This week our friends started learning about the holiday of Tu B'Shvat coming up this Monday! On Tu B'Shvat we are celebrating the birthday of the trees while learning about the 7 species special to Israel; wheat, barley, figs, olives, dates, pomegranates and grapes! Here is a glimpse of what that looks like in the blue room!
Art
This week our friends made citrus paintings using lemons to paint with and got to see how the lemon pattern transfers onto paper. We also painted onto tree bark, and had 7 species of fruit coloring pages out for our friends to explore and color.
Sensory
The sensory bin was filled with barley and different mixing, scooping, and transferring tools like funnels, measuring spoons and cups. Most of our friends never saw barley before, at least not in its raw form, and noticed that "It looks like oatmeal!" We discussed that barley is a grain that comes from the ground (just like oats) and is also used to cook with and eat. On Wednesday the sensory bin was switched out for soil and abc letters.
Block Center
Our friends built with vegetable labeled blocks. A lot of our friends enjoyed finding matches and stacking them next to each other to see how many of each vegetable there was and also identifying which shapes were used with the different vegetables like squares, rectangles, and triangles.
Math/ Dramatic Play
This week we had brown bags numbered 1-5 laid out, and our friends gathered fruits and veggies to put inside. The children counted out fruits and veggies to correspond to the numbered bags. We also matched pictures of fruits (mangos, apples, and pears) and counted how many there were of each then put them onto the corresponding fruit tree laid out on the carpet.
Fine Motor
To explore another component of nature, our friends were invited to work on flower play-doh where they stuck in different flowers of their liking to put inside the playdoh. They also built trees out of loose parts like mini tree stumps, sticks, and clay.
Science Discovery
We had the opportunity to do not just one, but TWO science experiments! On Tuesday we started a Lima Bean Experiment.. our friends used spray bottles to wet a paper towel, put a lima bean inside the wet towel, and placed it in a ziploc bag. We discussed where a bean comes from, and what they need to grow- water.. sun.. but do they need soil?... hmm.. our friends took some guesses what they thought was going to happen to the bean in the bag once we taped them onto the window to sit against the sun coming in to the window. We will continue to check on our lima bean bags to see how they are doing! On Friday during snack, each of our friends got a turn to spray water into the soil in our sensory bin and then sprinkle grass seed inside. We can't wait to see what will be on Monday when we open up the bin!
See you all Monday for a fun-filled day of celebrating Tu B'Shvat together!
Wishing you a restful shabbos with family and friends!
Morah Felicia and Morah Briele
