Tuesday, November 26, 2013

If today is tuesday, tomorrow is…

During Tuesdays morning group time we realized:
Morah Katie: Yesterday was Monday, so today is ?
Mimi: Tuesday.
Morah Katie: If today is Tuesday then tomorrow is?
Efraim: Chanukah!
Morah Katie: That is true, tomorrow is Wednesday AND the first night of Chanukah!
 Despite the shortness of this week, discoveries were made and joy was had.
Mimi: It's frosty!
A Judah sno-globe
Counting out candles
Efraim: There are 44.
8 nights.
Ella: There are a LOT of candles.
Oil painting
Potato grating
Scout: I'm making a carrot menorah. The candles keep falling.
Efraim: The candles are melting.
Grouping candles by 10s.
Different ways of creating 8.
Joy in playing.


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Mixing it Up?

This week we explored with oil.
Morah Tzivie: What do we eat during Chanukah?
Sroli: Donuts!
Judah: Latkes.
Morah Tzivie:  We eat things we cook in oil to remind us of the great miracle that happened.
Zim: We light the menorah.
Morah Tzivie: We do light the menorah to remind us of the 8 day miracle.

Oil is an important liquid.  Water is an important liquid.  
What happens when oil and water mix?
Our first experiment involved a thin layer of oil with drops of colored water.
Efraim: It looks like a rainbow.
Abigail: They are sliding around.
Morah Katie: What is sliding around?
Abigail: The colors!
Morah Katie: Why are the water drops not meeting each other? 
Efraim: The oil doesn't like it.
Judah: I can make a big drop.
Morah Katie: How?
Judah: Dropping the water on the water. It's black now.
 
Our second experiment involved combining oil and water in a jar and shaking it up.
Morah Katie: IF we shake it up, it should mix. Yes?
Kids: Yes/No!
Morah Katie: Let's see.
 Morah Katie: Wait it was Green!!! What happened?
Gracie: The oil and water don't mix!

As an extension to our mixing experiment, we added salt to the oil and water.
Morah Katie: Isaac, what is happening to your salt?
Isaac: It is strong.
Morah Katie: What is it doing?
Isaac: Mixes it.
Morah Katie: It looks like the salt is at the bottom with some oil!
(a bubble of oil pops off bottom and floats to the top)
Isaac: Oh! 
Morah Katie: When the water absorbs the salt, the oil floats right back up!

Our "third" experiment occurred after both previous oil experiments.
Soap makes oil and water mix.
Morah Katie: Oil really likes to stay with oil, and water really likes to stay with water. When soap is added, oil and water come together just long enough to get washed clean.

Efraim: The soap is making the oil stick.
Sroil: It makes the oil bubbly.
Sofia: It makes the soap green!
Natan: They did mix. 




Friday, November 15, 2013

It is Chanukah Time!

Anxiously awaiting Chanukah!

Morah Tzivie: What are some thing we have at Chanukah?
Sroli: Donuts!
Efraim: Latkes!
Morah Tzivie: What else do we have? What is this?
Gracie: Menorah!
Morah Tzivie: What is this?
Judah: Menorah!
MOrah Tzivie: What is this?
Ari: Menorah!
Morah Tzivie: How many nights do we light the menorah?
Judah: 8.
Morah Tzivie: On the first night we light the shamash - it's job is to light the menorah- and we light one candle.  Let's pretend it's the 6th night of Chanukah, how many candles will we light?
Gracie: 6!
Our classroom is filled with crafts and games to help us prepare for Chanukah.
 Making menorahs and dreidels from play dough.
Ari: My dreidel doesn't spin well.
 Sponge painting.
Spin the dreidel and write the letter!
 
Counting candles for menorah craft.
Morah Katie: How many candles will you need Sofia?
Sofia: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.
Morah Katie: How many flames for your candles?
Sofia: 9!
 Spinning our dreidel strawberries at snack.
Pretending to make latkes and 
comparing different real potatoes.
Building our own model of the Beit HaMikdash, Holy Temple.

Morah Tzivie: What mitzvot do you think the Jewish people did so long ago?
Gracie: Share flowers.
Morah Tzivie: Sharing.
Sroli: Bees made honey.
Morah Tzivie: Honey for Rosh Hashana.
Efraim: Make Challah.
Morah Tzivie: Challah for Shabbat dinners.
They would also visit the Beit HaMikdash for holidays.
The big tall menorah would be lit each day.
BUT then there was a King, who said: 
         NO MORE CELEBRATING SHABBAT
         NO MORE KOSHER FOODS
         NO MORE LEARNING THE TORAH!
Oh no! But what do you think the children did?
They TRICKED THE GREEKS!
Our Gan friends pretended to be the brave Jewish children:


Morah Tzivie: Those smart kids tricked the Greeks, and kept studying the Torah! 
on the dreidel there is a nun, gimmel and shin which reminds us: 
Nes gadol haya sham/ A great miracle happened there. 
We play dreidel to remind us of those brave Jewish kids!



 Morah Katie: Natan, Scout can you tell Jack why there is a cave in our classroom?
Natan: The Greek soldiers said no torahs!
Scout: The kids played dreidel.
Natan: (giggling) They tricked Them!

Morah Tzivie shared with us about how the Jewish army lead by Judah Macabee chased the Greeks away.  
Morah Tzivie: The Jewish people were so happy, they went to light the big menorah in the Holy Temple.  And when they got there, they were so disappointed to see the big MESS the Greeks had made. Things were broken, oil was spilt.   They we so grateful to Hashem for helping them chase away the Greeks, they decided to look oil to light the menorah for at least one day.
They found some and it was JUST enough for that day. 
But do you know what happened the next morning?
Gracie: The Oil was Still there!!
Morah Tzivie: That's right! The great miracle was the oil lasted for 8 days!
We lit a cup of oil to see how long it would last. After playtime, it was 2/3 done.

Morah Katie: What holiday is happening in this puzzle?
Sroli: Chanukah
Morah Katie: How do you know it is Chanukah?
Gracie: The menorah
Isaac: The dreidel
Morah Katie: What night of Chanukah is it?
Anton: The fourth night.
Morah Katie: How can you tell?
 Gracie: The candles.



Friday, November 8, 2013

"Ladybug ladybug, won't you be my friend?"

Ladybug Ladybug (echo)
Landed on my thumb (echo)
crawled on to my wrist (echo)
crawled up to my elbow (echo)
Ladybug ladybug (echo) 
crawled up my arm (echo)
and then she flew away.
OH ladybug oh ladybug oh won't you be my friend?
OH ladybug oh ladybug, won't you come and visit me again?
(continue as with first verse:
 toe/ankle/knee/leg
head/ear/nose/neck)
 
Morah Katie: How can you tell a ladybug is an insect?
Gracie: 6 legs.
Sroli: 3 Parts.
Morah Katie: What do ladybugs eat?
Gracie: Fruit flies.
Jack: Aphids.
Morah Katie: What if we didn't have ladybugs?
Efraim: Aphids eat all plants,  food we eat.
Morah Katie: What color can a ladybug be?
Efraim: Red.
Gracie: Orange
Sroli: Yellow.
Morah Katie: Why are they so bright and colorful?
Gracie: They taste gross.
Scout: They are not delicious.
Jack: Birds will know they are poisonous.
Morah Katie: Are they poisonous to us?
Zim: No, but we don't eat them!
But we CAN eat ORANGES we transform INTO LADYBUGS!
 
Morah Katie: Grasshoppers like to blend into their environment. What colors do you think a grasshopper can be?
Gracie: Green.
Morah Katie: Blending into the grass and leaves helps to protect them from predators like birds. Why?
Efraim: Camouflage.
Morah Katie: Grasshoppers are not nocturnal insects. When would you find them being most active?
Issac: Grasshoppers hop.
Anton: Grasshoppers leap.
Morah Katie: When would we see grasshoppers hop and leap? 
Scout: During the day.
Morah Katie: Yes! Grasshoppers are diurnal, active in daytime.