Why are we wearing masks?

To discover the answer, 

Please follow us at our new blog site

our preschool webpage

https://www.preschoolvancouver.com

Bugs are Insects

Morah Katie: Scientists who study insects are called?

Zoey: Eric Carle.
Morah Katie: Eric Carle has written a lot of books with insects as characters.  He has helped us become entomologists, the scientists who study insects.  For example, what do we know about the Grouchy Ladybug? 
Moshe: A beetle.
Morah Katie: It is a beetle. What shape is it's head? 
Moshe: Not a triangle. It isn't a bug.
Morah Katie: It is not a bug.  A bug is a type of insect, but not all insects are bugs.  What does the ladybug have that allows it to fly?
Gwen: Wings.
Morah Katie: Beetles have a pair of hard wings that hide a second pair of wings.  Do all insects have wings?
Hugo: No.
Morah Katie: Eric Carle really prepared us to appreciate insects.

Morah Katie: Are insects helpful?
Evie: Yes. They help veggies.
Zoey: Sometimes they are really nice and sometimes they are not nice.
Moshe: No. I don't think.
Brexton: Yes. No.
Morah Katie: Let's think of bees. Are they helpful?
Brexton: They help the flowers.
Moshe: They make honey if they go from flower to flower to flower.

Lael: They make honey.
Morah Katie: Bees help pollinate flowers and make honey.  
What about ants? We are often not fond of ants. How do you think ants can be helpful?
Moshe: Grabbing food and taking it into the dirt and giving it to the worms.
Morah Katie: They do carry food away and make pathways in the dirt, turning the soil over to keep it healthy.  Ants work together to keep our gardens clean of dead leaves and plants.  
Just an interesting fact - one ant is as strong as an 8 year old child lifting a car.  Imagine Morah Eden's son Evan picking up a car! That is how strong one ant can be. NOW imagine a whole colony working together! 

Moshe: I'm a strong as an ant!

Hugo: I am strong like an ant!

A colony of helpful "ants" working together to put the blocks away.

Morah Katie: Sometimes insects may not seem helpful. I think if we try to understand them we will learn they are helpful.  Who created insects?  
Moshe: Hashem.
Morah Katie: I think when Hashem creates something there is a purpose. I may not know that purpose.  But I believe there is one, a reason.
(kids nod). Could we agree that insects have a purpose even if we don't see it all the time? We don't want ants in our kitchens, but are they ok in our gardens?
Kids: Yes. 
Morah Katie: I often wonder about the purpose of the mosquito.  I don't know what it is.  I remind myself they must have a job to do. I don't need to know it, I can just acknowledge they have value.
Moshe: Maybe the insects that hurt us, maybe the mosquitos hurt them.
Morah Katie: Maybe Moshe, that is definitely a valid and interesting idea. One that helps me appreciate the mosquito.

Morah Katie:We are going to create our own insects. What will your insect have to have?
Kenya: They walk.
Zoey: A head.
Moshe: 3 parts.
Shoshi: 6 legs.
Evan: Antennaes.
Shoshi: I don't want mine to have wings.
Morah Katie: Not all insects have wings.
Shoshi: Mine will be in grass.
Moshe: Mine is a flying one, in the sky.
Brexton: Mine needs 6 legs. The glue on my paper looks like a butterfly.

 

Butterfly search

 

 "Shoo Fly" painting

Did friends find an insect? 

Morah Eden, Zoey and Gwen discovered the "insect" they found in fact had 8 legs.

It was not an insect, it was spider.

It was escorted outside to create a beautiful web.

Celebrating trees

To prepare for Tu B'Shevat, we went on some nature walks to explore and admire trees.

 

Zoey: Wow, what a forest we are going into.

Morah Katie: How are these trees different from the one in front of the school that you looked at yesterday?

Moshe: I see leaves.

Evan: There is green on this tree.

Moshe: I can see the WOOD!

Evan: You can swing on this tree.

Moshe: It reaches the sky.

 

Morah Katie: What holiday are we preparing to celebrate?

Evan: A holiday for trees.

Moshe: Tu B'Shevat.

Morah Katie: Why do we celebrate trees?

Kenya: They give us leaves.

Evie: They blow.

Morah Katie: Why else do we celebrate trees?

Evan: They give you the thing you are writing on.

Morah Katie: Which is...

Zoey: Paper.

Morah Katie: I have a notebook full of paper.  What else do trees  give us?

Evie: Apples.

Kenya: We eat apples.

Evan: Without trees we wouldn't have apples, we couldn't dip them in honey for Rosh Hashanah.

Moshe: OR the schach for a sukkah.

Morah Katie: It is a good thing we have trees. What else do they give us?

Evan: Air and oxygen.

Kenya: Trees.

Morah Katie: Looking around our classroom, what has come from trees?

Evan: I see a tree book. It is made from trees.

Moshe: The wood easel.

Evan: Photocopies.

Moshe: The tables.

Zoey: The bookshelf.

Evan: The dollhouse.

We noticed our Torah has wooden attributes.

We looked at the rings of a tree to view it's growth and discover is age.

 Morah Katie: How are we like trees?

Evan: We both need water. We are alive.

Moshe: We grow.
Zoey: We both have birthdays.

Kenya: Oranges.

Morah Katie: What are oranges?

Moshe: They are sweet fruit.

Morah Katie: Do you grow fruit?

Evan: No. WE do mitzvahs.
Morah Katie: What is a mitzvah you can do?
Moshe: You can help someone.
Evan: You can be nice to someone.

We saw friends include others in games, make room for a friend during group time, wish friends well, clean tables, share tzedakah, give extra tzedakah to a friend in need, help a friend in class, 

cheer a friend on, help the morahs, and so many more.

 

The morahs are already taking notes to begin writing on mitzvah fruits 

which will fill this year's mitzvah tree.

Zoey: I'm making a tree like the one Morah Eden is making.