Sample Invitation to Pre-Thanksgiving VIP Feast

We have been so busy in Kitah Gimmel and there is so much going on in our classroom. There are about 200 pictures from last week and each one is a captured moment, a moment that tells a story about a precious child joyfully learning and discovering something new about the world around them. I wish I could put all of them up and tell you the story of each one...
Here's a start, enjoy!

Benjamin walks in and says "I want to do cutting" he takes scissors and paper off the shelf and sits down to cut.

Soon his friends join him.

"This is a raincloud"

"This is a tree"

Leila and Kiki work hard to squeeze out the glue along the outline of the pumpkin and then stick down pumpkin seeds.

Sam worked along with Morah Sara Carter. They made a dark grey cloud with raindrops.

Mendel and Jacki are playing with moon sand. "We're making rain all over the place."

scooping corn seeds out of soil

lacing

writing in sand.

A ramp! Sam is discovering basic principles of science and engineering.

having fun with friends in the sand

Our Nature Walk

Fall has arrived and so we got all prepared to be “Nature Explorers” and

went on out first nature walk. We walked along Cooledge Avenue with brown paper bags, looking closely for interesting things. We found beautiful leaves; some were red and some yellow. We even found some that had two colors.

While walking down the block Mendel remembered going for a

walk last year and he told us that last year Morah Amanda found peaches on a tree. We looked for the tree with peaches but couldn’t find it. We did see a tree that had a note stuck to its trunk with a message to the tree from last year’s Kitah Gimmel class. Everyone had given the tree a blessing and we read them all. We were quite surprised that the paper is still stuck to the tree from last year. It’s been up there for a long time.

Benjamin was very busy finding 'treasures'

Jacki said that she found leaves, sticks and rocks.

Abigail found a very pretty rock.

Etan said that he found brown leaves and rocks.

When we got back to school we glued our leaves that we had collected down onto paper. Morah Leah showed us how to make butterflies with the leaves. We all made our own original designs.

Outdoor fun

Special Moment:

Ben and Kiki were playing on the swings and Kiki was swinging really high. Ben said to her, “You know you’re really tiny but you talk like a big girl and you’ve got lots of energy.”

On Monday morning the children were introduced to another topic in art: still life. They all had the opportunity to mix red and yellow paint until they liked the shade of orange it produced and then they went on to paint a still life pumpkin. While mixing red and yellow paint Morah Leah asked, “What color do you think it will turn into?” “Probably orange,” Max hypothesized.

Meet Mr Pumpkin Head

Kitah Gimmel's Garden

October is planting month and so we are planting. We had a very special guest and expert gardener Adele Northrup come to school on Wednesday to help us. Kitah Gimmel helped prepare the soil by very cooperatively taking out weeds and sticks from the planting bed. Then we each had a turn planting a seed and covering it up with soil. Thank you Adele.

check out your future all stars

to see playball pictures please click here

We decorated large cut outs of a person with many different materials. The children glued wooden shapes, buttons, painted noodles, feathers, ribbons and fabric scraps to create "self portraits".

Leila: I'm making my Mommy

Abigail: I'm making my Daddy

Etan: "I'm making Vivien"

Kiki: I'm making Sholom"

Mendel" I'm making a king. This is the thing that protects the king's leg"

Kobi: "I'm making Ami, he has a bowtie"

Jacki's drawing:

"look Morah Leah, I made an S"

Circle Time discussions

We passed a mirror around and as each child looked at their reflection they noted the color of their eyes and hair. We talked about if their hair was long or short and if it was straight or curly.

Kiki: My eyes are black and blue

Sam: My eyes are silver

Benjamin: I have a haircut

...more coming :)

Building blocks on our special new wooden block table.

Singing a new fun song that Morah Dena introduced to us. It helps us find our right hand for Shma.

1-2-3-4-5

Once I caught a fish alive

6-7-8-9-10

Then I let it go again

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so

Which finger did it bite?

This little finger on my RIGHT!

Outdoor fun

observing the girls singing and dancing was such a delight. I captured the picture but didn't want to break the moment by inquiring as to what they were singing or why...