learned  public speaking as we took turns to share our special items and answer questions each Friday.

We learned with creativity and determination we know no bounds.

 

 If you walked into The Gan you would notice a lot of creation and appreciation of art.

We are looking critically at shapes and lines and colors.

As we looked at a stencil, we drew the missing half of the shape on the paper.

We expressed ourselves, and shared our ideas.

Morah Katie: Last week we studied and pretended to be who?

Kian: He painted people.
Efraim: On ceiling.
Morah Katie: Does anyone remember the artist's name? mmmmm
Kids: MMMichangelo.
Noah: He sculpted too.
Morah Katie: He did. This week we are going to learn about an artist whose paintings look VERY different from Michelangelo.  His name is Jackson Pollock.  He got very involved in his painting. Please dress to get messy.

On Monday and Tuesday we made mini or desk top inspired Pollack paintings.

Morah Katie: How does Jackson Pollock get the paint on his canvas?

Efraim: He throws it.

Noah: And he draws shapes in it.

Pretending to be Pollock was fun and messy and resulted in a lot of  laughter and "OH!!! LOOK AT THAT!"
A very interesting phenomena happened Friday morning.
The Pollock art was spread out on the floor, finishing up the drying process.
One might worry that in an active preschool classroom someone might accidentally step on the art in the middle of the room.

 In our active preschool classroom, the children walked around the art all day. 

We considered attaching them all to create one larger painting, but decided to take them home instead.

Enjoy!

We spent our short week as Michelangelo.  

We read that he created his paintings on walls, and painted a famous ceiling.

We laid on our backs and imagined what it might be like to paint a ceiling. What would we paint?

Aaron: The sky.

Efraim: People.

Kian: A big castle. 

To experience painting upside down, we used a table as our ceiling. 

Our playhouse is being transformed into the Sistine Chapel.

 Michelangelo was a painter and a sculptor.

We looked at some of his sculptures, and then created our own.

Morah Katie: Efraim what are you sculpting?

Efraim:  A mama and baby.

Morah Katie: Is the clay soft or hard?

Tori: It is soft and hard.

Morah Katie: Can you imagine using hammers and chisels to break pieces of stone of large rocks?

Noah: That would be a lot of work.

Less than ONE week until the next holiday!

We have been counting down to Shavuot and preparing a special craft for this special day.

Hashem gave the Jewish people a present: The Torah!

We know it is full of: Mitzvahs and Stories!

We made our own Torah's. We began creating beautiful covers.

We created our scrolls, and wrote a mitzvah we can do.

It came to our attention that our  puppets Sally and Billybobjoe saw all the Torah making activity, but were unclear about what the Torah is and why it is so special.

Sally: What is the Torah? 
Tori: It tells us to do kind things.

Kian: It is full of mitzvahs.
Sally: What is a mitzvah?
Abigail: To make happy people.
Aaron: Helping people.

Noah: The Torah is full of good things and good deeds.

Sally: What good things?
Scout: Helping sick people.
Gracie: Sharing toys with people who don't have toys.
Josiah: Celebrating the holidays.

Billybobjoe: Can I get a Torah at Barnes and Noble?
Kids: NO!!!!!
Efraim: From the mountain.
Billybobjoe: So I will go to a mountain and get a Torah.
Kids:NO!!!
Josiah: Hashem gave the Torah on a mountain!
Efraim: Moshe!
Sally: Hashem gave it to Moshe on what kind of mountain?
Dena: Mt. Sinai
Sally: Why Mt. Sinai?  Is it the tallest? or the snowiest? or the prettiest?
Kids:NO!
Gracie: It was humblely.
Sally: What does humble mean?
Billybobjoe: I KNOW I KNOW BECAUSE I!!!! AM THE SMARTEST PUPPET.  Humble is like me.
Kids:NO!!
Efraim: Trying, just OK.
Josiah: Being respectful.
Sally: So being humble means not bragging?
Dena: Or fighting.
Billybobjoe: You are telling us that Hashem gave you The Torah on a mountain that was humble and the Torah is full of good things to help us behave well?
Kids: YES!
Sally: No wonder it is such a special present!