Shabbat Shalom, Room 7 Families!
The warmer temperatures and sunny skies invited us outdoors this week, and we ventured out for a nature walk to gather interesting materials. Our journey took us through gardens around the sanctuary and we stopped to notice the wind blowing toward us by the hillside. “If you put your arms out like wings and look toward the wind, you will feel like you are flying,” we suggested. The children obliged and giggled with delight, as they stretched out their arms, feeling the wind on their faces. “I’m flying!” one child exclaimed. We moved on toward a grove of trees, and one child noticed the tags hanging off of their branches. “This is a lemon tree!” a child shared. “And this one is an almond tree,” another offered. The children looked closely at the trees and noticed that they didn’t have leaves, fruit or nuts on them. We discussed how this was the winter season and that we should revisit these trees in the spring and summer to observe the changes. The children wandered through the gardens, climbed on some rocks, and gathered objects from nature, such as pine cones, berries and leaves in a basket. We brought them back to the classroom and presented them on poster board for the children to examine their treasures more closely. “I wonder what this is?” one child questioned, holding up a seed pod. We thought it might be a good idea to investigate this seed pod to see which tree or plant it might have come from. The outdoor spaces on our campus provide myriad opportunities for the children to explore the natural world and discover with fresh eyes what surrounds us. Finding ways to bring nature into our classroom will provide inspiration for the upcoming holiday of Tu B’Shvat. As we read books and have conversations about this special holiday that celebrates trees and the food that they make for us, we will incorporate more nature walks and exploration to deepen our understanding and appreciation for the many gifts they bestow our world. Vertical Learning At the literacy center we worked with miniature clothespins that had uppercase letters and popsicle sticks for the children to clip on their first and last name and other words we’ve learned through Jolly Phonics. This week the children learned the letter “Ee” in Jolly Phonics. Ask your child to sing you the tune they learned that goes with this letter. At the math center, we invited the children to complete a number chart from 1-100 using wooden number blocks that coincides with our daily counting of the number of days we’ve been in school. This week we closed out the week at 83 days of school. The children are so eager and excited to get to 100! At our art center, the children stamped upper case letters onto paper to work on their first and last names. We also provided a sorting activity using tubes, tongs and different colored marbles for the children to sort by color and create patterns in each tube.
0 Comments
|
|