3's Class - Miss Lisa & Morah Mimi

Our frog searching and graphing has been very popular. We are using the plastic frogs that jump when you push on the back which has given way to frog races. The students are cutting our colored masking tape and making finish lines on the tables and floor to see which colored frog can jump the farthest. They are also trying to get the frogs to jump into the basket which requires serious modulation of how hard you push down and visual/spatial orientation as well as observation and trial and error. 

Literacy 

The class has been very enthusiastic about “Spooky Stories” of late, which is very common starting at around age three. At this stage in their cognitive development the imagination is flourishing causing more vivid dreams and more “what if” kind of thinking. This also leads to more concerns about what might be under the bed or lurking in the shadows. There are tons of picture books written for this age for that very reason. We are talking about what our imaginations are and how much fun they can be. We also talk a lot during our reading about what is real or pretend. We have a lot of fun being silly and talking to inanimate objects in our classroom and giving them anthropomorphic traits eg. “Hey, your back pack jumped out of your cubby. Please put it back and tell it to stay in!” Having these conversations and making it silly can help children understand and make light of some of the concerns they are having as their minds are growing. 

Outside

As most of you have seen, we have a glorious new climbing dome on our playground now. The students have impressed me with how quickly they mastered getting to the top and the more challenging: getting back down. I just want you to be aware that climbing on it is very difficult in boots or sandals. As with most of our outdoor activities, tennis shoes are best. 

A big THANK YOU to Reine and family for the donations to our school. We now have a macro dramatic stroller in our home living center. She also gifted the class with a shape sorting activity that is mounted in our cozy corner. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 From Miss Lisa

Hamantaschen 

We were playing “find the 14 Hamantaschen” throughout the last two weeks. The students have been so excited when they find one during their play. They have become really good at the game, so good in fact I’m having to be quite mischievous in my hiding spots (which I am LOVING!) I put a graph on the shelf where the basket of cookies is. When the children find one they put it on a square with a number, this way they can count the empty spots to determine how many cookies are still hiding. On Wednesday they got to take them home & now we are searching for frogs. 

Sink/Float Extension 

We experimented with sink and float some more this week. So far we have done: micro dramatic people, cars, and bugs (which all sank btw.) Then I went for “random things” and this sparked all kinds of new questions to be asked. We did marble maze pieces, a hole punch, metal marbles and plastic boxes. Then we added (wait for it…) a magnet. We discovered that magnets still work under water! 

The following day I had sensory boxes with water open during choice time. The students could come up with their own ideas for sink/float and underwater magnet play. They also noticed that while the metal marbles all sank, when you put them in a plastic box together, they floated! They were also observing that some of the floaters became sinkers when submerged. Tons of experimentation, observation, and conclusions being drawn. Yay science! 

Have a wonderful Weekend!

 From Miss Lisa

Hamantaschen 

We were playing “find the 14 Hamantaschen” throughout the last two weeks. The students have been so excited when they find one during their play. They have become really good at the game, so good in fact I’m having to be quite mischievous in my hiding spots (which I am LOVING!) I put a graph on the shelf where the basket of cookies is. When the children find one they put it on a square with a number, this way they can count the empty spots to determine how many cookies are still hiding. On Wednesday they got to take them home & now we are searching for frogs. 

Sink/Float Extension 

We experimented with sink and float some more this week. So far we have done: micro dramatic people, cars, and bugs (which all sank btw.) Then I went for “random things” and this sparked all kinds of new questions to be asked. We did marble maze pieces, a hole punch, metal marbles and plastic boxes. Then we added (wait for it…) a magnet. We discovered that magnets still work under water! 

The following day I had sensory boxes with water open during choice time. The students could come up with their own ideas for sink/float and underwater magnet play. They also noticed that while the metal marbles all sank, when you put them in a plastic box together, they floated! They were also observing that some of the floaters became sinkers when submerged. Tons of experimentation, observation, and conclusions being drawn. Yay science! 

Have a wonderful Weekend!

Dear parents,

We are so excited to celebrate Purim. We can’t wait to come to school all dressed up in our costumes.

We made our own hamantaschen. The children put jelly and chocolate chips in the center, then folded and pinched the corners to form a triangle. Their mouths were salivating when they saw them come out of the oven. They are excited to put them in their Purim baskets. Two hamantashen will go home and they will give two to their friends. On Purim, we will exchange Purim baskets.

We learned at group time what a lottery is because Haman made a lottery. He picked a number out of a basket to decide what date he was going to hurt the Jewish people. We made our own lottery to decide which friend will receive our Purim baskets. We  added different food items and decorated our baskets with stickers and markers. The children are going to bring home their own gragger that they painted. 

We had such a fun-filled day on Purim! It was so nice to see parents enjoying the day alongside their children. Dressing up, hearing the Megillah and booing Haman were some of our highlights. We especially loved seeing everyone’s awesome costumes. It was funny to see whether any children had tricked us by showing up in a different costume than what they said they would wear. 

We made crowns for our Purim fun day and added sparkly gems to them.

Song: TTTO “Mishenichnas Adar”

Purim day, Purim day, what a lovely holiday! 

Wear your masks, wear your crowns, dancing all around.

Hava Narisha Rash Rash Rash! 

We can’t wait to get dressed up in our costumes to greet you on Purim this Friday and say a hearty “Chag Sameach!” (Happy Holiday!) to you all.

Have a wonderful Shabbos and a Happy Purim!

Morah Mimi 

Dear parents,

We are so excited to celebrate Purim. We can’t wait to come to school all dressed up in our costumes.

We made our own hamantaschen. The children put jelly and chocolate chips in the center, then folded and pinched the corners to form a triangle. Their mouths were salivating when they saw them come out of the oven. They are excited to put them in their Purim baskets. Two hamantashen will go home and they will give two to their friends. On Purim, we will exchange Purim baskets.

We learned at group time what a lottery is because Haman made a lottery. He picked a number out of a basket to decide what date he was going to hurt the Jewish people. We made our own lottery to decide which friend will receive our Purim baskets. We  added different food items and decorated our baskets with stickers and markers. The children are going to bring home their own gragger that they painted. 

We had such a fun-filled day on Purim! It was so nice to see parents enjoying the day alongside their children. Dressing up, hearing the Megillah and booing Haman were some of our highlights. We especially loved seeing everyone’s awesome costumes. It was funny to see whether any children had tricked us by showing up in a different costume than what they said they would wear. 

We made crowns for our Purim fun day and added sparkly gems to them.

Song: TTTO “Mishenichnas Adar”

Purim day, Purim day, what a lovely holiday! 

Wear your masks, wear your crowns, dancing all around.

Hava Narisha Rash Rash Rash! 

We can’t wait to get dressed up in our costumes to greet you on Purim this Friday and say a hearty “Chag Sameach!” (Happy Holiday!) to you all.

Have a wonderful Shabbos and a Happy Purim!

Morah Mimi 

Hamantaschen 

The children have been super excited about Purim. Next week they will be making real Hamantaschen with Mora Mimi to give to a friend and for them to eat. We decided to practice the process with salt dough and treasure rocks. They used a cup to cut a circle, put a rock in the middle and pinched it into a triangle. I baked a batch for them to paint and take home to play with. 

Science 

We did a sink and float experiment with our micro dramatic animals one day and cars and people the next. We talked about how we didn’t know what was going to happen until we tried it and that was why it was called an “experiment.” We also worked on the concept of making “predictions”. Each child chose what they were going to put in the water and we would put a thumb up high for float and thumbs down for a sinker. Many of the items surprised us. We did a tally of how many items in each column and determined which was more, which by the way the children are getting very good at! 

Math

The students have been using the group time voting materials as a math activity during choice time. They have numeral cards with the corresponding amount of stickers, unifix cubes, dice, and recently added clothespins. They are inventing all different ways to practice their math skills: counting the dots on the dice, putting a cube or a clothespin on each of the stickers, stacking up the cubes and measuring them to determine less and more to name a few. You get to see what concepts have really resonated when watching the kids choose how they are going to engage with materials in play.

FROM MORAH MIMI

Everyday,  we are  learning  more and more about the story of Purim. The children are finishing my sentences. They're answering the questions that I ask.  When I got  to the part in the Purim story where Haman wanted to hurt all the Jews, the children yelled out,  “That’s not nice!  That's a red zone!”

This week, we talked about clowns and how some people feel very happy when they see clowns.  We sang the song Leitzan Katan Nechmad (Cute Little Clown):  Cute clown won’t you come and dance with me. While using graggers (raashan) we sang the song, Misha nichnas Adar marbin b’simcha (when the month of  Adar comes, we increase in joy).  When we  hear the name of Haman we say, “ Boo!”  The children are really starting to feel the happiness that Purim brings. 

We played a little game at group time with our felt masks. It’s a copycat game and we sang it 

TTTO, If YOUR HAPPY and You Know It:  Put your mask on your head, toe, tummy, ears, nose and we were getting silly with it and had so much fun! 

We sang a song for Achashverosh: A silly, silly king, a silly dilly king.  Oh,  tell me what was his name oh!  Achashverosh,  Achashverosh, Achashverosh.

We sang a song for Esther: Oh,  Esther,  won’t you marry me?  Oh, Esther won’t you marry me? Oh,  Esther won’t you marry me?  Oh,  Esther, won’t you marry me?

We sang a song for Mordechai: 

Oy yoy Uncle Mordechai  Oy yoy Uncle Mordechai! 

 We sang a song for Haman:

Oh, once there was a wicked, wicked man and Haman  was his name, o.  He  wanted to hurt  all the Jews and they were not to blame o. Oh, today we'll merry,  merry be!  Oh, today we'll merry, merry be. Oh,  today we'll merry,  merry be  and nosh some hamantaschen! 

Have a wonderful Shabbat and weekend,

FROM MISS LISA

I am happy to report that I am seeing a lot more inclusion in play groups and hearing the children remind each other that we are all friends at school. In dramatic play the students are asking “what do you want to be in the game?” Instead of “you’re the baby brother.” I am also enthusiastically acknowledging the independently motivated thoughtfulness and compassion that I witness. We are also pointing it out in our stories. We went back to one of our earliest books and puppet activity Go Away Big Green Monster! By Ed Emberley. We read it the original way and then said “Wait a minute, do we tell others to go away at school? How do you think the monster felt about that?” Then we changed the text to “Come and play big green monster.” We named the puppet, listened to how sad he was when we didn’t include him, and gave him high fives and hugs to make him feel better.

Another group activity that the class is loving right now is the book Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slovakian. The students tell me if they want to be peddlers or monkeys and we use bean bags as caps. The peddlers walk “slowly, very slowly so as not to upset the caps.” Then we sit and lean against the tree to nap while all the monkeys take the caps. Then the peddlers get so angry (the kids love to exaggerate this!) and the naughty monkeys just copy the peddler’s movements. It is hilarious to behold! I definitely have some thespians in the house.

Science

I got some huge nightcrawlers from the bait store for the children to explore. We put them on trays with some of their food (dirt and compost) and the students were checking them out with magnifying glasses, gently touching with one finger or holding our wormie friends. Some opted to look and not touch and a few enjoyed from afar. We noticed that they could move pretty quickly for not having feet. Instead they would scrunch and stretch their wormie bodies to move about. We were also quite delighted to see that the really smart ones could make their bodies into an “O”, the number 8, and even a pretzel shape! When the critters had enough of our love we set them free in the plants so they could go back to their families. 

Thank you to Chaim and family for donating the cleaning brushes and brooms to our home living center, they are a hit! Feel free to tell your child that Miss Lisa gave them homework and they have to mop your floors for you!

FROM MORAH MIMI 

Guess what?  A new holiday is coming!  And you guessed it. It's the holiday of Purim.  If you stop  by our classroom, it looks like there's a party going on. Our science table has been turned into the Palace of Shushan with  puppets of Purim characters and table and chairs. The children are enjoying reenacting the story of Purim that they hear at group time when I share the story of  Purim using the felt board with the felt characters.   We talked about which character is nice, mean, silly and serious. 

We sang  songs in the interactive story. 

 Song : King Achashverosh Made a Great Feast.

King Achashverosh made a great feast.  He asked his wife Vashti to come. 

She had many pimples, a 100 at least. She said I won’t join in your fun. 

The  king was so angry. He said to his guards. “Take her, I don't want her, She's mean!”  

But  from all the maidens that Shushan town had Esther became the new queen.

Haman  told everyone,” Bow down to me.” But  Mordechai said, “ That I’ll never do. 

I bow  only to Hashem,  Hashem Elokim,  and I’m proud, so proud to be a Jew!”

In our felt story area, we put lots  of different felt Purim  characters that the children  could  play with and pretended  to tell the story of Purim.  We have our puppet theater with our Purim puppets, as well. 

We enjoyed playing a game of Purim bingo, where all the characters were present, and we said, ‘Bingo, Bangor, Booya!

We talked about some things we do on Purim: giving charity to the poor, giving  Mishloach  Manos to a friend ( gift baskets with food), eating  hamantaschen, and listening to the Megillah.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Shabbat Shalom!

FROM MORAH MIMI 

This week, we celebrated Tu B’Shvat, the birthday of the trees!

The children had so much fun singing and dancing to “If I Were a Tree” by Jason Mesches, pretending to be tree trunks, leaves, and even picking apples! We also acted out how a seed grows—digging the soil, patting it down, watering it, and soaking in the sunshine until we popped out of the dirt like little sprouts.

We had a great time baking cupcakes for our Tu B’Shvat celebration! The children enjoyed the process—pouring, adding eggs and oil, and taking turns mixing. Once baked, we decorated them to look like trees, using green icing for leaves and Fruit Loops for fruit. We also got to taste some delicious fruit to enjoy the flavors of the holiday.

We read books about how a tiny seed grows into a big tree, practiced tree pose in yoga, and enjoyed a felt story of “The Green Grass Grows All Around,” learning how a hole in the ground becomes a tree, then a home for birds.

We also learned the Hebrew word for tree, ‘eitz,’ and sang ‘Chag La’Ilanot.’ To top it all off, we had a great time singing together with the rest of the preschool during the rain, which made all the greenery in our school brighter and stronger. Additionally, we enjoyed creating beautiful tree-themed artwork using stickers and crayons.

Have a wonderful weekend and Shabbat shalom!

FROM MISS LISA 

Math

We have really been working on our math skills lately. We have always enjoyed counting, but now we are quantifying, working on one to one correspondence, estimating, determining less and more and our counting items with finger tracking has gained accuracy. Some activities this week were:

Connect 4

Pegboards

Putting treasure rocks in unifix number boards

Velcro circles on to a graph board

We are also working with fraction puzzles. I put them out just to see where the students would be in getting the concept and problem solving and they did such an amazing job. They are three separate puzzles: a circle, a triangle, and a square. Each one has four spots for the pieces to go in, but the pieces fill the spots in different combinations. One whole shape, then halves, thirds, and fourths so the learner is challenged to figure out the right combinations. And our little geniuses have also discovered that the pieces can be stacked up as well. All of the children have agreed to give me a shout out when they win the Nobel for math or physics. 

We often still vote with unifix cubes for our group time activities. The class is getting very good at estimating what will be the larger number before we even  count them. We count them lined up horizontally and again stacked up vertically so we can see that while it’s a different perspective, the total remains constant. Then we put a numeral card under each to connect the symbol with the number of items it represents.

Science

We were taking a closer look at some of our rocks and noticed that they looked black but when held to the light they were actually purple. We began to explore all different rocks and tiles with magnifying glasses and flashlights to see what other details we’ve been missing. The next day I added geodes and bugs and sea creatures in resin blocks. A lot of exploration, observation, and conversation ensued. 

Have a great long weekend!

The power of words

As children learn to self regulate their bodies and keep their hands from hurting others, like clockwork they unfortunately discover that they can hurt with words. While it is an absolutely age appropriate developmental step, we are very quick to ensure that this behavior does not continue. You may be hearing at home “so and so said they’re not my friend, that I can’t play with them, I can’t come to their house…” etc. Kids, well, I guess humans in general, feel very empowered by control. When they feel the incredible power of making someone feel strong emotions without putting a finger on them, they tend to continue the behavior. So the rule in the classroom is if you are leaving a friend out of the play, that shows me that they need to take a break from playing with others. They can come do an independent job at the table or go look at books until I’m ready for them to try again to play kindly with all of our friends. Now every child does have the right to play alone if they choose, but we don’t allow “you and you can play, but not you.” We talk about these things a lot and have discussions about the characters in our books and their facial expressions and if they are yelling or speaking kindly to others and what zone they are in. Until recently the students thought that “red zone” was only for hitting hands or breaking other people’s work. They are learning that any kind of deliberate harm to another person is being in red zone and not acceptable at school.

The other thing I am working on with the class is not to ask if they can play. When they do this the other children have the control of saying no simply because they can. Instead I have them say “I’m playing too” as they enter the activity. I am really keeping an ear out lately to nip this behavior in the bud and am quick to do backflips when they are being kind and considerate of each other’s feelings. Let me know if you want to discuss any of this further with me.

As long as that was, I still want to tell you about our ice painting! I froze Dixie cups with colored water and a popsicle stick inside. In sensory trays the students got to explore the ice with red and blue powder paint and ice cream rock salt. Where our golf ball paint last week was for my sensory defensive friends, this one was for my mess loving, sensory kiddos. As the ice melted the two colors blended with the water creating purple paint! Many of the students spent the entire choice time exploring and experimenting with the materials.

Donations

I want to ask if you or maybe your great grandparents have old school flip phones that you can donate to our classroom. They love to open and close them and they have beloved buttons that can be pressed rather than “tapped.” The newer phones that are just dark rectangles that do nothing don’t hold the same glory. Does anyone know where I could score something like that from a company or anything??? I will do the leg work, I just have no clue who to call. Please let me know if you have any info,thanks!

Have a great weekend and remember to use your kind words!😁

Sensory

Our winter sensory trays gave way to new, hibernation inspired ones. They have oatmeal, bark chips, tiny stumps, grated ivory soap, and snow coated pine cones. There are also hibernating animals and little bowls with lids to keep them cozy. Putting out materials with differing shape, weight, texture & sizes is referred to in ECE as “loose parts.” 

We often set out table activities that are just a collection of loose parts. They enjoy small blocks with tiles and stones, and micro dramatic animals. Or shells, mini stumps and acorns. Basically interesting items that we have a lot of with added animals or mini people. This sparks a lot of awareness of size and shape, texture, and also prompts experimentation. Why do tiles and stones stay cold to the touch but wood doesn’t. Can the materials be stacked up or lined up in a kind of pattern? Initiative is also employed here. The students can use the items however they wish for as long as they choose. Some friends like to line them up all around the table. Others want to see how high they can stack them. I always try to have people and animals so building enclosures comes very organically. A lot of creativity and conversation ensues. 

Art

An art option this week was golf ball painting where the paper, paint and balls are in a box and the students are challenged to maneuver the box to roll the balls through the paint to cover the paper. This is always a hit, but I especially like it for my tactile defensive friends who abhor the thought of paint on their hands. They can rub paint all over the place without ever touching it. It is also good for problem solving and spatial orientation. It is one of our few art activities that work gross rather than fine motor skills. 

Have a great weekend  
FROM MORAH MIMI 

Dear Parents, 

FROM MORAH MIMI

This week, we delved into the Ha’etz bracha, experiencing the marvels of fruits from trees. We had a blast pretending to be seeds, requiring soil, water, and sun to grow into big trees, all while dancing to a lively tree growth song.

In group time, we played games with various fruits, sorted different foods into their correct bracha groups, and went on a pretend picnic, bringing different foods with us. We also explored a picture that showed how the little seed has roots, pops through the dirt, and grows bigger over time.

 We had so much fun exploring and learning about fruits that grow on trees, and we even got to taste them while appreciating the bracha of Borei Pri Ha’etz. We also practiced our cutting skills to help make a delicious fruit salad, eating the colors of the rainbow!

Looking ahead, we're excited about exploring the Ha’adama bracha and creating a vegetable-filled salad. Don't forget to send those mitzvah notes!

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom!

Science

This week we made our own iceberg. I filled a huge foil casserole dish with light blue water and added some of our Arctic micro dramatic animals and froze it. The students had a great time sliding their hands over it and pretending animals were ice skating on top. But wait, we have animals trapped inside, how do we rescue them? Fun fact: banging on it with your fists doesn’t work. As the day wore on the iceberg very very slowly began to melt which led to the next question: who put water on the iceberg? By the very end of the day we were able to rescue our friends. It was a slow but super fun activity. The students could pick up huge chunks of ice and we removed the excess water using droppers; which are great tools for not only the pincer grasp, but following directions and sequencing:

1. Submerge the tip of the dropper
2. Squeeze the top 
3. Release the squeeze 
4. Remove the dropper
5. Squirt the contents into a bowl

Step three is the most challenging part. Letting go of the pressure while still holding the dropper really works modulation skills in the fingers.

Group Time

We began to learn about hibernation and some of the many animals that hibernate and why. We read the book The Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows. We talked about the different kinds of places that animals go to so they can curl up warm and cozy and sleep from Chanukah til Pesach. We put some micro dramatic animals to bed in a basket with a lid while sang this song:

(To the tune of Frere Jacques)

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping 

Little bear, little bear?

It’s getting cold outside 

Time for you to hide

Cozy warm

Cozy warm 

Then we switch it to all the other animals until we have them tucked in for the winter.

Important 

Tis the season for colds & flu and all the students and teachers are taking part in the phlegm exchange. Please, please, PLEASE keep your child home if they don’t seem like themselves in the morning, even slightly. We have fevers, chronic cough, noses and eyes, and the throw up’s. I promise you that if they wake up borderline it will only get worse as the day wears on and the whole class becomes susceptible to it. Remember that a day at school is tantamount to a day of active physical work to us. If a child is unable to fully participate in our program they need to be kept home to get better. Thank you!

Have a wonderful weekend & stay healthy!