blogs/ilanafriedman

 

Tu Bishvat, the birthday of the trees, begins at sundown on Sunday, Jan. 20, and continues through Monday, Jan. 21. For our garden school, Tu Bishvat is another great opportunity for celebration and learning. We've been collecting and identifying tree leaves and seeds, making leaf butterflies and leaf rubbings, using tree stumps and lumber to construct our play spaces, and raking and jumping in leaves regularly. It feels like celebrating trees is our way of life at BHA Preschool! 

 

Tu Bishvat stands out as an opportunity during this chilly time of year to savor the sun-kissed fruits of the trees! We ask each family to sign up for a day in the next two weeks to bring in a fruit to examine with our senses, and share at snack time. You might choose dried fruit like dates or juicy fruit like grapes! We welcome your contribution which can be enough for each child to have just a taste. It does not need to BE our snack. 

 

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Thanks for sending in jars of collected items! We are gradually opening them, looking closely, and developing imaginative ways to incorporate them into work and play. It is wonderful to have so many tiny, colorful, tactile things at our fingertips! 

Speaking of looking closely, over the last few weeks of schools, before and after the break, we followed the lead of several students who were interested in shells (pink shells especially!). They told us that they hear the sounds of the ocean, pebbles, birds, and waves inside of the shells, they mimicked the sounds, and stories were told about how the shells make those noises. How was the shell made? What is it made of? We sketched shell lines from observation and sculpted shell shapes as well! Several children have used our sea life-themed picture books to dive further into the ocean world.

 

Meanwhile, our passion for rainbows has led to a focus on color mixing at the easels and also when we go outside, where we mixed color with oil pastel on paper and with food coloring on ice. We melted pathways in ice gems using salt, and then let color trickle into the holes, which was messy and beautiful.

Also outdoors, we fed our sprouts and challah scraps to the neighbor's hens. The hens have started to notice that we come bearing gifts! We are befriending these feathered friends, as we show more and more understanding of how to approach these barnyard birds. :-)

 

Speaking of challah, our Solstice Shabbat right before our winter break felt so special. The children were particularly quiet and focused on the glowing candle light. We welcomed this pause for Shabbat -- a chance to take stock in all that is done -- and we paused as well for darkest day of the year -- a chance to take stock in the warmth we create as a community.

 

After break, our school community grew a bit! Welcome to Amit who is now a student at BHA Preschool! We are so glad to have him in our class.

 

Here are a couple of songs/chants that we have been sharing at school:

These Are My Glasses 

And ...

the tongue twister: She Sells Seashells Down By the Seashore!

We also are singing our months of the year during calendar time.

 

A few new photos are on our BHA Preschool Facebook page! We'll add more to our google album soon... :-)

 

See you all soon,

 

Ilana and Diana