Autumn Explorers - Getting In Touch With Nature

 The weather is changing and things outdoors look different. Autumn is upon us and we have been learning about what happens during this time. We read a book and learned that the weather gets cooler, the leaves change colors and that animals are very busy preparing for winter. We wondered what signs of autumn we could find. Before we went on a nature walk we looked out the window to see if we could find any signs of autumn in our playground.

Children: “I see leaves on the grass.” “It’s windy, I see trees moving.” “Look! I see squirrel.”

Morah: “Wow, where do you think that squirrel is going?”

Children: “To her home up, up in a tree.” “To find food.” “Her likes acorns.”

 With our explorer bags at hand we ventured out into the forest behind our school to look for signs of autumn. This was our first autumn nature walk (early October) but it wasn’t long before we found some signs of aututumn.

Children: “I see leaves on the ground.” “There’s so many.” “I see a red leaf and yellow leaf.”

The leaves are falling down.

The leaves are falling down.

Red, yellow, orange and brown.

The leaves are falling down.

 While exploring the great outdoors we used our senses which lead us toward many different discoveries.

Children: “I find a big tree.” “This is scratchy tree.” “Tree is hard.” “Makes my hand itchy.”

Morah: “This rough and scratchy part of the tree is called bark.

 We found some interesting things on the ground under the tree.

Children: “I find acorn.”

Morah: “Wow, how did this acorn get here?

Children: “It falled from the tree.” “Someone bite it.”

Morah: “Someone bit it? Who do you think did that?”

Children: “Deer.” “Squirrel.” “Bear.” “Chipmunk.” “Bird.”

Morah: “You’re right it was probably an animal, animals like to eat acorns.”

 We found more interesting things on the ground.

Children: “I find a berry, look Morah, it’s a berry.” “Looks like tiny apple.” “It’s for eating?”

Morah: “I’m not sure that we can eat it but who do you think can definitely eat it?

Children: “Aminals!!!”

Morah: “That’s right, I bet animals love eating these berries. I wonder where this berry came from. Let’s look all around and see if we can find out where they grow.”

 Children: “I find it, I find it, it’s up in the tree, look I see a lot berries, so many for all the aminals.”

Morah: “Wow, you are all such great explorers, you found the berry tree. Now we know where these grow.”

Children: “I want to put one in my explorer bag.” “Me too, I can’t find it, can you get it from the tree.”

Morah: “I really don’t want to take one from the tree because that might hurt the tree. Let’s just look for some more on the ground.”

 Child: “Wow, morah, look at this tree, what is it?”

Morah: “This is an evergreen tree. Do you see any leaves on this tree?”

Child: “No, I don’t see leaves in this tree, why? Look everybody there’s no leaves on this tree, what are these things on it?”

 Children: “Theres pointy things on it.” “It poke me.” “It’s sharp, ouchy.”

Morah: “These sharp, pointy things are called needles and they grow on evergreen trees.”

Children: “Like needles in the doctor?” “I get a shot with a needle, it hurt a lot.”

Morah: “These needles are called the same like the needles at the doctor but doctors don’t use these to give shots. These needles just grow on evergreen trees and doctors use different needles.”

 Child: “Ah! I find something, I touch it, it’s not leaf, what is it morah?”

Morah: “Wow, you found a mushroom.”

Children: “What’s mushroom?” “I don’t like mushrooms.” “I do, I like to eat mushrooms.” “Only my mommy like mushrooms.”

Morah: “Mushrooms grow in the ground like plants do and we can eat some mushrooms but not this one.”

Children: “Why?” “Why we can’t eat this one?” “Can animals eat this mushroom.”

Morah: “Yes, animals can eat this mushroom. Which animals do you think would like to eat this mushroom?”

 Children: “I find fuzzy grass.” “It’s so soft.” “It tickling my hand.”

Morah: “This is moss, you’re right it is very soft and fuzzy.”

 We found lots of leaves on our nature walk and many were already changing color.

Child: “I find a leaf, I see brown and green on my leaf, why it’s brown on it.”

Morah: “The leaves are changing color because it’s autumn time, soon all the leaves will change color and then they will fall down.”

 Before we went on our second nature walk which was at the end of October we looked at the pictures from our first nature walk to remind ourselves of the experience and what we found. This is a picture of how the forest looked on our second nature walk.

Morah: “Before we go into the forest let’s just look at it first. Do you see anything different? Look up at the trees and the leaves, look on the ground. What do you see?

Children: “So many leaves on the ground.” “I see orange and yellow.”

Morah: “That’s right almost all the leaves have changed color and so many already fell on the ground.”

 After reviewing safety rules and the importance of staying on the path we began our second forest exploration.

Children: “Where is the path, I don’t see the path?”

Morah: “Oh my gosh, you’re right, where IS the path. It was here last time. What do you think happened to it?”

Children: “Somebody taked it.” “It hiding, maybe it playing hide and seek.”

Morah: “LOL, you think it’s hiding, where could the path be hiding?”

Children: “In the forest.” “Behind the tree.” “Under the leaves.”

Morah: “Maybe it is hiding, where should we look for it?”

Children: “I find it, it’s under the leaves.” “The leaves cover up the path, that silly.”

 Morah: “Wow, look at that beautiful tree, all the leaves are orange and look at all the leaves on the ground around the tree.”

I’m a tree so tall, tall, tall.

Now my leaves must fall, fall, fall.

Leaves go tumbling down, down, down.

Orange, yellow, red and brown.

 Morah: “Let’s collect some leaves to put into our explorer bags.”

Child: “I don’t want leaves, they dirty on the ground.”

Morah: “You don’t want the leaves from the ground because they’re dirty? Hmm, what can we do? How else can we get the leaves into your explorer bag?”

Child: “I want leaves to fall in my bag, I open my bag and wait.”

Morah: “That sounds like a good idea, let’s try that and see if it works.”

 Children: “Gabriel find a branch, look it’s so big.” “I see orange leaves on the branch.” “How the branch got here?” “Put it up high Gabriel.” “It so big.” “It fall down from a tree.” “Why it fall down?”

Morah: “Sometimes branches fall because of the wind. When the wind is very strong outside it can break the branches and they fall down.”

 The children had a lot of fun crunching and kicking the leaves on the ground.

Morah: “Are you having fun kicking the leaves? What sound do you hear when you kick the leaves.”

Children: “Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.” “Crunching.”

 During our nature walk we tried to keep our eyes open and look for some animals. We didn’t find any, probably because we were having so much fun and making lots of noise. We did however find one spider among all those leaves.

Child: “Morah, I find a spider, look, quick, he’s going to hide, I don’ see him, he hiding under the leaves.”

 At the end of the path we found the river. It was nice to see the water in the river passing by.

Children: “I see leaves in the river.” “Why the leaves are in the river?” “They falled down in the river?”

Morah: “Yes, the leaves fall down and some fall into the river. Do leaves float or sink in the river?

Children: “Float!” “They float, like a boat.”

We had such an amazing experience during both our nature walks and we learned so much about the forest, trees and leaves.  We love exploring nature and before we headed back to our classroom to examine the contents of our explorer bags we found a nice spot to sit and rest.  Fallen trees are great for resting on.

Holidays Are Special Days

We began our Rosh Hashanah unit with a Circle Time discussion about this special Holiday:

Morah: “There is a special holiday coming up and it’s called Rosh Hashanah. Holidays are special days and I am so happy that this special Holiday called Rosh Hashanah is coming soon.

What do we already know about Rosh Hashanah?”

Child: “My daddy tell me about Rosh Hashanah and shofar.”

Morah: “Wow, that’s great, we already know there is a shofar. What else can you tell us about the shofar?”

Child: “You blow and it make sound.”

Morah: “That’s right, let’s read a story book and see what else we can learn about Rosh Hashanah.”

We read “Is it Rosh Hashanah Yet?” a custom Zimmer Preschool book. We learned all about how we prepare for, celebrate and what we eat on Rosh Hashanah.

 

 Visual Aids

While dialoguing about Rosh Hashanah during circle time we looked at pictures. Visuals help us learn about new Holidays and aide in daily reviews to keep the new information fresh in our minds. They also help set the mood in the classroom and draw distinction to the customs, practices and artifacts associated with each Holiday. Children enjoy looking at and dialoguing about the pictures during Circle and Center Times.

“Look, I see apples and honey and candles and challah, it’s for a Holiday”

Holiday Props

In addition to pictures we also use real Holiday artifacts during Circle Time and in various centers. Here we are learning in more detail about the Shofar. We touched and felt the inside and outside surfaces of the Shofar. We also saw pictures of animals from which the Shofar comes.

“Shofar is a horn from that animal? Wow!”

 

Holiday Preparations – A Community Effort

Spreading a table cloth looked easy enough in the book but when it came time to performing the task it posed a bit of a challenge. It was both comical and amazing watching the trial and error and problems solving process that went into the table cloth experience.

“Morah, how this goes?” “Not like that, let’s try it different.” “You take that side and I take this side.” “It’s all tangled up, we need to fix it.” “Please can you move the chairs so we can do it?”

Holiday Preparations - Special Customs and Traditions

Children: “We need challah.” “Round challah, like in the book.”

Morah: “These challahs have sweet raisins in them. How do you think challah with raisins would taste?”

Children: “Yummy.” “Good” “Sweet.” “I like raisins and I like Challah.”

Holiday Table

Children: “We did it!” “It looks beautiful.” “I want to eat something here in this table.” “Oh, I can get my lunch box.” “But I want apple and honey.” “Morah, please can we eat apples and honey?”

Morah: “That’s a great idea, we can pretend that it is already Rosh Hashanah and have a festive meal with our friends, eat apples with honey and wish each other a Sweet New Year. What’s the first thing we should do?”

Children: “Cut the apples!”

A Taste of the Holidays

Children: “It’s good.” “I like honey it’s sweet.” “Makes my hands all sticky.”

Morah: “How do you feel when you eat the sweet apples and honey.”

Children: “Yummy.” “Good.” “Sticky.” “Happy.”

Morah: “That’s wonderful that you feel good and happy. That is how we want to feel on Rosh Hashanah and every day. Hashem loves us and wants us to be happy.”

 

Holiday Fun and Games – Sorting by Color

Children sorted apples by color. They enjoyed playing this game in groups and individually.

“Green apples, red apples, yellow apples.”

Holiday Fun and Games - Sorting by Size

Children took turns and helped each other while sorting Shofars by size. They also had lots of fun pretending to blow the paper Shofar. 

Holiday Opportunities - Strengthening Observation Skills

 We spent some time exploring with apples. We discovered that all apples are not the same color and some are even colorful, “This apple has a lot of colors like a rainbow.” “I see green and pink and yellow.” We looked at pictures of apples and real apples of all colors.  We noticed that all apples are round and we thought of some other foods that are round. “My tomato is round.” “Grapes is round.” “Gabriel’s sandwich is round.”

Holiday Opportunities - Documenting Observations

After careful observations we documented our findings by drawing our own apples. We kept the apples on the table to help us remember how they look. We chose which colors we wanted to use for our apples and even added a stem to make them look more like real apples. Don’t they look beautiful? We are so proud that we can draw things that we see!

Holiday Opportunities - Science Discovery

The following day we took an even closer look at apples.  We used magnifying glasses to get a better look just like real scientists.

Children: "I see dots!"  "I see dots too and I see lines."  "I see lines too pink lines and green lines."  "There's so many dots on this apple."

Holiday Opportunities - Documenting Observations

This time children documented their observations on apple shaped pieces of paper since we focused on the surface details.  They drew lines and dots like the ones they saw on the real apples.

Learning Shapes with Challah Dough

On a Friday while making challah for Shabbat we played with the dough and learned about circles and ovals. Children learned about the round challah for Rosh Hashanah but what is the shape of the challah when it’s not Rosh Hashanah? The children had no idea so I quickly braided one to remind them how the usual Shabbat challah looks.

Morah: “This is a challah that we eat on Shabbat, it is an oval shape. Is this challah the same as the challah we eat on Rosh Hashanah?”

Children: “No, Rosh Hashanah challah is round.” “That’s not round.”

Morah: “That’s right, this challah is an oval shape. It looks a little like a circle but it’s a not as round as a circle. Look what happens when I squish the sides a little; I can make this challah into a circle shape. Can you try to make your challah into a circle?

Learning Shapes with Challah Dough

After shaping challah dough into circles we used our hands to squish the sides and mold the dough into an oval shape.

Children: “I squish it and make oval.” “It looks like a squished circle.” “It’s same like a egg.” “I want to squish it again and make a circle and then I squish again and make oval!”

School-Home Holiday Connection

Holidays are so much fun and the foods are so delicious so what better way to spread the joy than to bring some yummy Holiday food home.  Children were so excited to make Challah with the extra sweet ingredients. 

Children:  "We put honey in the Challah."  "We don't put honey in Challah for Shabbat."  "Yeah, and raisins too."  "I like raisins."  "I'm going to share this Challah with my mommy and daddy."

School-Home Holiday Connection

As a special take home Rosh Hashanah craft the children decorated apple and honey plates. Pushing the colorful beads into the clay was fun and engaging for the children. The finished product is beautiful and sure to be a great addition to the festive Rosh Hashanah table.

“I want to bring this home to show mommy and daddy.”

“My mommy can put apple and honey in here.”

Making Memories and Establishing Traditions

This plate was made to be used at the Holiday table and to withstand the test of time. It’s attractive enough to have its place on the Holiday table and will bring back Rosh Hashanah Toddler memories for years to come.

L’Shanah Tovah!

Happy Sweet New Year from the Toddler Class.

Great Beginnings

First Week of School in our Toddler Class

The first days of school have been wonderful as the children are settling in and adjusting beautifully.  They are exploring, making friends, learning new things, getting used to the new routine and most of all having fun.  

Here are some highlights from our first week! 

Morning Table Activity


In our class children often like to begin the day with play-dough.  It's great for fine motor development and the creative and learning possibilities are endless. Here are some fun things we like to do with play-dough.

We like to squish play-dough while counting.

We like to use our imaginations and make thing,
"This is my blue banana."

We like to use different tools on our play-dough like rollers, cookie cutters and plastic knives. 

Alphabet play-dough wands are also popular.

Circle Time

We have Circle Time twice a day in our class.  First we gather in the morning to welcome each other to school. We sing songs and read books that may include: motion, numbers, letters, rhyming, colors, clues, animal behavior or a unit theme. During this time we discuss the curricular theme that we are involved in and participate in the discussion. During this time I also introduce new learning tools such as games or manipulatives that support the curriculum.  We also gather on the run for Goodbye Circle Time.  This is when we recall and recap what we did and learned that day.  We also sing a goodbye song and have closure to our time together.

Circle Time is designed to give children an opportunity to learn to participate and promote the value of community.  During this time children learn social skills as they learn to respect each other by taking turns to speak, listen to each other and practice being patient.  This time also provides and outlet for children to feel comfortable and open to express themselves.  As children sing and listen they can feel the power of music and how it can affect their mood in a positive way.  They also develop an appreciation for literature and enhance communication skills.  The loving atmosphere during our Circle Time fosters a positive group experience so children can feel a sense of pride in their individual contributions and how that affects the greater whole.

Center Play
This is when children choose where they would like to play and with whom. This time is designed to allow the child to follow their interests as they choose how they would like to learn based on their interests.  Children are encourage to try new things as I help scaffold their learning.

        

   

Clean-up

Before clean-up we gather on the rug for Meeting Time during which children express what they were engaged in during Center Time.  Children have an opportunity to share with the group, show off their work  if possible and bring closure to their play.  Then children get to work on the area of the classroom they were playing in and help each other with bigger clean up jobs.

                                 
                           

Outdoor and Playroom

The outdoor and playroom spaces offer a variety of activities for the wide-ranging interests and moods of the children. There is beautiful nature to explore including the garden, grass, trees, dirt, sand, rocks, plants, insects and water.  We have an open area for ball, running and group games. The large climbing equipment, bikes, cars and scooters are great for strengthening gross motor abilities and balance. The quiet shady area is equipped with benches perfect for story time or just hanging out and relaxing. There are also many tools that help us make use of the great environment.

   

We like to check on our garden to see how everything is growing.  We find lots of things in there that we can touch, smell and sometimes even taste.

   

Snack and Lunch
Children prepare for meals by first washing hands and bringing their lunch boxes to the table. We choose a healthy snack then say the blessing and say thank you for our yummy food.  The conversations are always lively around the table and sometimes we even read stories during this time.  When meal time is over children pack up their own lunch boxes and return them to their cubbies.  Chilren also help with cleaning up after meals.  They help wipe the tables with wet paper towels and sweep the floor.

 Daily Special Activity

Every day we set aside a little time for a special activity.  The activities may include but not be limited to art, music, puppet shows, yoga, nature walks, scavenger hunts and crafts all of which support the unit of study.

Developing Self-Help Skills and Helping Each Other

Self-help skills are very important and always encouraged in our classroom.  Children feel such pride and joy when they can do things for themselves.  Feeling proud of their abilities helps them develop an "I can" attitude.  Opportunities for developing these vital skills are intertwined throughout our daily routine.  Children also enjoy teaching and helping eachother with these skills in our class.

During lunch one of our friends got yogurt on his face. He saw his messy face in the mirror but was a bit hesitant about what he should do about it. That's when another friend jumped at the opportunity, quickly grabbed a paper towel and helped her friend out. 
       

"Oh no, look I have messy yogurt on my face." 

 "I can help you, I help him clean his face."

"Thank you."

While playing at the water table during Center Time a friend's smock kept falling off his shoulders.  Another friend noticed the problem and landed a helpful hand.

"Your smock is falling, I can fix it, I close it on the back, all better now."