Life@Luria 3-4

During our Morning Work Time, some of your children had the opportunity to make a paper ladybug. Your children first painted a paper plate red, then added black spots, made certain that they had six strips of paper (to represent the legs), and lastly added eyes. They learned that a ladybug is an insect and that all insects have six legs.

The children also had the opportunity to work with a new mathematical manipulative: geoboards. Today, I invited them to first explore the material; stretching the rubber bands to carefully place them onto a plastic nail. Some of the children discovered that they were able to make shapes, letters, and imaginative figures. Geoboards can also help to strengthen the children’s fine motor skills.

The sand table today was a popular center. Children learn through sensory experiences that in turn will help them to understand important scientific concepts first hand (and to learn about the world and how it works). I observed your children pouring, sifting, counting, talking, compromising, negotiating, sweeping, laughing, and sharing their experiences with each other.

At the park today, another important sensory experience for your children to share (or to work with alone) was water. Children are oriented toward sensory experiences. Children learn about the world by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing. Sensory play also contributes in crucial ways to brain development (stimulating the senses sends signals to children’s brains that help to strengthen neural pathways important for all types of learning). For example, as children explore sensory materials, they develop their sense of touch, which lays the foundation for learning other skills, such as identifying objects by touch, and using their fine motor muscles. The materials children work with at the sand table and with water have many sensory attributes (they may be warm or cool, wet or dry, rough or smooth, hard or soft, textured or slimy). Discovering and differentiating these characteristics is a first step in classification, or sorting, an important part of your children’s science learning and discovery.

During our first Morning Meeting, we talked and shared about what we did during Work Time. I also read, Where Does the Water Go? Your children had noticed that last week there was an abundance of water in their plants and yesterday, the water was gone. This book helped to explain the concept of evaporation and water vapor.

Mushka reviewed all the Hebrew letters that she has taught your children these past months (and they remembered them all!). She also introduced a new letter: zayin.

Read Aloud:

Where Does the Water Go? By Mario Lucca

During our Morning Work Time, your children worked with new pattern block design cards (a turtle, helicopter, and a motorcycle), lacing with a new wooden figure (a cat), matching rhyme cards (or match the color), magnets, our wooden pattern spindle set, and within the various centers.  Revisiting, mastering, and finding new ways to work with materials helps your children in multiple ways such as: building confidence, strengthening fine motor skills, working with a peer, vocabulary, sentence structure, learning to turn take gracefully, mathematics, etc. The most important thing that they did today was to work (they called it play!). 

Play promotes physical development. As children play, they are constantly perfecting their abilities and creating their own physical challenges. Play promotes intellectual development. Through imaginative play, young children begin to understand the processes of symbolic thought. Play promotes social development(both dramatic play and sociodramatic play promote social development).  It helps to develop emotional values.  Play is also a form of emotional release for many children. Play promotes creativity. It relies heavily on imagination. When a child is involved in creative play, there is freedom to experiment, to try different things, and to explore. Through play, children learn to solve problems with creative solutions (in other words, they learn divergent thinking).

At the park today, your children noticed many ladybug larvae and ladybugs. We all became excited to see the color and size difference of the larvae. Thank you also to Yosef Aryeh for sharing his ball with his friends. Watching your children sharing freely and enjoying the company of each other was wonderful today. They also shared one sand bucket together. They noticed that three (and sometime four) children at one time could accommodate their hands inside the cool water (and was fun!).  

During our second Morning Meeting, we had Show and Tell. Max brought in a wonderful picture that he drew. Teddy showed us two different kinds of vehicles and told his friends about them. Mika showed her friends a special mirror of hers and then walked around the circle meeting so that each child could look at his or her reflection. Emma brought a stamp roller and showed her friends the colors and patterns that it was able to make.

Before going home, your children took care of their garden by sharing our two spray bottles and making certain that each plant received the sufficient amount of water. We also noticed that the bean plants have new growth. Tomorrow we will look to see whether it will flower or turn into a bean!

During our Morning Work Time Max, Mika, Asher, Sophie, Noa, and Teddy worked with our new wooden patterning material. Noa and Arcady worked on their special Gala art project. We also continued exploring with the Montessori table top numbers. Arcady, Yael, and Emma explored first the progression of the material, then challenged themselves with two (or more) combinations to make one ten unit. Our new letter this week is L. Emma wrote the letter in sand and looked through our L book. Arcady, Lelo, and Manu worked at the sand table. The bear counters and flat discs along with the number charts were used this morning by Asher, Teddy, Mika, Sophie, Noa, and Yael. An art table was set up by Yael, Sophie, Yosef Aryeh, Max, Teddy, and Asher. They removed (and put away) all the materials needed for Work Time.

During our first Morning Meeting, we all took a turn to talk about our long weekend. Your children shared with each other stories of where they went, how they got there, who they visited, and things that they saw. We then took turns to read our L book together.

We were prepared for the playground today and used the shady area of the park. Water and cups were packed as well as a bucket filled with cold water for your children to dip their hands in or to make believe that they were in “a car wash.” They also made believe the water was gasoline and proceeded to fill up a “tank in a car.” I observed your children (after dipping their hands in the bucket) making prints on the ground. We noticed how quickly the prints disappeared! Before going home, Yosef Aryeh discovered a ladybug larvae! We had been looking at a favorite insect book of mine during Work Time and he had remembered what they looked like! He called his friends over to see and to share in his discovery.

During our second Morning Meeting, after the weather, we had Show and Tell. Yael had a box that was filled with her hair items. I had Max read the box and he discovered his name was on it (Max Brenner Chocolates). Asher had a “locomotive train,” and Lelo brought in a rocket that he made using crayons and a rubber band.

Before going home, your children watered their plants (they noticed how dry and droopy they appeared). After giving them a good watering, their plants perked up!

Happy Shavuot!

During our Morning Work Time, your children had the opportunity to work with a new sequencing material that also helps to reinforce patterning, colors, and counting. The children worked on new pattern block cards that featured a rocket, a car, and a truck. Mika got excited when I showed her the picture of the turtle for her to work with next week. These new cards include the name of the items on the bottoms. I noticed Asher reading his card while working on the rocket. Our science table was set with the ladybug habitat, as well as the materials that depict animals (puzzles and lacing item).

The art table was utilized this morning to make paper collages. Your children used assorted pieces of recycled cut paper, yarn, and glue. After completing their projects, they told the story of their work to Merav.

For our first Morning Meeting, I shared a funny story with your children. Yesterday, we had been so busy that we did not have Show and Tell. After everyone had gone home, I cleaned up the top of the cubby shelf and noticed a large plastic container in our Show and Tell tray. I picked it up, and got a huge surprise! Inside were snails - Ben’s snails. I didn’t want to leave them so I brought them outside to the upstairs grassy area of our play yard. I had told this story to Ben and his brother Sammy and sister Maya this morning. Ben and I went to the area where I had released his Show and Tell snails, and there was one, on the wall, next to his container. I think it was one of the original snails! End of story: Ben was able to have his Show and Tell and Luria might have a snail in our backyard.  This is the first time (and I hope NOT the last time) that we have Show and Tell with something that is alive! Thank you Ben for one of my best days at Luria.

We had a beautiful snack with paper flowers in the center of each table to help celebrate Shavuot. Afterwards, we continued our snack by eating the lettuce that we have growing outside our classroom! Your children loved the experience of eating something that they grew by themselves (and the lettuce is delicious).

We took a walk around the block before lunch to look at all the beautiful flowers and to see if we could find butterflies. What we did find was Lelo’s mother and brother Kol! Your children get very excited and curious when they see a baby and especially when that baby is a sibling. On our walk, your children noticed the flowers and the trees. Max shared with us that his favorite flower is a rose, “especially the orange ones.” We then looked to see how many different colors of roses that we could find on our walk.

Before lunch, we had our second Morning Meeting. Asher (our meteorologist) predicted that this weekend will be sunny and warm. Before going home, his prediction became a fact. The sun came out and it was warm! For our second Show and Tell, Sophie shared with her friends a wonderful pen that her uncle gave her. This pen has four different colors, but not the usual one that many pens have. Arcady showed us a truck that he built himself. Max noticed that this truck had a green flag. Noa brought an Elmo book that when you pushed the buttons, it played music. She also had a wonderful basket for Shavuot that was made with coffee filters, paper, and stickers. 

Before going home, your children put on their special flower headbands, took their paper flowers, and went home in the warm sunshine that Asher predicted!

Read Aloud:

From Seed to Dandelion, by Jan Kottke

Where Does the Wind Go? by Marcia Vaughan