myGanBlog

2012-01-24T17:02:00.000-08:00

The ocean covers almost 3/4 of the earth, we can expect it to be full of life.

A big word has been being used in the classroom this week: INVERTEBRATE

Morah Katie: Are we invertebrates?

Levi: No

Morah Katie: Are you sure, how do you know?

Ben: We have backbones.

Morah Katie: Do we all have backbones? Lean down and touch your toes, reach back and touch your back, what is that thing you feel?

Dena: Our backbone!

Morah Katie: So we are vertebrates. An animal without a backbone is an INvertebrate.

So let me ask you, if I did not have a backbone, what would I be?

Kian: Not a vertebrate

Levi: An invertebrate.

This week we are learning about a few of the many ocean invertebrates.

Morah Katie: Please tell me something interesting about sea stars.

Ben: They move very slowly.

We ran/crawled the slowest sea star race.

Unlike most races, the SLOWEST sea star to reach the finish line won.

Morah Katie: What else can you tell me about sea stars?

Levi: They can regrow their arms.

Morah Katie: How do sea stars see?

Noah: Eyes on their ARMS!

Morah Katie: Where?

Ben: At the end of their arms.

Morah Katie: Do they see us like we see them?

Levi: Only light and dark.

Morah Katie: Do we see light and dark?

Noah: We see it ALL.

Morah Katie: Would you invite a sea star to dinner?

Dena: NO!

Morah Katie: Why not?

Dena: They spit out their stomach.

Ben: Then eat up what they want.

Shalom: And then they tug it back in.

Kian: That would be gross.

We learned that although they look like plants, sea anemones are animals.

We also now know that sea anemones can split themselves in 2!

Or just create a "budding" and grow mini ones of themselves!

Sea anemones appear stationary, but in fact they move!

They move slower than sea stars, but some can fill them selves with gases and float away.

Please ask your child to demonstrate sea anemone swimming.

Sea anemones are predatory invertebrates who use their stinging poisonous tentacles to catch fish.

Morah Katie: If you were a sea anemone, what would you eat?

Tori: Fish

Morah Katie: How would your get your fish?

Levi: Using the tentacles.

Morah Katie: But what do the tentacles do?

Kian: Grab them and bring it to their mouth.

Morah Katie: If you were a fish would you swim near one?

Tori: NO, I would swim away.

And in addition to all our time in the sea, we also spent time in our new Market!

Trading and sharing fruits and vegetables,

So much fun!

2012-01-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

A short week, filled with playing and learning.

Enjoying the snow before the rain washed it away!

10 sets of hand prints = 100 fingers

Filling our classroom with rainbows this week helped us learn about the letter R.

Creating and reading words.

Playing with magnets.

Looking through a periscope on our submarine.

Playing hide and seek.

It's not just soccer, it's moving goal soccer!

We will be oceanographers for the next few weeks.

Morah Katie: Look at the picture of the earth, what is all that blue?

Dena: The water.

Levi: The oceans.

Morah Katie: Is there more blue or green on the earth?

Tori: Blue

Morah Katie: Water covers about 70% of earth!

If we cut earth into four pie slices, 3 would be blue and 1 would green!

Kian: It's a lot of blue.

As oceanographers, we are also marine botanists.

We know that seaweeds and algae provide food and nutrients for all types of ocean life.

Morah Katie: Does the seaweed plant look like anything familiar?

Levi: A plant.

Morah Katie: Yes, it is a plant. Where would you find seaweed?

Dena: In the ocean!

Morah Katie: The seaweed looks like a land plant, they are similar.

Instead of roots, it has a hold fast, and it's stem is called a stipe.

Seaweed has something special - a float! What do you think it does?

Levi: It holds the leaves.

Morah Katie: The leaves, or blades, are attached to the float.

When you float in water, are you at the bottom of the pool or tub, or the top?

Kian: The top.

Morah Katie: What do you think the float does for the seaweed plant?

Levi: Keep it floating.

Morah Katie: Yes, the float keeps the blades of the seaweed near the surface of the ocean, why do the blades need to be near the surface?

Morah Katie: What do plants need to grow?

Tori: Water

Dena: Sun

Morah Katie: Yes, why do the blades need to be near the surface of the water?

Levi: To get the sunlight.

2012-01-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

Oy Baby!

A morning of music and fun!

2012-01-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Water!

Water is an amazing element with many attributes.

One of these attributes is it's ability to have things float, or sink.

We created a hypothesis -a guess, or a statement our experiment will answer.

Our question- will this item sink or float?

Morah Katie: Do you think the straw will sink or float?

Children: Float!

Morah Katie: Let's try it!

All of us: It floats!

Morah Katie: What about the pipe cleaner? Will it sink or float?

Children: Float!

Morah Katie: Let's try it!

A shocked "wow!" The pipe cleaner SANK! even though it is light.

Morah Katie: Wow, that's a surprise! From the the looks of it, the pipe cleaner is heavier than the water it displaced!

Levi: Wow

Tori: It dropped to the bottom!

Noah: It doesn't float!

Morah Katie: Why do things float?

Levi: They are lighter than water.

Morah Katie: Why would something sink?

Ben: It is heavy.

Morah Katie: If something is lighter than water, it floats. If something is heavier than water, it sinks.

We observed what occurred as each item was placed in the container of water.

After we made our observations, we kept track of our results by sorting the items under labels.

The Orange!

Shalom: The orange won't stay down unless I press it down. It keeps jumping up.

We discovered that an orange will float.

But what would happen if we peeled the orange?

The votes were split 50/50 for sinking/floating.

As it turns out...

a peeled orange sinks!

Why does a peeled orange sink? Density!

Morah Katie: We can think of density as how crammed full of stuff something is.

Morah Katie: This cup of beads is full, can you see any space between the beads?

Children: No

Morah Katie: This cup of pom poms is full of pom poms, can you see space between them?

Children: Yes.

Morah Katie: I'm going to seal the cups with duct tape, and label them.

Let's see it they will sink or float.

The cup of fully packed beads dropped to the bottom of the container.

The more densely packed cup weighed more than the water it displaced, the less densely packed cup was lighter than the water it displaced.

We discovered that an orange with it's peel will float because the peel is like a life jacket full of air keeping the orange floating.

Without the peel, the inside is more dense and sinks.

We had a taste test of fresh water vs salt water.

fresh water

salt water

Fresh water won by a landslide.

We have a wonderful new addition to our playground!

A delightfully wonderful playhouse!

We are all so grateful for this lovely new house.

2012-01-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome back from Winter Break.

It has been a week of smiles and laughter and joyful reunions!

We used this first week back to reacquaint ourselves with the classroom and routines.

The following are a few bits of conversations and observations overheard.

Tori: The sand keeps spilling out of the bucket.

(sits and looks at bucket/basket, pours more sand in it, watches as the sand spills out)

(giggles) It's because of the holes! (laughs) The holes!

(Tori continued to put sand in the basket and watched it spill out)

Noah: We can build a pyramid.

Gracie: I want to build a pyramid.

Noah: OK, we need to stack them and build them.

Gracie: I will stack them.

Noah: We did it! Let's crash it and build it again

Gracie: Yeah, we like to crash things!

Dena: Do you want to play monster?

Noah/Kian: YEAH!!!

Dena: We need a monster, who will be the monster?

Levi: I will be the monster.

Dena: OK, Levi will be the monster and we will run. Levi will chase us, if he catches us

Levi: I'll let you go because really I want to run, we want to chase. But you can go in the tunnel.

Dena: OK, so let's .......... Start!

(running/hiding/squealing/running/hiding/squealing.....)

Levi: If you use a magnifying glass the small fish looks as big as the biggest fish.

Gracie: (pointing to Tori) She's my friend.
(pointing to Dena) She's my friend.
(pointing to the group) ALL MY FRIENDS!

Ben: We are building a house.

Aaron: We are making the windows, the window to see out.

Ben: Then we will build a roof.

Aaron: But first the windows need to be out.

Ben: Yeah, the windows can't be blocked.

Happy Birthday to Kian!

2011-12-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

2011-12-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Nun Gimmel Hey and Shin,

watch my dreidle spin and spin

The week before winter break is an active one!

We created snowflakes, and with the cut out scraps made a snowstorm for our animals.

We used a feather pen to be scribes and practice our writing.

We had turtles roaming the classroom.

There is always time for puppet theatre.

We played board games, Snowman snowman where's your nose? and Red light Green light!

In the midst of all these activites and games, we discovered just how much we know about Chanukah.

Morah Tzivie: What was the great miracle that happened?

Noah: Chanukah!

Morah Tzivie: Where did this miracle happen?

Dena: In the big room they cleaned up.

Morah Tzive: Yes, the Jewish people cleaned up and made the Beit Hamikdash beautiful, where was the holy temple?

Ben: In Israel!

Morah Tzivie: Which people did the Maccabee's chase away?

Ben: The Greeks

Morah Tzivie: What was the king's name?

Levi: King Antiochus

Morah Tzivie: After the great miracle of the Maccabee's chasing the Greeks away, what other miracle happened?

Tori: The Candles

Morah Tzivie; Today we use candles, what did they use long ago?

Levi/Dena/Ben: Oil

Morah Tzivie: Was there alot of oil?

Kian: No

Morah Tzivie: How many days did the oil last?

All the children: 8 Days!

Morah Tzivie: What do we do today celebrate and remember the great miracle?

Tori: Play dreidel

Morah Tzivie: We play dreidel, what are the letters on the dreidel?

Noah: Nun

Kian: Gimmel

Levi: Hey and shin.

Morah Tzivie: The letters on the dreidel say Nes Gadol Hayah Sham. Which means?

Levi: A great miracle happened there.

Morah Tzivie: The there is where?

Ben: Israel.

Morah Tzivie: What else do we do to celebrate?

Tori: Light the Menorah

Morah Tzivie: Many people will place their menorah in a window to help remind people of the miracle.

Noah: If we put it outside by the gate people can see it better!

Morah Tzivie: We also eat yummy treats to remind us of the miracle. What treats do we eat?

Dena: Latkes!

Levi: Donuts!

Noah: What about birthday cakes and cupcakes?

Morah Tzivie; Those are sweet treats also, but the treats we eat for chanukah are all cooked with what?

Tori: Ingredients!

Morah Tzivie: After all the ingredients are mixed what are the treats cooked in?

Ben: Oil!

2011-12-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

We are the Maccabees's marching marching...

This week we learned about the heroic Maccabbees.

Morah Tzivie told us the story of the unkind, mean ruler King Antiochus who told the Jewish people:

NO MORE SHABBAT

NO MORE MITZVAH

NO MORE LIGHTING THE MENORAH

NO READING AND STUDYING TORAH!

GIVE THANKS TO ME NOT HASHEM!

The king had his soldiers watch all the Jewish people to be sure they followed the new rules.

Clearly, this made the Jewish people sad, and afraid of the king's army.

Morah Tzivie explained how the Jewish people decided to continue to have Shabbat, to do mitzvahs, to light the menorah and give thanks to Hashem.

She told us how the Jewish people hid in caves to study the Torah, and be thankful to Hashem.

The caves provided a good, safe place for the Jewish people.

Tori, Levi and Noah hid in our "cave".

Morah Tzivie: Kian, can you see Tori? Levi? Noah?

Kian: No

Morah Tzivie: Dena can you?

Dena: No

Morah Tzivie: The caves were a good hiding place for the brave Jewish children to study the Torah.

We learned that the brave Jewish children tricked the Greek soldiers.

They studied the Torah, with a lookout.

When the lookout called to them that a soldier was coming, they would hide the Torah and play dreidel.

We aren't studying the Torah! We are just playing dreidel!

After hearing about the search for oil in the Holy Temple, and the excitement of finding one small jar, we went on an oil hunt!

Where is the oil?

We found it!

Hurray!

Since the children learned all about ancient Israel and the long process in which oil was made, and after watching in our own menorah how oil is naturally consumed by the flame, we really understood what a great miracle it was the oil lasted for 8 whole days.

We spun dreidels, and kept a record of how many times our dreidel landed on each letter.

We made banana pretzel menorah's for snack!

It may be fall but winter weather is here. We played with the frost frozen to our train and slide.

We made snow flakes.

Our hands got cold, but it was fun to have a handful of "snow".

2011-11-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

Winter is arriving early at The Gan.

Morah Katie: What type of a scene shall we create for our winter mural?

Ben: Snowy

Levi: Maybe a gray sun?

Morah Katie: What should the trees look like?

Dena: No leaves.

We began learning about Israel, long long ago, before there were cars or grocery stores.

Morah Tzive explained that in Israel long ago some people lived in buildings close to each other in cities, some people lived on farms like our friend Shalom's family.

There were vineyards with grapes to make wine and grape juice for Shabbat.

There were many fruit trees: apple trees, orange trees and olive trees.

Morah Tzivie showed us pictures of Beit HaMikdash.

Morah Tzivie described how people would travel to the holy temple to meet with friends to sing, pray and celebrate.

We are using the pictures Morah Tzive showed us to inspire us to build a temple with the blocks.

Morah Tzivie told us about the special jobs the Kohen did. They put out the fresh challah, they had the privilege of keeping the temple clean and beautiful.

The Kohen also had the special job of lighting the menorah. It is a very special mitzvah to light the menorah. But it wasn't a menorah that would fit on a shelf, it was as big and high as the wall of our classroom!

Morah Tzive explained how the menorah the Kohen would light did not hold candles

but was filled with oil!

Oil that was pressed from olives. In ancient Israel people would ride horses to olive groves, collect olives and press the oil from them.

Rabbi showed us how an olive press is used to collect the oil.

Olives get put in the oil press

The crank is turned

Pretty hard work, also very exciting!

What is that we see?

OIL!!!

The oil is put in the menorah and lit!

We experimented to see how long the small container of oil would stay lit.

It was lit before snack time

and was done burning during class time before lunch!

We are putting candles in menorahs; our menorahs' fit on our shelves.

We experimented with water and oil.

We have discovered that no matter how little, or how much oil is added to water, the two liquids will not mix!

Red water and blue water create purple water; red water and yellow water create orange water; but oil and purple water or oil and orange water will not mix.

The oil slides off the water!! Sometimes it makes a shell over the water!

Even when we mix the oil and water:

Shalom: It won't stay together. It slides away.

Kian: It won't mix!
We used play dough to create water molecules and chains of hydrocarbons (oil) which helped us to see that water is composed of very "excited" charged molecules, while the oil is hydrogen, carbon and oxygen assembled into a "relaxed" non charged chain.

(oxygen=purple hydrogen=blue carbon=pink)

We played Water/Oil, I asked the kids to behave as if they were a water molecule or an oil chain.

Be water: children jumping (charged water molecules)

Be oil: children moving in slow motion in a line (non charged hydrocarbon chain)

2011-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Germs aren't for Sharing

We had a visit from some nursing students on Tuesday.

Our guests were quite impressed that the children at The Gan knew what to do to prevent spreading germs.

Levi: We can cough into our elbows.

Noah: You should use a tissue to wipe your nose.

Tori: We can wash our hands.

The nursing students read us a book, Germs are not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick. We also made a craft to help remind us the of one of the ways to prevent sharing germs.

We drew our faces on paper plates

and covered our " runny noses" with tissue.

It was a nice reminder of how to best NOT share germs.

As an added reminder in this season of runny noses and coughs, please help remind your child to wash their hands in the morning when they arrive at school - an easy step to prevent the sharing of germs.

2011-11-15T16:03:00.001-08:00

Creating Friendships

Gracie: I can sit by Shalom?

Morah Katie: Yes, if Shalom says yes.

Shalom: (nods yes with head)

Scout: I want to sit by Gracie.

Gracie: Sit by me.

Friendship building in action.

Social relationships surround the child in all aspects of their lives. Family is the first social group a child joins.

Pre-school provides children with the opportunity to choose their playmates.

These friendships, and opportunities they provide, help the children learn skills for navigating the social world.

Play in itself is a key opportunity to help the child create and sustain positive social interactions, such as learning to share, speaking up for ourselves with kind words and including others.

The development of social play is age related, and as a child grows and is offered social experiences, a particular sequence of play can be observed.

It is important to keep in mind that the following sequence is a guideline, with no set boundaries. The child moves through the stages based on age, temperament and personality. At times, it can appear that a child is in two stages simultaneously.

Unoccupied Play, during which the child watches but stays in his/her spot.

Onlooker play, during which the child will move around to watch the other children and ask questions, but refrains from joining in the play.

Solitary Independent Play occurs when the child engages and is active, but plays on his own.

Gracie and Aaron are both playing with the ball tube. Each taking turns, satisfying their own interest and curiosity.

Parallel Play, during which the child plays independently but is next to other children, often using the same materials or toys.

Aaron, Noah and Gracie are all dressing up.

Gracie went on to build with legos, Aaron went on to saw the blocks and Noah searched out anyone who might be in need of help.

Gracie and Scout are both playing in the sandbox, with separate goals.

Associative play, during which the child will play with other children using the same materials, toys and talks with them, however still acting on his own.

Levi, Ben and Dena are all creating butterflies, discussing how pressing the wings together create the same paint pattern on both wings.

Cooperative Play, the child plays in a group with the specific goal of doing a particular thing.

Noah, Levi, and Tori are playing hide and seek, to remain hidden they need to work together.

Noah, Dena, Kian are riding bikes, Tori isn't interested in riding bikes.

Tori chose to play with the pipes.

A little later on during recess Tori and Kian decide to "ride motorcycles".

The motorcycles drive into a gas station "to fill up and get some soda."

Dena: I want to pump the gas!

Kian: It looks like it needs to be fixed.

Noah: I will fix it!

Dena: Me too!

Kian: Let's fix it!

The children came together to create a pretend scenario they could all be involved in.

Kian: Noah you are my best friend.

Noah: Yeah lets make towers.

Kian: I am making the puzzle.

Noah: I don't want to make the puzzle.

Kian: Ok, let's eat lunch together.

Noah: Ok.

2011-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

How can we experience the Seasons, something that cannot (except currently for Fall) be brought into the classroom?

We are learning about them in a variety of ways.

We are exploring how the Earth rotates on its orbital path each year creating each season.

The seasons are a cycle. They repeat each year in the same order.

We know the Earth rotates toward and away from the sun making day and night.

We also know that the earth tilts, and our spot on Earth receives different amounts of sun depending on where the Earth is on its orbital path.

By pretending to be the Earth, we can feel what it's like to rotate, orbit and create a change of season.

We can use art to help us explore the characteristics of the seasons.

Tori: I think Spring would have a sun, and a tree with rain but it needs a rainbow.

Aaron: I'm going to make a rainbow.

While making a seasonal trees, we discussed how trees change during each season.

Morah Katie: What would you expect to see on a tree in Spring?

Levi: Flowers and new leaves.

Morah Katie: Would you see a lot of leaves?

Dena: Not a lot of leaves.

Morah Katie: What would you expect to see on a tree in Summer?

Noah: A lot of leaves.

Morah Katie: What color would you expect to see?

Tori: Green leaves, lots of green leaves.

Morah Katie: And what are the trees looking like right now?

Levi: Orange and red and brown.

Morah Katie: What season do the leaves change colors?

Dena: Fall and the leaves fall off.

Morah Katie: So what would we see on a winter tree?

Levi: Nothing!

This week we are discussing Spring, the season of confused weather and new growth!

We read a book about Spring and discussed what we learned.

The weather during Spring seems to be confused, no longer winter but not yet summer, what types of weather can we expect?

The children helped brainstorm a pencil sketch.

Spring should have rain, storms, rainbows, wind, and high on mountains it can still snow.

Some days it’s chilly and other days its hot; some days its cloudy and other days it's sunny.

The children each chose a piece of the sketch to paint, creating the first panel of our season mural.

With the melting snow and spring rains comes new growth of flowers and trees. And Bugs!

Ladybugs help keep the pesky bugs like aphids from destroying flowers.

Dena created her ladybug, by observing the example, talking about the different aspects of the craft and applying what she thought.

Morah Katie: What do you see?

Dena: A ladybug.

Morah Katie: What was used to create the ladybug?

Dena: Circles and eyes.

Morah Katie: How can you use the circles to create a ladybug?

Dena: Cut them out and glue them together.

Singing is another way we can learn about concepts.

To help us understand the seasonal cycle we can sing;

Here we go round the year again, the year again, the year again

Here we go round the year again to greet the different seasons.

In the springtime days grow warm.

On the plants, the new buds form.

Bees and bugs come out to swarm,

because it is the spring.

2011-11-01T19:51:00.001-07:00

Pluto, Playing and Birthday's!

We have learned so much about our solar system.

We know a comet is made up of ice, space dust and gas.

We know a meteoroid is a rock orbiting around the sun. If we are lucky we can sometimes see one in our night sky, it looks like a shooting star and it gets a name change to meteorite.

We learned that asteroids are small icy metallic rocks, many of which are between Mars and Jupiter.

We know that to rotate means to spin in place, and an orbit is the path an object in space follows.

The children were rotating planets orbiting the aleph bet mat.

Morah Katie: If you could be a planet which one would you be?

Dena: Jupiter

Morah Katie: Why Jupiter?

Dena: Because of it's big red spot.

Levi: I would be Earth, because we live there.

Morah Katie: Scout, which planet would you be?

Scout: Mars.

Morah Katie: Why Mars Scout?

Scout: I like red.

Tori: I like Mars too! I like that it's red too!

Noah: I would be the planet that is gassy and has stinky air, but I would rotate fast.

Kian: You mean Venus.

Levi: Venus rotates slow.

Noah: Yeah, but I would rotate fast!

Wow the paths of the planets are so big!

All the planets are lined up (Scout= Mercury/Dena=Venus/Levi=Earth & Efraim=Moon/Noah=Mars/Kian=Jupiter & Gracie=Moon/Tori=Saturn/Ben=Uranus/Aaron=Neptune

The planets are following their orbits.

What is Morah Katie doing all the way over there?

She is PLUTO on its crazy orbital path of an oval.

She even weaved in between Uranus and Neptune!

Pluto doesn't follow a circular orbit, it is not a true planet.

We discovered that Pluto may have been demoted from our family of planets, but it has joined a group of other dwarf planets all together in the Kuiper Belt (an area past Neptune similar to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter only 20-200x more expansive).

We have paper planets we can move around the classroom, line up, and create our own orbital paths around.

Our floor puzzle is letting us cross the galaxy and touch each planet.

The more we have studied the solar system, the more we realized how large the universe is,

and how exciting it must be to be an astronomer continually learning new things!

We have been playing in, and on our expanding playground.

Thank You so much to Noah and Gracie's Grandma and Gramps for the tons and tons of new sand as well as our new puppet theater. We are so appreciative.

We discovered just how fun shaving cream can be.

We have had a week of celebrations! We have a new 3 year old and TWO new 5 year olds!

2011-10-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Number and Math Sense

Children instinctively search for order and sense in their environment. This helps them to see and make connections in the world around them.

In the classroom we have concrete, hands-on materials which represent number ideas.

The math materials can assist the child's need to organize, classify and rank objects.

Kian: Hey it's longest to shortest!

Every hands-on, sensorial impression they experience is filed away in their mind to be recalled later.

Dena knows just how big 10 is because she remembers holding the 10th red/blue rod.

The numerals the children see are the labels for the quantity, the true number group.

Tori is placing the 6th red/blue rod under the numeral that symbolizes that specific quantity.

The numeral card tells the child which rod to bring. Tori has experienced what "6" is, (she had to reach to count from the red end to the blue end) and can now apply that knowledge.

At times disagreements about correct answers may arise.

Rather than simply providing the correct answer, the children involved may hear the question: Can you show me how you got your answer?

The child is then able to demonstrate their thought process, and share their knowledge.

Perhaps a child will hear: I get a different answer, lets each try again and see what we come up with.

Morah Katie: Kian, will you please bring me the 6 red/blue rod?

Kian walks across the classroom and into the "space" room, he has to remember the rod requested, find it and bring it back.

Morah Katie: I get a different answer, let's each count it.

This "double check" allows the child to rethink a strategy, or perhaps simply slow down in the activity. What is important is that the child is provided with an opportunity to repeat the process and/or reexamine their own ideas.

Kian is able to return, self-correct, and bring the correct red/blue rod.

In addition to the manipulative items in the classroom, the classroom is also designed to facilitate the development of mathematical knowledge in indirect ways.

Negotiations and conflict resolution is an indirect way to assist number concepts.

If we have 3 children who want to work at a table with 2 chairs, will there be enough for everyone? What can we do to solve this problem?

Perhaps just bring another chair, or perhaps go to a bigger table.

Guiding the children to find positive solutions help them to see connections and relationships between things.

It is important to have children think about number and quantities of objects which are meaningful to them.

If we sing about 5 green and freckled frogs but have 9 children, how many times will we need to sing the song so everyone gets a turn?

As we sing about 5 stars winking at us, and 1 star shoots away leaving us with 4 (and so on until there are none) we are singing and subtracting!

Each morning the host of the day counts how many friends are at school.

The host and a friend set the snack table for all the children.

What happens if a few children don't have chairs?

The host can recount the chairs at the table, or perhaps count how many children are still standing.

In the end, being sure each child has a chair is an important part of this social experience, as well as building one to one correspondence.

Logical and mathematical thinking is an internal process, in which the child needs to build relationships and connections in their world.

This can only be done and achieved at the child's pace and interest.

The teacher's job is to focus on the process of this construction rather than the results.

There is nothing quite as exciting as watching the face of a child who is in the midst of an "aha!" moment. The fact that the child knows that 8+2=10 is just a bonus.

2011-10-18T16:01:00.001-07:00

So much happens in a day at The Gan.

It is hard to catch all the fun wonderful moments.

The following is a peek into the interests and activities of the children.

Matching and rhyming and working together

Freeze Dance is a great game. We need to listen and be in control of our dancing bodies in order to freeze like a statue when the music stops.

Creating with our hands and imagination

Playing pretend, will we create a restaurant? Do we need to go shopping?

Music is always welcome

Exploring with light

Building

These moments catch the tangible activity, and viewing them we can see the intangible joys, such as friendships, being created.

2011-10-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have a little sukkah

With 4 walls and door

It doesn't have a ceiling

It doesn't have a floor

The Schach will be the ceiling

The earth will be the floor

I'll take my Etrog and my Lulav

I'm ready now for sure

OHHHHHHHHH

Sukkah Sukkah Sukkah

I like to sit in you

I like to wave my lulav

and my etrog too

(to the tune of I have a little Dreidle)

Sukkah's

Morah Tzive read us a story about a young boy preparing for Sukkot.

In the story the boy helps his father build a sukkah.

We learned that a sukkah is a structure with four walls and door, but no ceiling or floor!

We learned that the roof of a sukkah needs to let a bit of the sky in, if it rains we may feel some of the raindrops.

We learned that the hebrew name for the roof is schach, made from branches that have been cut or have fallen.

We built miniature sukkah's with popsicle sticks.

To make the schach we went on a nature walk to collect leaves and twigs.

We wove green paper together for our schach and added the leaves from our walk.

We have a finished sukkah of our own.

Saturn

Morah Katie: Saturn is a planet in our solar system.

Kian: It has circles.

Morah Katie: It has rings. What do you think the rings are made of?

Levi: Gases

Morah Katie: Good guess, many of the planets have gases surrounding them, the rings blur and look gassy. But, the rings of Saturn are made of something solid and cold.

Tori: Rocks.

Morah Katie: Rocks are solid, sometimes rocks can be cold, but not all the time. Any other guesses?

Morah Katie: The rings of Saturn are made of large pieces of ice. Some are as large as a house! Close your eyes and picture your house, imagine it as an ice cube. Imagine it orbiting Saturn.

Dena: That's silly!

We hold a Lulav with an Etrog

we make a blessing loud and clear.

We wave the Lulav in all directions,

We're so happy Sukkot is here.

(To the tune of Oh my darling clementine)

Lulav and Etrog

We each held the lulav and etrog and said the blessing.

We know that the four kinds of plants are an etrog, a frond of a date palm tree, a branch of a myrtle tree, and a branch from a willow tree.

We made a paper lulav and etrog to bring home.

Morah Katie: Which branch is the longest?

Levi: The palm.

Morah Katie: How can you tell the difference between the myrtle and the willow?

Tori: Willow is bigger and dark green.

Morah Katie: What would an etrog feel like in your hand?

Dena: Bumpy.

We walked to see the sukkah and play at the train yard, on our way we noticed the

THE MOON!

Levi: It's following us!

Noah: The wind moves it.

Kian: The sun makes it go.

Levi: The sun doesn't move, the moon does.

Once in the train yard, the conversation continued.

Tori: We won't see the moon now, the fence is blocking it.

Shalom: But look (points over fence)

Tori: It came with us!!!

We finished our week with singing, dancing and lunch in the Sukkah.

2011-09-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

The Gan is the place where children come to grow, to discover what they are capable of and develop skills- only to set new goals to accomplish.

This is the place where smiles and exclamations of pride can be seen and heard.

Though at times a child's new ability appears to sprout instantaneously, that burst of skill and capability was nurtured and supported each time the child engaged in the activity.

The following are two areas which describe this process.

The ladders.

Watching children climb is a fascinating thing. Once they have mastered the coordination of their body and developed a certain amount of "fearlessness" the ladders are no longer obstacles to the joy of the slide.

The slanted step ladder to the train slide is a good first start; it is slanted like stairs and a manageable goal.

The vertical ladder on the play structure is straight up. A child needs alternate their feet and arms to push and pull themselves up.

Not an easy feat, yet once practiced it becomes as easy as the slanted ladder.

The rope ladder can appear daunting to the young eye.

Despite the intimidation the wobbly ladder creates, a child will begin to climb it.

This ladder is slanted, but it MOVES.

It moves when the child is climbing up, and it moves when a friend is climbing up along side them.

There are holes from one step to the next, and the child has to coordinate their feet and arms to push and pull themselves to the top.

This process and development in gross motor control may not take place in one playtime. It can happen over a few days, perhaps weeks. It is the product of the interest, eagerness and determination of the child.

What may appear to be a small accomplishment -Wow you climbed the ladder!-

is in fact a huge development for the child's confidence and self esteem.

They slide down KNOWING they can do it again until their heart's content.

A similar process can be seen with cutting.

This is a huge point of interest.

The children get to use those special tools called scissors.

First we learn how to walk safely with them.

Then how we hold them in order to safely cut.

It can be awkward and feel uncomfortable. Eventually, with repetition it becomes more natural and requires less "set up" (let's put our thumb facing the ceiling, slide 2/3 fingers in the big hole, keep the scissors pointing away from our belly, open... and close... open... and close).

Generally, the first items cut look like confetti.

It is the process of cutting, of using the tool that the child is interested in.

Every opportunity to cut helps the child perfect the skill, increasing their accuracy for cutting on a line, and increased independence.

No longer does a child need to wait patiently for a teacher to help cut the beginning of the craft, or the top off the Go-gurt or juice straw.

The child has the ability, and belief, that she can help herself.

Each day at The Gan we strive to create an environment where each child feels empowered to explore ideas, skills and themselves.

We follow the interests of the children and create an environment

in which they smile, laugh, test limits, and discover the world.

This week we discovered that each apple has a star in it.

We pretended we were floating in space and playing "Toss the Moon Rock".

Morah Katie: Why are the rocks so light and easy to toss?

Dena: We are in space.

Morah Katie: We are, what is it about space that allows these "rocks" to be so easy to throw, like crumpled paper balls?

Levi: No gravity.

Morah Katie: Is there anything else gravity does?

Tori: Gravity makes us stay on the ground.

Kian: We don't float.

We are discovering how easy and fun it is to help others.

As the children do all these things, they are becoming happy, capable young people.

At our "Mock Shabbat" today we did things very different from our usual way.

Since tonight is Yom Kippur and we won't have Kiddush and challah, we didn't have grape juice and challah with our friends.

Instead, we had delicious honey cake, and instead of lighting the candles before our meal, we lit the Shabbat and Yom Kippur candles after our meal.

We hope our new year is as sweet as the honey cake we tasted.

2011-09-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Despite it being a short week, a lot was accomplished.

There were moments of independent play,

as well as constructive cooperative play.

Morah Tzivie brought a special snack for Rosh Hashanah.

We had to reach into a box -without looking- and guess what the mystery inside was.

Many of us thought it was an apple. It was really a.......

Pomegranate!

We talked about how, like apples, pomegranates are sweet fruit with seeds.

Unlike apples, pomegranates have many sweet seeds we can eat!

We eat the many many sweet seeds hoping that the coming year will bring us many many good things.

We climbed aboard our space shuttle and traveled out into our solar system and learned about the red, dry, cold planet Mars.

We are curious to find out if we grow over the holiday weekend, and can't wait to measure ourselves again on Monday!

2011-09-14T16:31:00.001-07:00

We pretended to be astronauts and traveled out into our solar system on a journey to learn about each unique planet.

Morah Katie: I am planning a picnic trip to a planet. I think I'll go to Mercury. What should I pack?

Levi: NO! DON"T GO

Morah Katie: Why not?

Dena: It's just a big rock!

Morah Katie: I like rocks, I could go rock climbing when I leave my space shuttle.

Kian: Climb on earth!

Morah Katie: I can rock climb on Earth and Mercury.

Levi: No, you can't breathe on Mercury, there is no air there.

Morah Katie: Are you sure? how do you know?

Levi: There is no atmosphere there.

Morah Katie: What is atmosphere?

Dena: Air!

Morah Katie: OK, I won't go to Mercury, I'll go to Venus!

Noah: NO it's gasey and smelly and hot!

Morah Katie: I can't go to Venus either? Where will I have my picnic?

Dena: Here!

Morah Katie: Here where?

Tori: Earth.

Morah Katie: What makes Earth so special?

Levi: The air, and it's the only planet where things grow.

We are also learning about our up coming holiday.

Rosh Hashanah is the new year.

We eat sweet foods, like apple dipped in honey, honey cake, raisin-filled challah. The sensory experience awakens within us this idea of sweet new beginnings.

Morah Katie: How do the apples taste?

Tori: Sweet.

Morah Katie; How do the apples taste with the honey?

Ben: Very sweet

Morah Katie: What does dipping the apples remind us of?

Dena: Having a sweet new year.

Morah Katie: What are some ways we can make our new year sweet?

Dena: Be nice.

Tori: Help.

We hear the Shofar. The Shofar is the horn of a ram. Its sound pierces the status quo, urging us to take charge of our lives, like an alarm clock reminding us that the new year is here.

Apples apples everywhere!

We are counting them and adding seeds.

We are using apples to make apple prints.

We are using them to measure our height!

M was the letter of the week. We created mail boxes and wrote mail to friends, wishing them a happy new year, Shana Tova!

2011-09-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Friendships are being made each day.

This is created by common interests and easy laughter.

We began to talk of letter of the week. This week it is "a": apple/alligator/astronaut

Each sound will have a craft to help the child have a concrete object to associate the sound with. The crafts will reinforce the phonetic lesson as well as the skills necessary to create a craft, following directions/cutting/gluing etc.

Morah Katie: Shalom, would you like to make an Alligator?

Shalom: Yes.

Morah Katie: What will you need to cut the parts for the alligator?

Shalom: Scissors.

Morah Katie: Would you like to choose your favorite pair of scissors?

(this provides an opportunity for choice and a lesson in how to safely carry scissors in the classroom)

Morah Katie: How will we attach the parts together?

Shalom: Glue, I will get it.

We are also beginning our Space exploration.

We will take on the role of astronomer and look to the sky to understand stars and the planets.

Morah Katie: What do astronomers do?

Kian: Look at stars.

Morah Katie: Can you be an astronomer?

Gracie: No.

Morah Katie: Can you look at the stars at night?

Tori: Yes.

Dena: Yes!

Morah Katie: Do astronomers use any special tools to look at the sky?

Tori: Telescopes.

Morah Katie: What other things do astronomers study?

Levi: Planets.

Morah Katie: We live on a planet. Which one?

Levi: Earth

Morah Katie: Earth is a planet in our solar system. What else is in our solar system?

Levi: Stars.

Morah Katie: What heats Earth?

Kian: The sun.

Morah Katie: The sun is a big star and it provides the earth with heat.

2011-09-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I am excited to begin the new school year and I hope all the children and families are as well. I have enjoyed seeing the bright, happy faces each morning, and I hope the children are sharing their excitement at home with you.

In the immediate days to come, the main goal is helping each child acclimate to being a preschooler and the classroom routine.

We want everyday your child spends at The Gan to be joyful and fun. One of the many ways we can facilitate this is with a positive and comforting morning goodbye.

Beginning preschool is a big step for a small child, as well as for parents. Goodbyes can be a moment of stress. A successful approach to the goodbye is to project a feeling of calm and confidence (even if you may be feeling shaky yourself). Your calm, and encouraging demeanor will reassure your child.

There are many strategies for a successful goodbye. Preparing your child and having a brief goodbye ritual can be a source of comfort. The teachers will work with you and your child to determine the best adjusting style for your child.

Looking to the future, this year we will explore space, dive into the oceans and travel on an ark.

While we discover these wondrous areas, we will continue to develop our learning skills such as sorting and matching, our alphabet sounds, science and number sense, as well as other subjects. We will develop our creativity through art and activities to inspire inquisitive thoughts.

The children will be provided with interesting activities to inspire and provoke their minds. I will present the activities and invite the children to participate. I will observe and follow the children’s interests, and do my best to meet their needs and curiosities.

Our room is already being filled with color and creativity. Our family frames are gracing our wall, the cause of smiles and conversations.

We have made “buddies” which will be puppets for circle songs and games.

Fridays we will celebrate Shabbat. Today, we made our blessings and enjoyed Challah as well as preparing our own challah's to bring home and share.

We sang and danced with a wonderful music circle with Morah Flip.

It has been an active 2 days, and I am looking forward to many more!

Orientation- Welcome Back

2011-09-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

So nice to meet old friends and new friends.

2011-06-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful and joyful school year,

see you in the fall!

'End of Year' Gan Family BBQ

2011-06-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

2011-06-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

We had our final Mommy and Me group of this year.

We were delighted to have guitar accompaniment with our Shabbat Party.

Another wonderful friday full of music and fun with Tia!

2011-06-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

It is a pleasure to see the children self directed and motivated. It appears that they know exactly what they want to do each day. It is a joy to see them walk in with smiles and big hello's.

This week the children had two art projects.

One was very open and free form; squares of different colors, all cut to 1 1/2 inches. No direct directions, simply the materials.

The second craft was a self portrait. Using a mirror the children replicated themselves using the craft materials.

In the classroom it is common to hear a child saying to a friend, "I can help you", or likewise a child asking a friend for help versus asking a morah for help. These simple acts create confidence and a sense of belonging in the child helping, and builds camaraderie between the children involved.

Noam: (looking at Dena) Please help me.

(he hands her his applesauce)

Dena: OK, I can help you.

(she tries very hard to twist the cap)

Morah Katie can you help me help Noam?

Morah Katie: Yes, I can.

(I loosen it enough to allow Dena to open it)

Dena: Here Noam

Noam: Thank you

Each child has something to share and offer to another.

2011-06-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Me

We sang and danced at group time

We set our Shabbat table

We learned about wind instruments with Tia!

2011-06-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

We began this week with a birthday! Noam is 3!

A wonderful way to begin any week.

We completed creating our Torah's and decorated our covers.

With their faces full of smiles and voices full of pride, we heard from many of the children how they shared their Torah's with their families.

As the year is coming to a close, it is fun to see the progress that has been made in all areas.

Confidence in oneself has bloomed and grown; friendships have developed and strengthened.

The countdown to summer vacation has begun, depending on how we count it out we have between 12 or 8 days left together.The children are correctly stating how sad I will be, but I have assured them I plan to enjoy each of the 12 or 8 days we have left.

2011-06-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

Music with Tia

2011-06-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

We will be celebrating the holiday of Shavuot in just a few days.

Earlier this week we went to the synagogue to see a real Torah.

Morah Tzivie: What does the Torah teach us?

Levi: To be nice

Daniel: To help people

Dena: To be friendly

Morah Tzivie: We are going to make our very own Torah's using the mitzvah notes from our pear tree, and we have pictures we can color of mitzvah's to put in our Torah's also.

The children excitedly began creating their Torah's.

In addition to our Torah making,

we played a Shavuot matching game

explored balance

experimented with color mixing

and simply had fun!

2011-05-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Me at The Gan

May 27, 2011

2011-05-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Morah Katie: How are mountains formed?

Levi: Volcanoes are mountains.

Daniel: Hot lava comes from volcanoes.

Morah Katie: Volcanoes and their eruptions of hot lava are one way mountains are formed.

Another way mountains form is when pieces of the earth move and hit each other, they force bits of land up.

(each child was given some salt dough)

Morah Katie: Let's roll our dough out flat, now lets push on the ends towards the middle.

Tell me what you see happening.

Levi: It's being pushed up.

Tori: It looks like a mountain.

Morah Katie: We can use our dough to make lots of different types of mountains. What types of mountains should we make?

Levi: Tall ones.

Morah Katie: What might we see on the top of tall mountains?

Tori: Snow

Morah Katie:What other type of mountains can we make.

Daniel: Volcano, you need to be careful on volcano, lava is hot.

Morah Katie: Do mountains just appear? Tomorrow when we come to school will there be a mountain in our parking lot?

Noah: NO!

Levi: It takes a really long time to make a mountain, but if we did have one in our parking lot we could drive around it.

Morah Katie: True on both statements.

Morah Tzivie read to us about why Hashem chose to give the Jewish people the Torah on a mountain: To remember to be strong like a mountain and proud of who you are.

We took our salt dough mountains and transformed them into Mt. Sinai's.

Morah Katie: Please close your eyes, I am going to say something, and I'd like you to tell me if I sound like Mt. Sinai or one of the boastful bragging mountains? Ready?

Children: YES! (all close their eyes)

Morah Katie: (in a bragging voice) I am SUCH a good climber!!!! I climb the BEST!!!!

Did I sound like how Mt. Sinai?

Children: NO!!!

Levi: You sounded like bragging

Morah Katie: I'll try again, please close your eyes, I really like to climb, would you like to climb with me? How was that?

Daniel: Better, nicer.

Morah Katie: I have another, please close your eyes and get ready to listen to my words.

I am such a FAST runner, I can run SO FAST NO one can keep up with ME!!

Tori: Not Mt. Sinai!

Dena: That wasn't very nice.

Morah Katie: Shall I try again?

Children: YES!

Morah Katie: I like to run fast, does anyone want to run with me?

Kian: That was nicer.

Morah Katie: I want to encourage all of us to think of how Mt. Sinai would talk with his friends. Let's be sure we sound like Mt. Sinai.

Children: OK!

2011-05-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Me!

2011-05-13T14:13:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:

play dough

vinegar

baking soda

interest

anticipation

We experimented with vinegar and baking soda and discovered an exciting chemical reaction between the base and acid.

We smelled the vinegar.

Levi: It smells like dressing.

Morah Katie: Yes, we can make salad dressing using vinegar and other ingredients. What does it smell like?

Daniel: Yucky.

Morah Katie: Let's see what happens when we add the vinegar to the baking soda.

Lot's of squeals and laughter.

Morah Katie: What do we see?

Dena: Bubbles!

Kian: Wow! it's bubbling

Using strawberry scented play-dough, we created volcanoes.

Morah Katie: Let's experiment again, only this time, let's see what happens when we add a bit of water to the baking soda.

Daniel: Nothing! It's just water.

Morah Katie: What do we need to add to the baking soda to make the bubbling reaction happen?

Levi: Vinegar

Morah Katie: As soon as everyone has made their volcano, we can add the baking soda and vinegar and cause the volcano to erupt.

Tori: SO COOL

Noah: My lava is green.

Kian: I am naming mine Mt. Cherry Kian.

We are keeping count of the number of days until the holiday Shavuot, when the Jewish nation received the Torah.

Daniel and Levi worked together to create a drawing of Mt. Sinai.

We are counting flowers in order from 1-49.

We are marking the time to Shavuot by placing foot steps leaving from our pyramid in Egypt on our way to Mt. Sinai.

We are learning about why Hashem chose Mt. Sinai.

Mt. Sinai was chosen because he was humble.

What does it mean to be humble? We are humble when we use kind words, not bragging or boastful.

How can we speak like Mt. Sinai? How can we act like Mt. Sinai?

In anticipation of creating individual volcano, the following conversation occurred;

Noah enters the classroom.

Levi: NOAH! Come and I'll show you how to make a volcano so you are ready when we make our volcano's.

Noah: OK!

We are like Mt. Sinai when we play and create along side each other, appreciating each friends creativity.

2011-05-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

"When we eat and when we taste we use our tongues.

when we eat and when we taste we use our tongues,

when we eat and when we taste all the things there are to taste,

when we eat and when we taste we use our tongues."

Lemon slices are?

SOUR!!

Honey tastes?

SWEET!

Chips taste?

SALTY!

Unsweetened cocoa is?

BITTER!

At snack we had this conversation:

Morah Katie: If we sprinkled unsweetened cocoa on our bananas what would it taste like?

Levi: Bitter!

Morah Katie: If we dipped our bananas in honey would they become bitter too?

Daniel: No, sweet!

Morah Katie: What would our bananas taste like if we poured lemon juice on them?

Levi: Sour!

Morah Katie: What do you think our bananas would taste like if we ate them with chips?

Daniel: Salty sweet.

Morah Katie: Is there a special time of year when we dip apples in honey?

Levi: Yes. Rosh Hashanah.

Morah Katie: Why do we dip our apples in honey for the new year?

Levi: So we have a sweet new year.

We sampled lemonade and we discovered that when sugar and water are added to lemon juice, the lemon juice becomes less sour and much sweeter!

We created plates with pictures of items we can taste.

We ate yams in honor of "y".

Morah Katie: What do the yams taste like? Salty? Sweet? Bitter? Sour?

Levi: Not so good.

Kian: Sweet, I like it.

"When we sniff and when we smell we use our nose,

when we sniff and when we smell we use our nose,

when we sniff and when we smell all the things there are to smell,

when we sniff and when we smell we use our nose."

We experienced some delicious scents:

Peppermint

Vanilla

Anise

2011-05-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

We are continuing to examine how we experience our world.

"When we look and when we see we use our eyes

When we look and when we see we use our eyes,

When we look and when we see all the things there are to see,

When we look and when we see we use our eyes."

Our eyes provide us with so much information. We have been putting them to good use.

We created "looking frames" which we used to search for colors in our classroom.

We learn about the world with more than just our eyes.

Morah Katie: If we use our eyes to see the world, what do we use to hear the world?

Levi: Our ears

Daniel: Ears!

Morah Katie: (wiggling her fingers) These are my ears right?

Noah: NO

Kian: Those are fingers

Morah Katie: Where would I find my ears?

Dena: Here (pointing to ears)

Morah Katie: Let's use our ears today to exlpore our world.

We paid close attention to all that we heard.

We used our loudest possible voices on the playground, listening to just how much beautiful noise we can create.

We then quieted our bodies and used our ears to listen to a story being read in only a whisper.

We played a game that required us to use our eyes and ears.

Hullaballu is a game similar to Simon Says.

We begin on a purple pad, and then use our best listening ears to follow the directions.

We need to hop, gallop, skip,or spin towards a shape, picture, or color.

We need to stand on it, or place our knee - sometimes our nose on the pad.

Then we begin all over again!

"When we listen and we hear we use our ears,

When we listen and we hear we use our ears,

When we listen and we hear all the things there are to hear,

When we listen and we hear we use our ears."

We guessed at what we were eating for lunch based on what we could hear.

Morah Katie: I hear crunching.

Levi: Noah is eating chips.

Morah Katie: (Leaning next to Dena) I don't hear any crunching from Dena's sandwich. Why is that?

Daniel: Its bread, can you hear my sandwich?

Morah Katie: Let's listen ....... did anyone hear Daniel chewing his sandwich?

Everyone: NO!

Morah Katie: Levi has a blintz and a cucumber, which one will be loud?

Tori: Cucumber.

Morah Katie: Let's listen to the cucumber.

Levi: (after first bite) Crunchy.

We also experience our world with our sense of touch.

"When we touch and when we feel we use our hands,

When we touch and when we feel we use our hands,

When we touch and when we feel all the things there are to feel, when we touch and when we feel we use our hands."

We played a game of finding an object just by using our fingers.

We set out 4-5 objects at a time, the children looked at the objects and then closed their eyes. The objects were put in a bag and I asked each child to use their sense of touch to "find the ___".

We explored different textures in our classroom.

Morah Katie: Place the rock in one hand and a feather in the other. Do they feel the same?

Daniel: No.

Morah Katie: How are they different?

Daniel: The rock is hard, the feather is soft.

We cut out hands and glued textures to "our fingers".

We discover our world through our senses, and through play, discovery,

counting and learning to play a game,

attempting a challenging puzzle,
practicing our writing, "I made a circle!"

and matching colors.

All of these experiences will help our children successfully navigate their way in the world.

2011-04-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

There has bee non-stop activity at The Gan!

It has been a great week back to school!

After greeting each other with much excitement and joy,

the children quickly became involved in the classroom activities.

Playtime was active and enjoyable.

There were squeals of delight as we entered our back yard and saw that the flower bulbs we had planted had opened up giving us a delightful gift!

And it turns out that all our seeds needed was the SUN!

We can see the tiny sprouting leaves and stems.

It appears the children have made that leap which happens in every class around spring, ideas and concepts begin to "click" and the children can't help but put their knowledge to use.

When the children choose the Movable Alphabet, it is important to straighten the letters.

Now that they are cleaned up, the children can begin to build words.

Numeral recognition and counting have made an impressive stride forward, which opens up the opportunity for addition, subtraction and multiplication in the coming weeks.

We will begin learning about the 5 Senses.

We are starting with Sight.

We use our eyes to see the world around us, and it is a colorful world.

The children are using their eyes to discover what occurs when they mix colors.

We made special glasses for an "I Spy" hunt in the classroom

2011-04-18T08:01:00.001-07:00

Flowers and Frogs and Matzah!

We have been learning about frogs this week.

Morah Katie: What is the first stage of a frogs's life?

Tori: They hatch from eggs.

Levi: Then they grow a tail and are tadpoles.

Morah Katie: Do they stay that way?

Tori: No, it disappears.

Morah Katie: What disappears?

Levi: The tail.

Morah Katie: So the tail disappears and then it's a frog?

Levi: It grows legs as the tail shrinks.

Tori: When it's all gone then it's a frog.

Ask your child to sing with you:

"One morning when King Pharaoh awoke in his bed

There were frogs on his head and frogs in his bed

Frogs on his nose and frogs on his toes

Frogs here, Frogs there, Frogs were jumping everywhere!"

We are finishing up our preparation for Passover.

We used different puppets and pictures to sing

"The Ma Nishtana"

Four Questions;

"Ma Nishtana Halayla Hazeh Mikol Halailot?"

Why is this night so different from all other night?

On all the nights of the year, we don't dip our food,

But on this night, but on this night, we dip twice.

On all the nights of the year we eat bread or matzah,

But on this night, but on this night we eat only Matzah.

We are learning the important differences between challah and matzah. We learned of how simple the recipe for matzah is; that the flour and water were all the Jewish people had to make bread, and when they rushed out of Egypt there was no time for their dough to rise.

We prepared Charoset, the apple and nut mixture on the Seder plate.

We ate sweet carrots to compare it with the taste of the bitter maror.

The bitter taste of the Maror reminded us of the bitter suffering of the Jews in Egypt.

Morah Tzive: Who would like to taste our bitter maror?

Kian: I will taste it.

Morah Tzivie: Does it taste sweet like the carrot? or bitter?

Kian: Bitter.

At the end of our tasting, Daniel stated the seder dinner very clearly:

Lots of interesting foods!

Sing this song with your children: (tune of Mary had a little lamb)

Passover is a holiday, a holiday, a holiday

Passover is a holiday, a very special day

On Passover we eat crunchy matzah,

crunchy matzah, crunchy matzah

On Passover we eat crunchy matzah to remember the slaves in Egypt.

The Passover meal is called a Seder,

called a Seder, called a Seder.

The Passover meal is called a Seder, with lots of interesting foods.

At the Seder we drink four cups of wine,

four cups of wine, four cups of wine

At the Seder we drink four cups of wine to celebrate that we are free!

We began to plant some flowers for our outside playground.

We talked about the roots, stems and leaves and made guesses as to what type of flowers we will see bloom.

Passover Storyteller & Craft at Cafe Sip n Play

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"You put 10 fingers up, you put 10 fingers down

You put 10 fingers up and twirl them all around,

You give a little wiggle and you bend them up and down,

That's how we learn to count!"

Number sense is an interesting development in children.

Children begin counting with a one to one correspondence. The helper of the day has the privilege and responsibility of passing out the Torah's. When a child is first developing their counting skills and number awareness, he/she will pass one Torah (or napkin, or paper...) to one child at a time.

As their number sense develops, he/she begins to look at the group and makes the decision of how many Torah's to pass out based on how many children need one.

They have progressed from a simple 1-1 idea to seeing a group.

I encourage you to invite your child to set the table for dinner, does he/she bring 1 plate/utensil/ glass at a time? Does he/she gather 4 (or enough for all the family members) plates/utensils/glasses at a time?

Numeral recognition and counting is another development in number sense. When a child is first learning to recognize the numerals and count, it is presented in order 1-10. As the child learns the numerals and refines their counting skills, the numerals can be mixed up making math games more challenging and more fun.

Since we have been discussing the Jews building King Pharaoh's pyramids in Egypt, we used our counting skills to create pyramids.

The base has 10 yellow squares, with each successive level having one less square.

The beginning of this project was guided, after the 3rd/4th row, I began to ask the children the question: If you had (8) squares for your last row, how many will you need for this row? Children would recount the row of (8) and answer (7), or give the answer without a recount because the pattern had been discovered.

While making the paper pyramids, I heard from a few of the children: This is so hard!

I acknowledged their opinion and reaffirmed my faith in their skill and ability.

Noah: This is hard.

Morah Katie: I know it feels hard, I believe you can make it.

Noah: Building a pyramid is really hard. Hard work.

Morah Katie: I agree, building a pyramid needs hard work. I can't wait to see your pyramid.

Noah: (with completed pyramid) I Did It! I'm a hard worker! I made a pyramid!

We used our counting skills to determine how many blocks we might need to build a block pyramid.

We are listening to the Passover story, and learning why we eat the special and different foods at the Seder meal. We are learning about how the charoset (apple/nut mixture) reminds us of the cement bricks they made for the pyramids.

We talked about how hard the Jewish people worked, and just how difficult their work was.

We are discovering first hand the challenge of construction as we build a foam block pyramid. It has taken us more than a couple of days. We are appreciating the hard work we are accomplishing and imagining what it must have been like to build a real pyramid.

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Water water everywhere, water all around

We learned that a liquid will fill and take the shape of whatever container it is put in.

We experimented with sinking and floating.

Things that were dense, heavier than water, sank.

Things that were buoyant, lighter than water, floated.

We experimented with an apple and an orange.

With the peel on the orange floated. The air in the peel made it buoyant.

We peeled the orange

and discovered that a peeled orange will sink!

Without the peel it is dense.

We did the same experiment with an apple, peel on and peeled. We discovered that apples will float both ways.

Morah Katie: Why did the orange float with the peel on, it felt heavy.

Kian: It was buoyant.

Morah Katie: Oh, remind me what that means?

Kian: It's light and floats.

Levi: Buoyant means it is lighter that water, it has air to lift it.

Morah Katie: Are oranges buoyant fruit then?

Dena: With the peel.

Morah Katie: What about apples, are they buoyant fruit?

Tori: YES! They float!

We put a sponge in water and saw it fill with water.

We watched it all day to see if would sink. Even though it was heavier wet than dry, it was still lighter than the water it displaced.

Morah Katie: When we have a cup of water, and we drop pebbles in the cup, what happens to the water?

Levi: It goes up.

Morah Katie: The pebbles displace, or move the water, it is as if they say to the water "make room for us!"the water moves. what will happen if we fill the cup of water with pebbles?

Daniel: It will go over.

We talked about how water erodes, slowly breaks apart or disintegrates, some solid things.

We put coco krispies in a small container of water in the morning and saw them become mushy, but still floating, by lunch.

We put a piece of paper in water. It first floated, but by lunch the water had permeated the paper, filled the tiny tiny air pockets, making it sink.

Now that we better understand the nature of water, when we begin talking about the "splitting of the sea" in our passover story, the great miracle will be better grasped by our minds.

U was our letter of the week.

We discovered that u, like a,e i and o - a very special group of letter friends called vowels, are very social letters. They rarely begin words, they prefer to be surrounded by their letter friends.

We will most often find them in the middle, like in hut, bug, cup,

We traded the middle sounds in these words and discovered we had created hot, big, cap. mut will turn into mat.

We are also learning about how our Seder meal will be different from our regular and our shabbat dinners.

We started with a beautifully set Shabbat table, and we replaced item by item until we had a Passover Seder table!

The Seder is all about provoking the children's curiosity by pointing out the strange differences, hence the famous "Ma Nishtana" questions.

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Butterflies!

The letter of the week may be "k" as in kites and kangaroos,

but butterflies have invaded our classroom.

Our first butterfly project involved a roll of the dice!

The children rolled a pair of dice, counted the results and had to glue that number of dots to their butterflies.

In addition to the development of fine motor control, these multi-step projects help develop the child's attention span and ability to follow directions independently.

We learned about the life cycle of the butterfly.

Morah Katie: What is the first stage of a butterfly's life?

Levi: Egg

Morah Katie: What grows from the egg?

Dena: Caterpillar

Morah Katie: When the caterpillar has grown nice and fat, what does it form around itself?

Tori: A cocoon

Morah Katie: Caterpillars do form cocoons. The caterpillar's that create cocoons turn into moths. Moths are different from butterflies. Butterflies are brightly colored and fly at day, moths are more simply colored and fly at night. A caterpillar which will turn into a butterfly will form a chrysalis. That is a new big word, say it with me

Everyone: CHRYSALIS

Morah Katie: What will come out of the chrysalis?

Tori: A butterfly!

We asked in song:

Butterfly, butterfly, what lovely wings

Butterfly, butterfly how my heart sings

Butterfly, Butterfly, I'd like to know,

When it rains, when it rains

where do you go?

We moved our palace from the group meeting room into the reading room and renamed it:

Reading Castle

As the children learn their sounds, they will discover the magic they hold by blending the sounds, and reading.

It will begin with a simple word,

and develop into reading books.

As my friends learn their sounds, they will write the sounds on paper and cover the bricks.

As they begin to write and read words, they will add the words.

As the children begin to read, they will write the title of the book on paper, the date it was read, and add it to the bricks.

We finished our week on "K" with kiwi for snack and some creative writing, the children composed the following poem:

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Purim

We have spent the past two weeks preparing for Purim.

These weeks have been full of:

singing

building palaces,

and full of anticipation and excitement for the .....

PURIM PARTY!!!

We sang our joyful songs with our beautiful voices,

We presented our megillah

We paraded in our amazing costumes,

We made delicious hamentash

and we made crafts,

It was a delightful party and so fun to share the morning with our parents!