Aleph Academy

These few moments of observation were a great lead into the world of Yonatan and Wilson.  They were engaged in pretend play together and discussing the logistics of where the train would move “this way” and “that way”.  Wilson pushed his train along the carpet with a joyous sound of “Chug, chug!” then shouted “A world scientist!”  They used the mirror as a pretend camera and took pictures of their trains as they passed along the tracks.  Yonatan explained that their trains were “chugging”. 

This is a great example of both Yonatan and Wilson using their own life experiences in their play together.  They both communicated their needs and wants while playing by using their hands to point and words, “The train will go this way” Wilson pointing in one direction and Yonatan confirmed his message by asking  and pointing  “This way?” They continued to plan their route by pointing and using their words.

5.0 Social-Emotional Development-Children will demonstrate positive social in play and in group settings

1. pk.6 use available materials as either realistic or symbolic props as part of play

1. pk.2a makes up new roles, from experiences and familiar stories  

10.pk.5 engage In dramatic play to convey experiences, feelings,  ideas, and stories                                         

From the Gesher class:

Ethan brought onions in.  He showed it to all of us.  And then we planted the seeds.  We put our thumbs in the soil.  We put dirt on them.  Then we watered them with water.  And then we got journals.  We colored in them and drew onion seeds.  The end.

By Sam, Everti, and Natasha

Greetings from the Gesher class!  Gesher is hebrew for “bridge” which is a term that describes the 3, 4, and 5 year old class very well.  As teachers who are much older (26 and 18 respectively), it is our wish that this blog represent the student perspective.  Each week throughout the year, different students will post blogs about their experiences in school, their adventures outside, and the stories that they create.  And so, without further ado, here is what our bloggers this week, Joshua and Matilda, want you to know about their first day.  Happy reading and feel free to interact with your students by posting comments!

- Josie & Vani

Today we were animals.  Joshua the frog, Matilda the princess, Natasha the giraffe, Dovid the donkey, Zoe the butterfly, and Ethan the frog.  We went outside and found a worm.  Alice is the worm.  It likes to go in the soil and eat dirt.  It is a he.  We have 3 frogs.  We want to name one Alice in Wonderland and the other two Zoe and Dovid.  We will name them together.

Another sunny and warm week at Camp Explore. This week we explored clay. We had some grey hard clay, brown soft clay, and special clay mud that a student brought in from Pyramid Lake to share with the class. The Children decided that we should make some signs for our garden out of the clay so we can remember what we planted at the beginning of camp. We decided the brown soft clay was the best clay to use. The children molded a sign that was in the garden and looked through a magazine that had garden signs. We started out drawing a design of what we wanted to make than started to mold our clay. We will be painting the signs and hanging them in the garden next week. Be sure to take a peek.

This week at camp we were exploring all the edibles in our garden. The kids picked leafs they thought would be good to use for paint brushes.  We decided to use green paint and create pictures of the leafs. We captured the imprints of lavender, basil, and mint by pressing them into clay. The children sampled all the different tastes from our garden.  At the end of the week we made a class salad, the kids really enjoyed cutting and contributing to the salad. The arrival of our two new bean bags for our reading center was a hit, the kids love to sit and read on them.

The second week of camp was a warm one. The children loved getting into their bathing suits and cooling off with water play. The play ground slides turned into water slides with puddles at the exit to splash into. The children discovered the budding edible berries bush and other edibles growing in the garden. They took great pride in carefully picking, collecting, and eating the berries. We made bug houses and explored the outdoors looking for the bugs that live around.

What a great first week at Camp Explore. We counted numbers during our seed exploration while the Children sorted the different seeds. They enjoyed making art projects with potting soil. The children discovered that while some seeds sink there are others that float. They were excited to see the plants to the seeds they had been exploring all week, and even more excited to put all the elements of soil, plant and water together as we planted our new edibles, squash, strawberries, and bean plants.

Ms. Jennifer