February 3
During our morning Work Time, your children worked to strengthen their fine motor skills with six new lacing cards featuring a variety of trees to continue with our discussion and celebration of Tu B’Shevat. They also noticed and commented about the two new picture charts depicting many different types of trees by their Meeting area. The dramatic corner was busy with the sounds of Shabbat (singing, practicing the prayers, and cooking). Max, Asher, Arcady, and Teddy collaborated to build a train track and then shared the trains (also sharing the role of the conductor). Eitan and Ben worked with the four Montessori knobbed cylinders. Merav worked (and sang!) with a group of children learning Tu B’Shevat songs. Manu, Ben, Eitan, and Lelo worked with our doll house placing the different wooden pieces and figures inside. Ben, Asher, and Teddy together worked to design a magna tile structure. Lastly, we cleaned and readied our room for our Shabbat celebration. Each child helps to either dust, clean, push chairs in, sweep, and make certain that all the materials are put away in their proper places. Area rugs are rolled up, books are straightened on the shelf, and even stray materials that have rolled underneath the shelves are recovered and put back! Learning (and actually doing) to take pleasure and pride in our classroom (and in our school, neighborhood, city, etc.) is a part of our daily routine. During our first Morning Meeting, I read “Max Cleans Up.” The characterRuby says to Max,”There is aplace foreverythingand everythingis in itsplace.” After the read aloud, we noticed a few items under a shelf and we put them away, back in their places.
Max’s Mother and Father helped us to celebrate Shabbat. After saying our prayers, Max gave each child (and teacher) a piece of challah. We then were treated to a reading of “The Lorax” by Max’s mother. I observed your children listening intently and looking at the pictures during the read aloud. Thank you to Max for choosing this wonderful book to share with your friends!
On our walk to the park, we have been observing the crocuses coming up as well as the work at the construction site. The site has now put up a piece of wood that partially blocks your children’s view (though your children can still see the large construction vehicles at work). Today at the playground, Yosef Aryeh played a new game with his friends. Instead of choosing to go on a vehicle, he would run and have his friends try to catch him. We would hear him say, “Catch me!” and then run away, with his friends on their vehicles racing to catch up to him.
Walking back to Luria from the park, I stopped to remove twigs from three different trees. Coming back inside our classroom for our Morning Meeting, I placed the twigs in the center of our rug with a glass container of water. The sun was shining brightly on our carpet during this part of the day, creating an organic and beautiful setting for these items. Your children immediately counted the number of twigs. I then showed each child the buds on the twigs and then placed them carefully in the water. I spoke about “forcing” the buds on the twigs to open and reveal the leaf or flower that was inside. I placed the glass jar carefully on top of our shelf and invited the children to look and examine the twigs. I also posed a question: “How long do we think it would take for the buds to open?” We all agreed that they would not open today. Through these experiences with nature (for example, examining and celebrating trees and watching for crocuses to open) we set the stage for a lifetime commitment to caring for the Earth, animals, and our communities.
Read Aloud:
“The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss
“Max Cleans Up,” by Rosemary Well
