ECD Bereishit Fair

The children learned all about the seven days of creation through songs, books, felt board stories, pictures, and midrashim.  As a culminating activity they enjoyed our Bereishit Fair in which all of the early childhood classes participated.  Each ECD classroom became a different day of creation which the children visited to work on different projects relating to that day.  These included shadow puppet play for Day One, sensory activities with water and shaving cream for Day Two, planting seeds for Day Three, creating edible sun, moon and stars for Day Four, decorating birds and fish for Day Five, doing animal exercises and creating self-portraits for Day Six, and making challah for Day Seven.  What a wonderful, hands-on way to learn about the creation of the world!

Ganon Bet Learns about Shadows

The children learned that light can travel through objects that are translucent. We observed light shining through our glass windows and a plastic soda bottle. We then shined a light on opaque items like paper, cardboard and even ourselves . We realized that light can travel around those things. We played shadow tag outside. Then we traced our shadows to see which was longer, the children or their shadows. Do you know which was longer?

Bereishit Fair

Yesterday, the EC classes initiated our first ever Bereishit Fair! This amazing learning experience was completely developed and implemented by the collaboration of our model team of teachers. Each classroom was set up to represent a different day of Creation, along with hands-on projects and activities. For Day 1, children made shadow puppets and frosted black and white cookies.

On Day 2, a water table was set up for play, and children made clouds with shaving cream.

Children planted seeds on Day 3, and made collages of trees and grass. Day 4's classroom had stars projected on the ceiling, and children created original designs of stars, moon, and sun. For Day 5, real fish were available for observation, and children played a matching game with various types of birds and fish.

On Day 6, the children dressed in animal costumes, and held races and dances.

Back in their own classrooms, children learned about Day 7, our very own Shabbat, which of course we celebrate every week in school.

Nothing Sticks Like a Shadow!

Gan Aleph has been busy exploring shadows! On Monday, we went outside to look for our shadows, but could not seem to find them! Were they hiding? Did they disappear!? The children decided we could not find our shadows because it was very very cloudy. We observed how the shadows of clouds fall on earth and make the day darker.
On Wednesday, the sun was shining so we again tried to find our shadows. The children smiled with joy as we walked outside and immediately saw our shadows on the ground. This helped reinforce the concept that the sun helps to create shadows. A shadow is a dark place behind us where the sun does not shine.
We decided to have fun with our shadows and trace them with sidewalk chalk! The children took turns tracing each other, tracing the morahs and chasing Morah Aviva's shadow! Once all the shadows were "stuck" to the ground (via sidewalk chalk) the children tried to fit themselves inside their friends' shadows! It was interesting to see who was shorter than their friend's shadow, who was taller than their friend's shadow and who was a perfect fit!
What a fun way to conclude our unit on shadows!

Where Are the Shadows?

Where are the shadows? The children have been searching for shadows. In our classroom, we used flashlights to find and identify shadows. We continued the investigation outside, again looking for shadows and taking pictures of them. The next day, we tried to identify whose shadow it was and where the picture was taken.

The children also tried chasing their shadows, but were unable to catch them. They tried to lose their shadows and found out that our shadows are always with us.

Me And My Shadow

Gan Daled learned about the great artist, Rembrandt, who lived in Holland. He is known for his use of light and shadows. Rembrandt painted many self portraits. The children used charcoal to make their own self portraits which resembled Rembrandt's etchings. Even though charcoal is difficult to work with, the children used their fine motor skills to produce beautiful self portraits in Rembrandt's style.

Gan Daled became print makers and discovered that it is possible to make many copies from a single master. They engraved pictures onto a piece of foam to make a plate and covered it with paint. The children put a piece of paper on the plate and pressed down carefully. They observed that the picture that was printed was reversed.

Gan Daled was excited to imitate one of the greatest artists of all time. Have you ever seen a Rembrandt painting?

To learn more about Rembrandt visit :http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/