Beyond the Book: The Little Engine That Could

 At the end of my first year teaching after S was born, one of my students who had a particular affinity for baby S included an end of the year gift for him in an end of the year gift for me--an abridged edition of Watty Piper's classic tale, The Little Engine That Could in board book form. The student's mother admonished me that this would someday become S's favorite book--the one he would ask to hear again and again and again...and guess what--she was right! For many months, S has pulled this off the family book shelf at bedtime to read together. Usually my husband does the bedtime routine; he has fun inserting his own little witty additions to the story. S has this book memorized. I sometimes lack that Little Engine "I think I can" mentality when it comes to rereading the same book over and over...but repetition is the essence of learning. That predictability and consistence fosters feelings of confidence and mastery. Beyond that, this story contains two elements that S really does connect with: trains and overcoming obstacles. I felt this story theme would be a fabulous one for the week before his 3rd birthday.

Our play at home story stretchers camp has been an evolving experience. Summer has come with its own rhythm and so many great activities and events around town. We have an amazing library system and parks and rec system here. We have taken advantage of the great weather and opportunities to get out and about. In addition, with his birthday an influx of new toys has made its way into our home via very loving relatives. One of the greatest benefits of being a play at home mom is the flexibility to adapt to shifting schedules and needs. S has needed more time for free, self-directed play and been less drawn to structured activities in the house. Moving some of our structured play outside or connecting out-of-the-house activities to things we're doing at home has been a great way to proceed. Some weeks we will do story stretcher activities each day. Other weeks, we may only do a few on one or two days. Story stretchers are a great way to incorporate learning and play through early literacy whether you wish to spend ten minutes, a few hours or even a whole week. This is one reason I love this approach so much! I try to follow S's lead with this. I may have a collection of activities set to choose from and if we get to them all, great. If not, great! Here's a peek at some of the themed activities S really enjoyed from last week:

S's Safta and Saba sent this great sensory table for his birthday. He's loved using it in the kitchen with water and water toys. We used it with kinetic sand and toy trains/props for a great, interactive story drama about The Little Engine That Could. Story dramas are new to S, so he was a little confused at first about what we were doing. I began by pulling up a chair and reading the book while using the trains, props and sand to act out the story. We worked together to build the big mountain out of kinetic sand. As we got further into the story, we felt more confident to continue without the book. After telling the story once through, S continued to play-act and even found additional props to add as he expanded the story line (like tools to repair the train engine)! Using drama and playacting is a great way to expand on children's literature, whether you use props, puppets, costumes or toys. It also helps to foster dramatic play skills in children. These are so useful in play as well as in coping with childhood anxieties and navigating conflict resolution.

As we move through our story stretchers this summer, I am including some review of core concepts we worked on in our home preschooling during the year. Some weeks we review a letter or number and this week I thought it would be fun to review shapes. Getting outside is a vital part of our days and we've had some fantastic, albeit, hot weather. I initially thought we would do some shape tracing with paint indoors, but the front yard was calling S's name, so I grabbed our trains, some sidewalk chalk, and we made shape tracks on the sidewalk. S loved tracing them with his trains and then drawing his own lines and doodles for the trains to chug along.

For some more shape exploration indoors, I set out this invitation to create a shape train. I provided a variety of colors and sizes of construction paper shapes for building trains, a glue stick and full sheets of construction paper for backgrounds. S loved setting up and creating his own choo choo train! He became a little frustrated with the glue stick as he couldn't see where the glue was on the darker background he chose. He asked me repeatedly to do the gluing for him. I was nursing Y at the time and also am balancing his desire to have me do art with him versus my desire not to do it for him. In lieu of gluing for S, I offered him liquid school glue and a paint brush instead of the glue stick. He immediately felt more confident and created a great piece of art to display on our art wall!

S loves the part where I hang up his finished work! He feels proud to see his creations on display and it also encourages conversations about what we've done when his Tatty gets home from work. I also printed out this great Little Engine writing prompt for S to complete and color. I thought it was a great way to incorporate the theme of his 3rd birthday as he is getting older and bigger and more competent at tasks that were once quite difficult. He chose to write about swimming in the pool, likely because we had just made our first pool visit of the season where he did, indeed, feel more confident about swimming!

We also incorporated learning aleph-beis [Hebrew] letters into our week by continuing and finally completing our aleph-beis choo choo train! It seems only fitting that this family project we began when S was just a baby (for him) was completed the week of his upshernish (by him)!

S loved this edible train! He asked for a bowl of cucumbers and clementine slices on the side and even after he ate this train, he took to building and eating his own version!

On the day of his upshernish, S requested to go to Chuck E. Cheese, where, sure enough, he took right to the train ride, now in his big boy haircut and yarmulke! Happy Birthday, S, it's so great to be three! There are so many things you can do now!

Community Helpers Theme: All About Rabbis

A rabbi must certainly know his alephbet and be able to read and write in order to continue studying Jewish texts and law!

A rabbi is certainly someone we see in our synagogues and day schools. We see them reading from the Torah and leading prayers. We see them teaching students of all ages. But what else do rabbis do? What must someone learn and be able to do in order to become a rabbi? Do all rabbis do the same things or do some have different jobs? From a very young age, Jewish children learn to treat rabbis with reverence and respect. As they get older, they will learn and see how many different roles rabbis can play in their occupations. Some do work in synagogues and lead services. Some are chazzanim and lead prayers in synagogue services. Some work as a mashgiach in restaurants and food factories to oversee kashrus (to ensure that foods, ingredients and cooking practices are all carried out to the standards of keeping kosher). Some are counselors, some are authors, some are teachers and all are students. Some study specific areas of Jewish law and help Jewish people answer questions and solve problems. Some rabbis might be a sofer or scribe, and perform the tedious and important job of writing Torah scrolls, mezuzahs, and other important Jewish documents.

One thing is true for certain--and that is that a rabbi must do a lot of learning! One of the first things a young Jewish child will learn is his alephbet, his Hebrew alphabet. That will lead to being able to read and write and from there, the possibilities are endless! For the purpose of learning about rabbis as community helpers, I set up a variety of alephbet activities for my son to work with. He announced at the end that he now wants to be a rabbi when he grows up; I'm not entirely sure, however, that he is not currently convinced a rabbi paints, makes collages and uses rubber stamps all day long!

This puzzle is still a bit challenging for my toddler, but the more he manipulates and handles each of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the more he will become familiar with each of them and eventually with reading and writing them. He already is able to identify each of the letters inside this book--something his own mother could not do until her mid-twenties!

I set out a large sheet of easel paper for working with. We began with some alephbet rubber stamps and washable ink...

Next we tried our hands at using a "quill" (craft feather) and "ink" (washable paint) to "write letters" just like a sofer who must write each letter of the Torah without any mistakes at all! That surely must take a lot of practice....

He especially enjoyed using paint and these alephbet cookie cutters to make prints!

We've been continuing work in our Twelve Pesukim book project. He loves reciting each of these Torah passages as much as he loves making collages on each page as we learn them together.

Adding the next letter to our Aleph Beis Train project (pictured at the top) seemed like a perfect way to wrap up our activities. We started this when he was just a little baby--and I did all the handiwork. Now he does the gluing all by himself! We even found a great video online that shows the writing of a Torah scroll. Although the video is meant for children, we found it a bit lengthy for my young toddler and parts were a bit above his level. I chose a few select portions to show him and he was so impressed with seeing a real scribe hard at work making each and every letter inside the Torah. While a sofer must work tediously to make sure that no mistakes are made as he writes, the most important work of a child is play. We do not focus on perfection but rather on opportunities to try through hands-on exploration and play. In that merit, I wish you all happy playing!

Tu B'Shevat Theme: Planting Time!

You cannot very well learn about Tu B'Shevat without getting your hands dirty and sewing some seeds of your own! In Israel, it's customary to donate funds toward planting trees. Where we live, it's not quite outdoor planting season yet, but it's a wonderful time of year to start an indoor kitchen herb garden!

We began our morning with a fun invitation to play about planting with play-dough and this great free printable play-dough mat:

After we finished our morning circle time routine, my son went over to get his schoolbag, which I always keep on a hook at his level. He was quite excited to see it was fuller than usual! Inside were a couple of great related books to read, some seed starting pots and four packets of seeds to plant together: cilantro, basil, thyme, and parsley!

This was a great PJ Library book we received a couple of years ago. Pamela Ehrenberg's playful rhyming story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations by Constanze Kitzing as the reader is carried through the process of planting and caring for parsley seeds for Tu B'Shevat that are ready to be eaten at the Pesach seder!

My son loved the colorful illustrations by Bob Staake as author Diane Muldrow's simple, yet lovely text describes the lengthy process of a tree being planted and nurtured through the seasons and years.

My son was very excited to go outside and try his hands at some planting of his own. We gathered all of our planting materials and some learning activities to take along as well. While we are fortunate to be having some quite mild temperatures right now, we still have many very cold or rainy days that are not ideal for outdoor play. When we do have a nice one thrown in, I try to make sure we get outside even if it means we take our homeschool activities out there with us!

I labeled two starter pots for each of the four types of herbs we would plant with permanent marker in advance. He helped fill each pot with potting soil.

Pinching and poking seeds is a great fine motor activity for little hands! We also took some time to look at the pictures of mature herb plants on the seed packets and guess whether the seeds inside would be big or little. We were surprised to see that even though cilantro and parsley have very little leaves, the seeds were quite big. Basil, although it has a larger leaf, has smaller seeds. Planting is a great science activity from seed to sprout to plant and beyond. There is so much to learn and observe and many questions to be asked and answered along the way.

After sprinkling a few seeds on the top of the soil, he used his pointer fingers to gently poke them beneath the soil and make them a cozy soil blanket!

Next it was time to water our seeds. We used a spray bottle and talked about how it was too cold to leave them outside just yet. We brought in our tray and placed it in a sunny window on our dining room table to care for and observe. I hope we'll get some fresh herbs to enjoy!

I used sidewalk chalk to draw
our new special letter in
uppercase and lowercase form.
He had fun drawing as well!

It was such a nice morning that it would be a shame to just come inside. We had some more learning activities planned, including our letter of the week, so we indulged in some natural Vitamin D while learning about the letter Gg!

 Whether we're in or out, I stick to certain repeated routines when we learn a new letter. I sang our usual song to introduce our letter name and beginning sound. For the purpose of our learning today, I only introduced the "hard Gg" sound as is gorilla or gate.

I "planted" some letter Gg manipulatives (magnets, foam letters and blocks) in one of our side gardens for a letter Gg scavenger hunt.

Can you find all of the letter Gg's Growing in our Garden?

He collected them in our basket, practicing his hard "g" sound all the way. 

We finished our outdoor time together with an activity that both incorporates our letter of the week and a theme we will be exploring more in depth later in the week: taking care of our planet. After a fruitful summer in our garden came to an end and over the past several months of all kinds of weather, our yard had come to house a bit of rubbish that needed to be cleaned up. We recycled a brown paper bag to gather the garbage from our garden and bring it to the dumpster. We made sure to wash our hands very well with soap and water when we got in--you may wish to wear gloves if you're doing this activity in your yard and are concerned about germs! 

We had a great morning outside! Our weather is likely to change again bringing us further opportunities to play and explore inside. We make use of our Nature Observation Station indoors to appreciate some of the beauty and wonder of nature even when we cannot be out there in it. One of my favorite DIY learning materials to make and use with children are seed packet observation bags. I use snack size ziplock bags and a variety of seed packets. This particular set has the herb seeds remaining from our planting activity. I empty a small portion of seeds into the bottom of the bag before placing the packet inside and tightly sealing it. Children can appreciate observing the photographs of mature plants and comparing them to the seeds in the bottom of the bag. Magnifying glasses can help to get a closer look on particularly tiny seeds. We still have a full collection of all of the vegetable, herb and flower seeds we planted last Spring and Summer that are still great for observing and exploring (even if they may not be so great for planting anymore).

Happy planting, digging, watering, nurturing and observing--and, as always, happy playing!

Chanukah, Oh Chanukah, Come Play, Learn and Create!

The excitement is building as we continue learning and playing about Chanukah. And a lot of learning is happening, too! I sometimes feel like the Sneaky Teacher--and rather than hiding vegetables and protein in my child's favorite foods like my culinary counterpart (don't get me wrong, I do plenty of that, too!) I am constantly finding creative ways to sneak educational content into really fun play activities. This is a lot easier than you'd think--so much of the way children learn about the world around them is through play. Early childhood years are vital for this, and truly, play should be a part of life throughout the ages and stages! (Yes, even grown ups!) Some skills and areas of development come more naturally to a child and are more appealing while others may need a little nudging and creativity to foster. Getting creative and playful can help inspire interest in areas where a little learner may be hesitant or reluctant. And even the most eager little ones benefit from learning content through a variety of methods and experiences.

My little guy happens to LOVE talking about and identifying shapes. Whether it's in books, toys and manipulatives or experimenting with his doodles and scribbles, he is very drawn to geometry! But an interest in geometry and other mathematical concepts needn't mean all work and no play--check out this very simple invitation to create a dreidel shape out of magnets! The same activity can be done using paper and collage, blocks, or even sponges and paint. My toddler had a lot of fun copying the dreidel shape and exploring his own geometric creations with triangles, squares and these skinny little rectangles!

We continue learning letters in both English and Hebrew even as holidays approach. Learning the Hebrew letter YUD included some hands-on fun (literally)! We start our alephbet lessons with a familiar routine no matter what our activity is. Repeating songs and routines helps to set the stage for what we are learning and supports comprehension of new material as well. After singing our introductory songs and meeting our new letter, we learned a Hebrew word to go with it--YADAYIM, or hands. My son had fun doodling on this coloring page--and even coloring pages and coloring books have educational value! He is practicing lines, squiggles and fine motor movements that will lead to drawing shapes and eventually letters. He also had a lot of fun using his yadayim in washable ink-pads to make a hand-print menorah in his journal. 

Hand-print menorahs can be a great hands-on play activity for the whole family, as seen here in a
family art project we did last Chanukah!

And speaking of art, in this process art activity the world of painting and science came together as we explored painting with water colors and oil! I set out liquid watercolor paints and some vegetable oil in an ice cube tray. We do not have fancy liquid watercolor paints! I actually just found a liquid set at the dollar tree and figured I couldn't go wrong either way. They are not an amazing quality art product but definitely served their intended function here! Prior to beginning, I cut a dreidel shape from white cardstock. If you have watercolor paper on hand, that would be great, but it is not a necessity. I chose a thicker paper since I knew this would be a wet project! It would be a good idea to use a tray or foil pan beneath your paper to collect splatters and excess and to cover your work space. Some painting activities capture my son's attention for a few minutes, but this one kept him busy and engaged for almost half an hour! He loved exploring the paint colors and mixing them/transferring them inside the ice cube tray. He loved experimenting with different types of brush strokes and two different brushes on the paper. He loved the element of seeing how just like in some of our other experiments with oil and water (and stay tuned for more on that in the weeks to come), that on paper, oil and watercolor paints do not mix. 

Even cleaning the brush between uses in a glass filled with warm, soapy water (to help cut the grease of the oil) and dabbing it on a paper towel was a great learning opportunity and helped develop an important practical life-skill. Learning happened all around and play was at the forefront.

Happy Playing and (Sneaky) Learning!

Chanukah, Oh Chanukah: Alphabet, Aleph-Bet & Early Literacy Activities

Chanukah, Chanukah, READ ALL ABOUT IT! We learn about English and Hebrew letters year round and I especially love when I can incorporate our learning activities into our current theme. Here are some of the Chanukah-themed ways we've incorporated learning about letters and early literacy into our play this month:

 We learned about the letter D! We always start with our favorite letter introduction song and some sort of manipulative to handle and explore, like magnets, stamps, stickers, foam letters, blocks, etc. For the letter D, we began by reading Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah. We love to have a story buddy join us, and my little guy loved sharing this one with his toy dinosaur!
Next we were ready for some letter D themed Chanukah fun!

 We started with this doodle dreidel, made from a recycled CD labeled with the appropriate Hebrew letters and a marker set through the center. He loved trying to spin it and doodling with it!
Next it was time to take some traditional dreidels and paint to the table for dreidel painting. Older artists will be able to spin the dreidel in the paint for some great splatter/spin art. Younger hands may still struggle with this skill but will nonetheless enjoy trying it (and watching it) as well as dabbing, and dotting the dreidel in the paint. We left the results to dry while we got out some do-a-dot markers to decorate this paper dreidel.

A little cutting/prep by Mommy and some glue helped us with our finished product all about the letter D!

We learned the Hebrew letter tes by trying our hands at tearing tape together to prepare this tape-resist menorah project:

Tearing tape is a great fine motor activity!

He needed a piece for his shirt, too.

We headed to the table with some paints and brushes to paint over the prepared canvas. Once it was dry, we removed the tape and used the results from our process art activity earlier in the week to make some flame shapes to glue on top of the candles.

Reading together is a great activity for emerging readers of all ages. I always teach my students (and son) that there are many ways to read! Recognizing letters and words is just one. Recognizing pictures or colors is another way little ones demonstrate their ability to "read." We love Mommy & Me books here--whether it's a couple of copies of one favorite children's book to share or a couple of printed booklets from online. I printed off this little booklet entitled "Hanukah's Rainbow of Lights," and went through underlining each color word with the associated color. I sat next to my little reader and showed him how to open our books together, use our pointer finger for left-to-right directionality, and when we got to a color name, he "read" the word! He felt so proud of himself, he wanted to do it again (and again and again)! My biggest goal with emerging readers is always to instill a confidence and joy in reading that will carry them through developing the skills to go alongside it. This, I believe, fosters a lifelong love of reading and learning.

We also "practice" sight word recognition in other ways. I love flashcards--but not for drilling and grilling in the traditional sense. Rather, we use picture cards with vocabulary words through play to develop early reading skills. Using Chanukah themed vocabulary cards that you print offline or make yourself can be a great way to play a game of I-Spy. Your player(s) select a card and then must search for and locate the associated item from a tray, sensory bin or sand table.

For children ages 4/5 and up, a game of Letter Latkes can be a great way to review letters and practice some silly motor skills at the same time!

To prepare, set up your learning space or "pan." I used a tape dreidel shape on the carpet, but you can also use a large picture of a pan or a towel or mat to designate the space. I prepared my letter latkes using paper plates colored brown to represent the latkes. Depending on how advanced your players are you can include  more or fewer letter latkes. On each plate, I wrote one letter in uppercase and lowercase form. I had a collection of pictures of objects that began with each of the letters, with at least 3 or 4 pictures for each letter. On his/her turn, each player selects one letter latke and uses the spatula to pick up the pictures beginning with the letter from the "pan" and puts transfers them to the latke. It's silly. It's fun. It's early reading!

There are so many great ways to play about and learn early reading skills. The very best and most important one of all is, of course, reading together! So head to the library or your own collection and grab a favorite Chanukah book. There's little in life more cozy and warm than cuddling up together with a great book.

Happy Reading, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Playing!