We are learning a poem to help us learn more about landforms.

I am a plain, I am totally flat,

Covered with grass and other plants like that.

I am a hill, like a mountain but small.

The top of me is rounded and smooth like a ball.

I am a mountain, a mountain so high.

The peak at the top almost touches the sky.

I am a valley, a valley so low,

a space between mountains where rivers can flow.

I am an island, land surrounded by sea.

To come for a visit, a boat or plane you'd need.

I am a river, a fast flowing stream,

my water is fresh and a fisherman's dream.

I am a lake, surrounded by land.

The place where swimming, and boating and picnics are planned.

I am an ocean, a wide deep blue sea,

I am filled with salt water and waves rolling free.

Morah Katie: That poem shared a lot of information with us. The words were also doing something. What were they doing?

Matan: Rhyming!

Morah Katie: They were! I love rhymes because it is like the words are playing with each other making everything more fun! Just like when my friends play together! I love it!

Jade: There are mountains, and there is a river.
Morah Katie: The grassy area, that is a good picture of a plain.
Lakshmi: And there is a lake or a pond.

Evan: I'm making an island.

Morah Katie: What did you girls create?

Emily: Land.

Morah Katie: What are the high, tall parts?

Lakshmi: Mountains.

Morah Katie: What are the low parts?

Lakshmi: The valleys.

Ozzie: I'm making mountains with Lakshmi.

Lakshmi: Yeah and I am making valleys too.

Rowen: I made a lake. I go to lakes.

Max: Mountain.

Emily: I drew a human near a mountain.

This week we are learning about a few new landforms.

Capes and Bays

Morah Katie: Why can you drive your car on a cape?
Matan: Because it is made of sand.
Morah Katie: Sand, or some type of land that your car can drive on.  
Lochlan: It's an island.
Morah Katie: A cape looks like an island.  It has water almost all around it, but not totally, just on two sides.  We can drive out to a cape, we don't need a plane or boat to get there.
Morah Katie: What about the bay, should I drive my car in the bay?
Miles: NO! It will break! It will fall apart.
Colette: It will sink.
Morah Katie: What should we take into the bay?
Matan/Colette: A boat! It will float.
Morah Katie: What will it be floating in?
Matan: Water!

 Matan: I made a mountain, and it is surrounded by bays.

Morah Katie: Let's take a closer look at our cape and bay information: You can drive your car on a cape.  What is similar in these words?
Carson: The C's.
Morah Katie: Let's look at: You can take your boat into a bay.  What is similar in these words?
Matan: The sound.
Morah Katie: They share the same first sound.
Carson: B.
Morah Katie: You guys are catching everything these words are doing!

We used sand to expand our exploration of capes and bays.

Some friends enjoyed making landform collages.

As the children created their collage, I was impressed by their engagement with all the many landforms:

Carson: My mountain scraps look like a V, so I already have a valley.

Colette: A plateau is like a mountain, tall but just flat on top. A hill is smaller than a mountain. 

Lakshmi: The river will tell people this is a valley, and my two mountains.

Maya: A mountain has snow on top because it is so cold and it's cold because it's so tall.

Matan: I want a mountain but also an island. I have a tall mountain island in the ocean with water all around.

Miles:  A hill is small and round like a ball! I finished the rhyme!

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Mountains and Valleys, Islands and Lakes

Our earth is a pretty amazing place.  It is mostly water, with some land (1/4 of its surface is land).
The land has awesome natural formations made of rock and dirt. These formations are called landforms.

A landform can be as large as a continent.  

It is on our 7 continents that we will find a variety of land formations.

We will find mountains, steep and tall, standing solo or together in a chain.

We will discover valleys between those mountains. These valleys were formed by rivers flowing down the mountainsides eroding the rock away to create a V shape at the bottom.

Maya: For the river to keep going.

*Maia is in picture, Maya is quoted.

That river may flow into a lake.

Morah Katie: Lochlan, what is that body of water surrounded by the land called?

Lochlan: Lake? It's a lake if the water is in the front. 

Morah Katie: What are some things you might find in a lake?

Aura: Rocks. I went swimming in a lake, I just saw rocks.

Maya: Fish.

Carson: The rain is filling up the lakes.

Morah Katie: As I look at some lakes, it looks like the land is hugging the water.

Jade: Like a sukkah.

Morah Katie: Miles, if there was land in the middle, surrounded by water, what would it be called?

Miles: Milesland.

Morah Katie: That would be a great name for an island.

Morah Katie: Evan the pebbles are all in the middle, and the water is surrounding it, what did you just form?

Evan: An island.

It has been exciting to discover that rocks and dirt can look so different.

There are still plateaus, plains, hills, rivers to explore. 

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We began last week by learning about a new holiday.

Morah Tzivie: We are going to celebrate another holiday! This holiday has a special hut with four walls, but no ceiling and no floor.

Matan: A Sukkah! 

Morah Tzivie: Yes! Let's look up. What do you see?

Lochlan: The ceiling.

Morah Tzivie: The ceiling of the Sukkah is special. It is called saicch. It is made of branches and leaves. When you go to the playground, look around and look up and see how it is different from the classroom ceiling.

 

Morah Katie: What do you see?

Lochlan: The sky.

Jade: The trees.

Morah Katie: If it was night time what would we be able to see?

Lochlan: The stars.
Morah Katie: How is it possible that we can see the blue sky through the roof?
Carson: The saicch.
Morah Katie: What is it made of?
Lochlan: Leaves and branches.

We went on a nature walk to collect some saicch, small branches and sticks, for our block sukkahs.

 

Morah Tzivie: Do you know why we build sukkahs? 

Matan: For Sukkot.

Maya: We eat in it.

Morah Tzivie: That is true, there is another reason.

Morah Tzivie told us a story. 

Many, many years ago, after the Jewish people left Egypt, they traveled in the desert. The desert was hot in day and very cold at night. The wind would blow sand at them as they walked.  They walked through bugs and snakes. It was very uncomfortable, and not safe.  

Hashem wanted the Jewish people be protected and comforted. 

 

Hashem placed clouds around them to protect them from the wind and sand, the bugs and snakes.  He covered them with a cloud to keep them safe from the hot sun and warm at night.  When we are in the sukkah surrounded by the walls and the saicch, it reminds us of how Hashem loves and protects us.

We had graham cracker sukkahs as a snack.

This week we ate lunch in the sukkah!

Rabbi joined us and helped us say the special blessings for the sukkah and for waving the lulav and etrog! 

Morah Katie: Friends, tell me why we build a sukkah for Sukkot?

Ozzie: The wind blows.
Morah Katie: The wind did blow. When? Where?
Carson: The clouds protect us.  The 4 walls ... are the clouds.
Miles:  The saicch too... is the cloud...
Lochlan: Protected from the sand too.

Morah Eden: Don't you feel cozy and protected in the sukkah?

Jade: Like a hug.

We will finish our week making flags and dancing with our Torahs for Simchat Torah.