Polar Bears in Gan Aleph!

True or False: Polar Bears eat chicken soup with matzoh balls. The children of Gan Aleph know that this is definitely false! We began our polar bear unit with a fun true or false game. Each child received a T card or an F card to represent the words true and false. They sat in pairs and were presented with a whole bunch of true or false statements about a polar bear. The children quickly raised their T card when Morah Aviva said "Polar Bears are white," and knew to hold up their F card when she said "Polar bears wear bathing suits to keep them warm." We learned that polar bears have fur and blubber to keep them warm and definitely do not wear bathing suits! Sometimes, the children had a "machloket" as to whether the statement was true or false such as "Polar bears spend more time on land than in the water (which is true!). " The last statement was "Polar bears camouflage themselves in the snow." We discussed what it means to "camouflage" and went outside to conduct our own experiment using this concept. Morah Aviva spread different colored paper clips all across the grass field. The children ran around the field trying to find all of the paper clips! When they were finished we discussed how the green paper clips will a little harder to find because they were camouflaged in the grass. When we took a closer look we saw that some of the green paper clips were not even found! The children are excited to continue our polar bear unit throughout the week. Stay tuned for our Gan Aleph Hibernation coming up this Thursday!

I Wish I Were A Polar Bear!

Can you imagine what it would be like to be a polar bear in the winter!? Well, Gan Aleph did just that! The children were bursting with excitement on Thursday as they brought in their favorite "sleeping" items from home (stuffed animals, pillows etc.). We began our class hibernation by searching around the room for cups of food that were hidden. As each child found their food, they ate and ate and ate until they felt full. We then snuggled up with our favorite nighttime belongings and pretended that our body temperatures dropped and our heart rate slowed. We "slept" and slept and slept...until spring came! The children yawned, stretched and awakened when they heard it was spring time. This activity put the children in the place of a polar bear and helped them imagine what it would be like to be a polar bear in winter. Above all, it was just plain FUN!