At Giving Tree Early Learning we believe it is important for children to have quality experiences together.  We often have classes combine for special occassions and experiences.  Doing this allows for children to see their siblings or cousins, observe each others behavior and abilities, help one another based on developmental needs, and learn from each other.  

A very special occassion that we gather for monthly is our Shabbat Assembly.  The Shabbat Assembly is a time where all of the classes get together in the cafeteria to listen to Rabbi Birnhack sing songs.  Multiage experiences like the Shabbat Assembly are a great way to join together and feel a sense of community at our school 

The Apple Market, held by the Oak class, is a fun way for children from all classes to interact and engage with one another.  The Oak class goes to each class before the market to hand out money they have made.  The classes bring their money and use it to purchase apples at the Apple Market.  

Giving Tree students occassionally have opportunities to interact with HHAI students.  These experiences are very special and often happen during Middle School Buddies.  Middle School Buddies is an experience that happens in one of the middle school electives.  The middle schoolers spend time doing different activities with the Oak class.  They read books, play on the playground, and engage in loose parts play.  

Multiage experiences are beneficial for the development of social skills, language development, and foster collective learning.  Experiences like these support the idea that children learn from one another, watching each other, communicating with one another, and exchanging thoughts and ideas about the world around them. 

The Giving Tree Art Gallery is a recent tradition started at the end of the year event for the 2022-2023 school year-Celebration in the Air.  During our Celebration in the Air event, we collected artwork done by children in each class and displayed the pieces in the hallway along with an artist portrait of the child.

This year for our annual Friends and Family event, we decided it would be a wonderful idea for families to see their children's artwork displayed in the hallway as the Giving Tree Art Gallery.  Teachers began collecting different artwork in the beginning of the year.  Some classes explored making masks out of paper mache and paint while others experimented with paint sticks and aluminum foil.  There were several self portraits and family portraits in addition to collaborative murals.  All artwork displayed was process art, the method of art exploration we implement at Giving Tree Early Learning. 

Process art means that children are able to create with freedom from ideas of what their artwork should look like.  This means that the artwork created was determined by the child and not dictated by the teacher.  The teachers put out supports and tools for children to explore and create art with.  Supports are materials used to make marks on like paper, cardboard, aluminum foil, and wood.  Tools are considered anything that makes marks on supports like paintbrushes, sticks, crayons, markers, and paintsticks.  

The Giving Tree Art Gallery is the perfect way of celebrating children's artwork.  It is a celebration for their abilities, their learning, and their hard work.  Documentation in this form gives children a sense of pride.  It allows families, visitors, staff, and other children to see a glimse of the Hundred Languages of children.