Shomrai Nursery. Parshas Noach Provokes Curiosity

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1 Parshas Noach Candlelighting: 5:45 PM Shomrai Nursery November 4, Cheshvan 5777 Havdalah: 6:44 PM Weekly Glimpse Parshas Noach Provokes Curiosity This is an excellent parsha in which the stimulation of curiosity is exemplified. When Hashem decided to create a flood, He could have just kept Noach and his family safe. Instead He instructs Noach to build a teva. What happens when Noach builds the teva? The people begin to ask him questions. What are you doing? Why are you doing that? When people begin with a question, they are primed to learn more than when information is simply fed to them. (Sadly in this case even interest was not enough... ) We know that stimulating interest is paramount in early childhood education. That is why we place interesting objects and exciting media in the classroom. We expect these will spark curiosity and provoke questions. When a question is asked it is because interest has been aroused. Interest is the foundation of true, meaningful learning. On the flip side, it is essential to notice when a child s interest has been stimulated and to respond to it. Imagine if Noach were to have said, Don t bother me now, I m busy (which he certainly was). This would have been a teaching and a learning moment lost. We as educators and parents have to remember to stop what we are doing as often as possible to answer our children s and students questions. Daily thoughts, expressions, interests, communications, explorations, collaborations, adventures, research and discoveries, as experienced by students at Shomrai Nursery 2016 YISE SHOMRAI NURSERY

2 Our children are asking questions all the time. The question why can be asked over and over by a young child. It can get exhausting and even frustrating at times. When confronted with incessant questions at a busy time it is important to show appreciation for the interest. I am so glad you asked that question. You are obviously interested. I will have to think about the answer for a while and we can talk about it later at bedtime, is a better response than, I m busy now and can t answer. Also, if the answer is not available don t shy away from the subject. Model to the child that we are all learning all the time. Answers can be found through many resources. In fact, modeling the search for information is an even better education than the answer itself. Again, as early childhood educators and parents we need to be carefully attuned to our students. Listening for those questions is paramount. We learn about what a child s interests are through their questions. When we follow children s interests we become responsive facilitators of learning - the ultimate goal of teachers. "Each child is unique and the protagonist of his or her own growth. Children desire to acquire knowledge, have much capacity for curiosity and amazement, and yearn to create relationships with others and communicate." Loris Malaguzzi

3 Kitat Shalom Uses Found Objects to Build a Teivah Parshas Noach provided much inspiration for this week s experiences in Kitat Shalom. We read books about Noach and his teivah, we experimented with water play, and we even built a boat using recyclables and found objects from our classroom. On Tuesday morning, our students walked into our classroom and discovered an invitation of random materials. "What are we doing?" asked Seth. "We are building a teivah using these materials, tape and glue," the morah responded. Our students began selecting materials for their boat or teivah construction. "I'm poking holes in my boat" said Esti F. "Then I am going to add lids to the walls." she added. Esti chose to work with tape and began to attach some lids to her construction. Shalom began to move his boat as if it was floating on the water. "This is going to move" he said. Natan explained,"i am making an ark." "I'm making a boat, explained Shalom. "I'm making a teivah" said Daniel. "There is a cup inside of my teivah. These are seats for people, he explained. Esti added some more sticks to her structure. "These will protect people from he rain, she explained. Akiva said,"i like building boats with lids. Our students worked very hard on their boats, teivahs and arks. We look forward to placing our structures on water on Friday. Wishing everyone a Good Shabbos! Kitat Shalom Morot

4 Kitat Simcha s Rosh Chodesh Treat At the beginning of the week the morot informed the children that a special holiday was going to happen this week called Rosh Chodesh. A few children had heard about Rosh Chodesh, but did not remember why we celebrate it. It has to do with the moon we explained. David shouted out "Waxing!" That's right the morot said, the moon has a cycle where it starts small and then gets bigger and bigger. After the moon reaches its full size it starts to get smaller and smaller again. We mark the first day of the moon's cycle as the first day of the month and we do special things on that day. When Rosh Chodesh arrived we asked the children if we should do something special in class. The morot suggested baking muffins, and the children agreed that this was a great idea. We made healthy, applesaucecinnamon muffins. The children helped combine eggs, applesauce, cinnamon, flour, sugar, baking soda, and soy milk. The children mixed the ingredients with a large spoon. We made sure to talk about the measurements including 1 cup, 1/2 cup, counting eggs, counting tablespoons, etc. Goldie looked in the bowl and said, "It looks good." We ladled the batter into muffin tins and put them straight into the oven. It didn't take long before a delicious aroma filled the air. We pointed out to the children that the muffins rose after they were baked. That is part of the science of baking. After rest time was over we put the muffins on the table and invited the children to enjoy these special treats. David, Dalia, and Tehilla all thought the muffins tasted sweet. Shira commented that it tasted yummy. Effie decided to save his muffin for his Mommy. Avigail liked the top part of the muffin the best. "I like the crumbs," she said. She also noticed that it tasted a little salty. David really wanted another muffin. I really like it! he exclaimed. Goldie asked if we could bake again the next day. Each Rosh Chodesh we hope to make a special treat in order to celebrate this special day.. We would love to hear your suggestions for healthy, tasty treats that we could bake in the future! Have a Good Shabbos! Morah Yocheved and Morah Jessica Thank you to our Shabbat Party Sponsors! Amy Schmerling and Family Tehilla Scher and Family Yakov Gedaliah Karlin and Family Leba Walter and Family Yaakov Scheininger and Family Dovid Werner and Family Congratulations to our very own Nancy Kohl on the publication of her article, Purposeful Play that was published in the Fall issue of Play, Policy and Practice Connections of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Nancy also presented this week at their annual conference in LA on the topic of Self-Portraiture: An invitation to identity, emotions, and the language of loose part materials. How fortunate we are to have someone published and presenting on a national level work with us in our school.

5 What Do Hamsters Eat? Kitat Rimon has been very interested in our new hamster this week. We found out that hamsters are nocturnal. This means that they are more active at night. More Yvette shared with us that on Monday night after the morahs had a meeting, she came into the room on her way out and found our hamster running like crazy in the wheel! He typically sleeps a lot when we are in school. On Thursday, he came out during the day! Morah Naomi went to put some food in the food bowl and soon after we saw our furry friend come out and climb up to where the bowl is. Morah Naomi moved the cage onto one of the tables in the room so we could fit around and observe what he was doing. The children saw him pick up his food (it looks like little brown cheerios) with his two front paws and he nibbled on it. What can he eat? asked the children. So we used the ipad to research their question. We learned that besides the hamster food our hamster can eat a small cube of apple (no peel or seeds), some shredded carrot or a small piece of cucumber. Just a little apple or carrot, not too much, because they are high in sugar. After researching the students suggested that we try giving him a little apple, because we had apple for snack. Morah Yvette peeled one of the slices and Morah Naomi carefully opened the top of the cage and put the apple pieces in. This made the hamster jump and hide, but soon he came out and tried the apple. Tzvi, when pointing to the green grate on top of the cage said, These are monkey bars. Monkey bars? asked Suri. Sheva, Lilly and Yaakov declared with delight, He s eating the apple! I think he likes it. said Shulamis. Morah Devorah Malka was passing through our room with two students. When Shmuel Reuven pointed out that the hamster was eating, Morah Devorah Malka and her students said, That is so cool! Stay tuned for a name announcement next week. We ve narrowed down our choices. We are sharing with each other why we like certain names. We are focussing on why we think the name is good and not being negative about choices we don t like. On Tuesday, Election Day, we will vote. Shabbat Shalom! Morah Noami and Morah Yvette

6 Kitat Tamar s Leaf Man Creations In addition to learning about Parshat Noach, Kitat Tamar explored the Fall foliage and the colorful leaves this week. We started by taking a nature walk on Monday. The children collected colorful leaves, twigs, and stems. We explained to the children that we would use the items for a project. When we returned from our walk we read the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Leaf Man is the tale of Leaf Man s adventures as he blows around in the wind. The children enjoyed the story and the morahs proposed that they can work to make their own leaf men on Tuesday. The children were excited about the idea and agreed that they wanted to work on it. Self portraiture is a the pre-cursor to writing. In Pre-k classes we will work on self portraits using various mediums each Rosh Chodesh. On Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan the children were invited to make self portraiture using the leaves, twigs, and stems that the children collected on our walk. We added pinecones, wooden acorns and stones to the choice of materials. The children all volunteered to work on the project and eagerly waited their turns. We asked the children to describe their work. This is his body, arms I used leaves, rocks acorns, and sticks, Naomi described. The leaf is the head, acorn for the eyes, the leaves for the body and a rock for the mouth, Ami S said. I used rocks for the eyes and the nose. The head is made of leaves. The arms are made of leaves. Serena dictated. The legs are sticks, the pinecones are feet, Rivka volunteered. Acorns are the eyes, the pine cones are the hair, Eliana explained. The children described their works of art. We hope that you enjoy their masterpieces. They will be on display in our classroom. Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom! Morah Lisa and Morah Devorah Sarah

7 It s Raining in Kitat Gefen As we continue to learn about Parsha Noach in Kitat Gefen, the children had another opportunity to explore shaving cream as they had the tevah and animals swim through it. The children also made rain sticks. They decorated paper towel rolls with bingo dotters, filled them with beads, and then covered them with the tape of their choice. The morahs then turned off the lights and turned on rain music to help them visualize what the rainstorm sounded like. They were so excited to shake their rain sticks with the rain. They also got to move the tevah up and down to show how it swam through the waves "Is it going to rain?" asked Simon. "We're going to make it rain and turn off the lights," said Noah as we prepared them for the "rainstorm." "Come on make it rain!" said Dovid when the Morah turned off the rain sound. Once we turned on the music again Dovid started singing "go away rain. See you tomorrow." As it rained we spoke about the story again. The morah asked "What did Hashem tell Noah to build?" "A boat," said Yosef "What is it called in Hebrew?" asked the morha. "A sukkah," said Noah "A te..." prompted the Morah. "Tevah," said Yosef "And what did Hashem tell Noah to put on the Tevah?" "Animals," said Yosef. Yes! How many animals?" Two," said Yosefs "How man days did it rain for?" Five," said Yosef. "Forty" reminded the morah. After 40 days the rain stopped and the lights were turned on! We then read The Littlest Pair by Sylvia Rouss. None of the animals want the termites to come aboard the Ark. After all, termites eat wood and Noahs Ark was made of wood. But when the rains begin and the Ark starts to rock, all the animals slip and slide! The Littlest Pair, the termites, use their wood munching abilities to save the day. Shabbat Shalom! Morah Belana and Morah Chaya Sarah

8 YISE Shomrai Nursery invites you to A Celebration of our Grandparents Wednesday, November 23, 2016 A Thanksgiving Program to show our Hakaras Hatov to our beloved Bubbies, Zaydies, Grandmothers, Grandpas, Sabbas and Saftas. 813 University Blvd W Silver Spring, MD RSVP or nursery@yise.org Grandparents & Special Friends Welcome to Shomrai Nursery! Invitations will be mailed to grandparents next week! Schedule of Events: Grandparents are invited to participate in an interactive program with their grandchildren. Please observe the following schedule: 9:30am to 10:05am: Grandparents with 2 year old students 10:15am - 10:55am: Grandparents with 3 year old students 11:00am - 11:40am: Grandparents with Pre K students Pre K Parsha Questions 1) Gavi: Why did Hashem make a flood? 2) Shoshana: Why did Hashem make a rainbow? 3) Rivky: Why did Hashem tell Noach to build a Teiva? 4) Chaim Yitzy: Why did Noach build the Teiva? 5) Ami L: Why did Hashem tell Noach to bring two of each animal? 6) Eliana and Yaakov M: Why did Noach send the animals into the Teiva? 7) Shulamins: Why does Hashem make rain?