DearKitahGimmelParents,

To’dahtoallofthevolunteerswhohavegiventheirtimeinthekitahandespeciallyfortheJournalwriting.Ithasbeenagreatsuccessandthechildrenwillevenaskifit’sa“journaldaytoday?”Pleaseconsidervolunteeringifyouhavenotdonesoyet.

Storytellingisanimportantpieceoftheliteracypuzzle,It’sthroughbooks,books,morebooksandjournalwriting,thatchildrendevelopaloveoflanguagewhilepracticingtheirpre-readingandwritingskills.Acreativeconnectionismadewhentheyhaveanideaforastory,developthatideawithwords,havetheirwordswrittendownandlater,sharingtheirwords.Wemayeventry“actingthemout”inclass,givinganotherdimensiontotheirwords!

Morecreativeconnectionsaremadewhenchildrendrawwhattheyhavebuilt,asseeninthepicturesbelow.Beingabletodescribetoafriendwhatwasdoneandwhyisasignofreallyunderstandingtheprocess.

ThislastweekendgaveusaglimpseofSpringandjustintimebecauselastweek,intherain,thechildrenhelpedtoturnthesoilinourplanters.Nextweaddedsomesoilamendmentandafewday’slater(stillintherain)theyplantedmint,parsley,Rlowersandsomegarlic.Intheclass,wehadbeenwatchingtherootsandshootsthatwereleftoverfromasaladandwedecidedtoexperimentwithplantingthemtoo!Can’twaittoseeifthey’llgrowanothercrop?

Gardeningprovidessomanylearningopportunities,suchasnewvocabularywords,howtowaitpatiently,thecyclesoftheweathertonameafew,nottomentionthemanyJewishvaluesthatcanbewovenintotheconversationasthechildrenbecomepartnerswiththeearth,BritAdamahandwhentheclassisaskedtobecomeShomreiAdamah,guardiansoftheearthandofallgrowingplantsintheyard.

Weattempttodeepenthekitah’sconnectiontoIsraelbyvisitingthemapofIsraeleachdayandinvestigatewhereEmmahasbeenandwonderingwhatshewillseenext?EmmaissendingusdailyphotosandweusetheiPadtochecktheareaout.WeareintroducingmoreHebrewwordsinthekitahbylabelingmanyoftheareasweareineachandeveryday.

Thesepicturesshowjustaglimpseofsomeoftheotherhappeningsinthekitah.

TheRirsttwoshowexamplesofchildrenworkingonsomeoftheskillsneededtodevelopwritingreadiness.HandandRingerstrength,theabilitytoexertforceagainstresistance.Handtoeyecoordination,theabilitytoprocessinformationreceivedfromtheeyestocontrol,guideanddirectthehandsintheperformanceofatask,suchaswriting.

Thethirdphotoshowsanevaporationexperimentusingsticksinasaltsaturatedwatertomakesaltsticks,muchliketheonesmadebytheOhlonepeopleoftheBayAreawhousedthemtotradewithothertribesforobsidianandotheritems.

WearealsohavingmanyconversationsaboutBlackHistoryMonth.ThisisaopportunitytoexploreB’tzelemElohim,weareallcreatedintheimageofGod.Theunitwaslaunchedwiththisstory:ASGOODASANYBODYreadbyMayaandwillbecoveredmoreinthenextnewsletter.

Shalom,Laura,MayaandJosh