January 8-12, 2017
Room 8 started off the week reading a new book, Elmer and Wilbur by David McKee. Elmer, a rainbow checkered elephant, is waiting for his cousin, Wilbur, a black and white checkered elephant, to arrive. As Elmer waits patiently for his cousin, Wilbur seems to be missing. The story follows Elmer and his gray elephant friends as they search for Wilbur by listening to clues that Wilbur throws at them. In the end, Elmer is saddened by the fact that Wilbur continues to joke around and hide instead of presenting himself. Just as Elmer is about to go home, he finds Wilbur stuck in a tree. In conclusion, Wilbur was trying to trick his friends and be playful, but in the process, he got himself into a sticky situation and needed help from Elmer and his friends. We posed the question, “Is it nice to play tricks on your friends?” We also inquired, “How would you feel if you got yourself into a sticky situation?” Ayla and Elliot shared that they would be angry and mad, while other friends said they would be sad. How would you get out of the predicament? Mason said, “You can ask for help or if you got lost, you could ring someone’s door bell. Or you could just not go outside at all!” Skyler explained, “That person at the door, if they are nice, they can help you go to your house because you are lost and can’t find your house.” In summary, this book highlights the importance of behavior being right versus wrong. Was it nice of Wilbur, or the right thing to do, to trick Elmer? Was Wilbur being honest with his friends? This book poses many ethical questions and highlights several values, including trustworthiness, honesty, fairness, and caring, that should be integrated into everyday life. We chose this book as an introduction to our unit on Ethics, which will incorporate an in-depth explanation of which behavior or action is right or wrong and why we choose that behavior. For instance, is it ethical to trick your friends? Is it wrong to not help your friend because they hurt your feelings by tricking you? These are difficult concepts and questions that we will help your children understand through stories, conversations and class experiences with their peers, so that they can use these values in their everyday life. We chose to begin this new topic of Ethics at this point in the school year since we believe it falls in line with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s beliefs. He fought for the values of equality, respect, selflessness, and peace. We explained to the children that even though Elmer might have been wronged, he continued to demonstrate selflessness as he helped Wilbur down from the tree. As we further discuss Martin Luther King Jr. in class, we will make sure to highlight these values and prove the importance of doing the “right” action in our lives. After introducing new vocabulary, “past, “present”, and “future” the previous week, we expanded on how things relate over time by showing the children various items that have changed over the years. We started this discussion by showing them a picture of a public bus from the 1960s and a bus from the present. Being that Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday is next week, we thought to begin with pictures of buses to show the children that things were different during the time in which he lived. The children had the opportunity to take a look at a picture of a bus from the 1960s and a picture of a bus from current times. The children struggled to identify big differences in the two buses. For instance, they mentioned colors and that the shape of the windows were different. We realized that the differences were very slim, so we moved on to show them pictures of various cars to see if that would further pique their interest. We began by showing the children a picture of a car from the early 1900s, and posed the question, “How has a car changed over time?” We asked, “How is this car different from the cars that you drive in now?” We immediately watched the children perk up and look confused at the picture of the old time vehicle. They were fascinated by the fact that an old-time car did not have doors or seatbelts. We explained that in the past, there were not actual paved roads. People drove on dirt roads and fewer people owned cars, so with less traffic, seatbelts were not necessary. As the roads became more congested and less safe, seatbelts were developed. Ella realized that older cars do not have radios to play songs like newer cars. Mason explained that the older car’s steering wheel sticks out much further because it does not have locks like the new car. Paisley said, “In old cars, babies just sit on their parents’ lap instead of in a car seat." The children demonstrated an in-depth understanding that many things change over time including laws (rules), roads (infrastructure), and technology. Skyler told the class that iPads did not exist during the time of those cars. In the end, we explained that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived in the past. Many things in the world were very different when he was around, similar to how the bus and car looked different from the buses and cars that we see now. Throughout the next week, we will continue to highlight concepts, ethics and relating over time, as we further our discussion on MLK. Thank you to Owen’s for joining our classroom Shabbat celebration this week! Shabbat Shalom, Mari & Aaliyah Shabbat Family Schedule: 1/19- Mason 1/26- Kayden 2/2- Paisley 2/9- Carter 2/16- Ella 2/23- Neda Reminders: 1. 1/15- No school MLK Day 2. 1/16- No school PD Day 3. 1/18-Parent Discussion: Lindsay Astor Grant, O.T. 9:15 A.M. in ZH 4. 2/3- Tot Shabbat AND Wise School Gala 5. 2/5-2/9- Father and Grandfather’s Week – events TBA 6. 2/9- All School Shabbat for Father’s and Grandfather’s – 11am in ZH 7. 2/12-2/16- EC Picture Week (Room 8 classroom picture day TBA) 8. 2/19- No school President’s Day 9. 2/20- No school PD Day 10. 2/23- Beit Issie Farmers Market
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