Chanuka

At Zimmer, every unit is taught with specific values and mindsets which we wish to impart to the children. At the toddlers level, we wanted the children to walk away from Chanuka with the feeling of "Holidays are special and happy days" as well as having the knowledge that there are specific practices for the holiday: lighting the menorah, playing dreidel and eating latkes and doughnuts. As the years go on, we add on the historical story of the Maccabees as well as add on to the meaning and messages of the holiday.


The children were quite intrigued with the dreidel, watching it spin round and round.

We added on a dreidel game of our own - giving each child a chance to spin our big stuffed dreidel. Once the dreidel stopped spinning we would take note of what color it had landed on, and gave the child a token of the same color. What a fun way to practice our colors!

The children also had the opportunity to create their own dreidel image painting. But how do we know if the child understands what it is they are making? We can only find out if we take the time to ask. So before we started, Morah showed the children the dreidel cutout and asked the children what it was. Once we affirmed they were connecting the one dimentional cutout to the 3D object, we showed the children how we were taping the stencil over another paper. Smocks on and paintbrushes out to paint it all around and... it was sure exciting to see the stencil come off and find the dreidel underneath.

We had a wonderful time working with our daddies and their hammers to indent decorative pieces for our school menorah.

And what would Chanukah be without making some yummy doughnuts!

See you tomorrow,

Morah Chaya and Morah Gittel

Honing Good Manners

We all want our children have good manners - and the time to invest in this starts from the begining, while we are just young toddlers! Starting from our first day of school, we have been practicing being polite by using the word "please". If a child comes to Morah with a book in hand, I respond "would you like Morah to read you a book please?" and then proceed to have the child try to say "book", "book please" or "Morah read book please" according to the child's age and language developemnt.

So with Thanksgiving approaching we wanted to add on to the "open please" and the like which we have already become accustomed to hearing / saying. What better a time then now to introduce "thank you".

THE STORY - invused with value of saying "thank you" to those who help us
We began with telling the Thanksgiving story:
"A long time ago there were a group of people called the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were going to go on a special trip. They were going to go on a boat and sail to a new land. They packed up their things and climbed onto the boat and sailed in the water till they came to the land. The Pilgrims then got off the boat and looked all around. They saw lots of grass and trees and floweres - but where were the stores? "There are no stores anywhere. No grocery stores to buy food!" said the Pilgrim sadly, "I am so hungry."
Then the Natives came and asked, "Pilgrims, it looks like you are sad. Can we help you and give you some food to eat?" The Pilgrims were so excited, "Yes please!" "Here. You can have some turkey, cornmuffins, pumpkin pie..." (please excuse the inaccuracies)
"Thank you Natives. Thank you for sharing with us."

The children were very excited at hearing a full story with puppets and would often take the puppets and "repeat" the story on their own - helping them develop the early stage of the story telling skill.

APPLICATION - learning when to say "thank you"
To help us practice saying "thank you" we have been singing our thank you song -to the tune of If you're happy and you know it

"When our friend gives us something we say thank you.
When our Morah gives us something we say thank you.
I can see it makes them happy when I say it so politely,
When someone helps me I say "thank you".

When singing, we stop before the word thank you - giving the children the chance to practice saying the words on their own. When situations arise in the classroom we refer back to the song - for example: Morah helps someone open their container. Then Morah tells the child, "Morah helped you open your container. (singing) When a Morah helps us we say ___?" "Thank you!"

Throughout the day when a child helps out we take the time to acknowledge what was done and what the response should be For example: "Sammy, you gave Lexi her clip. That was so helpful. Thank you Sammy." or "Ava is helping the baby feel better. Thank you Ava."

THANKSGIVING IS A SPECIAL DAY! - we celebrate with our friends and families
Preparing the children for what was coming, we spoke about how all the mommies and daddies were coming to school for our thanksgiving feast.
Can you imagine how it feels for a toddler to walk into their playroom and see lots of big adults! We prepare for this by talking about how there wasn't going to be any bikes or cars in the playroom - there would be lots of tables and chairs for the thanksgiving meal. On the day of the feast we took a peak into the playroom before everyone came to help us imagine what was coming.
Together we sang, (to the tune of Mary had a little lamb)
On thanksgiving we have a big meal. We have a big meal. We have a big meal.
On thanksgiving we sit around the table and we eat a big meal.
On thanksgiving we eat pumpkin muffins. We eat pumpkin muffins. We eat pumpkin muffins.
On thanksgiving we sit around the table and we some pumpkin muffins.
On thanksgiving we eat (some turkey, cranberry sauce, corn bread...)

Thank you Doug - Meyers dad - for helping us bake the pumpkin muffins for the feast. The children were very happy to be part of the process.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Morah Chaya and Morah Gittel

Autumn in the Young Toddlers Class

Using logical reasoning (with toddlers!) to prepare for the cold weather
There was a new visitor at circle time - his name was Froggy. Froggy wanted to play with us in school - but he wasn't wearing any clothing yet. We looked through his basket of clothing to find his yellow shirt, blue pants and black shoes. The children were really excited to sing our good morning song to Froggy as he joined in our circle time.

When it was time to go outside we noted that Froggy isn't ready to go outside yet. It is cold and windy outside - he needs a jacket. We got Froggy a jacket and put on our own jackets as well.

Froggy has been helping us build our vocabulary as we decide what clothing he needs. He shows us how we need to assess and prepare before going outside in the cold. This is a skill we work on continuously with many of the activities we do. For example, when we want to paint we need to first get a smock, paper, paint and paintbrush until we are ready.

We live in such a beautiful world!
While a toddler cannot grasp the concept of a "season", our goal with our seasonal units is to give the children an appreciation for the world in which they live. We have been going on nature walks together to the woods (which we are so fortunate to have - right near our outdoor classroom) to give the children the experience of autumn in "untouched" nature. We heighten our sense of observation by stopping to notice all of the things around us.

There are so many leaves around! Can you here them crunch as we step on it?

Look at this one...

Take up a look up here. The leaves are all red.
I wonder what this tree feels like...

I can throw leaves up in the air

Using art to represent something we've seen
Once back in our room we took a look at the tree we have on the wall. The children noted 'Tree" as well as "No leaves there". We worked together on painting red leaves which we added to our tree. As we go through the seasons we will continue to use this tree to represent what we see outdoors.

This week we will begin our Thanksgiving unit. Please be reminded that we will be having a Thanksgiving Feast together on Wednesday, November 24, at 11:30.

All the best,
Morah Chaya and Morah Gittel

Communicating with Toddlers

The more time I spend with toddlers the more amazed I am at how much these little people can understand and grasp - even before they can speak that much. We want them to build their vocabulary bank so that they can communicate their thoughts and wants without the frustration of not being understood.

In our classroom we surround the children with a rich vocabulary environment to show the children how we can use our words. The words are slowly spoken to the child so that they follow the flow of the conversation.

What are we talking about? Just about everything!

We talk about what the child is doing at the moment - "I see you have one green peg and another green peg." Hearing this raises our awareness of colors and amounts. It also builds their observation skills.

We speak about what has happened - "Uh oh. Some water spilled." Leaving a space for the child to problem solve we might continue with, "What should we do?" "Lets get a paper towel to dry it.". This helps us learn to be responsible and care for our classroom.

Before we do something new we talk to the children about it. For example, during our trip upstairs in the elevator - "The door is going to close now. Can you listen for the beep? When we hear the beep the door will open." This helps ease our nerves in this new situation.

Our school has a strong focus on building self-confident, empowered children. Trust is an important element to that. So when someone needs a spoon at snack time, I say, "Morah Chaya is going to get a spoon for the yogurt. I will be right back. Morah Gittel is here with you." This helps build the child's trust in their Morahs. We make sure the children don't feel "acted upon"; they feel "in control" of what is happening.

And so for the big question - how can we ease the transition from home to school each day?
Here are some ideas...

- Talk to your child about what they do and who they see at school. Through your tone they will pick up the sense of "Mommy and Daddy are happy that I am with my Morahs and friends at school. It's okay for me to feel that way too."

The pictures on the school website can be a great "conversation maker". (zimmerpreschool.org /Eye into our Classroom / Pictures /Young Toddlers)

- While driving to school you can talk about what they might see or do when they arrive. This eases them into the school day.

- Be part of their school day routines by helping them put away their jackets and backpacks. Even being part of their choice of which toy/activity to begin their day. Talk, talk, talk as you are doing this. "Mommy/daddy loves to help you put your backpack in your cubby. Com, should we choose a toy together before mommy/daddy says good bye?" Etc.

This is such a special age and we enjoy them all so much!
Morah Chaya and Morah Gittel

Welcome!

Welcome everyone to our class blog, a place where we can share some of the children's learning and get a peak at what happens behind our classroom door.

To look back at our blog from last school year (2009/10), check out zimmerinfantyoungtoddler.blogspot.com.

Looking forward to a wonderful year together!
Morah Chaya Greenwald and Morah Gittel Herman