Ganon Aleph Paleontologists

The children in Ganon Aleph became paleontologists this week when we began our study of fossils.  They learned that a fossil is part or all of an animal or a plant that lived very long ago, and sometimes a fossil is a print of something that lived long ago.  They then went on to create their own fossil prints using different kinds of leaves pressed into Plaster of Paris.  They decorated the outside with grass and  tissue paper squares in earth tone colors.

Look Close!

In honor of Tu B'Shvat, the early childhood classes conducted a nature scavenger hunt. Each class was given a long list of items to find on our school grounds. Some of these items were: twigs, stems, different types of leaves and rocks, pine cones, pods, moss, vines, and bark. Each item was either collected or documented, along with the location where it was found. Gan Bet brought several tools to aid the search, including sticky bracelets, binoculars, magnifying glasses, clip boards and pencils, cameras, and dough for making impressions. We gathered an amazing collection of natural items, and learned many new things. Inside, each child was treated to a cupcake from the yummy tree that we all baked. We sang Yom Huledet to the trees, and put up a bulletin board with pictures and items that we found on our hunt.

Fall Leaves

Ganon Bet used magnifying glasses to look carefully at some leaves. We discovered that one side of the leaf had bumps called veins. The veins carry food to the leaf to help it stay green. We know our body has veins that carries blood throughout to give us food.

We made beautiful leaf wall hanging by painting the veins of different oak and maple leaves and then pressing them onto a piece of of burlap.

ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO

At Chanukah time, Gan Daled placed a sweet potato into water.

During the next few months the potato sprouted roots and leaves which grew into vines. The root and leaves grew and grew until we decided that we didn't have a container large enough to hold them and it was time to transfer the potato into the ground.

The children enthusiastically dug a large hole and planted the potato in it. They replaced the soil and carefully watered the plant. We will be observing our plant and hope it will continue to flourish.

We would love to hear from anyone who knows how we will know if potatoes are growing underground.

March Comes In Like A Lion

March is a great time to learn about the wind. Ganon Bet discovered that we can't see the wind ,but we can feel its breeze on our bodies. We observed the wind move the clouds, leaves, and tree branches. We experimented in our classroom, pretending to be the wind blowing on crayons and feathers. We even tried keeping a balloon in the air by blowing on it. We learned about air currents by floating scarfs and paper air planes in the air.

Ganon Bet Enjoys The Season

The children of Ganon Bet enjoy going outside and using their senses to experience the Fall season. We look at the beautiful foliage, we smell the clean fresh air, we feel the cold breeze and rain drops and we hear the wind blowing on the crunchy fall leaves. We collected colorful leaves and decided to make leaf print wall hangings on burlap. First we painted the leaves, then we pressed them down on the burlap and rubbed them with a paper towel. These beautiful fall projects will adorn our classroom throughout the season and then be sent home for Thanksgiving for you to enjoy.

Ganon Bet Explores Fall

Ganon Bet Explores Fall

We know that the season changed to fall. We noticed that some of us are wearing long sleeved clothes, sweaters and jackets to school. We discussed how the world around us is changing: animals are storing food, leaves are beginning to turn different colors, and geese are beginning to migrate south.

We went on a nature walk and discovered the beautiful colors of nature. The children saw deciduous trees and evergreen trees, ask your child what that means. We brought different objects inside and made a color graph of things we discovered.

We know we live on the planet earth. We had a child demonstration of how the earth revolves around the sun. We also learned the reason for the changing seasons in relationship to where the sun and earth are at different times of the year.