Shaping Up- with a purpose!

 It was great seeing everyone after our winter break! The smiles and laughter of being re-united with their friends was so heartwarming to watch!
For the next couple of weeks we will be focusing on shapes and connecting them to Mitzvah's.

This week : Circle and Square!

Even though most of the children know what a circle is, it is a whole different skill to recognize the shape with different unsuspecting items, and in various contexts. As the week went on they kept on noticing more and more circles that were around them and the difference between an oval and a circle.

Circle time discussions

Using a basket filled with different shaped objects, the children were asked to find only the circle shaped items.

Manipulating our hands into a circle. Learning about sides and edges that shapes have and comparing it to a circle.
We also learned the Hebrew word for circle- "egul." (pronounced eeee-gool)

Team effort making a circle with our friends and not breaking it!

Getting bigger...

Tiny circle ..

 Chanie : " I have a lot of cirlces on my dress!"

Elizabeth showing all her friends her circles on her dress!

We were all getting VERY circle aware..

 

Circle sensory bin

A circle hanging from the ceiling helped the children see a circle in all the different items that were placed inside. 

(buttons, cotton balls, Tupperware with a circle opening, tubes, marbles....)

 

 Learning how to draw a circle.

To facilitate accurate drawings of the circle shape, we placed on the table a big round circle paper but with a hole cut out in the middle! Tt really encouraged and helped guide the children to draw AROUND the hole to create a circle of their own.

 

We placed different art mediums to create a circle. One of the children pointed out that the bingo markers make a circle ! We didn't even intentionally put it out for that purpose, but it was amazing to see how they made that connection on their own. 

 

 

Circle motor skills

Children had to work really hard to make their elastic band into a circle around the containers.

 

Muka worked for a while with out giving up to get her band to reach all the way around. It required a lot of concentration, along with hand-eye coordination!

Levi enjoyed listening to the snapping sound it created.

 

Cutting out circles.

We placed scissors attached to the basket to let the children be able to catch their papers into it while cutting.

max found a circle ball now he was looking for a friend to play with!

 

He found it! Aron and Max playing a good game of bounce.

Circle art

 

Levi discovered covers make a circle too!

Shapes we find in Mitzvah's:

We used shapes to guide our morning davening routine! 

Each shape had a different song from our routine. The child had to name the shape and tell us the picture on the other side.

 

This was a great oppottunity to connect the shapes to a mitzvah. 

Tzedaka (charity) coins- circle and some Tzedaka boxes have a square on them!

The craft activities we did this week highlighted the shapes we find in a mitzvah! (Round shaped coins to put in the tzedaka box, Square shape of some tzedaka boxes, square prayer books...)

 

We placed paper towel rolls on the end of the table and the children had fun getting different small objects into the container below.

 

Square play dough.