Shomrai Nursery

Weekly Glimpse

Daily thoughts, expressions, interests, communications, explorations, collaborations, adventures, research and discoveries, as experienced by

students at Shomrai Nursery 2017

Parshas Lech Lecha

Candlelighting: 5:54 PM

Havdalah: 6:53 PM

YISE SHOMRAI NURSERY

October 27, 2017 8 Cheshvan 5778

The parshios at this time of year are filled with issues between siblings. Kayin killed Hevel. Cham shamed Noach while Shem and Yefes defended him. It would be no exaggeration to say that the outcomes of these early “sibling rivalries” literally shaped the history of mankind.

However, in this week's parsha, Lech Lecha, we see that family feuds don't always need to spin out of control. When fights begin to erupt between Avraham and Lot's shepherds upon their return from Mitzrayim, Avraham does a lot of things right. He addresses the problem directly, in a sensitive way (he uses the word “please” a number of times), and he promises his continued loyalty and protection to Lot as a member of his family. Avraham is willing to let Lot have his first choice of land, all in the interest of peace and avoiding family fighting.

While the story is beautiful, some of our children may not yet be on Avraham's level. How, therefore, can we be most effective as parents when sibling squabbles erupt?

Immediate intervention is not always the best strategy. While, obviously, an eye and an ear should be kept on the situation to ensure that everybody is safe, children do need to learn conflict resolution skills. One resource which we use at school is the Solution Kit developed by the University of Vanderbilt's Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. It offers children a number of possible solutions to a given conflict, and helps to encourage development of conflict resolution skills. Why not try it at home? It will give you a

powerful tool to help your children hone their conflict resolution skills, as well as give them a uniform approach to resolving conflicts at home and at school. It can be download from http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/2006/solutionkit.pdf.

It is always important to be empathetic and validate your children's feelings. Authors, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish (How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk) have a book dedicated to sibling rivalry entitled, Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too. It outlines ways to defuse such explosive situations as comparing, assigning roles, or taking sides, and suggests specific remedies to avoid conflict. Having children describe their feelings while you reflect back to them (“It sounds like you were really getting angry,”) is another way to build healthy social-emotional skills. Also, giving children choices of possible solutions to the problem, and leaving the ultimate solution in their hands is another way of giving them ownership of the problem as well as the solution.

Sibling Rivalry

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Chaya Friedman and Family

Chana Fraydel Kerchner and Family

Tamar Labell and Family

Neomi Shoshani and Family

Sofie Jacobson and Family

Kitat Rimon's Art ExplorationsKitat Rimon was busy with art explorations this week as we made beautiful collages by gluing loose parts. The children also created observational drawings of the fall leaves. We even took the art experiences outside.

"This is like a wall that they have so many decorations,” said Tehilla describing her collage. "It's a sukkah," said Rina about her collage."Look how much trees there is," said Chana Fraydel as she created her observational drawing of the foliage.

Kitat Rimon continues to build Noach's teiva. During indoor exploration, Noah was building. “Tell me about your building?" asked the morah. "I'm building my teiva," responded Noah, excited about having the same name as the person in the parsha. We also formed aluminum foil boats and tested them to see if they would float in water like Noach's teiva floated.

The children enjoyed playing with play-doh this week. "This is a pizza,” said Moshe describing what he formed out of the dough. "I made a star," said Goldie. Effie and Kivi used cookie cutters to make little play-doh men.

Wishing you a good Shabbos! Morah Miriam and Morah Yvette

Tehilla’s (Mud) Bakery!

Pictures From This Week

Kitat Prachim Explores the Senses of Fall

This week in Gan Prachim, we started with celebrating Yehuda becoming a big brother to little sister Tzippy! Each child took turns decorating a crown for him. They were so engaged in decorating the crown that they decided collectively to make pictures for their own siblings. They experimented with different combinations of colors.

The children and morot began to talk about the senses of fall. We read the book It's Fall by Linda Glaser. Some of the children bridged concepts learned in the book with their own fall experiences. Sophie noted that during fall, the leaves change color outside her house and at Shomrai too! Yitzi noted that he likes to go pumpkin picking with his family.

“Would like to explore the leaves around the Shomrai playground?” asked the morah.“Yes!” was heard in unison. Everyone received a brown paper bag to conduct their search. Some friends wanted to personalize a brown bag to collect their leaves. They used crayons that matched the fall fauna: red, yellow, orange and green.

We continued to study the fall colors throughout the week by examining leave with magnifying glasses like in the story, Fall Leaves Colorful and Cruchy by Martha E.H. Rust. We are excited to continue our exploration together next week!

Good Shabbos! Morot Siena, Tara and Sigla

Morning Provocations in Kitat Simcha

Morning provocations are meant to stimulate the children's thinking to explore materials in new and novel ways which lean them towards a path of consolidating new knowledge and building new theories and questions. The children always find something new and exciting to learn about or create. The provocations ignite discovery and the children are purposefully encouraged to look at their world in a different way!

We, as teachers, may have our perspective and aims for an experience but we are always mindful that the children will bring their own perspectives and unique ideas and questions to whatever we are learning about. Their relationship to the materials and experiences are an important part of the context we must consider when planning and thinking about what their educational, social, and spiritual needs are.

Kitat Tamar & The Places You’ll Go!Each week Kitat Tamar learns the weekly Parshat Hashavua. This week we read that Hashem told Avram to go to Eretz Canaan, and then a question emerged: “How did Avraham get to Eretz Canaan?”The children thought about this carefully and an interesting discussion ensued.“I think that they went by bus,” Leba responded.“I think they went by airplane” Tzippy answered immediately.“They drove in a car,” Seth suggested.“I think that they used a car,” Josh stated confidently.“They rode camels,” said Yair. “They rode a horse,” Rahel contributed.“They went on an airplane,” Zevy suggested.“They went on a boat,” offered Talya.“They swimmed in the water,” Daniel thought.“I know that they walked,” Hillel enthused.

The children eagerly anticipated the answer. The morah explained that during the time of Avraham there were no cars or bikes, motorcycles, trains, airplanes or buses. The children were quite surprised to learn this. We concluded the meeting at that point and revisited the idea again during Thursday’s meeting. When we reviewed the story of Avram this time, the children understood how Avraham traveled to Eretz Canaan..They went by camel and horse and walked, the children realized.

During exploration time on Thursday morning the children discovered a sheet and some photographs of tents in the dramatic play center.“We can make a tent,” a small group of children announced.“How can you make a tent?” the morah asked the group.“I know how to make a tent,” Esti F declared.“I have an idea. Let’s put the sheet on top of the cabinet,” Esti S. shared with the group.“You need to use some poles for the tent to stand up,” Miriam Bracha suggested.“We can tape the sheet onto the poles,” Leba thought. The children worked together with the morah and soon there was a tent in the dramatic play center.The children will have plenty of opportunities in the coming week to work and play in the tent.

Shabbat Shalom, Morah Lisa and Devorah Sarah

Parsha Questions:1. Esti F: Why did Avraham move away?2. Michal: Why were there no cars?3. Tzippy: How did Sara get back so quickly from Pharaoh?4. Esti S. Why did Pharaoh get sick?5. Hillel: Why were the four kings fighting?

"Each child is unique and the protagonist of his or her own growth. Children desire to acquire knowledge, have much capacity for curiosity and amazement, and yearn to create relationships with others and communicate."Loris Malaguzzi

Fiji Green Returns to Kitat GefenWhen we returned from Sukkos vacation, the children noticed that our iguana enclosure was empty and the light was off. "Where is Fiji Green?" they asked. We told them that she was at the animal doctor. "I went to the doctor," the children remembered.

This week we celebrated Fiji Green's return to our classroom! The children touched her with gentle hands, as we've been practicing, and adeptly prepared her morning snack with plastic knives and apple slices.

This week we also welcomed a new friend, Neomi, to our class.

Morah Aviva and Morah Chaya Sara