Playing with 'Big Kids'

At recess Orlee and Chana came to me to report that a Tiny Tot student was following them around. 
"Where?" I asked because I really didn't see anyone.
Chana looked behind her. "I guess they went away. But they were following us around a lot." 
I  explained that the person probably wanted to play with them but might not have all the words to ask, because they are so young. "But even if they do have the words, asking someone bigger than you if you can play with them might feel hard or scary. When the big kids come outside and you want to play with them, do you ever feel worried they won't want to play with you?"

The girls were attentive and then wandered off to play.

Based on their next action, I assumed they mulled over the social hierarchy and communication skills. 

 Although the 'big kids' do happily play imaginative games and ride trikes with preschoolers (or this), there is one game which is off-limits.
Big kids never let preschool join in something as competitive as Four Square. 

 While we were the only ones outside, they decided to take full advantage of the court and try to be big. 
But of course, they know the social cues and when the 'big kids' came out, they withdrew from the court. 

Trying to Build a Sukkah

This week the students enjoyed outside constructions time.  They were provided with PVC pipe of various sizes and connectors. They were very excited to try them out. "Let's make a rocket ship!" Ori suggested.

"No, how about we make guns?" Yitzi countered.

"Nah. Let's make a sukkah," Yochanan said.

"Yeah!!!!" they cheered.

Everyone set off to try and build a sukkah. 

First there was lots of parallel play bulding where everyone attempted to build their own sukkah.

 This was not very successful. [Interestingly, Allison C. and Chaya B. had the clearest understanding of how to build a structure. I wonder if it is an innate gift or from observing their fathers].

 The students were growing frustrated with the lack of immediate results and wondered off to do something else. 

 Donny was thrilled to come to recess and find the building material. As he began to work, the preschool returned, thrilled to have a big leader.

 Classmates of Donny saw his work and excited joined in.

 Now it was a team effort of spacial reasoning, problem solving, and good communication.

 Except for Binyomin who continued with his design plan next to the others.

 Everyone was excited about it. 

 But it involved more math than they realized, to get the different pieces to line up.

It was almost finished when...

 Donny's recess ended and another group came out.

 The kindergarten and first graders attacked the project with gusto.

But did not have the same finesse as the previous group, and without Donny's leadership, the structure collapsed. 

After Yom Kippur, Donny came out for recess and looked for the sukkah. When I explained what happened, he decided to start again.

 Again the big kids worked on it.

 With help from a few Pre-Kers.

 And it was almost finished with the 'big' kids had at work on their cooperation, communication, mathematics, and construction.

The rest of pre-K was enjoying playing ball instead.

It is probably better that we will be in our own Sukkot and not at school over Sukkot. 
Chag Sameach!!!

How The Blacktop Got Its Stripes

This summer, our playground got the incredible enhancement of a blacktop. The blacktop is wonderful for many reasons, including the riding toys are more enjoyable and mud is minimal. 
The preschool loves the new blacktop, but to further enhance its fun, markings for a basketball court, four square, and hopscotch were added. Whether or not we make use of these additions, we enjoyed watching the workers stripe our field.
First we enjoyed looking at the worker's truck. The students enjoyed spotting the letters on their stencils and comparing them to the stencils in our room.

Although the truck was interesting, everyone was interested in their funny car/bike/painting gizmo.

 A few kids sat, waiting patiently for the man to start. 

 Finally he did! It was amazing!

 Quickly everyone came to see the magic happen.

Children love observing all the wonderful things which happen to shape our world.

I thought the completed stripes would primarily be for 'the big kids'. But preschool is putting them to good use too.

Shofar, so good!

We start the school year with the blasts of the shofar.

We have had many discussions about the shofar. The children have shared their pre-acquired knowledge, like that it is a ram's horn.

Then we discussed the sound.

"The sound is beautiful!"
"No, it sounds scary."
"It makes me feel funny inside when I hear it."
"It makes lots of different sounds."
"But only if you blow it. Never hit it."

Every insight was worthwhile.
We heard books about shofar, like "Shofy and Blowfy".
We compared different shofars and concluded that they all look different and sound different but are all wonderful - just like us!

We practiced our crayon 'rules' (paper stays on, no snapping) and colored 2-D shofarot.

 We painted 3-D shofarot on cups and practiced our painting 'rules' (wear a smock, wipe the brush, return the brush to the right color). They were lovely!

These cups work like shofarot, as they are also wind instruments. 

And we enjoyed a toy shofar in our pretend play corner.








Thank you, Rabbi Chait, for sharing your shofar with us!

Shabbat and Gender Roles

Children learn from their observations and create their own ideas about the world. It is always remarkable to hear their ideas. Here are snapshot examples relating to gender roles and Shabbat:

 First Chaya and Chana prepared the 'home corner' for Shabbat. It was all ready but Chana announced, "We can't have Shabbat without an Abba. He will make Kiddush for us." When Ori arrived they excitedly welcomed him into their play and outlined his responsibilities as father.

 Quickly this play area filled up with friends. 
"Ori, that is a girl's tie!" remarked Lainey.
"No it isn't," he protested. 
"It is because it is pink. And pink is only for girls," she explained.
"But is it a tie. And ties are only for boys," was his rebuttal.
"But I wear ties in my hair," Ariela added to the debate.
"I am a boy and I am wearing it!" Ori concluded. 
Lainey nodded.

 Everyone enjoyed playing and discussing Shabbat.
"Why do you have the knife?" Yitzy asked.
"Because" Chaya replied.
"Only Tatties get to touch knives!" he exclaimed.
"Oh!" Chaya replied and hurried to pass it over.

 "Mommies know what time Shabbat starts!" Lainey explained, setting the time for candle lighting.

Shabbat Shalom!

Welcome to Pre-K!

The first day of school is always daunting for children and parents. I commend all of you on your bravery today.

Everyone is full of smiles, had lots of fun and accomplished heaps.

 Play dough sensory creative fun.

 Mathematics!

 Motor skills, matching, letter recognition, fun.

 Pretend play, modeling. 

 Gross motor, socialization.

 Gross motor

 Socialization, fine motor, creative expression

 Socialization, modelling, creative expression.

PE with Ms. Chait! An incredible weekly program.

Just a sampling of what is to come.