Show & Tell

One of the Yeladim's favorite parts of the week! Each of the Yeladim take out their 'show' and tell the other Yeladim about what they have brought in. All the Yeladim have an opportunity to ask questions about the items to the 'shower.'

The process of the Palace

In our classroom there are not rules to follow as far as how to make a palace. The only common understanding is to be kind and helpful to others. Otherwise all the creativity, ideas are all in the hands of the Yeladim.

Zev chose the Red material for the floor in front the king.

 As we unrolled the fabrics we ended up with lots of long cardboard 'shoots'. Which the Yeladim immediately tested talking and breathing through the tubes and paying close attention to the change in their friends voices.

 We came up with two guard chairs and a King's chair. Then David added the stool since our King is a little too short to reach the chair :)!

 David did not like the feel of his cape so he decided to take it off. That was completely fine. He enjoyed more of the 'setting the stage' part.

 Zev decided he wanted to be a guard and Shmuli assumed the role of King but he wanted to sit on his chair.
So in our Palace everyone takes their own spots and the guard sat on the throne.

 Then we started talking about the Kings name and his role and that's how we started acting out the Purim story in our new Palace.

Below: The Yeladim are taking Queen Vashti  away. She did not listen to the King. The truth was she was not very kind anyway.

The Yeladim brought our 'Purim Book' and needed to know what the King did with out his queen!

So we continued to talked about more of the story in middle of our Palace. Notice, the Yeladim did not even take their seats!! They were enthralled with the story line!

King Achashverosh puppet

The Yeladim love to role play and act out the new Purim story that they have been fascinated with. That's when the idea was born that the Yeladim can design and make their very own character puppets to help them tell the story themselves!

Mitzvah notes

Zev was so excited when he came to school this morning, "I have a Mitzvah note Morah Esther!" He was so excited that we had to read it right away! And we did. Then Zev said that his Mom only wrote about two Mitzvahs but there was really a 3rd as well and began to tell us how he put on his socks all by himself! That started a whole discussion between the Yeladim about all the things they each know how to do by themselves. It seems we have a very independant class!

Getting in the Purim spirit!

 Following the Purim book the Yeladim are starting the first of many Purim Plays!

the Yeladim are holding puppets of each of the characters and acting out the first little bit of the story. As the Yeladim becoming more familiar with the storyline they will become the actual characters!

Dancing to Purim songs!

Aleph Bet letters

Zev was calling out the letters he knew from the Aleph Bet and enjoyed the textile experience of drawing them in the sand tray in the Montessori corner.
As he tried to remember as many letters as he could he called upon Binyamin to help him out. Zev: "Binaymin can you help me with the song?!" (Aleph Bet letter song)

Can objects produce sound?

With some recycled items, rubber bands, bells, parchment paper the Yeladim came up with a couple great ideas for how to make sound out of these items!

Zev is pulling the rubber band and Shmuli is stroking it.

Zev: 'It sounds like a guitar!'

Then we tried to put the rubber bands on the tissue box to make it easier than holding... and the sound was even more profound!

We're not done yet! Let's see what the next steps might be or if the Yeladim are satisfied with what they have created.

Can your body parts make sounds?

Zev showed us his tongue made a noise!

Binyamin tried his eyes. But we all listened closely but could not hear any sound.

This is the list the Yeladim came up with:

Head - no sound

feet - stomping feet

hands - clapping hands, snapping fingers

teeth - Zev: "Listen to my teeth!" (made bite sounds!)

Painting with sound

 Bells were attached to the top of paintbrushes and as the Yeladim painted quitely little jingling sounds could be heard. It was quite pleasant.

Ps - As the Yeladim became engrossed in their painting they were mixing all sorts of colors trying to guess what color they might make. We started out with the 3 primary colors which grew into adding the 3 secondary colors....at the end of the activity every color paint on the table had been mixed to create a new version!

Trying out different ways to transfer sound

Binyamin is listening to Morah through a vacuum hose! It tickled his ears to listen.

 David is holding a very long empty cardboard 'log'. When he spoke into it his voice sounded 'funny' (Binyamin)

Tzedaka and a new discovery

As Zev was taking out a coin from his Tzedaka bag he noticed the coins were making a noise.

We listened quietly as each of the Yeladim dropped their coins into the Tzedaka box.

Morah Esther: "What is making noise?"

Zev: "Cuz I'm dropping it!"

But then it got quiet again. So Morah shook the Tzedaka box and then we all heard the noise again!
The Yeladim started jumping every time they heard the noise.

 

 

 

At Snack:

The Yeladim started stomping their feet.

Morah: "Hey your feet are making NOISE!"

Zev: "Because we are moving them."

 

An amazing conclusion that Zev came up with on his own!!

(In other words...)When there is Vibration there is Sound.

Noise in the kitchen

 

 

 Shmuli: "look at my noise!" (fork on cup)

 That's when the Yeladim looked around to find all sorts of things to bang first their forks on and then Morah drum sticks.

 Zev tried drumming with his hands, "ouch that hurt!"

 That's when a whole drum/music center emerged...Sign and all!

 

Sound in the Sensory table

With all sorts of bottles and containers the Yeladim set to work filling,spilling,shaking, refilling and pouring all the pasta pieces in the sensory table.

 Expirament: Which container do you think will make more noise?

Zev trying the experiment on his own:

 Shaking the pasta filled container and listening to the sound.

Friendship time - Including others

The new Friendship time was focused around including others in our exploration. Whether it be in an imaginary game, blocks, or at the water table we focused on modeling and 'inclusive behavior' (as opposed to exclusive behavior) using the Yeladim's toys to bring the concept to them in a very concrete way. As Dina & David were acting out some of the very scenarios that take place in our classroom Binyamin felt very sorry for Dina while she was describing her feelings when David said she could not join in his game, and jumped up to give her a hug. At the end Zev opened up and said that sometimes he is left out of his older brother's games at home. It was amazing to watch how the Yeladim analyzed the situation so objectively. It led to a great brief discussion.

Baking with a 'Frienship Theme' - Including others

From the very beginning of the process to the end. Measuring, counting, smelling, tasting, spooning, and taking turns adding all the different ingredients all the way until the dough was completed and ready for shaping.

After the Yeladim watched Dina and David role play some very familiar daily scenes in our classroom the Yeladim made friendship cookies - gingerbread man shaped cookies but none stood alone! each one was holding the hand of another thereby including them. It feels good when we are included in a game or even when we look out to include other in our games and that's why the Yeladim added hearts inside all the little 'cookie people.'

A glimpse into the classroom at Dramatic Play

These are just a few photos I caught throughout the Yeladim's interacting at the Dramatic Play center.

Dramatic Play is one of the essential preschool activities for children. Kids aren’t just living in what many adults would call a fantasy world, instead most of their play has deep roots in reality, and it offers them a chance to practice social situations, adult roles and even play out fears and anxiety in a safe place.